Survey participants from fire departments, aid organizations, and technical relief organizations are dissatisfied with the digital development in their organizations.
This emerges from a study on digital transformation in civil security that was carried out by the Paderborn Safety Innovation Center eV on behalf of the Association for the Promotion of German Fire Protection (vfdb). According to the respondents, digitalization should be promoted in civil security.
Introduction of digital technology
The vfdb took the result as an opportunity to write an open letter to federal and state politicians and various committees. It, calls for the establishment of a competence center in which researchers, users, and industry are brought together in order to develop needs-based, innovative digital applications and create standards for their introduction. It is also proposed to initiate a “digitalization pact to avert danger,” comparable to the “Digital Pact for Schools”.
The vfdb took the result as an opportunity to write an open letter to federal and state politicians
“The pact could help promote the introduction of digital technology through targeted investment support. In addition to research funding, this particularly includes funding for model projects and regions,” writes vfdb President Dirk Aschenbrenner in the letter. The inclusion of the topic of “digital transformation in civil emergency response” in the fire protection and rescue service requirement plans is also required. This could be done through the allocation of human and financial resources as well as organizational considerations and determinations.
Advance digital transformation
According to the study, over half of the survey participants have the impression that the topic of digital transformation is “never” or “rarely” discussed in their organization. Around 95 percent see the need to (somewhat) advance digital transformation within their own organization. The use of social media channels is relatively widespread, although such networks are mainly used for more everyday citizen communication tasks and less for situational reconnaissance and communication in larger operational situations.
The use of private devices and software for civil security purposes is also widespread, as 62 percent of those surveyed stated. Over 40 percent even use private hardware or software every day, mainly because the corresponding equipment is not available in their institution.
Accessibility of the IT market
Possible options for action mentioned in a workshop on the study were improving the accessibility
“From the perspective of the study participants, comprehensive interfaces for compatible IT systems and hardware are seen as necessary,” explains Torben Sauerland, one of the authors of the study. The respondents see obstacles to digital transformation as, among other things, a lack of financial resources, complex procurement processes, and a lack of IT expertise.
Possible options for action mentioned in a workshop on the study were, for example, improving the accessibility of the IT market for civil security, model regions with pilot operations and central support.
Challenges of the future
“The study must be an urgent reminder for all of us to intensively push forward digitalization in emergency response so that we as emergency services can meet the challenges of the future,” says vfdb President Dirk Aschenbrenner about the results. “The number of cases and the severity of events are increasing – keywords are forest fires and storms. But the Corona pandemic also shows us how much and where there are deficiencies in digitalization.”
Around 650 participants, primarily from fire departments, aid organizations and technical relief organizations, took part in the online survey. The study was funded by the SafeInno Foundation and the Björn Steiger Foundation.