Digitalize the Public Sector

Anja, give us a brief overview of your main responsibilities at msg!

I advise and coach the management in everything related to “New Work”. The focus is on vision development for new forms of work and organization with a special focus on the employee perspective. This includes fields such as new leadership, teamwork, collaboration, competence development, user-oriented processes, self-organized work as well as flexible work locations and hours.

My goal is to work with management to develop and establish new work concepts that are custom designed for government agencies and construct them so they are deeply rooted to last into the future.

What was your first day of work at msg like?

My first day was the msg Start Day that was hosted for all new employees that month at the headquarters in Ismaning. The Start Day gave me a really good overview of msg as a whole and I felt very welcome. I also met another new colleague whom I knew from before since we had both had the honor to participant in the biannual division workshop that had been previously hosted.

After the Start Day, my superior made a special trip just to meet me and we were able to sit down together on my second day so he could give me all the information I needed to start my job.

What is so unique about your team?

My team is (still) relatively small with just seven people. What I really like about it is that we (just like everywhere else across msg) all have different professional and academic backgrounds. Meaning, everyone is able to bring their own methods, approaches and experiences to the table. We have a lot of discussions and exchanges and everyone is happy to help everyone else out. Although we are spread across Germany, which can make things a bit more difficult than when you see one another every day, there are so many different virtual formats that we are able to work together without a problem.

Matthias, what is your background and what is the focus of your work at msg?

I successfully completed my degree in administrative sciences with an emphasis on public management back in October 2006. I have worked as an IT consultant for customers in the German-speaking public s ector for more than 13 years – especially at the federal government level. My many years of experience have spanned a wide range of organization, IT design and implementation projects. In recent years, the projects I have been a part of on behalf of government ministries and public companies have allowed me to amass extensive knowledge in the fields of e-government, organization and process consulting, requirements management, project planning, project controlling and bidding process support.

What was your first day of work at msg like?

My first day at msg was in Ismaning on 07/01/2015 – a summery day with temperatures that climbed above 100 Fahrenheit. The first day was organized as a Start Day, where I was able to obtain a very good overview of the company in a workshop-like environment and where I was able to get to know my new colleagues in person. I was given an inside look at the group of companies and it was absolutely overwhelming. At the time I applied for the Public Sector division, I was not aware that the msg group consisted of so many business units and subsidiaries. Their portfolio is extremely broad for an IT consulting company. That was the day I joined a company where I still really enjoy working.

You have been with msg for more than 5 years, what has kept you there?

After working as a management consultant for American and French-led companies, I received an offer from msg in 2015 to help them develop a new business field. I immediately got the feeling that the job was tailor-made for my personal development. At the time, the division had six employees. Today - more than five years later - it has over 80 employees. Looking back, time has flown by, but the dynamics have lasted. Compared to my earlier employers, my work is always appreciated and I always feel like I am making a positive contribution to the company. This positive feeling makes me look forward to the years ahead with msg; years that will be innovative for me.

What are your main jobs?

As an e-government consultant, I advise and support the public sector in the realization of modernization and digitalization projects. Public institutions hire me to provide a variety of consulting services in the field of e-government: From creating business concepts and analyses to traditional requirements engineering and project management, as well as the full preparation, execution and support of public commissioning for IT solution procurement.

What made you choose IT consulting?

I studied political science with a focus on law and politics. During my studies, I focused specifically on administration modernization and e-government, and even wrote my master’s on it. I wanted to take my theoretical knowledge and apply it in practice to drive modernization and digitalization in the public sector. That is why msg systems ag and thus IT consulting, were the right step to making my goal a reality.

How often does your position require you to travel and how often are you on-site at customer locations?

Many of my tasks can be done when working from home or the office. In my position, however, travel is part of the job. It also depends on where you live. Unlike some of my colleagues who spend a few days a week at customer locations, I tend to travel more for workshops and regular meetings. Although it varies depending on the customer and project assignment.

What are your main responsibilities at msg, Andreas?

As a software architect, I am involved in large, complex IT systems that we create or further develop for customers. I analyze the technical challenges, design technical solutions and support our developments teams in the implementation of the software. What I find particularly appealing is that I am always working at different levels of abstraction, starting with the code itself – mostly in Java or Spring – to technical models in Enterprise Architect and even PowerPoint presentations for decision makers.

What made you choose the Public Sector division?

Before this, I spent ten years working for private business. What I like about Public Sector is that it is less driven by trends and acute market demands. Instead, this is long-term thinking and topics like security and robustness play key roles, as does profitability, of course. That is true not just of the software, but for the job itself too: As a father, having a secure, one-hundred-percent crisis-resistant job is important – good pay is too.

Where are you headed on your next vacation?

I have been dreaming of traveling across the USA again for a long time. The last time I did that was 20 years ago when I graduated from college. Then came the kids and I have not had another chance since. Now, however, my boys are grown and do not need the constant care of their parents – making it the perfect time to savor our new-found independence!

Florian, tell us about your career path and your main job at msg.

I joined msg’s Public Sector in 2011 as a lead business consultant, but with a definite understanding that I would quickly assume customer and staff responsibility as well. After just nine months, I was head of the Public Sector Solutions Consulting department. I have been the head of the Smart Government and Local Governments division since 2017. Within that role, I am in charge of team and staff development, as well as of the acquisition of new orders.
My current focal point is developing msg’s Smart City portfolio.

What has kept you at msg for so many years?

One of the reasons I feel so comfortable at msg is that it is an owner-managed and self-financed company that enables long-term development and sustainable planning. What I really love about my job is all the creative freedom I am given and the high degree of individual responsibility: in how I do my work as well as in when and where I do it. Flexible hours and the option to work from home are the norm at msg allowing me to perfectly balance my job and my personal life.

And how did you end up at msg back in the day?

I was first introduced to msg by a former boss who had recently joined the company. When he asked whether I could imagine switching to his team I leaped at the chance.

Janina, what is your core job?

Under the online access act, all administrative services must be available online by the end of 2022. For many German states, this is being accomplished through digital application forms that can be processed by the administrative offices without media disruptions. Along the lines of requirement workshops, I design initial prototypes and support customers from start to go-live. Within that framework, I oversee all tasks that have to be performed before acceptance. We document requirements, draft test cases and recommend barrier-free and user-oriented designs.

What has been your biggest success in your time with msg to date?

My biggest success was the launching of forms under the Infection Protection Act in the spring of 2020. We were able to present the customer with initial prototypes in a matter of days and were able to launch them within weeks. It is one of the most-used services in the German state we provided the digital form for.

What do you really appreciate about your work?

Driving digital transformation in the public sector is a job with a “purpose”. The digital services provided as part of our projects make a real contribution to ensuring community services are available online.

What is your main job?

I have been with msg as an associate business consultant since November 2019.

I am currently working as PMO in a project with ITZBund, the federal IT center of Germany, and am assisting a project manager with his daily work. This includes the organization and hosting of regular meetings with project members, task tracking using Jira and coordinating service providers. My tasks also include taking minutes at meetings and managing project members, including their IT equipment. Office, know-how management, task tracking and, of course, conference tools are my daily companions here (especially PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Project, Jira and Confluence).

What do you really appreciate about your work?

Interactions with my msg colleagues as well as with customers are extremely positive and there is a sense of trust. I also appreciate how diverse my daily work is, which gives me a broad perspective, especially as a young professional.

Where are you headed on your next vacation?

This summer, I plan to take my car and rooftop tent and head to Norway. To Trondheim at least – the further north, the better! :-)

What is your role at msg?

As an associate business consultant, I am in charge of the topic of enterprise architecture in Public Sector.

In my day-to-day work, I not only deal with architectures, but with the topics of process management, requirements management and organizational structure. As part of that, I analyze processes and requirements, which are documented, enhanced and integrated into concepts.

What was your first day of work at msg like?

Because of COVID, I only made a brief appearance at the msg location in Munich in order to get my work equipment up and running allowing me to work from home after that. All other information and introductory events were done remotely. Smaller group discussions helped me get to know other new colleagues, just like it would have been during an official in-person Start Day.

What do you really appreciate about your work?

In consulting in general, and at msg in particular, I like the diversity and advanced education opportunities. msg also offers recreational options, such as yoga classes or internal events and lectures, which I myself really appreciate since I like sports and connecting with colleagues.

What is your primary job as an AI consultant?

I provide content and business advice as part of AI projects in the Public Sector division. On the one hand, this involves the elicitation of the requirements for AI projects and the drafting of ways and solution approaches for making AI applications transparent and feasible on the other.

What are the most important topics of tomorrow for IT companies like msg in your opinion?

With AI projects, we are seeing that existing topic silos, such as work processes, digitalization, data management, technical infrastructure, etc., need to be better synchronized. In addition, the constantly growing pressure to innovate requires interdisciplinary solutions that are hard to map out using the organization models of ten years ago. We have to create agile organization models. That is why, in addition to topics such as agility, DevOps and big data, which remain important, I think the following are key topics of the future:

• Change management and digitalization
• Interdisciplinary and cross-functional team building
• People-centric solution approaches
• New development approaches for new technologies with cognitive elements
• Data management and data ethics
• Innovation spaces for research and development

What personal items would we find on your desk?

I always have a few sticky notes and highlighters. For quick ideas, the window always comes in handy. When I work from home, my launchpad by novation and my Komplete Kontrol M32 by Native Instruments are always there with me, just waiting for me to bring my musical ideas to life with Ableton.