More than 30 organizations, including 14 communities and members of the Smart City Standards Forum of the German Institute for Standardization (Deutsches Institut für Normung) participated in the kick-off meeting of the new working group “Digital Twin for Cities and Communities” (DIN SPEC 91607). The aim is to develop a national DIN standard for digital twins. The working group was initiated by the cooperation project “Connected Urban Twins“ (CUT) of the cities Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and msg.

More and more cities and communities are looking into digital twins to use them in the future as part of integrated urban development or participation processes. Data-based urban models are important to simulate future scenarios of urban development and to plan them accordingly. In the CUT project, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich have been expanding existing knowledge since last year and are jointly driving forward the development of applications, standards and a modular design for other cities and communities.

DIN SPEC 91607 is part of the “DIN SPEC series“ of the DIN Smart City Standards Forum. The new standard is intended to serve as guideline for planning, designing and implementing a digital twin for cities and communities and to avoid double work, manufacturer-dependence or even a technical patchwork by using available standards.

Dr. Nora Reinecke, overall project lead Connected Urban Twins: “The implementation of DIN standards is an important step in enabling cities and communities to establish digital twins in urban development. New innovations can be triggered by drawing on existing knowledge. We are very pleased that cities and communities are strongly represented in this initiative."

Joachim Schonowski, msg systems AG, manager of the DIN SPEC working group: “It is important that the national standard not only maps the technical aspect of the sustainability diamond but also integrates ecological, social and economic topics such as the United Nations' sustainable development goals, planning processes with citizen participation or operators and business models in terms of a sustainable logic and effectiveness.”

The DIN SPEC is aimed at researchers, IT experts, business and technical operators of a digital twin or municipal data platforms as well as actors in specialist fields of action.

msg lays the foundation for building an exclusive claims community

With the live event “Claims Management 2025 – Upgrade Your Ecosystem”, msg has laid the foundation for establishing an exclusive claims community. The event with numerous top level decision makers from insurance companies took place in March 2022 at the Hyatt Regency in Cologne. Among the participants were representatives of well-known insurance companies such as DEVK, GAV, Helvetia, Itzehoer, LVM, Neodigital, Nürnberger, Provinzial, R+V, Sparkassen DirektVersicherung, VKB and Zurich and also the claim services providers ControlExpert, Copart and PropertyExpert.

This is shown by the joint survey from the business magazine brand eins and Statista GmbH.

Since 2014, brand eins and Statista have been identifying the best consulting companies in Germany every year and publishing this list in a special publication. This year’s leaderboard is based on a survey of around 2,300 partners and principals from consulting companies. In addition, 1,300 senior executives reported on their experiences with the business consulting companies in question as part of an online survey. Moreover, 205 senior executives (head of strategy, head of business development, etc.) from DAX, M-DAX, S-DAX and Tec-DAX companies were specifically surveyed.

The study is regarded as the most comprehensive on the German business consultancy market and attracts a high level of interest from the industry. This year, 308 consulting companies made it onto the leaderboard.

The individual group companies were honored in the following categories/industries:

msg systems: Public Sector, Infrastructure, Technology & Telecommunication, Insurance, IT Strategy, IT Implementation

msg GillardonBSM: Banks

m3: Energy & Environment, Technology & Telecommunication, Innovation, Growth, IT Strategy, Digitalization

The award confirms that the companies of the msg group have established themselves in the market's perception among the best consulting companies in more and more fields.

We are very proud of this result.

Information on the methodology of the survey can be found here:

In 2022, msg launched a cooperation with Netzwerk Chancen – an organization that helps young people from financially weak and non-academic backgrounds to move up the social ladder.

As part of the cooperation, experienced managers and consultants support job starters and the upwardly mobile with their career planning and offer insights into the occupational profile of the consulting industry with workshops and individual mentoring.  

For young people with difficult access to education in particular, personal contacts are essential for a successful start to their working lives. Nils-Alexander Fleischer from the unit Public Sector at msg will actively contribute to the mentoring program: “I’m looking forward to passing on my experience to the young upwardly mobile as a tandem partner. With my background, I know how valuable a sparring partner can be to promote and encourage achieving your goals.”

msg’s unit Public Sector took the initiative to cooperate with Netzwerk Chancen. Werner Achtert, head of the unit, explains how this came about: “As consultants in Public Sector, we advise organizations and institutions in the public sector. This way, we not only can open doors to the consulting business for young people, but also provide insights into interesting projects with social relevance.”

The first msg workshop for members of Netzwerk Chancen will be on the topic “New Work – New Forms of Agile Collaboration” on May 12, 2022.

About Netzwerk Chancen

For more than 1,300 members in Germany between the ages of 18 and 39 to date, Netzwerk Chancen has served as an intermediary to potential employers and contacts in the educational sector. In doing so, Netzwerk Chancen supports its members through individual mentoring with experienced professionals, one-on-one coaching and workshops. Events across Germany also offer the opportunity to network and exchange ideas with other members.

SAP has awarded SAP Gold Partner status to the IT service provider msg systems ag as part of the SAP PartnerEdge Program. SAP awards Gold Partner status on the basis of strict criteria for service, quality and expertise. Partners must present successful customer projects based on qualified customer references. msg systems not only impressed with the high level of expertise of its certified consultants, but also with its strong business development and a market-oriented strategic focus with regard to forward-looking technologies. 

As a long-standing consulting and development partner of SAP SE, msg supports its customers in the selection and implementation of complex systems from the SAP portfolio. In addition, msg develops its own innovative industry solutions that complement the SAP offering and is one of the leading SAP Solution Extension partners worldwide.

“Being awarded SAP Gold Partner status is a welcome acknowledgment of the work, competence and commitment of our SAP specialists. I would like to congratulate all of our colleagues on this huge success,” praised Johann Ranft, Head of Global Alliance Management at msg.