Ralph Haupter, chairman of the board of Microsoft Deutschland and area vice president international
Interview with Ralph Haupter, chairman of the board of Microsoft Deutschland
German IT sector is a hidden champion
ITN: “Just how competitive is Germany in the global IT realm?”
Ralph Haupter: “In Germany, the IT industry is a ‘hidden champion’. Its meaning is often undervalued. How many Germans know, for example, that we are the fourth largest exporter of software and IT services? In addition, the IT industry provides a high level of research and development, and is more dynamic and more innovative than many other branches of industry. By international comparison, there are better conditions here for establishing high-tech firms. Other German businesses will be in a position to profit if and when we finally get a real internal market for digital services. But to accomplish that we will need both a secure and a flexible legal framework for ITK technologies in Europe.”
ITN: “What do you think about the current state of the sector and its future prospects for the next three or four years?”
Ralph Haupter: “In the past few years, we have already seen great development within the IT sector, better even than within the general economy, and it has proven to be far stronger, even during the crisis. The IT industry is an important, independent economic factor as an ‘enabler,’ or driver of other sectors: As a cross-section technology, the IT industry has become indispensable, especially to Germany’s showcase industry, the automotive sector. Over 40% of Germany’s growth can be traced back to IKT – especially software and IT services. And its importance for the economy at large will only become greater in the coming years. The number of people employed by the industry, as well as the gross value it adds, is expected to almost double in the next 20 years.”
ITN: “What does CeBIT mean for Microsoft Germany?”
Ralph Haupter: “It has enormous significance: CeBIT is the perfect forum to meet with our clients and our customers, from the endusers to our business partners. We are in a great position to present our new solutions and our visions for the future here. This year’s CeBIT motto, ‘Managing Trust,’ is a great platform for the sector, especially in terms of inspiring new debates in how to introduce new technologies to society. End-users and business customers expect our sector to assume much of the responsibility for introducing new technologies and solutions. Our well-honed concept of corporate technical Responsibility has already generated a great approach to being able to work with leading members of society to find answers to the most pressing questions posed to us by increased digitalisation, especially in the realms of data protection, security, access and transparency.”
ITN: “What are some of the highlights of your presentation going to be this year?”
Ralph Haupter: “The motto for our CeBIT presentation this year is ‘Microsoft Heartbeat – The Power of Design.’ Whether you are talking about new devices, cloud computing or the consumerisation of IT: The key to the most important trends in IT lies in access. In this atmosphere, design – and we are talking about the interface with the user as well as the interactions with various applications, systems and tools in the background – is going to play a huge roll. With the ‘Metro-Tile Design,’ Microsoft created its own design language, one that remains consistent from Windows Phones to the Xbox 360 to the coming Windows 8 to tablets and PCs. Our fair presentation emerges from this design approach. Without a doubt, one further highlight is Microsoft’s digital city, which we are presenting at CeBIT for the first time. We want to show exactly how innovative our approaches are and how modern our IT is, especially with regard to cloud computing. We are going to make our cities and communes more efficient, more people-friendly and more attractive in an economic sense. We simulate real processes in a city format, and people will have a chance to try it out for themselves.”
ITN: “What are your goals with the project ‘Germany: a Republic of Chances?’
Ralph Haupter: “IT innovations do not just create economic growth; they can also solve societal problems: a greater levelling of the field of opportunity through individual education, a better work-life balance through more flexibility at the workplace, a simplification of burdensome administrative processes or qualitatively high-valued and more efficient medical care. But the new opportunities offered by new IT technologies have to be both used and promoted. This is the place where our initiative begins: with ‘Germany: a Republic of Chances.’ We are going to be starting more than 30 pilot projects over the next three years. This pilot projects show, in a concrete fashion, which societal changes can be sped up or advanced with IT. At the same time, we want to create a new culture of innovation, one that brings together the economy, society and politics and which strengthens Germany as a whole.”
ITN: “What are the next future projects to come out of Microsoft Germany?”
Ralph Haupter: “What we can say at the moment is that we are building upon our activities in cloud computing. That means all aspects of cloud computing, everything from functionality to data security and the reduction of potential downtimes to legal questions such as data protection and the private sphere. In a concrete sense, that means, among other projects, we are working with Dynamics NAV this year to create an ERP solution you can use from the cloud. Beyond that, we are working to make our new standardised compliance regulations for Office 365 applicable to additional cloud services, something we announced last December.”
ITN: “Mr. Haupter, thank you for speaking with us.”
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