Image generated with AI
The demands on the public sector are growing. Digital sovereignty, resilience, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence must be considered together. This requires more than individual technologies and projects. The key is that digital services work end‑to‑end: from the network that securely transmits information, through infrastructure and platforms, to the concrete application. This is exactly where we at Telekom step in. We support the federal government, the states, and the municipalities with a holistic solution portfolio. From secure connectivity to cloud and security solutions to digital platforms and AI‑powered applications. For these building blocks to deliver their value, they must work together and be usable across responsibility boundaries.
Today, AI assistants support employees in administration, for example with research, creating texts or analyses. The next development stage goes further: AI agents can take on clearly defined tasks and collaborate with humans. In the future, multiple agents can jointly handle more complex processes. Humans set goals and rules, monitor results, and remain responsible where decisions have legal or societal consequences.
The potential is great. For AI assistants, productivity gains of 20 to 50 percent are being discussed, and for agent teams even significantly higher effects are expected for suitable processes. However, such advances do not arise solely from new software. They require that processes are examined and deliberately designed for the collaboration of humans and AI.
AI applications place new demands on networks. Large volumes of data must be securely transferred, data centers and cloud services reliably connected, and digital administrative services kept available. Depending on the application, speed, low latency, and a reliable connection are equally important.
Therefore, networks need to become smarter and more powerful. They should steer data streams according to demand, take different requirements into account, and be able to better absorb failures. Secure fixed and mobile networks connect government authority sites, data centers, cloud platforms, and mobile workplaces. In this way, they are an active part of the state’s digital capability: only when the connection works reliably can infrastructure, platforms, and applications realize their potential in everyday life.
In the federal state with the federal government, 16 states, around 11,000 municipalities, and numerous subordinate authorities, the challenge is not to find a single platform for everyone. The key is to create shared infrastructures and platforms that meet the different responsibilities while still enabling cooperation.
If data is secure and available under clear rules, it can be used more effectively across organizational boundaries. This creates the basis for linking administrative services and using AI meaningfully. This requires common standards, interoperable solutions, and the willingness to share successful approaches together, instead of repeatedly building new silo solutions.
Telekom can leverage its expertise and its partner ecosystem: thereby secure connections, high‑performance technical foundations, and digital applications together help make administrative services simpler and more reliable.
The decisive lever lies in rethinking workflows and using the possibilities of AI sensibly. A successful transformation requires strategic leadership and concrete use cases from the departments. Equally important is that employees understand how AI changes their work, where it provides support, and where human responsibility remains. AI transformation is therefore a task for the entire organization. It connects technology with administrative modernization, leadership, and the daily work in the administration.
Citizens should not notice at municipal, state, or jurisdictional borders how complex public administration is organized. A concrete measure of progress would be to be able to complete a change of residence simply and digitally, regardless of whether someone moves from Paderborn to Berlin, from Berlin to Munich, or from Munich to Hamburg.
When a person can complete their registration via an app in a few clear steps, it becomes immediately apparent that public administration works better digitally. For this, the networks, the shared infrastructure, the platforms, and the core procedures must work together end‑to‑end. Telekom can leverage its expertise and its partner ecosystem so that secure connections, high‑performance technical foundations, and digital applications jointly contribute to making administrative services simpler and more reliable.
