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Facing the challenges of legacy data

Mike Price
2020-06-03

The challenges with legacy data are the same as they ever were. In a sense, nothing has changed – but everything has changed. Similar to the number of cars on the freeways, the amount of data has grown exponentially. Companies have always been challenged with managing data, and now there is even more of it.

But the issue is not with the data or the technology. It is about choosing what matters in relation to the information.

Chaos theory states that complex systems move toward disorganization, when in fact there are underlying patterns that are organized and related. The same is happening with the current proliferation of data. Companies know they should do something with the data, but they are not sure what or how to derive insights from the patterns that underlie the apparently chaotic information.

Even before talking about technology, companies need to assess where they are in the data journey, where they are from a cultural perspective, and their ability to adopt a data-driven culture. They also need to determine how they can develop trust in the data and drive it into the business, so employees can get excited about the possibilities.

Questions that need to be answered:

  • Who is driving the data?
  • Who is consuming the data?
  • Who is responsible for the trustworthiness of the data?

Once the groundwork is established, a proper technology platform can be created to achieve your objective. You don’t just build a platform and employees come. The biggest challenge is understanding where you want to go and how to leverage the data to get you there.

Capgemini’s Renewable Insights was developed based on the SAP S/4HANA platform and technologies. SAP S/4HANA was purpose-built around supply chain, finance, HR, CRM, and other core ERP applications and business functions. Renewable Insights dovetails with SAP S/4HANA because the core remains focused on business processes while agility and renewability are achieved on the edge in the cloud.

The winners in the market are the companies that adopt and adapt new business models. It is transformation inside and outside of the business, and whether it’s business functions or more experiential, the platform needs to be pliable and elastic to manage the pace of innovation and business today. https://www.youtube.com/embed/bcnUIDBjnhM?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.capgemini.com

Mike Price is a Vice President with the Insights & Data team and is responsible for SAP initiatives. He has been guiding clients at Capgemini for more than 16 years and can be reached at michael.r.price@capgemini.com.