Quality before quantity
This means that, at least in theory, existing SAP customers have a very good basis for using their data to optimize internal processes and develop new business models in order to remain competitive.
The new IDC study on the current data situation in Germany shows that the reality in this country is different: Developing innovative cases is not trivial, so data-driven innovations are currently not an issue for three quarters of German companies, because good data quality is one of the biggest challenges in data management for 37 percent of decision-makers.
But 66 percent of organizations see the cloud as the central solution approach for all data issues. IDC surveyed IT and business decision-makers from 261 organizations with more than 100 employees in Germany last year, providing detailed insights into implementation plans, challenges and success factors in storage, data management and data governance.
Growth with little quality
According to IDC estimates, the global volume of data will grow to 143 zettabytes by 2024. Just under a third of the companies surveyed in Germany are recording annual data growth of between 31 and 60 percent. This very dynamic and heterogeneous data environment requires new approaches to solutions in companies.
"The growing volume and variety of data are both a curse and a blessing. The great business potential of data can hardly be tapped with existing solutions and processes, and data-driven business models are thus becoming a distant prospect in this country. However, no decision-maker can afford to", explains Matthias Zacher, Senior Consulting Manager and Project Manager.
For 37 percent of respondents, ensuring high data quality is one of the key challenges. The aspects are diverse and complex and range from capturing all relevant data to capturing the data context to data governance and data security, see also the current E-3 cover story in this issue. For these reasons, companies are reluctant to prepare and analyze their data end-to-end and for all business areas in the required quality.
Flexibility and efficiency
The demand for cloud-based storage solutions is currently growing disproportionately and unsurprisingly for both primary and secondary workloads. According to IDC, IT organizations will rely on different solutions in the medium term, with a growing dominance of cloud-based and hybrid approaches.
In this way, companies sustainably improve their flexibility and agility, and thus their ability to respond to changes in the market and to unexpectedly complex situations.
In many organizations, solutions for data governance and data intelligence are available in addition to the classic data management tools, but the study shows that the penetration rate is still far too low. Only a good third of companies use data mining tools or master data management tools.
Apparently, many decision-makers still need comprehensive explanations about how they can use modern solutions for data management. IDC believes that solution providers also have a duty to convince and educate with best practices and potential use cases. The E-3 cover story on Data Migration International contains numerous proof-of-concepts.
The cloud is continuously developing into an integral part of the IT landscape. Many IT and business decision-makers in all sectors, in SMEs and in large companies have defined the cloud as part or core element of their modernization strategy and are using it with growing success in more and more business areas.
This has significant implications for data utilization. On the one hand, data managers expect solutions for data management and data analysis from cloud-native workloads and, on the other hand, suitable tools for data use in the widespread hybrid scenarios. The path to the cloud is becoming more and more predefined. Two-thirds of respondents already see the cloud as the central instance for all data issues - a view that is in line with IDC's assessments.
Integration, automation, the use of modern tools across the entire process chain, and continuous optimization of data processes across all IT and business domains are the key to success. This must be the common goal of providers and users.
Based on the current survey, most companies in Germany have recognized the challenges in theory, according to IDC estimates, but they need to make many adjustments in order to be prepared for the challenges of digital transformation and to be able to use their data comprehensively for innovations.
