Alexander Efremov
Book Discovery Call
🇬🇧
🇩🇪
Diplomacy, Engineering and IT Solutions
The Tower of Babel
Challenge: Real problems (climate, crime, transport) do not stop at district borders. Yet, neighboring agencies struggle to cooperate. Not because of data interoperability issues. Just because "ambulance" or "police" mean similar, but different things in different countries.

Solution: I facilitate the creation of "Interaction Protocols" between jurisdictions. We create a common ontology (e.g., "What is a 'School'?") that allows independent agencies to cooperate and help citizen, not only to share data.

The Digital Paperwork Trap
Challenge: Many "Digitalisation" projects (like OZG implementation) fail because they simply digitise existing chaos. Turning a bad paper form into a PDF doesn't solve the problem; it just makes the bad process faster and less responsive to problems of citizen.

Solution: Service Re-Engineering. Before buying software, we must redesign the service. I apply Systems Engineering to treat Laws as "Requirements" and Procedures as "Algorithms," ensuring the process is logical before it becomes digital.
Taming "Wicked Problems"
Challenge: Public sector challenges (e.g., Energy Transition, Migration) are "Wicked Problems"—they have no clear solution, only trade-offs. Linear project management fails here.

Solution: I bring the systems engineering methodology to policy design. We visualise dependencies and trade-offs explicitly, allowing political stakeholders to make informed decisions based on system behavior, not just intuition.
From "3D Map" to "Decision Machine"
Challenge: Cities often outsource "Digital Twins" completely to vendors. The result? You get a "Black Box" software you don't own, with data you can't reuse. You lack the internal competence to judge if the solution is semantically valid or just pretty graphics.

Solution: I don't build the 3D model myself. I act as your Technical Architect. I help you define the Ontologies and Requirements before the tender. I help you restructure your IT department so you can manage sophisticated vendors and own your city's data logic.
Cross-Industrial Cases
Experience from High-Tech and Safety-Critical Industries
Administrative Efficiency
Process Architecture for Large Organisations
Challenge: A large engineering organization suffered from "silo mentality". Different departments used different standards and vocabularies (Ontologies), making system-wide integration impossible.
Solution: Designed and rolled out a unified Governance Framework. Facilitated a "Constitutional Agreement" between stakeholders to adopt a Common Ontology and Process Standard, respecting their operational independence but enforcing interoperability.
Result: Unified "Rules of the Game" Adopted.
Register Modernization
Semantic Cleanup of Legacy Registers
Challenge: A massive legacy database held critical "Master Data" register regarding complex assets (Materials/Configuration). The data structure had drifted away from reality, turning the database into a "Digital Graveyard".
Solution: Instead of a blind "Lift and Shift" migration, I applied the BORO (Business-Object Reference Ontology) approach. We reverse-engineered the "IT spaghetti" (relational tables) back into real-world business objects to validate semantic consistency.
Result: Semantic Clarity extracted from Legacy Chaos.
Capacity Building
From "Administrator" to "Policy Architect"
Challenge: Public sector leaders are trained to manage their specific department or legal mandate ("Silo Thinking"). They often struggle to see how their decisions impact other agencies or the long-term ecosystem, leading to policies that solve one problem but create two others.
Solution: One-on-one Systems Thinking mentoring for Decision Makers. I shift their focus from "Executing Statutes" to "Orchestrating Outcomes", teaching them to visualise the entire lifecycle of a policy—from legislation to implementation and impact.
Result: Leadership equipped to navigate "Wicked Problems".
Procurement Support / Smart City
Capability Before Software (Smart City Strategy)
Context: Municipalities often face aggressive vendors selling complex "Digital Twin" or IoT platforms. There is a high risk of buying a "Ferrari" when you need a bus ticket.
Challenge: The department was about to procure a high-end software solution without clear internal requirements. They risked Vendor Lock-in and low adoption because the tool didn't match their actual processes.
Solution: Paused the procurement. Facilitated a "Capability Assessment" workshop to define what the organization actually needs to do. Translated these needs into neutral, functional requirements for the Tender.
Result: Saved budget & ensured the tool fits the purpose.
Let's design a Resilient Administration.
Complexity is not the enemy. Bad design is. Let's create the frameworks that allow your citizens and agencies to thrive.
Book Discovery Call
Alexander Efremov

Germany, 2026 © All Rights Reserved