ZDNET German government is too dependent on “single software providers”, but changing that will be difficult and costly.
A study commissioned by the German interior ministry has confirmed what many critics have long argued: the German government is too dependent on Microsoft software.
Germany’s ministry of the interior asked management consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, to produce a “Strategic market analysis on reducing dependence on single software providers”.
SEE:Ā Digital transformation: A CXO’s guideĀ (ZDNet special report) |Ā Download the report as a PDFĀ (TechRepublic)
In theĀ 34-page document released yesterday, researchers conclude that “at all levels” the German government is “strongly dependent” on very few software providers.
And that is particularly true for Microsoft, whose Office and Windows programs are running on 96% of public officials’ computers.
This dependence results in “pressure points in the federal government, that work in opposition to the government’s [stated] strategic IT goals,” the report notes. Concerns about information security at Microsoft could “endanger the country’s digital sovereignty”.
That observation is not new. The German administration’s dependence on Microsoft has already come in for plenty of criticism, most recently this summer, when ministersĀ agreed to extend contracts with Microsoft to 2022.