The pioneers meet in Zurich - we summarize their thoughts for you
Over the past seven years, the WORLDWEBFORUM in Zurich has developed from a «self-help group» with 15 participants into a meeting place for managers who want to make a difference in the world. 1500 participants from 31 countries met this year at Stage One in Zurich. Among the participants were Federal President Ueli Maurer and rock star Bill Wyman (co-founder of the Rolling Stones).
The keynotes, workshops and discussions at the annual conference go far beyond topics such as technology and business. In this sense, the WORLDWEBFORUM is developing both thematically and geographically. The main question is: «What do we have to do today to be successful tomorrow - also for the next generation?»
Thanks to close relationships with thought leaders in Silicon Valley, China, Europe and top academics worldwide, the WORLDWEBFORUM brings together the most progressive minds with the aim of promoting the courage to change in the world.
The belief that everyone should be able to join a network with a little research or data has brought HARA and the revolutionary SingularityNET AI solution together in a new partnership. As both companies enable and promote data entrepreneurship, the new collaboration will focus on improving the value our ecosystems can offer their stakeholders.
Where HARA focuses on data, SingularityNET allows anyone to create, share and monetize AI services in their distributed network. The company has attracted leaders in the world of AI, machine learning and blockchain to help them achieve their goal of democratizing access to AI technology for everyone to benefit.
Artificial intelligence can perform trivial tasks for us in our daily lives. For example, a AI robot could suggest similar or useful products in an online shop. Also, an AI chatbot in the support area could constantly learn new solutions and thus be qualitatively improved.
The world's first decentralized currency, introduced in 2007, is now accepted as a means of payment in dozens of countries around the world. As more countries begin to use this innovative technology, it is clear that Bitcoin has the potential to become the new global currency that is not tied to a particular country or central bank.
But what would be the benefits of a global currency? And is Bitcoin suitable? We have listed some of Bitcoin's advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
With a decentralized monetary system, governments or banks have no links to the currency. This can be helpful when a nation is in turmoil or experiencing a deep economic downturn.
Transactions are usually tax-free and inexpensive.
Money can be easily transferred to anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds.
Banks cannot use a person's saved Bitcoins for their own investments. Again, this means that government-induced economic depression does not affect the value of a Bitcoin.
Blockchain technology is very successful in eliminating the need for intermediaries whose purpose is to close the transaction gap.
However, in addition to many advantages, there are also disadvantages, which we list below.
Disadvantages
Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are very volatile. This means that the value of a Bitcoin can fluctuate greatly – and often there is no way to predict a fluctuation or explain why it has occurred.
Since Bitcoins are not tied to a centralised institution, government or bank, their prices can rise and fall dramatically.
Users can use Bitcoins to purchase illegal goods and services through Darknet. Bitcoins are difficult to track.
Bitcoins are currently stored in virtual wallets. Although it would require the skills and expertise of a talented hacker to access these virtual wallets, as the past has shown, it is possible.
Usability looks different. For many Bitcoin users, it is difficult to understand Bitcoin or its complex blockchain technology.
The future will show how this will develop and whether Bitcoin will become a global currency. In the meantime, we'd like you to tell us what you think of the topic. We welcome your comments at the end of this blog post.
Another major topic was automation. The first thing you think of here is mass layoffs, because one machine takes over the work of thousands of employees. But automation doesn't have to be negative. It is important that the cooperation between man and machine is right. The machine should not replace the human being, it should support him in recurring and rather boring tasks. This gives people more time to deal with complex problems and develop creative solutions.
We spend a lot of our time at work. So the more time doesn't feel like «work», the better. We can be serious without taking ourselves too seriously. We strive to focus on what is right for the team – be it in a meeting room or on a football pitch.
Especially when your company is growing, it is important to be a good role model yourself. Trust your team and let the employees do the work so that they can become leaders themselves. Integrate all employees and avoid boss-employee cooperation.
Atlassian is a provider of software solutions such as Jira, Confluence or Trello and presented the self-developed Team Playbook at the WORLDWEBFORUM. They created the Playbook to change the way their teams work. And it really worked. It's not a standard CEO management manual, it's a document created by teams for teams. And because the Playbook works so well, they published it.
What Sandro Jenny wrote in his blog post «Why is content marketing so important in the future and how can you use it for your company» was confirmed to us at the WORLDWEBFORUM: Content marketing is the future.
Agility – as good as everyone says?
Everyone talks about agility – but what exactly does agile working mean? Just because individual agile methods like Scrum are used does not mean that a company is agile. Agility is a basic attitude, which is why it should be lived by the entire organization. Only in this way can organizations and procedures be structured, efficiency increased and the quality of work guaranteed.
In order to establish agility in the entire company, different methods can be combined. The combination of Scrum and Objectives & Key Results (OKR) is particularly suitable in the development area. With the Scrum method, functioning product elements are developed in short iterations (sprints). OKR is the tailored form for target agreements. In short iterations, company goals are formulated that are closely linked to the long-term vision and strategy.
This is what we take with us from the 7th Worldwebforum
While at the first WORLDWEBFORUM only technical topics were discussed and mostly developers were present, this year's conference was a meeting of executives who want to make a difference in the world. And because the world is not just about technology and digitisation, topics such as «agility» and «teamwork» were increasingly discussed.
We consider the topic «artificial intelligence» to be very interesting and we are looking forward to further developments in this area. Especially for online shops, which we also program ourselves, AI is very promising.
In the area of «Automation» we have already developed systems and interfaces ourselves which take over or at least facilitate everyday and recurring tasks.
We have already tried out agile development with the Scrum method in a number of larger projects. We are very convinced that this form increases the quality of the end product and avoids bad investments through constant feedback.
What do you think of the topics discussed at the WORLDWEBFORUM? Do you think artificial intelligence is useful or does it frighten you? Do you have Bitcoins yourself or are you thinking of buying some? Leave us your answers in the comments.
Whether constructive criticism, questions due to ambiguities or simply a few words of praise – we thank you already for your comment. After a short check we will publish it.
