On the website RP Online, Lothar Schröder has dealt with the topic of maturity in a digital world in the column "God and the World". Many people are enthusiastic about using new technologies. Digitalization not only opens up new horizons for the economy, but also changes everything in our private lives. Suddenly it's possible to talk to your grandmother on the other side of the world on Skype and show her on the screen how happy you were to receive her birthday present. Because not only the boys, also many older ones are often inspired by the new technologies and possibilities. Nevertheless, there is a certain scepticism about digitalisation among both young people and the older generation.

The year 2018 is almost over and we are pleased that we can finish this year - thanks to you - so successfully. We achieved our strategic goals for 2018 earlier than planned. 110 nations were scheduled for the end of the year - we could reach them in July. Also, our planned 3,333 project managers certified according to IAPM standards were reached in November. Since this year, our standards have been officially recognised by the Procurement Office of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and IAPM-certified project managers can now also manage federal projects.

On the Scope online platform, Hans Thalbauer comments on the topic of automation, gives his views on industry 4.0 and shares how he sees the ERP legacy today and in the future. After 18 years working for SAP, Hans Thalbauer is very familiar with these topics. Today, as Senior Vice President, he is responsible for everything to do with the Internet of Things and the digital supply chain. What's special: He recognizes current movements and trends from the perspective of a manufacturer and user at the same time.

Stephan von Gündell-Krohne is DACH Sales Director at ForeScout Technologies and is responsible for ensuring that technical integration and networking do not disrupt operational processes. Security in the context of new IT concepts plays a decisive role for him. On the online portal Searchsecurity.de he explains why security is so important and why it still falls by the wayside in many places. He has some ideas on how to overcome the fact that security does not become a brake on innovation. In the following articles we summarize his thoughts. Stephan von Gündell-Krohne works according to the principle that networked devices must not interfere with operational processes.

Almost all states of the world are joined together in the United Nations (UN). As a global organisation, this intergovernmental association is a subject of international law. Upon accession, the UN member states undertake to act in accordance with the UN Charter. World peace and international security must be maintained and better, amicable relations between states developed. In addition, international cooperation is to be established to jointly solve global problems and promote human rights.

Are you looking for the right project management software to digitise your company? Then you should first consider that each project is unique and that different tasks have to be accomplished. Furthermore, different people with different knowledge work on these projects and can apply different project procedures and methodologies. If you consider this, you will quickly notice that the solutions for project management work support cannot lie in "one" software solution. No, from email clients to spreadsheets, from software-as-a-service solutions in the cloud to database-driven multi-project portfolio solutions. Everything can be project management software. The only important thing is that you find the right solution or solutions for you.

In the online magazine Focus Money, guest author Alexander Burstedde writes about digitisation and its consequences for Germany. He explains his thesis, according to which there will be some losers, but in the end the general public will be the winner. As an employee of the Competence Center for the Securing of Skilled Personnel at the Institute of the German Economy, he experiences on a daily basis how companies struggle with digitization, accept the challenge but are also sometimes disillusioned and give up. Nevertheless he is convinced that the change in the economy is good and right and that it will bring enormous advantages for the general public. In the following article we give you a summary of his contribution "There will be losers in digitisation - but in the end it benefits us all".

We congratulate Beatrice Monique Rich and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Woll from the Chair of Quality Management at the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus for their module "Project Management". The BTU Teaching Prize is awarded once a year to university lecturers in recognition of their exceptional commitment. Modules are proposed by students and lecturers. Subsequently, the selected modules will be presented to a jury in a public university presentation and evaluated according to defined criteria. The module by Rich and Prof. Dr. Woll stood out from three other nominated modules and convinced the jury.

The page "Online PM Courses" by Dr. Mike Clayton offers various courses on the topic of project management, including traditional and agile project management. In addition to these courses, a lot of information and materials are available on this site for those interested in project management. Especially worth mentioning are the short videos "Project Management in under 5". Dr. Clayton explains relevant project management topics in less than five minutes. These videos are published monthly and are ideal for getting an insight into a specific topic. For those project managers who prefer to read rather than watch videos, the site provides a number of articles.

Guest article by Julian Knorr, IAPM Network University Official and founder and board member of Onestoptransformations: At the age of 24, my school days were not too long ago. Nevertheless, I grew up in a school system in which there was a very clear distribution of roles: the "knowing and older teacher" explains to the "younger and untaught pupils" topics and facts which the pupils (mostly without questioning this at all) should regard as given and internalise. This system is basically the same for further training in (traditional) companies: Younger employees are trained by older managers (classical hierarchy system) and the knowledge is imparted top-down. In addition, experienced coaches and trainers are engaged to give the teams additional knowledge and new impulses.

The project management standards and methods of the International Association of Project Managers (IAPM) are recognized by the Procurement Office of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior: In the public tender of the Procurement Office of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior for "Consulting and Support Services for Project Management", the competitive tendering procedure were published. The tender is divided into three lots: Individual project management, large-scale and multi-project management as well as project management of security-relevant projects.

You may have heard the term blockchain in connection with Bitcoin, for example - but what role can the use of blockchain play in normal companies? Is this a technique that project managers have to deal with? In recent years, project management has been shaken by many new developments, techniques, strategies and methods. Some novelties establish themselves, others go down in the history of management as nice attempts. So what is blockchain technology, what does it have to do with project management and is it worth dealing with this phenomenon? In the modern economy, cost reduction, increased efficiency, transparency and digitization play a decisive role.