SNP Schneider Neureither & Partner : “It’s the data, stupid!”

'It's the data, stupid!'

This year will be the year of consolidations. 2021 will see spin-offs, financial recovery deals, radical cures, and opportunities. Digitalization will continue to race ahead, but above all-according to forecasts by analysts at the investment bank Goldman Sachs ina recent study-the coming year will be shaped by a considerable increase in the number of mergers and acquisitions. This is good news for our industry and for SNP.

At first sight, these transactions will be all about business models and turnover, about products, services, supply chains, markets and brands. Dig deeper, however, and the success or failure of these transformations will depend on data. Because there will be less and less time available for the M&As of the future, and because the pressure under which they take place will be ever greater, it will be the data that decides whether a transformation succeeds -or whether millions of dollars of losses loom because conveyor belts are at a standstill, logistics is out of sync, backbones are failing or internal services have gone blind overnight. If the data isn't right, nothing is. To sum things up by modifying US President Bill Clinton's election slogan('It's the economy, stupid!'): 'it's the data, stupid!'

Transformation always grates. If nothing matters -time, money, downtime -then others can play the game. But if, as in most cases, there's a huge amount at stake, only SNP cando it. Because since the very beginning, we have understood that data transformation is not just a migration job, but an opportunity for design. The idea of positive change lies at the heart of every transformationanyway, and it must apply to data too.SNP has set the global standard for selective data migration. We have the expertise and the technology to dig so deep into the digital architecture of an enterprise that it becomes designable-from the outside in. So instead of sending hastily hired programmers through old ERP systems, we assemble our modules, send them off through millions of our customers' tables, and let them do the sorting work -automatically, transparently, controllably, and securely. This saves time, costs, and nerves.

The coming years will continue to be dominated by the global trend of digitalization. We'll still be talking about 5G, Industry 4.0 and the internet of thingstomorrow. We'll be working on big data and cloud computing, and we'll help to master digital twins, intelligent factories and executive dashboards. Allthese things will come. But they'll come in different ways than we anticipate today.

Virtually any innovation harbors disruption. Platforms are consolidated and systems are combined that have never been connected before.From the public sector to the health sector and the mobility industry: the digital world is already populated by hundreds, indeed thousands of systems being operated in isolation- an isolation that needs to be overcome. Historical data must be stored in such a way as to be readable in the future. Customer data must be available not just for sales, but for product development. Operational data needs to be available not just the day after tomorrow, but immediately. Old control systems controlling old infrastructure -all needing to be integrated into modern, intelligent systems.

The list is long, and it's full of projects and opportunities for our industry and for SNP. Reforms, upheavals, splits, alliances: every time two companies join forces to achieve more together, they need a common language and a common platform. Whatever the scale, whatever the continent, whatever the sector. SNP makes sure that data doesn't feel like baggage,but like an opportunity to shape the future together with us. That's what we mean by data migration.

MichaelEberhardtassumed the position of CEO at the Heidelberg-basedsoftware company SNP on December 1,2020.EberhardtsucceededDr. Andreas Schneider-Neureither,who died suddenlyinearly November.