This time around, it was an official learning trip to Zurich Insurance home office at Zurich itself. There were six of us in the visiting team. The four Regional Chiefs, Toh, Steven, Liew and I lead by Sia and Daniel were on a visit as part of the integration program. Zurich had acquired MAA two years earlier and obviously a visit by the senior management team would go a long way to help assimilate Zurich's thinking to the Malaysian office. Officially, it was a week but we took the opportunity and extend a few more days on our own to travel around a little. The idea was to traverse the Alpine, enjoy the scenic countryside vista and eat some great local food. Since all of us are golfers, we jumped at the opportunity to play at some of the greatest golf courses in the world that is located there. The trip started on 2.7.13.
2.7.13 Tuesday. Taking a much needed break from the office.
We had booked the KLM flight which was scheduled to leave KLIA at 11.20 pm. By 10.00 pm, all of us were already queuing up the counter and had checked in within half an hour. The flight took off at midnight, a good half hour delay. Our mind fast forward straight ahead to Amsterdam where the scheduled transit was only an hour ! How are we going to get connected ?
3.7.13 Wednesday . Landed without part of our luggage.
Somehow, the flight managed to arrive on time at Amsterdam airport despite the half hour delay earlier. The walk to the transit terminal was easily a kilometre. Everything was a breeze, you come out from one aircraft, walk straight to the transit lounge and check in to the next aircraft and walla, you are on transit to Zurich. It was a mere one and half hour to Zurich from Amsterdam and we landed on time at 8.35 am. In half hour, all the luggages were out and collected by all passengers except us. We had our usual luggage but the golf bags which was checked in separately as oversized luggage did not arrive. They could not transfer those in time to the same aircraft and had to be carried by the next carrier. They will transfer the golf bags to our hotel later in the evening. We had to take two cabs and were transferred to The Ascott Hotel. This Hotel is conveniently located at Tessinerplatz opposite the "Enge" train station and within walking distance to Zurich Corporate Center at Mythenquai and the Zurich lake. It was still morning when we checked into Ascott hotel but we had planned to meet up with Luke from the Project Management Office for some discussion at the Hotel. Annamaria who had helped with the arrangements had left our official program with some nice welcome gift at the hotel. She had also thoughtfully left an umbrella for each of us as the weather was wet, and will remain so for the next couple of days. But best of all, she left each one of us a postcard with her handwritten welcome message. I had not receive postcards since academic school days and this is simply wonderful. This personal touch of hers stood above everything else.
Our oversized baggage did not arrive.
Across the hotel is "Enge" train station.
Annamaria's nice personal touch, her welcome postcard.
At the Ascott Hotel lobby
Lunch at the Moroccan Cafe nearby with Luke.
Murphy came and have a chat with us.
Taking a stroll at Paradeplatz after lunch.
Up at Jules Verne Panaromabar.
You can have a good view of the city from high up here.
Old part of the city.
Lematt River
Another view along the river.
Zeughauskeller Restaurant.
Annamaria had arrange dinner for us at this restaurant.
Food is good here.
Michelle Poretti and Dirk de Nil had join us for dinner that was arranged by Annamaria. After dinner, we took the tram back to our Hotel which is a mere 5 minutes ride away. Not having enough sleep during the flight and having to adjust to time difference, we had an early night.
Back to our hotel after dinner.
4.7.13 Thursday . Visiting Zurich's Corporate Centre at Mythenquai.
Zurich being a centrally driven organisation with hundred years of proven track record, numerous international clients, many of them prestigious names and have trusted Zurich's as an insurer for decades. With such reputation and so much history, a mere visit to the Headquarter in itself is an honour. The building itself is historical and we are in awe just to be within the premise.
We arrived in the morning, on hand to greet us was Michelle Poretti, Head of Agents Development and Monica Bronner from the Corporate Archives. After a few warm greetings and introduction, Monica took us on a tour of the grand old building and gave us a brief from the design to the historical perspective. The building is a symbol of Zurich powerhouse. All policies, guidelines, policies, controls radiate from this building. It certainly is fascinating. After a tour around the building, we were introduced to Mr. Thomas Inglin, the Head of Library and Corporate Archives. The entire Zurich's history is kept alive by this one man who have the passion and had collected a wide array of Zurich's historical parapherenalias that span few hundred years. The library and archives can actually be turn into a big Zurich museum.
Getting ready to walk over to Zurich Headquarter.
Zurich Corporate Centre at Mythenquai. Such an imposing building with so much history.
Taking a tour around the building.
Monica explaining to us the history of the building.
There are a few other Zurich buildings annexed to the Headquarter.
Sweeping staircase in grand old traditional design.
Michelle Poretti and the visiting Malaysian team.
Must have one by myself.
Steven too is a sucker for old buildings.
Thomas Inglin relating many Zurich's history.
He can too tell you the many secrets in the history of Zurich by the many artifacts.
Some of the numerous old signage of Zurich.
Having a feel of the organisation's history is as important as classroom lectures. The Headquarter's visit is essentially for us to have a feel of the deep history of Zurich before going through the grind of Zurich's policies and direction. That starts at Austrasse, the Head Office of Zurich GI. That's where we were headed for our afternoon session.
The shuttle that transfer us to Austrasse.
Zurich building at Austrasse.
Yes, a picture here is mandatory.
The session at Austrasse starts with Annamaria Fato who gave us an overview of Group Marketing and the Zurich brand. Later, Patrick Cohen dwell on Marketing and Customer Focus Initiatives, an area meant to help /support sales for the agents community. We adjourned for lunch with Patrick at the company's cafeteria. It is a nice, clean and elegant looking cafeteria with good range of food. Ivor then came in for the afternoon session and shared with us the SME segment. Being a Malaysian, his understanding of business peculiarities is a big plus to us. The session continues with Stephan on CMT and by the time Daniel Coll came in for his Social Media & Campaign for agents, we were already on information overload. Throughout the whole day session, Michelle and Annamaria were involved as well. Both were kind enough to take us for dinner on board the ship that cruise around Lake Zurich. It was a good way to end the whole day learning session and the 2 hour cruise around the lake with BBQ dinner on board was certainly the highlight of the day.
While waiting for Michelle and Annamaria,
we took some photos with us at the home office.
Waiting for food to be served on board the ship.
forgot what this lovely dish was.
Beef Medallion, done medium well.
Relaxing outside and enjoying the cool breeze.
View from the boat.
Michelle and Annamaria were great hosts.
Annamaria missed Malaysia
The cruise ship we took.
5.7.13 Friday Learning from Swiss BU.
Our program today will be a day of learning from the Swiss Business Unit. It is located at Thurgauerstrasse 80, Zurich. We had arranged for a mini van to pick us up from the hotel and transfer to the office there. Michelle was already there to greet us and led us upstairs for a look around before the start of the session. At 9.00 am sharp, Michelle himself started off the briefing by sharing the Italian experience on tiering and segmentation. Beat Meier and Daniel Gutt was next to brief us on SME in the Swiss BU. There appears to be some similarities in the agency business between Malaysia and Swiss. We were surprised to note that relationship is also important over here and some issues back home are the same here. Christoph Baerfuss came in after to let us in on the Ready Approach. Patrick Kueung, the Regional Sales Head hosted lunch at the office private dining room. After lunch, we paid a visit to Toni Laurino, an agent whose office is located at the same building to see the operation from the agents perspective. It was a good break from the classroom learning, but after the visit, we were back to the training room. Enrice and Bilal was on hand to share with us the Russian experience. Specifically, we discussed the tiering system and the monitoring tools and their KPI. That last topic was really an interesting one as it dwelt into some issue Zurich face and how it slowly brought things under control. There is a learning thing here. We were exhausted by the end of the day but was looking forward to the Zurich Fest in the evening.
Swiss BU, Thurgauerstrasse 80, Zurich.
Toh feeling very relaxed.
So is everyone.
It's all smiles before the session starts.
Nice void area within the building structure.
Michelle Poretti getting ready to start the session.
We're all just as ready.
Waiting for our van at the end of the day. Note that no more smiles.
Zurich Fest begins today, 5.7.13.
What we learn is that today is the beginning of a three day festival in Zurich call the Zurich Fest. It is hosted only once every three years and boy, aren't we lucky to be here. Right when we fish our learning, the Zurich Fest starts! Annamaria whose heart is in Malaysia had offered to take us out. She had arranged to take us for dinner at a quaint restaurant at the old part of the city. We met at the same place near the lake but could see that people were already streaming in and converging around the lake to enjoy the fest. The walk to old town was quite a distance, but you don't feel it as people are walking everywhere feeling upbeat. We walked along the lakeside and turn off towards the bridge and headed for the old part of the city. Soon, we were walking along the back alley which was not only beautiful, but full of activity. Restaurant Neumarkt where we were headed for was tucked way in one of those back alley around the bend, a lovely place for a rendezvous. Immediately, we all like what we saw, truly a secret hideout kind of place.
Fun fair equipments have been set up for the fest.
Along Mythenquai
Air of festivity is just starting.
Some rail games.
People starts streaming in.
They converge around Zurich Lake.
We walked from the lake to the old part of the city.
and into the alleys.
Restaurant Neumarkt in inside the alley
That's another restaurant just before ours.
Yes, this is like a secret hideout.
They don't look hungry.
Looking through the menu
and that's some of what we ordered.
beef is a must, it's succulent.
Good food.
Always ordering more than normal.
Cheers.
Cheers to you too.
Good place to rendezvous.
a view of the restaurant just outside.
That's our restaurant.
It's around the bend,
at the back alley.
Good to walk after dinner.
The number of people have visibly increased dramatically
Large crowds are everywhere as we walked out from the narrow alleys.
It's hard to distinguished tourist from the locals.
but looks like every Swiss is out tonight.
Military band in the mixed.
Never be without a sausage.
A pee using the toilet facilities of this hotel cost CHF 2.00 ( RM 7.00 )
Limmat River
Taking a pause here.
A good place to stop for a drink.
Just take any empty seats.
Best seat in the house!
Not every seat is hot.
Play of light on old buildings along Limmat River.
Hi there.
Fun fair stall
More stalls
Watching the firework at 10.00 pm.
Back to the hotel at 11.00 pm
Large crowds coming this way as tram station is just next to the hotel.
It was another fulfilling day that literally ends with a bang.
6.7.13 Saturday A day off for some sightseeing.
It's the weekend and Daniel had arranged to visit his mother at Lausanne. We would tag along and had planned to drive there with a stopover at Bern for some sightseeing. After breakfast, we checked out from our Hotel, took a cab to Europcar Rental, collect our cars and drove towards Bern. Bern is a short 130 km away and takes only an hour and half to reach. It is the capital of Switzerland but it's the medieval city that exudes charm that is unrivalled elsewhere. The old city is surrounded by the Aare River and is a Unesco Cultural World Heritage Site. Walking around the old streets takes you back in time. The only modern structure is the tram service and a handful of souvenir shops. We spent some time walking around and soaking in the old charm and observing the locals buying produce at the open market.
We make a quick pit stop here for a pee.
That's where we parked our car at Bern old city.
The first view of the old city as we walked in.
Nicely parked motor cycles had our attention too.
Taken off the poster. The bridge at the foreground is where we came in from.
Local tourist.
Medieval buildings.
Vintage car feels right in this city.
There are over hundred public fountains in Bern.
This statue with sword in one hand represents truth. The scale on the other hand represents fairness. This is the fountain of Justice.
The street facing the landmark clock tower.
The Zahringer Fountain. Berchtold von Zahringer is the founder of Bern. The statue is a bear in full armour and a cub at his feet. The bear represents the bear that he shot on the Aare peninsula as he was searching for a site to build a city. Bern means bear in German.
Unique tricycle.
I did a "check in" on my facebook here and it tells me this is the clock tower at Zytglogge. It's also a medieval structure.
Sia with the Swiss National Bank at the background.
Steven can't resist buying the strawberries at the open market.
What else is he buying ?
Yes, look on. The produce is fresh.
Lovely flowers for sale.
The cameraman goes about doing his job intensely.
This is where you can open a private account.
Unique motorised pedal vehicle.
Well served by tram service.
In case you have extra time and money, this is where you can go to.
The Saturday market at the back street.
Always having things to munch.
Walking out of the town via the back street
It's the place where locals come for their groceries.
Everything is nice and fresh.
This local do not buy anything here.
Cheese anyone.
Slicing your ham in thin slices.
A busker doing his thing.
Cool air and sunshine. It's nice to be outdoors.
Arcade at the old city.
Crossing the Aare River on the way out.
Just need to enjoy the sight on more time.
This is one of the most liveable city on earth.
Cannot get enough of it.
Yes, a picture on the bridge for memory.
It was about a kilometer away when we had a flat tyre.
The other side of the road.
There's nothing to do but wait.
and have our lunch !
That's the kerb where the tyre hit.
At last, the tow truck came.
Very professional.
One man's job.
It's a big service centre, but they do not have the tyre for our car!
Some of us had to take a train to Lausanne.
And that's the time we had wasted, from 12.00 pm to 4.15 pm over one flat tyre that could not be fixed.
Waiting for the train.
The train passing through the countryside.
It's a nice and refreshing change.
More countryside scenery.
and more.
We had some of our own entertainment, Russian Poker.
Soon we're almost there, that's Lake Geneva.
The train stop at the Lausanne station.
And we make our way out of the station.
The cab outside the airport is waiting for passengers.
We got into the first one and was soon on the way to the hotel.
That's Novotel Hotel, where we had prior reservation.
As soon as we arrived, Daniel and Steven too arrived 10 minutes later after collecting the replacement car. They only have the manual version, it's Alhambra.
We took a good rest at the hotel. An hour later, we were ready to leave for dinner. Daniel had arranged for his mum to have dinner with us at 7.00 pm. We could not have wish for a better venue. The restaurant is located at the vineyard on the hillslope overlooking Lake Geneva. Beyond the lake is Evian, France. Lake Geneva or Lac Leman as the local call it is shared between France and Switzerland and is the biggest lake in western Europe. We drove up the narrow winding road up the hill and stopped at Relais de la Post, a restaurant with good view and good food. We had some of the best food served, enjoyed the view of the vineyard that overlook Lac Leman and could see Evian and Crans Montana over the other side of the lake. The vista from here is fantastic and we enjoyed from evening sun till dusk and until the night lights were switched on. That to me is one of the best place on earth to dine.
Tricky parking the car on the slope with manual gear on your right and no handbrake.
It's slopier than the picture shows.
Relais de la post; that's our restaurant.
Even though it's just after 7.00 pm, the evening sun still shines brightly.
Vineyard on the foreground and Lac Geneva at the background.
Nice restaurant.
Daniel's mum happy to meet us again. She was in KL earlier this year.
Like it here.
View of neighbouring properties from the restaurant.
Fantastic vista.
Spacious restaurant.
Another angle of the restaurant dining area.
Gives you an idea where we are.
View with flowers at the ledge.
Satisfied look from Liew.
Satisfied look from Toh.
Let's start with some wine first.
Cheers.
Evian is on the other side of the lake.
Can't get enough of this view.
" I was there" kind of pose.
Crans Montana is on the upper left and Evian is on the lower right of the mountain over the lake.
It's two...
Wonderful steak.
Medium rare redone to medium well.
That's better.
It's dusk.
Then the lights are switched on.
That's how long we dine there.
It was a long day. By the time we got back to the hotel, we had a drink and call it a night.
That ends our official trip to the Zurich home office. This first part of our trip that started on 4.7.13 had taken us to three Zurich's office, the Corporate Centre at Mytheuquai, the GI Head Office at Austrasse and Swiss Business Unit at Thurgauerstrasse. In between, we had interacted with about 20 senior personnel during their briefings which gave us tons of insights on the way Zurich operates. We appreciate the time they spent with us during the learning visit.
They are as follows :
5.7.13 Friday Learning from Swiss BU.
Our program today will be a day of learning from the Swiss Business Unit. It is located at Thurgauerstrasse 80, Zurich. We had arranged for a mini van to pick us up from the hotel and transfer to the office there. Michelle was already there to greet us and led us upstairs for a look around before the start of the session. At 9.00 am sharp, Michelle himself started off the briefing by sharing the Italian experience on tiering and segmentation. Beat Meier and Daniel Gutt was next to brief us on SME in the Swiss BU. There appears to be some similarities in the agency business between Malaysia and Swiss. We were surprised to note that relationship is also important over here and some issues back home are the same here. Christoph Baerfuss came in after to let us in on the Ready Approach. Patrick Kueung, the Regional Sales Head hosted lunch at the office private dining room. After lunch, we paid a visit to Toni Laurino, an agent whose office is located at the same building to see the operation from the agents perspective. It was a good break from the classroom learning, but after the visit, we were back to the training room. Enrice and Bilal was on hand to share with us the Russian experience. Specifically, we discussed the tiering system and the monitoring tools and their KPI. That last topic was really an interesting one as it dwelt into some issue Zurich face and how it slowly brought things under control. There is a learning thing here. We were exhausted by the end of the day but was looking forward to the Zurich Fest in the evening.
Nice conference room with floor to ceiling glass panels.
Zurich Fest begins today, 5.7.13.
What we learn is that today is the beginning of a three day festival in Zurich call the Zurich Fest. It is hosted only once every three years and boy, aren't we lucky to be here. Right when we fish our learning, the Zurich Fest starts! Annamaria whose heart is in Malaysia had offered to take us out. She had arranged to take us for dinner at a quaint restaurant at the old part of the city. We met at the same place near the lake but could see that people were already streaming in and converging around the lake to enjoy the fest. The walk to old town was quite a distance, but you don't feel it as people are walking everywhere feeling upbeat. We walked along the lakeside and turn off towards the bridge and headed for the old part of the city. Soon, we were walking along the back alley which was not only beautiful, but full of activity. Restaurant Neumarkt where we were headed for was tucked way in one of those back alley around the bend, a lovely place for a rendezvous. Immediately, we all like what we saw, truly a secret hideout kind of place.
It's about 9.00 pm, but still bright.
It was another fulfilling day that literally ends with a bang.
6.7.13 Saturday A day off for some sightseeing.
It's the weekend and Daniel had arranged to visit his mother at Lausanne. We would tag along and had planned to drive there with a stopover at Bern for some sightseeing. After breakfast, we checked out from our Hotel, took a cab to Europcar Rental, collect our cars and drove towards Bern. Bern is a short 130 km away and takes only an hour and half to reach. It is the capital of Switzerland but it's the medieval city that exudes charm that is unrivalled elsewhere. The old city is surrounded by the Aare River and is a Unesco Cultural World Heritage Site. Walking around the old streets takes you back in time. The only modern structure is the tram service and a handful of souvenir shops. We spent some time walking around and soaking in the old charm and observing the locals buying produce at the open market.
The traffic was heavy when we headed out of Zurich.
The Aare River caught our immediate attention, it's distinctively greenish.
They have the same thoughts as well.
After about two hours of strolling around, we had to leave. Our plan was to head for Lausanne where Daniel had arranged for us to have lunch together with some of his family members. As luck would had it, whilst on the way out of the car park, one of our car hit a curb and immediately had a flat tyre. That incident unravelled the entire service process chain that leaves us stranded and having to find our own solution. We didn't know that the Tourag do not have a spare tyre, and upon checking our rental papers, there was no helpline number. The car rental company in Zurich was of no help as they do not have any more cars. We called the tow truck company from the sticker on the windscreen. It took them almost an hour to arrive. They just tow the car to a huge Volkswagen sales and service centre. It was a confidence booster to see such centre as our problem would be over. But no, they did not have the tyre that fits the car. It's Saturday after 2.00 pm and all shops are closed. The big service centre did not offer any further help, the tow truck operator job is done and he leaves to attend to another call. We were left to find our own solution. After several back and forth calls, Daniel manage to get a replacement car from Lausanne and had to be there before the office closes at 4.30 pm. We load as much luggage as possible to the other car where Daniel and Steven would drive to Lausanne and get the replacement car. The rest of us had to to lug the remaining luggage and took the train to Lausanne. We will all meet up at the Novotel Hotel where we had planned to stay for the night.
Next to it is an Audi service centre.
We took a good rest at the hotel. An hour later, we were ready to leave for dinner. Daniel had arranged for his mum to have dinner with us at 7.00 pm. We could not have wish for a better venue. The restaurant is located at the vineyard on the hillslope overlooking Lake Geneva. Beyond the lake is Evian, France. Lake Geneva or Lac Leman as the local call it is shared between France and Switzerland and is the biggest lake in western Europe. We drove up the narrow winding road up the hill and stopped at Relais de la Post, a restaurant with good view and good food. We had some of the best food served, enjoyed the view of the vineyard that overlook Lac Leman and could see Evian and Crans Montana over the other side of the lake. The vista from here is fantastic and we enjoyed from evening sun till dusk and until the night lights were switched on. That to me is one of the best place on earth to dine.
then it's four.
That ends our official trip to the Zurich home office. This first part of our trip that started on 4.7.13 had taken us to three Zurich's office, the Corporate Centre at Mytheuquai, the GI Head Office at Austrasse and Swiss Business Unit at Thurgauerstrasse. In between, we had interacted with about 20 senior personnel during their briefings which gave us tons of insights on the way Zurich operates. We appreciate the time they spent with us during the learning visit.
They are as follows :
1. Barbara Kunert Senior Communications Specialist GI
2. Beat Maier Head of Corporate Clients Bern, Central and North Switzerland.
3. Bilal Mughal Manager, ICON
4. Christoph Baerfuss Head of Sales, Private Customers.
5. Daniel Coll Marketing Communications, Global GI.
6. Daniel Gatti Head of Small Business, Commercial Business and Brokers
7. Dr. Enrico Autizi ICON
8. Ivor Tham Head of Small Business Segment Development.
9. Monica Bronner Corporate Archieves
10. Marie-Sophie Teyssier Global Center of Expertise Leader-Brand Group Marketing
11. Jason Egresits Global Marketing Services Leader, Group marketing.
12. Peter Pfeifer Global Center of Expertise Leader, Brand Insight, Group Marketing
13. Peter Cohen CMO & Head of Customer Office
14. Stephan Britschgi Group IT
15. Thomas Inglin Corporate Archives.
15. Thomas Inglin Corporate Archives.
16. Patrick Keung Regional sales Manager, Zurich
17. Tony Laurino General Agent
Special thanks to Dirk De Nil who took time off to get to know us during the welcome dinner at Restaurant Zeughauskeller. Not to be missed, Luke met us with his boss Murphy and we had a good chat at the Moroccan cafe next to Ascott hotel. Most appreciated is the effort by Michele Poretti and Annamaria Fato that put the whole program together and spend their entire time with us facilitating that program. In particular, Annamaria has that extra love for us and exudes warm and ensure that we would not missed out on anything Zurich. She is a great and special friend and we would love to see her in Malaysia again.
The trip had everything for us, a great learning experience, good company, great people and good friends. We will return home with a sense of pride to be part of this great organisation. Most importantly, we will be the flag carrier for Zurich back in Malaysia.
