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CTOneedToKnow

Key Insights for Technology Decision-Makers
Article

Data Inventories in the EU Data Act: The Democratization of IoT Devices

Starting in September 2025, the EU Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854) will require companies that collect or process data from connected devices to maintain comprehensive data inventories.

Article

Digital Sovereignty: Why Architecture Matters and How to Make Your Company Resilient

In an era where digital systems form the backbone of our economy and society, control over one’s digital future is increasingly becoming the focus of strategic decisions. For many technology decision-makers in German-speaking regions, this is not just a political or regulatory challenge, but a fundamental task with far-reaching implications for software architecture work.

Article

EU Data Act: The Beginning of the End for Cloud Monoculture?
Article

Digital Sovereignty as Self-Understanding

How implementation teams can escape the we-are-not-Google trap and collectively take responsibility for European solutions to European problems.

Article

Think Locally: On-Premise LLMs as Drivers of Competitive Advantage

Consider this scenario: Your organisation has integrated AI tools into critical business processes, your legal team has carefully reviewed data processing agreements, and your IT department has configured systems to comply with GDPR requirements. Then, a foreign court issues an order that overrides all these protections, requiring your AI provider to indefinitely retain data that should be deleted—including potentially sensitive corporate information shared by your employees.

Article

The Sovereignty Trap: Between Tiananmen and Trump
Article

From Data Graveyards to Knowledge Landscapes

Europe is sitting on a wealth of public data—but much of its potential remains untapped. The challenges are well known: fragmented portals, incompatible interfaces, and growing reliance on non-European platforms that slow innovation. While new industrial data spaces are emerging—enabling secure and sovereign exchange of sensitive information—public and industrial data ecosystems remain largely siloed. This article explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) can help bridge that gap and accelerate Europe’s shift from Open Data to Open Knowledge—supporting digital sovereignty and delivering greater value to society.

Article

Pragmatische Architekturdokumentation für Entwicklungsteams

Eine gut gepflegte Architekturdokumentation ist nützlich, gerade auch für die Entwickler:innen eines Softwaresystems. Sie hilft nicht nur beim Verständnis, sondern sorgt auch dafür, dass sich wichtige Sachverhalte reflektiert diskutieren und klären lassen.

Article

Digitale Souveränität: Warum die Architektur zählt und wie Sie Ihr Unternehmen resilient machen
Article

Digitale Souveränität – Ein Definitionsversuch

Der Begriff Digitale Souveränität trägt die Wolkenwende. Beim Versuch einer Definition ist es unvermeidlich, verschiedene Perspektiven einzunehmen. Weniger, was das Digitale angeht – hier stehen ganz klar Informationstechnologie und Software im Fokus. Souveränität allerdings ist als Begriff eine andere Größenordnung.

Article

Technical and other Debt in IT Systems

This article explores the many hidden forms of technical debt that silently slow down IT teams—far beyond just messy code.

Article

CIO-Fragestellungen zur digitalen Souveränität

Mit Enterprise Architektur geopolitische Risiken meistern

Article

Don’t Forget the People

On paper, the architecture vision is perfect. It addresses all pressing deficiencies of the existing system, aligns seamlessly with the business domain, and enables teams to retain more work within their boundaries. Finally, we will enjoy higher speed-to-market and a significant reduction in (non-value-adding, tedious) coordination efforts between teams. Surely, everyone will immediately see how much better our new architectural vision is. Not quite.

Article

Enabling Stakeholders as a Success Factor

Sociotechnical architectures consider both technical and human-organizational aspects and promote their effective collaboration. To ensure the successful design and implementation of these systems, it is crucial to actively involve stakeholders and address their interests. In this article, we explore why enabling stakeholders represents a key function in sociotechnical projects and how you can implement this approach effectively.

Article

Internal Development Platforms

Shift Down Instead of Shift Left

Article

Socio-Technical Architectures: Informality from Mining to Today

Informal structures are hard to spot – but they can make or break a technical solution. Sociotechnical systems show why that matters, and what mining has to do with building apps.

Article

Socio-Technical Architecture as a Competitive Advantage

In today’s business world, technological progress is not just about increasing efficiency—it also unlocks entirely new business opportunities that would be unthinkable without these technologies. As a result, leveraging new technologies effectively has become a key competitive advantage. However, IT decision-makers are increasingly realizing that technology alone is not enough. Instead, companies must understand themselves as socio-technical systems, where technical systems and human interactions are deeply interconnected. This article explores why socio-technical architectures matter for IT decision-makers and how they can create a competitive edge for organizations.

Article

Von Legacy-Monolithen zu Self-contained Systems
Article

Platforms, Teams, and APIs: How Do They Fit Together?

One of the major trends in recent years has been Platform Engineering, as many organizations strive for more efficient and fasterdevelopment practices. The term has gained traction since 2018, particularly following an influential article by Evan Bottcher. Looking at the origins of this concept provides valuable insights into the relevance of Platform Engineering today and its potential future developments.

Article

Common Approaches in the Field of Socio-Technical Architectures

In the age of digitalization and modernization, companies face the challenge of not only keeping up with technological advancements but also optimizing their organizational structures. Socio-technical architectures play a crucial role in this process by focusing on the flow of work, team collaboration, and the seamless integration of technical and social systems. This article explores two key approaches—Team Topologies and Domain-Driven Design (DDD)—and demonstrates how they can help organizations take the first steps toward consciously designing their socio-technical architecture.

Podcast

Die Reise der Zalando Reliability Organisation

Zu Gast: Heinrich Hartmann, 
Principal SRE
, Zalando

Sven Johann
Podcast

Movacar: Entwicklung einer Plattform in 3 Monaten

Zu Gast: Eustach von Wulffen, Founder und CEO, Movacar, und Karl Markiewicz, Founder und COO / CFO, Movacar

Jörg Müller
Eustach von Wulffen
Karl Markiewicz
Article

Modernisierung einer Legacy Software-Architektur

Software-Systeme reifen mit der Zeit. Sie werden oft über viele Jahre und von verschiedenen Architekten und Entwicklern angepasst, um neue Anforderungen zu erfüllen. Der Alterungsprozess lässt sich trotz sorgfältiger Pflege nie ganz aufhalten und so erhält irgendwann jedes System den Stempel „legacy“. Legacy Systeme unterstützen aber weiterhin wichtige geschäftliche Tätigkeiten. Wie führt man diese Systeme also zurück in die Gegenwart und bereitet sie auf die Zukunft vor?

Podcast

Breuninger: Architektur als Enabler für Wachstum

Zu Gast: Dr. Frank Postel, CTO, Breuninger und Dr. Michael Wegener, Gründer/CEO, TalentFormation

Tammo van Lessen
Dr. Frank Postel
Dr. Michael Wegener
Podcast

Legacy-Modernisierung: Shop-Monolithen knacken

Zu Gast: Peter Whitmore, Director Engineering Digital Business Platform, Phoenix Contact

Dr. Stefan Paal
Peter Whitmore
Podcast

Legacy-Modernisierung: Zwischen Innovation und Sicherheit

Zu Gast: Steffen Bergmann, Leiter Softwareentwicklung und -architektur, Meierhofer AG

Johannes Seitz
Steffen Bergmann
Podcast

Legacy-Modernisierung: Ein Update für die Sozialwirtschaft

Zu Gast: Torsten Schlörmann, Geschäftsführer VRG IT

Dr. Stefan Paal
Torsten Schlörmann
Podcast

Legacy-Modernisierung: Der Big Bang macht die Welt rosig

Zu Gast: Marcel Weiß (neunetz.com, Exchanges)

Martina Freers
Marcel Weiß
Podcast

Legacy-Modernisierung: Transformationsstrategien in der Immobilienbewertung

Zu Gast: Andreas Kadler, Geschäftsführer von Sprengnetter Real Estate Services

Dr. Stefan Paal
Andreas Kadler
Podcast

Legacy-Modernisierung: Wie ticken Versicherungen?

Zu Gast: Jörg Rippchen, Geschäftsführer arc innovations

Dr. Stefan Paal
Jörg Rippchen
Article

Data Mesh: Entwicklungsteams heben Datenschätze

Der dezentrale Datenarchitekturansatz soll Entwicklerinnen und Entwickler in die Lage versetzen, selbstständig domänenübergreifende Datenanalysen durchzuführen.