Analysis of the CID FRAMEWORK

Germany is obviously considered a 1st world country and is looked at as an economic super power, (part of the G8 super industrial countries). In order to stay ontop and be a world leader, Germany constantly needs to invest money in Information Systems and Telecom networks.

   Here is where Germany lies within the CID framework:

Network Access:

Germany is by far in the stage 4 section of their Network Access. The internet has changed people’s lives dramatically in Germany. In February 2000, 15.9 million or around 30 percent of the population between the ages of 14 and 69 used the internet. Most popular form of internet connections are ISDN lines, which homes, businesses and schools currently use. DSL or Broadband are still too new and expensive of a concept for them. 11.5 percent of private shareholders avail themselves of on-line brokerage services. Leading provider is T-Online, which holds 8.6 million subscribers.

Network Economy:

Germany’s future economic and social development depends to an increasing extent on its innovation performance. Today, research and development-intensive industries account for more than half of all industrial production in Germany. Germany, once again positioned in the Stage 4 in their network economy. Business-to-business e-commerce is slightly more common. Both e-commerce segments are growing, however, and the German government is eager to see e-commerce take off to energize the economy and provide jobs in the face of high unemployment. EITO 2002 predicts that B2B revenues in Germany will rise 76.9 percent to reach €388.6 billion in 2005

Network Learning:

With Germany using the more popular and cheaper ISDN lines in their schools and universities, more and more classes are being taught “virtually.” Currently 559 academic institutions and universities are connected to the internet. In the meantime extensive R&D into expanding the network further and obtaining transmission rates in the terabit realm has commenced. Germany is not standing still, they want to push Europe into moving forward, faster. However, most of these facts are coming from the what was the West German side. East Germany still is behind with many of these networks. So to speak, Germany is in Stage 4 of the CID framework of Network Learning.

Networked Society:

Definitely in Stage 4 for the following reasons:
1. Approximately 47.8 million internet subscribers use the internet as a means of communication. 13 million users from that are registered to ISDN lines.

2. Approx 35 million people use a mobile phone with trends of users slowly but surely going into M-Commerce.

Networked Policy:

As of 1996, Germany reached the Stage 4 in the CID Framework. The Federal Ministry of Economics was established to oversee the transition from monopoly structures to a free market. Its main tasks are:
• Liberalized control from the dominant market role of Deutsche Telekom AG and Deutsche Post AG which previously enjoyed a monopoly.
• Assist the new competitors by creating the necessary equal opportunities in the telecommunications and postal markets.
• Ensure further development on the telecommunications and postal markets.
• Grant licenses for the telecommunications and postal markets.

Germany with IT Outsourcing/Off-shoring:

The market research firm Dataquest found in 2001 that 45 percent of western Europe’s total outsourcing Customer Resource Management revenues came from Germany.
Hosted data storage also is growing since applications are becoming higher in demand. The majority of enterprises in Europe deploying application outsourcing are German. However, industry sources report that successful application service providers (ASPs) in Germany reportedly most often are not the “new economy” start-up ASPs. Rather, they are firms with longstanding experience in data processing and other computer processes, such as EDS.
Hewlett Packard (HP), who have moved into this new niche by capitalizing on their experience with IT, IT security, and management, as well as their brand-name recognition. Some analysts expect IT outsourcing to continue to be a future high-growth area, although others think that interest in outsourcing will be tempered once the German economy picks up and cost savings become less critical. In conclusion, IT outsourcing/off-shoring are all about cost savings and increasing a company’s net margin profits in the short term.