T&I strategy: digital transformation and human centricity

At Deutsche Telekom, innovation means creating the best (digital) customer experience on the basis of the best network – now and in the future. To this end, we neither manufacture smartphones, nor do we create large amounts of our own film content, or the automation technology and sensors for industrial campus networks. Our core competency consists in integrating the individual components so that, in conjunction with our partner, network, and IT infrastructure, we can guarantee the best customer experience at a reasonable price with resilient and future-proof technology. This is precisely the task of our Technology and Innovation Board of Management department, which works in close cooperation with our operating segments. The Technology and Innovation Board of Management department is where we combine and integrate our Technology, Innovation, IT, and Security functions. This structure will allow us to meet the demands of the future network generation and the associated requirements not only of our customers, but also of our employees, our partners, and our shareholders – in terms of network security and sustainability, too. Our Group strategy Leading Digital Telco applies not only to high-speed broadband access, but also to responsible network production. That is an economic and ecological necessity, especially given growing cloudification, increasing data traffic, and the rising number and concentration of active components in our network.

The crisis triggered by coronavirus has underscored the importance of investing in resilient, future-proof technology: our networks and IT were, are, and will remain secure and stable. That would not have been possible without the IP migration in our markets and the IT turnaround, particularly in Germany.

We are thus in a position both to enable Deutsche Telekom’s current business and at the same time to shape the future. We are convinced that, in line with the priorities of our segments, we can reliably deliver results, constantly develop product, industry, and technological innovations, and simultaneously hone and refine our ways of working.

• Delivery Innovation: Technology and Innovation is a supplier and service provider for the Group. As such, it is particularly important that we consistently meet our obligations. That means conscientiously delivering our services, leveraging the synergies offered by centralized production, and working cost efficiently. At the same time, we can also shape the future, e.g., by promoting agile working methods to make our production future-proof.
• Experience Innovation: We are Deutsche Telekom’s central innovation unit. Constantly pursuing innovations that benefit our customers, the Group, and all other stakeholders is our task and our obligation – but we also consider it an expression of the freedom we enjoy. Our technological innovations form the underpinnings for this. We work in close cooperation with the segments and with external partner companies in order to meet our customers’ requirements and to create the innovations this calls for.
• Capability Innovation: Continuing to turn Deutsche Telekom into a software-based company entails transforming our capabilities on an ongoing basis. We want to recognize the need for future changes in our Company and to be able to handle them as they arise. Changes become entrenched especially when accompanied by cultural innovation in the shape of skills transformation and the systematic retraining and further training of our employees as software engineers, AI experts, and network architects. By the end of 2021, we had given 1,650 of our employees intensive training in topics relevant for the future, such as software development, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud technologies, and agile methods, in 15 Skill Academies.