State Capital Potsdam Trusted advisor for the cloud strategy

Potsdam is the capital of the German state of Brandenburg and also its most populous city, with just under 190,000 residents. Situated on the Havel River southwest of Berlin, it is one of the prosperous municipalities in the metropolitan area. Neighboring districts are Spandau and Steglitz-Zehlendorf. Potsdam features castles, parks, and an important city center, and it is also known as the former residence of the Prussian kings.

The state capital Potsdam plays an exemplary role in the public sector when it comes to creating a powerful IT infrastructure, digitizing specialized processes, and implementing maximum IT security. This primarily benefits the citizens, who gain reliable and stable IT-supported services. At the resolute instigation of the mayor, the municipality took up the task of partially transferring IT infrastructure components to the cloud, among other things. The goal is to ensure fail-safe systems as well as to maximize flexibility, efficiency, and cost transparency in e-government processes. To expedite the digitization process, the city administration put together a strong team of six digital advisors, who take a leadership role in implementing the cloud transformation. “It is important for the cloud initiative to correspond closely to our business and organizational objectives. The digital advisors contribute their in-depth expertise to reliably achieve this goal,” explains Mathias Horezky, who is responsible for the cloud project as Team Leader of IT Infrastructure and Service for the City of Potsdam

The team led by Mathias Horezky went looking for an expert consulting partner to optimize the IT architecture in general and develop a cloud strategy in particular. Fujitsu and Potsdam had already enjoyed a close and trusting partnership for many years with respect to various software and hardware topics. Following a tendering process, the municipality decided to bring Fujitsu on board as a trusted advisor for the consulting project, based on this proven collaboration. “Our goal was to strengthen the e-government department by providing a carefully planned cloud strategy,” Mathias Horezky remembers. As part of its consulting service, Fujitsu conducted a series of customized and interactive workshops together with the City of Potsdam. In the workshops, the participants – consisting of digital advisors, IT experts and representatives of divisions and specialist departments – defined precise cloud objectives and developed clear guidelines for the future as well as comprehensive packages of measures.

"With Fujitsu, we developed a sound cloud strategy in only nine weeks. Based on the practical recommendations for action, we can customise our future cloud projects,” remarks Mathias Horezky. The innovative workshop format offered a suitable platform for pinpointing the participants’ specific needs and requirements in a lively discussion. “With the aid of Fujitsu’s consulting expertise and strategic approach, we have laid the foundation for our IT landscape’s long-term flexibility and efficiency and are fully equipped to meet the digital challenges of the future,” says the IT manager in conclusion.