Losing Control of Data

From MDM via Data Hub to Datasphere

SAP has been aware of the challenge of efficient data management for many years. Long before the Hana database platform, the topic of master data management was already being discussed in the SAP community. A study by Cloudera, the self-proclaimed data specialist for trustworthy enterprise AI, states that companies spend an average of 29 percent of their IT budget on data management.

The Cloudera survey polled 850 IT decision-makers in the EMEA region. Six out of ten of the managers surveyed in Germany believe that silo structures make it difficult to comply with data management regulations. In order to manage data throughout its entire lifecycle, many companies rely on several individual solutions. However, this increases complexity: 77 percent of respondents believe that the integration of individual solutions for data analysis and management makes compliance more difficult.

Data structures and algorithms

What is often overlooked in the discussion is the intrinsic connection between data and business processes. Many Abap tables have hardly any meaning when detached from the ERP algorithms. Anyone who wants to archive company data must always consider the underlying business processes. Data therefore has two sides: It was created as a result of a historical business process and must be maintained accordingly, but it also holds great potential for future answers. Data and AI algorithms should be able to provide a glimpse into the future: predictive analytics.

S/4 Conversion

The ERP release change with the name S/4 Conversion has once again put the topic of data structures and algorithms on the agenda of the SAP community. Existing SAP customers now have to decide which data needs to be transferred to the Hana database platform and which business processes should be available for future tasks.

"Given the increasing amount of data, compliance remains a major challenge for many companies. Innovations such as AI will further increase complexity - and with new regulations on the horizon, compliance will only become more difficult," says Benjamin Bohne, Group Vice President for the DACH region and Eastern Europe at Cloudera. "Companies should therefore view data as a product in the future and ensure that compliance is always and everywhere."

S/4 conversion is therefore a data issue and also a compliance task. SAP's Datasphere approach is well-intentioned. However, the past year 2023 has shown that this approach still falls short. In order to prevent a loss of control in 2024, master data management needs to be raised to a higher level - the Business Technology Platform may be a good option for this.