Simsa and Swico: merger is now "official
On June 18, the members of Simsa and Swico gave the green light in Zurich for a merger of the two associations. The two organizations will thus offer their 600 members a broader range of services and tangible added value, increase their political clout and contribute to a more compact association landscape.
As already mentioned earlier on this place reportsIn spring 2018, the management bodies of Simsa and Swico decided to merge the two organizations. The boards of the two associations signed a merger agreement, which now had to be ratified at two separate general meetings on June 18, 2018. At both meetings, the ¾ majority required by the Merger Act was clearly exceeded. This means that nothing more stands in the way of the merger.
Swico board is strengthened
The new organization takes over all activities of Simsa and Swico unchanged and operates under the name Swico. On the Simsa side, the Code of Conduct Hosting and the Collaboration Framework in particular will be integrated, as well as the training courses such as the federally certified Web Project Manager. Swico will contribute, among other things, its comprehensive issue management, its start-up program and the industry solution for occupational health and safety. All 600 member companies will gain access to a greatly expanded portfolio of member services, according to the latest media release. Two former Simsa exponents will sit on the new Swico board. The former president of Simsa, Andrej Vckovski, CEO of Netcetera, and Nadja Perroulaz, co-founder and chairman of the board of Liip, were newly elected.
Creation of new expert bodies
A new expert committee will now be created for the hosting segment under the leadership of Hostpoint co-founder Claudius Röllin and one for the web agencies under the joint leadership of Imre Sinka, CEO of Dotpulse and Maximilian Plank, CEO of Omento. Both expert committees will work on projects and issues of these two member segments independently and with their own budget within the framework of Swico, as well as develop their own activities, as other Swico expert committees already do.
Swico President Andreas Knöpfli is convinced: "This merger will decisively strengthen the ICT and online industry. We are sending a clear signal against the fragmentation of the association landscape and will be able to represent the concerns of our members even more effectively on the political stage in the future." The previous Simsa president and new Swico board member Andrej Vckovski sees a lot of potential: "Together we can reach a critical mass and thus achieve significantly more impact for our industry. At the same time, both organizations can learn a lot from each other."
The merger will be formally completed on June 30, 2018. Growing together on a day-to-day basis is expected to take until the end of 2018.
Information: www.swico.ch
