Nettetal, a municipality in the western part of North Rhine-Westphalia, a federal state in Germany, near the Dutch border, is driving digital transformation in public administration to address growing skills shortages and reduce the burden on employees. Together with T-Systems and UiPath, the town introduced a secure, GDPR-compliant automation and AI platform built on UiPath from the T Cloud Public, enabling the implementation of digital services, software robots, and intelligent automation within the legal framework and with minimal effort for the small IT team.
Nettetal is a town of approximately 43,500 inhabitants in Germany, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, directly on the Dutch border in the district of Viersen. Known for its numerous lakes and extensive forests, it is a popular recreational destination for residents of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region. The town was established in 1970 through the merger of several smaller municipalities and takes its name from the River Nette, which flows through the area.
Like many municipalities, Nettetal’s officials must respond to a growing shortage of skilled professionals in public administration. A significant number of employees are expected to retire by 2030, while very few young workers are entering the field. Studies predict that hundreds of thousands of administrative positions may remain unfilled. The pressure is increasing in Nettetal, as elsewhere. What’s the solution?
“We have taken up the challenge,” said Thorsten Rode, Head of Municipal IT, “and we are consistently embracing the opportunities offered by digi talization to address the anticipated skills shortage and ensure the town continues to function effectively.”
While other towns are still discussing, Nettetal is already implementing. The town has been working on its digital transformation for years, with more than 100 digitalization projects already completed. During this period, Nettetal has successfully established a digital, employee‑centric culture: its 580 employees understand the potential of digital tools and actively support the transformation. In November 2025, the City of Nettetal received Bronze recognition in the Digital Award at the KOMMUNALE public administration trade fair in Nuremberg for its GDPR-compliant digital portal, which utilizes open-source technologies and artificial intelligence (AI). This achievement highlights the city's commitment to digital innovation and modernization.
The AI portal, which uses large language models (LLMs) from T Cloud Public, enables employees to assist citizens more quickly and more precisely with their requests. It clearly demonstrates the benefits of applying AI in everyday administrative work. However, according to Rode, the AI portal’s development journey is far from complete. “As an IT team, we want to work with the e‑Government team to leverage the potential of automation, low‑code solutions, and AI for our colleagues in the specialist departments.”
Many administrative processes in a town involve regular bank transfers from citizens and businesses, ranging from property taxes to childcare fees for kindergarten services. Nettetal processes around 4,000 tasks each year that require SEPA direct debit mandates to be entered or updated in the SAP system. The administration teams receive these requests through various channels, phone, post, email, or the web portal. “If we assume an estimated processing time of just 10 minutes per task, this results in around 650 working hours each year. Altogether, this represents a significant time saving that can help when hiring new staff,” said Rode.
Manually transferring data into the SAP system is not only inefficient, but also monotonous and error‑prone, certainly not a preferred task for administrative staff. “It lends itself perfectly to automation to reduce our colleagues’ workload. Software robots can complete the transfer much faster and more easily,” explained Rode. The town was looking for a partner to support the implementation of the automation platform and to transfer its expertise to their small IT team as a part of an initial automation project. The platform also had to be sovereign in the long term, meaning secure technology, compliant data privacy, and simple, user‑friendly operation suitable for a compact, but capable IT team.
Rode first spoke with T‑Systems at the Smart Country Convention. They later deepened their exchange at a strategy workshop with North Rhine‑Westphalia’s local governments in 2025.
“With UiPath from T Cloud Public, T‑Systems offers a unique service in the German market: a leading automation platform with extensive options, including AI, operating on Germany’s leading sovereign public cloud,” said Rode. In September 2025, Nettetal decided to use UiPath as a managed cloud service for its automation initiatives.
Working together with T‑Systems’ automation experts, the town developed a SEPA software robot that automatically transfers submitted data to SAP. The robot was completed by early 2026. The project operated cross‑functionally across various departments—reflecting Nettetal’s standard approach. “We can only achieve the best results when everyone involved works together,” said Rode.
T‑Systems is responsible for operating the automation platform and automation services, allowing the IT team to focus entirely on the town’s digitalization roadmap. Through the joint project, Nettetal’s IT experts gained their own automation skills, which they plan to apply in their next automation initiative starting in the first quarter of 2026.
We have no choice but to industrialize administrative work as well. Using automation from the sovereign cloud and having access to T-Systems’ external expertise is the ideal solution in our situation.
Thorsten Rode, Head of Municipal IT, Nettetal
From 2026 onward, 400 employees with PC workstations in the administration office will benefit from automating the frequently used SEPA standard process. “We’re not just making plans; we’re implementing solutions that genuinely make a noticeable difference to our colleagues,” said Rode.
The UiPath platform also opens up many additional opportunities, including the use of AI for intelligent automation. UiPath from the T Cloud Public provides Nettetal with a tool that enables it to expand automation while meeting stringent legal requirements such as data‑privacy regulations. It establishes a future‑proof foundation for reducing employee workload and ensuring effective municipal operations despite the predicted skills shortage.
At the same time, new digital tools create development opportunities for employees beyond traditional administrative tasks. Staff can now actively contribute ideas and identify further processes that could be optimized using robotic process automation (RPA).
T‑Systems offers a unique solution in the German market: a leading automation platform delivered from a sovereign cloud. Additional benefits include hands‑on knowledge transfer to build internal skills while developing the first SEPA software robot. T‑Systems works collaboratively with customers and encourages them to drive digitalization within their administrative areas. Strong IT expertise and a culture of co‑creation play a decisive role. Leading positions in studies such as the ISG Provider Lens for intelligent automation further underscore T‑Systems’ competence.
