Unions and opposition politicians echo this sentiment: Labor union ver.di warned of a “high workload” and “insufficient training,” while Kianusch Stender, the Social Democratic Party’s regional spokesperson for digital affairs, argued the rollout was rushed and poorly prepped because of “time pressures,” technical shortcomings and a lack of consultation.
“Employees, representatives from the justice and police departments reported limited workability, missing functions, incompatible specialist applications and a high level of additional effort in their daily work,” said Stender.
For Schrödter, the lesson to be learned is this: “The challenge in making the switch is not that the solutions are not available, but mainly the question of political will to take responsibility,” he said, calling on Berlin to follow suit.
Indeed, the German federal government also started trying sovereign alternatives to power its day-to-day operations, including trialing the openDesk platform — a solution the ICC turned to after ditching Microsoft.
Amsterdam’s cautious exit
Some 400 kilometers west, in a country that once laid out the red carpet for Big Tech, Amsterdam is plotting a similar yet more cautious escape route. Mindful of the risks exposed in Schleswig-Holstein, the city’s plan was devised by former Deputy Mayor Scholtes and is set to be implemented by a new city council elected in late March.
“They did it just, like, overnight,” observed Scholtes of his German counterparts. “We are going to make mistakes, we are going to have some struggles, but at the same time, when we start doing things, we do it in a responsible way,” he said, making clear the Dutch capital is in no rush to rip out its American systems.