Insider criticism: Why the government was quite wrong with its digital strategy

It sounds like fundamental criticism: "Our central recommendation to the federal government is that Germany needs a digital strategy worthy of the name." This is what the advisory board of the executive's bits-and-bytes roadmap, together with the federal government's DigitalService, wrote in its final report after around two years of work. The focus was on critically monitoring and assessing the 19 lighthouse projects named in the strategy. These range from ecosystems for mobility data and digital identities to the electronic patient file (ePA) and the digital battlefield to software modules for administrative services based on open source. However, according to the insiders, there is only one lighthouse needed in the future: "A target image that provides orientation and bundles ambitions."

The digital strategy presented by the government in late summer 2022 "is not yet a strategy", explains Advisory Board member Ann-Cathrin Riedel. The few months that the executive alone had to draw up the plan were far too short. The future executive should no longer regard digitalization as a side issue, as it is the basis for administrative transformation.

The report, which will be published on Wednesday, goes on to say that "concrete, measurable measures should be formulated based on the required "bold" target image and underpinned by transparent indicators". These should then be "developed, prioritized, interlinked and translated into realistic implementation plans". Furthermore, "robust mechanisms for evaluation and adaptation" are needed.

Success stories are rare and not universal

"A digital strategy can only be successful if there is a clear steering body," emphasize the Advisory Board and DigitalService. This must "be able to act across departments and be equipped with a central digital budget" that serves as a central compass. The implementation of digital projects should be in the hands of specialist organizations, as "expertise in IT, project management and agile methods" is not sufficiently available in the ministries. So is there a need for an explicit digital ministry? Everyone has their own opinion on this, says Riedel. Alexander Rabe, Managing Director of the eco Association of the Internet Industry, is another member of the advisory board who emphasizes that the required authority should not be a discussion group. What is needed is a strong, competent, coordinating unit "that must take responsibility".

Christina Lang, head of the DigitalService, complains that the added value for users was sometimes not clear in the previous lighthouse projects, on which the 2023 Advisory Board has already published separate reports. In some cases, the creators were unable to state from the hip who the target groups were supposed to be. She considers the parental allowance calculator and the family assistant to be success stories. However, it remains to be seen whether these will still be funded next year.

In addition to the justice project for online civil law procedures, the experts also praise the foreign portal for digital visa applications. However, Stefan Heumann, Managing Director of Agora Digitale Transformation, points out that even here a mistake is typical. For example, everything had to be presented to the local immigration authorities on paper once again, as the Federal Foreign Office had not driven the initiative forward together with the Ministry of the Interior and the federal states. The Department for Digital Affairs and Transport drew a more positive conclusion in its 2nd progress report on the digital strategy.

(fds)