Reichstag building
Reichstags building

An eye on the future – How Germany’s public sector can master digitalisation.

Germany is in the midst of a critical digitalisation phase. Never before have expectations of modern public administration been so high, and never before have the risks posed by cyber attacks, geopolitical tensions and technological dependencies been so palpable. Today, the state’s ability to act depends directly on stable and secure IT structures.

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While citizens expect services to be available at all times – applications submitted and documents accessible online – many authorities continue to grapple with decades-old systems and infrastructures, standalone solutions, a lack of standards and high maintenance costs. Added to this are an acute shortage of skilled IT workers and the growing threat of cyber attacks. The result? A mounting pressure to act and rising expectations from the public.

It is not about developing everything yourself or excluding international providers. Rather, sovereignty encompasses a range of competencies
friendly officials in the administrative office

Digital sovereignty as a guiding principle.

In this complex situation, one concept is coming to the fore – digital sovereignty, or the ability to make autonomous decisions about data, systems and technologies and to control dependencies. It is not about developing everything yourself or excluding international providers. Rather, sovereignty encompasses a range of competencies – from data location, key ownership and portability to interoperability, transparency and control. At Bechtle, we see digital sovereignty not as a fixed destination, but as an ongoing journey – one that organisations can actively shape. It’s not about isolating ourselves technologically, but about designing robust architectures. Sovereignty manifests itself where organisations have freedom of choice, can demonstrate robustness and prove their resilience in times of crisis.

friendly officials in the administrative office

Digital sovereignty as a guiding principle.

In this complex situation, one concept is coming to the fore – digital sovereignty, or the ability to make autonomous decisions about data, systems and technologies and to control dependencies. It is not about developing everything yourself or excluding international providers. Rather, sovereignty encompasses a range of competencies – from data location, key ownership and portability to interoperability, transparency and control. At Bechtle, we see digital sovereignty not as a fixed destination, but as an ongoing journey – one that organisations can actively shape. It’s not about isolating ourselves technologically, but about designing robust architectures. Sovereignty manifests itself where organisations have freedom of choice, can demonstrate robustness and prove their resilience in times of crisis.

desk full of papers

Principles of sovereign administration.

These three principles – freedom of choice, robustness and resilience – form the foundation of a digital administration that performs its tasks with confidence while remaining open to innovation. Public authorities need the freedom to choose technologies and providers based on their needs. They require systems that work reliably even under pressure. And they must be able to quickly resume operations in an emergency. A state data centre that can maintain critical services within a few hours of a power failure using backup capacity demonstrates robustness. A local authority that develops its specialist procedures in a modular and standardised manner demonstrates freedom of choice. And an authority that regularly conducts restart exercises embodies resilience – not just on paper, but in practice.

Four key challenges.

Public administration today faces four particularly pressing challenges.

Firstly, entrenched structures. Over decades, specialist processes have been developed individually – often at great expense – which are difficult to integrate and rarely reusable. At federal and state levels alone, several thousand such processes run in parallel.

Secondly, speed. Political expectations and societal needs are evolving faster than traditional IT projects can be implemented and the Online Access Act has impressively demonstrated how wide the gap is between ambition and progress.

Thirdly, security. Cyber attacks on public authorities are on the rise. In 2024, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) recorded more security-related incidents than ever before.

Fourthly, the shortage of skilled workers. Estimates suggest that public administration is currently lacking tens of thousands of IT experts.

Steven Handgrätinger

Voices from the field.

As tasks become more complex, the importance of reliable partners increases. Steven Handgrätinger, Head of Public Sector at Bechtle, emphasises: “For us, digital sovereignty is not just a buzzword, it’s a mission. It means enabling public authorities to design their IT in a way that allows them to make independent decisions—whether that’s changing platforms, operating critical systems or integrating new technologies. It’s not about creating an either/or scenario between national and international solutions, but about ensuring freedom of choice.”

Citizen on the platform with mobile phone

The building blocks for a digital Germany.

The solution does not lie in a single large-scale project, but in a set of building blocks in which the individual components fit together seamlessly. Secure networks and connectivity create the basis for reliable operation and mobile workplaces enable flexible collaboration – whether in the office, on the road or at home. Low-code and no-code platforms accelerate the development of new specialist procedures and reduce dependency on external providers. Cyber security solutions protect against attacks and guarantee the ability to act. Multi-cloud strategies combine flexibility with sovereignty by keeping data and workloads portable. Resilience solutions ensure that systems are quickly available again even in the event of a crisis. And artificial intelligence opens up new possibilities when integrated responsibly. Only the interplay of these building blocks creates a modern, efficient and sovereign public administration.

Citizen on the platform with mobile phone

The building blocks for a digital Germany.

The solution does not lie in a single large-scale project, but in a set of building blocks in which the individual components fit together seamlessly. Secure networks and connectivity create the basis for reliable operation and mobile workplaces enable flexible collaboration – whether in the office, on the road or at home. Low-code and no-code platforms accelerate the development of new specialist procedures and reduce dependency on external providers. Cyber security solutions protect against attacks and guarantee the ability to act. Multi-cloud strategies combine flexibility with sovereignty by keeping data and workloads portable. Resilience solutions ensure that systems are quickly available again even in the event of a crisis. And artificial intelligence opens up new possibilities when integrated responsibly. Only the interplay of these building blocks creates a modern, efficient and sovereign public administration.

Reichstag dome

Looking to the future.

The coming years will determine whether the digital challenges in public administration can be overcome. Register modernisation, the implementation of the Online Access Act’s successor, new cloud strategies and the increasing use of AI present great opportunities, but also equally great risks. Digital sovereignty provides the compass, ensuring that new technologies empower rather than create dependencies. The building blocks are in place, the principles are clear. Now it is time to apply them consistently – consistently, collaboratively, and with a clear focus on security, resilience and citizen-centric services.

Would you like to learn more about digital sovereignty with Bechtle?

Then visit our information page for lasting, sovereign IT architectures that protect your data.

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