Mark Lohweber, CEO of adesso SE
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Who will be Germany’s Chief Digital Officer?
The new Ministry for Digital Affairs is an important step and the correct one. The resources and powers which it will have are crucial to its success – but above all, everyone must pitch in.
The coalition agreement has been finalised and, for the first time, Germany has a digital ministry. This is a good move and initial reactions have been consistently positive. However, it is not yet clear what powers, responsibilities, and enforcement options this ministry will actually have, so it would be premature to commend the decision.
The idea of establishing digitalisation within a separate organisational unit has long been known and practised in the business world, where instead of being the Ministry of Digital Affairs, it is managed as a separate department by a Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Far too often, however, this role has made little difference because the CDO, while being responsible, does not have much to say. Counter examples, where a CDO was able to really make an impact, have one common denominator: authority to set policy through clear specifications for digital goals, budget sovereignty over important projects and, last but not least, a direct link to management.
Mark Lohweber is CEO of adesso SE. (Source: adesso)
These are precisely the levers the new Ministry for Digital Affairs needs if it is to make a real difference. Otherwise, two negative effects could occur at once. Firstly, a ministry without real responsibilities could become a dumping ground for digitalisation projects. And secondly, it may quickly become an excuse for others not to take their own digitalisation initiatives so seriously, given that the new ministry is responsible for digitalisation. However, Germany now needs exactly the opposite: a ministry that can set clear guidelines for digitalisation in other departments, that decides on the digital budgets of those departments, and that bundles and modernises central IT infrastructures. And which, above all, has a direct line to the Chancellor and receives their backing.
At the same time, it is also clear that digitalisation cannot be delegated, neither to a department nor to a ministry. The importance of digitalisation is so great that everyone has to pitch in. This is part of the basic attitude of a successful company – or a successful administration. A ministry for digitalisation is an important symbol in this respect. What is crucial, however, is what is stated at two other points in the coalition agreement: “We are making the state the anchor customer for the digital economy and want to prioritise private IT service providers to strengthen digital sovereignty” and “We want to develop Germany into a strong digital hub with a strong digital ecosystem – from start-ups and SMEs to tech giants.”
The right way is when the state not only makes digital policy, but also acts digitally itself and relies on the best local partners. It is not a digital ministry that will determine Germany’s digital success, but whether we finally start putting things into practice: in every department, in every government agency, and in every project.
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Communications Manager Nils Roos +491704406148 nils.roos@adesso.de