How do you digitize an entire country?
Artificial intelligence and digitalization are transforming not only businesses but also public administrations. But how can new technologies be used responsibly? And how can we strike a balance between innovation, security, and digital sovereignty? In the third episode of “shift – Das Signal im Rausche”, Balz Zürrer speaks with Fabian Schmid, Director of the Liechtenstein Office of Information Technology, about AI in government, new ways of working, and the technological future of an entire country.
From major international corporations to state government
Fabian Schmid has been working at the intersection of business, technology, and transformation for many years. Prior to his current role, he held international management, digital transformation, and project management positions, including at Credit Suisse and Holcim.
Today, he heads the Office of Information Technology for the Liechtenstein Government. What particularly fascinates him about this role is the extraordinary breadth of the requirements: While companies often focus on specific products or business processes, a country’s IT department must provide solutions for numerous different agencies and subject areas. The spectrum ranges from cross-departmental identity and access services to specialized applications.
This diversity brings with it a high degree of complexity. At the same time, Liechtenstein’s manageable size makes it possible to implement selected solutions in a focused and relatively quick manner.
AI Needs Focus, Not Endless Lists of Ideas
New AI models, applications, and tools are appearing at ever-shorter intervals. For a smaller organization, it is neither practical nor possible to keep up with every development in real time. Fabian Schmid therefore describes the Liechtenstein government as a kind of “smart follower”: it observes which approaches prove successful, selects suitable elements, and then implements them in a targeted manner.
The focus is on specific use cases. Instead of compiling ever-longer lists of potential use cases, individual solutions should actually be implemented and evaluated for their benefits. The key factor is whether a process can be made more efficient, a task can be better supported, or a new service can be made possible.
Simply providing a license is not enough. Employees must be supported, trained, and introduced to the new possibilities through concrete examples. The implementation of technology and changes in work practices are therefore inextricably linked.
Work Will Change
For Fabian Schmid, it is clear that today’s jobs in IT and administration will be transformed by AI. It is not so much a matter of jobs disappearing entirely. Rather, tasks, roles, and the required skills will shift.
This shift is already particularly evident in software development today. In the future, developers may write less code themselves and increasingly take on the roles of orchestrators, quality assurance specialists, and technical translators. Requirements, architecture, security, and the interpretation of results will remain central to this process.
Even outside the field of computer science, employees will have to learn to work with AI and further develop their own roles. For Fabian Schmid, it is important that people not only observe this change but also actively help shape it.
“It is important that everyone understands that change is taking place and that people must and can be part of that change.”
Fabian Schmid
Head of the Liechtenstein Information Technology Office
Digital sovereignty is not a simple either/or question
Another key topic of the discussion is digital sovereignty. For public administrations in particular, the question arises as to which data and applications can be operated in the cloud and which require special protection.
Liechtenstein uses Microsoft 365 as its collaboration platform. Confidential and classified information, as well as key line-of-business applications, are, however, hosted in the country’s own data centers. In this way, the national government pursues a differentiated, risk-based approach that is guided by the level of protection required for the respective data.
For Fabian Schmid, switching to open-source solutions would not automatically be cheaper or more secure. In addition to the applications themselves, factors such as integration, maintenance, support, security, and training would need to be taken into account. Instead of a single provider, numerous different contractual partners might be required. The discussion therefore cannot be reduced solely to licensing costs or the origin of a technology.
Digital sovereignty is therefore ultimately also a strategic and political decision. It has value, but it requires appropriate investment and a realistic assessment of the operational consequences.
Listen to the third episode of “shift” now
The interview with Fabian Schmid offers practical insights into the digital transformation of public administration. It covers the responsible use of AI, the selection of specific use cases, changing job roles, as well as the cloud, open source, and digital sovereignty.
The third episode of “shift – Das Signal im Rauschen” is now available on Spotify and YouTube.
