vfTalk 2026: Premiere for the Dynamic Process Bridge

On Friday, September 18, 2026, we participated for the first time in the vfTalk 2026 of the Virtual Factory – at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW in Brugg-Windisch, and even with our booth. For a company that defines itself more by projects than trade fair appearances, this was a conscious step: out of the familiar customer circle, into direct exchange with a broader professional audience.

The focus was on the Dynamic Process Bridge – the Innosuisse project we are developing together with the FHNW. The goal is AI-supported process orchestration between existing systems – from data integration to decision-making. Instead of viewing systems in isolation, the Dynamic Process Bridge connects existing system landscapes so that information flows seamlessly and decisions are supported where they occur. The numerous conversations at the booth, the targeted inquiries, and the consistently positive feedback confirmed what was already emerging in the project work: System integration and process orchestration are current topics that many companies are dealing with – especially in connection with the rapid development of AI. Everything must become more efficient, faster, and simpler, while simultaneously reducing error tolerance. Processes play a major role in this – if not the main role. The BPM Pulse Survey 2026 by BearingPoint and BPM&O also confirms this finding: 83% of companies already see process management as business-critical today, and 42% have been using generative AI in process management for some time.

After networking at the table fair, the event continued in the lecture hall with a topic that currently leaves hardly any marketing and sales departments untouched: the influence of AI on sales and marketing – today and in the coming years.

Stephan Sigrist opened with four guiding questions that framed the afternoon:

• What effect does AI have on us as humans and our culture?
• With what effect does it already generate world-class output today?
• How can this effect be understood – and how do we best use it in sales & marketing?

A strategic framework made it clear: It's no longer just about individual tools but about business models, positioning, and the culture of value creation as a whole.

Rados Djokic demonstrated using HP's own «AI for Workforce» approach how concrete this already looks today: on-device agentic AI combined with cloud AI frontier models – secure, responsive, and cost-efficient. Using the example of an account plan, it became apparent how many work steps – from market research to CRM maintenance – are already taken over by AI, while the human-only reviews and approves: four hours of manual work per customer thus become a short review step, a tangible example of how generative AI moves from hype to measurable benefit.

Pascal Blank showed in the deep dive how data, segmentation, and AI make sales and marketing measurably more efficient. Using the principle «One Signal. Three Contexts.» He explained how the same customer signal – such as a repeatedly viewed product – must lead to different reactions depending on the context: orientation for new customers, a suitable offer for existing customers, or help with an open service case. At the execution level, he pinpointed the division of roles: the system calculates, the AI interprets, and the human implements – only in interplay does the «growth engine» emerge.

Sophie Hundertmark dedicated herself to AI visibility. Her central thesis: AI affects the entire customer journey, not just the beginning – the effect is most expensive in the consideration phase, where the shortlist is created. At the same time, she pointed out a paradox: declining click numbers do not automatically mean less success, because those who come via an AI chat are often already pre-decided and convert better. Therefore, the relevant metric is not the traffic but the question of whether and how a company is mentioned by the AI at all – a simple self-test allowed this to be tried out directly on site.

Four different perspectives, a common denominator: AI is not only changing how marketing and sales work but increasingly also where and through what companies are still visible at all.

The vfTalk 2026 was for us a successful mix of innovation, concrete practical examples, and valuable networking. The presentations by Sigrist, Djokic, Blank, and Hundertmark consistently demonstrated: AI is changing sales and marketing not at the periphery but at the core – from the division of roles between system, AI, and humans to the question of where and how companies are even visible. This is exactly where the Dynamic Process Bridge comes in: It ensures that the systems from which this division of roles derives its data – often historically evolved, nested process landscapes – can communicate with each other in the first place, the prerequisite for AI to reliably support in everyday life. For us, the day was therefore also a first assessment of how the Dynamic Process Bridge is received by a broader professional audience. The next vfTalk is already in sight: we hope to be able to show the use case of Lastech AG with the Dynamic Process Bridge live in action there.