Nico Rimmele
Customer Cluster Finance
The alarm clock of the nation
There is no worse feeling than being woken up by an alarm clock in the middle of a dream. You’d love to fire it against the wall if it wasn’t your beloved smartphone. Does anyone still own a classic alarm clock today? And that brings us to the point. Even the alarm clock is nothing more than a default setting on our phone these days, so why are there still so many areas of public life that haven’t been digitized?
Nico Rimmele sees himself as the nation’s alarm clock. As a passionate snooze-pusher, he certainly understands why Germany would like to sleep a little longer, but through his work at virtual7, he tries to bring the potential of digitalization closer to authorities and customers and finally wake Germany up.
What exactly is your job at virtual7?
At the moment I’m in Hamburg working for the customer ITZ Bund, which is the information and technology service provider for all the authorities in Germany. Ultimately, what we do is record all the customs data, i.e. everything that comes in and out, in databases and access these source databases. The data is then enriched with other information. My part in this is then to write three Java applications that record tax and customs data. These are used by users, i.e. at customs or tax, to research what was imported by whom and shipped by which company. Overall, our work allows cases to be processed more quickly and makes them more secure at the same time.
How does your work help the customs or tax authorities to become more digital?
When I started and currently, these are very old applications that are used in this area. We are now in the process of completely rewriting them. It quickly became clear that a new program was needed. I then persuaded the internal developers, convinced the team management and now we have been working on the new development for just over a year. Roughly speaking, these are applications for evaluating data.
There are three applications in total: a fallback tool that should only be used if the others are not available. A tool for customs, which can be used to carry out criminal checks, for example. And another is intended for the area of taxes, where the focus is on processes such as tax audits. In principle, these are search tools, but customs naturally searches for different data than the tax authorities, so you need a separate application for each.
What do you enjoy most about this project?
For me personally, it’s the architectural design. It’s just cool to have the chance to redesign it all. It’s important to me that everything is easily expandable. That’s important to me in terms of the customer. If we can implement all the advantages over the old applications, i.e. if the processes run faster and are easy to maintain, I can walk away from this project with peace of mind. When the point comes when I leave the project, I can look back and say: That’s where I started, now the customer can develop much better with it, is perhaps in a much better position thanks to our work, then I know that we have done a good job. Then I also know that I am leaving something behind that the customer can build on if necessary. In the best case, I have improved the customer and their knowledge of new technologies and architectures.
What motivates you? What are you particularly good at?
What I’m good at is talking diplomatically with customers, but also with people in general. I can say that I’m good at getting through to people. Convincing customers that their technologies and processes are simply too old can sometimes be a challenge. But the more time I take, the better it works. It’s simply important for me not to make an emotional and hasty decision, but to think about how I can shake them up and convince them. That’s the only way we can all benefit.
Has Germany fallen asleep on the road to digitalization?
In my opinion, the path to digitalization is only just beginning. But we are not yet an active part of it. Take a train or drive on the highway and see what your cell phone reception is like. Take a trip through Switzerland, where you sometimes drive through mountains and valleys, Austria, France, you always have reception. Network coverage and broadband connections are simply not worth mentioning in Germany. We may be far ahead of other European countries economically, but when it comes to digitalization, we are clearly not. Most of the processes at the authorities are outdated and people there work with old programs. It’s simply time to take a step forward, but many are stuck in the past. This is exactly the point to shake them up and say: “Hey, you’re doing your job better, faster, easier.” I try to help them take a step further with my work. But at the moment, I don’t really see that Germany could be in a pioneering role.
What could be the reasons why other European countries have overtaken us?
Germans love pen and paper. And security is always an important aspect. It is simply important to show that security can be guaranteed despite digitalization. There is a much greater focus on data protection in Germany. On the one hand, this slows things down, but on the other hand, it’s good that so much emphasis is placed on it in Germany. You just have to somehow manage to teach people that one does not exclude the other. We can become more digital and faster without letting data protection fall by the wayside. The perception of digitalization is wrong. We simply have to work on communication when it comes to this topic.
We are shaping Germany’s digital future. What does that mean for you?
This is a good vision, we have to fight our way forward in order to actively participate in shaping it. We have the opportunity to convince and open eyes to show how things can be optimized. Germany needs a digital future and we can definitely make a contribution to this. And that’s great.
If you could change one thing about digitalization, what would it be?
As I said, a lot of things actually fail because we don’t have a decent internet connection or network coverage. The best example due to corona is that many people are working from home and many are already having problems. If I want to access a customer’s desktop and work from home, it’s clear that either the customer’s or my internet connection is super slow. On business trips, for example, when we’re on the train, you want to do some work and the internet connection is down. You always have to make sure you can do something offline. And that’s where it would start for me if everyone was provided with an Internet connection and if Germany-wide network coverage could be guaranteed.
What is the most important thing about digitization?
I understand that some people believe that paper is more secure. You get the feeling when you hand someone your completed form that only they can see the data. But the reality is different. In some cases, of course, the forms are scanned by the authorities and forwarded to five other offices. Better safe than sorry, of course. I wouldn’t write on Facebook that I’m not at home for eight weeks, but in my opinion you can’t put government processes on the same level as social media. I would be so happy if I didn’t have to run to the authorities and wait for my appointment with dozens of other people. Sometimes I don’t understand this headwind. Digitalization takes a lot of work and time off your hands and makes everything more convenient.
Do you have any hope that this can be realized in the next few years?
Of course, I still have hope. I think more can happen with the development of 5G and the allocation of network rights. In any case, most providers have recognized the problem. Hopefully, politicians will not make the same mistakes again. In the past, the costs for granting rights were simply far too high and therefore it was not as lucrative to expand the network as it is in other countries. I am convinced that the next generation of politicians will be those who have grown up with these things. No longer the ones for whom the phone is the thing hanging on a string.
About the artist
Mario Turiaux
“As far back as I can remember, drawing and painting has always been one of my favorite things to do. I completed my first commissions while I was still at school and university and have been officially self-employed as a graphic designer and illustrator since graduating.
What began what felt like an eternity ago with pencil, paper and ink and led to countless flyers, posters and album covers is now almost completely digital. The switch to working digitally on the iPad has also changed the way I work. But what I always need to draw is good music and strong coffee, or vice versa.
Basically, I don’t necessarily consider myself an artist who uses his craft skills to make a career. Behind all the motivation to bring colorful images to life on paper is actually the DIY ethos. This freedom and individualism is a key component of everything I do and is certainly influenced by the aesthetics and lifestyle of the 70s in California, 80s movies, punk rock and skateboarding.
In my work there is often a great wealth of detail in the foreground, or rather in the background, which sometimes ties me to the digital drawing board so much that I can lose myself in the subjects and often have to slow myself down so as not to spend 6 hours painting the leaves of a palm tree.
You can usually find me in the Aachen area, where I live with my wife and two daughters. I feel just as comfortable with friends near a table tennis table as I do at concerts or flea markets. Without a trucker cap, I’m naked.”
