Anticipation and preparation are the keys to greater resilience for SMEs

IT networks are becoming increasingly interdependent, and therefore much more fragile for the operations of SMEs, which find themselves at the end of the chain. To avoid business interruptions, it is imperative that companies prepare and anticipate, with continuity plans or redundant connection or energy infrastructures. These were the main messages delivered at the ^17th Swiss Digital Conference, held on Friday at the Swiss Digital Center in Sierre, with the support of Alp ICT. Around 130 people attended the presentations by speakers from Switzerland and France.

Humanity, and the economy in particular, are looking for stability and predictability. " But with climate drift, viruses and the energy crisis, we're waking up to a world that's completely unstable and unpredictable," said Laurent Salamin, Director of the Swiss Digital Center, at the opening of the conference. In their day-to-day operations, companies today use software whose exact functioning they have no control over, "so there's a great deal of fragility and interdependence. One small breakdown can have huge repercussions. This interdependence raises questions, and it's important to talk about it and analyze it, before we can work on the resilience of SMEs," emphasized Laurent Sciboz, professor at HES-SO Valais/Wallis.

Geopolitics also influences the situation

IT networks and related technologies are highly dependent on the global geopolitical situation," said Sven Peter, project manager at theSwiss Federal Office of Economic Supply. Energy, but also the availability of semiconductors, is impacted by events such as the war in Ukraine or the Covid-19 crisis. The risks to the industry's supply are considerable. Fortunately, the situation is changing, with the discovery of rare earths in Sweden and the construction of new semiconductor plants outside Asia, in Arizona, for example. " This avoids over-dependence. As a country, Switzerland can hardly react on its own, and must ally itself with its European neighbors to resolve these interdependencies.

For computer networks to function, energy is vital. HES-SO Valais/Wallis professor David Wannier presented a project that stabilizes the grid using storage from surplus renewable energy. According to him, electric vehicles can also be used to manage grid stabilization. Locally, at the Swiss Digital Center in Sierre, David Wannier's team is working on an energy autonomy of at least four hours, using a combination of batteries, photovoltaics and electric vehicles.

Some cloud software is a black box

Swiss SMEs are making increasing use of cloud services, whose complexity and interdependence mean that continuity is not always guaranteed. These services are a kind of black box, as shown by a concrete example presented by Valerio Siciliano, from BS-Team and HES-SO Valais/Wallis professor Sébastien Gard. " Even the smallest SMEs can react, however, by analyzing their internal processes and determining which services are essential for business continuity", explains Sébastien Gard. Once this analysis has been carried out, discussions can be held with software publishers to limit the risks, by duplicating data and services and playing on the geographical location of servers.

Internet and telephony infrastructures also need to be resilient to guarantee the functioning of the economy. "We're in a world where we want to accumulate, double, triple or quadruple infrastructures. That' s one of the prices of digital resilience, and it's quite complex to have good levels of guarantee," explains VTX Telecom's Claude Duffour. From the operator's point of view, reflections are underway to avoid a useless debauch of infrastructures or technologies. " Why not take a step backwards, with Internet connections only on demand, or telephone billing based on usage rather than flat rates?" asks Claude Duffour.

The best preparation

"Crisis situations are going to happen no matter what we do in SMEs," warns Nicolas Duboux, Project Manager at Netplus. In his view, it's important for companies to prepare and anticipate. Netplus has chosen to implement a business continuity plan in line with the ISO 22301 standard. " The better prepared we are, the fewer consequences there will be for the company".

The conference continued with a presentation by David Cavin, from Hôpitaux Universitaires Genevois (HUG). He explained how his hospital is becoming increasingly resilient when it comes to IT. A team of developers (around 200 people) work on applications locally, reducing dependence on external tools. "It' s important to understand the threat, protect what's important, train staff, surround yourself with the necessary expertise, prepare continuity plans and train on them." The hospital, which has a plan to operate without any external IT connection, can also count on a Security Operations Center. This center is shared with other partners, and helps anticipate system intrusions.

Putting people first (too)

The rest of the conference focused more on human aspects, with a presentation by Marion Graeffly, founder of Telecoop, France's leading cooperative operator. She explained how her company is building another model, and protecting it to the full. "We've introduced genuine ecological innovation, limited wage differentials, promoted ethical and humane management, and shared governance where all cooperators have a single voice. We have also set up a limited profit-making scheme, with 57% of profits compulsorily retained in the company, come what may. This is a very strong act of economic resilience. Telecoop, founded two years ago, already has 1,000 cooperators and 6,200 subscribers.

In the same vein, Professor Emmanuel Fragnière spoke of the human risks associated with businesses that are now often "phygital", on the boundary between the physical and the digital. In his view, it's important to take better account of human impacts when implementing new digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence. "Machines don't always live up to their promise of reducing the workload for humans. In the end, they have to take more time to correct computer problems".

Ethical hacking to learn resilience?

The human aspect must also not be neglected in the event of cyberattacks: Breton ethical hackers Brice Augras and Victor Louis Pourcheret, from BZHunt, testified to this state of affairs. "We're trained to get a machine up and running again, but not a human being. There's real trauma following cyberattacks. It feels like digital rape, with long-term technological phobia". It is therefore essential to prevent all forms of digital attack. " In all companies, we find vulnerabilities, including in the banking and luxury goods sectors.

Additional information: www.swissdigitalconference.ch

In video: See the Canal9 TV report

In the press: See the article written by Le Nouvelliste

In pictures: see a selection of photos from the conference

Article source: Swiss Digital Center