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      ONE Data Transformation Approach. What is it?

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      For prospective customers, the market for migration consultants is quite varied. Hardly any consultant has experience with all manufacturers, offers all services throughout the transformation process or supports all or several migration processes. In most transformation projects, it is therefore necessary to bring together several consulting companies with different core competencies. This is where the Natuvion ONE Data Transformation Approach comes in. Philipp von der Brüggen asked Patric Dahse, CEO of Natuvion, to explain this approach.

      Philipp von der Brüggen: In the 2024 Transformation Study, around 43% of the managers surveyed responded that they had not, or only partially, achieved their goals. Why do you think the rate is so high?

      Patric Dahse: To be able to assess this in detail, you need to know the goals of the companies concerned. As part of our study, we determined that, in addition to organizational adjustments, the introduction of new technologies such as AI or go-to-market agility, as well as increasing the ability to innovate, are typical transformation goals. The fact that so many managers responded that they had not achieved all of their goals is probably due to the fact that they underestimated the IT transformation's complexity. This is also clearly demonstrated by the study.

      In addition, a large proportion of respondents were surprised by their poor data quality and the lack of transformation expertise. What many companies forget is that a transformation is a really large and often lengthy project. Requirements and parameters can change during the project. Reacting flexibly to these in an IT transformation project is very difficult and complex.

      How can you deal with this?

      When migrating to new systems, there are a large number of requirements and challenges. Many questions need to be clarified in advance. Here are some examples. What do I have in my systems? I need to determine the data history, the data objects used or not used, the in-house developments. What data do I want to migrate? What can I delete in advance? What do I need to archive? Do I want to leverage the migration to solve other challenges at the same time? These include data reduction, increasing data quality, process adjustments, concepts for using AI, etc.

      In this context, many procedures, methods, approaches, and philosophies have been developed on how to transfer data and processes to new systems. The challenge: for medium-sized and large companies in particular, these are huge projects that usually require many months or even several years of preparation, implementation, and follow-up work. Companies that run multiple interfaces and standalone solutions struggle with a high level of complexity. The problem: if they make mistakes during the preparation phase or if the migration scenario is wrong, the project duration is drastically extended. In such cases, it is not uncommon to have to go back several steps.

      One thing that's often forgotten is that the problem is not just the migration. The key is the integration of different sources and data! After all, the data must match the processes. This is why a systematic approach is critical to success. Interestingly, the respondents to the Transformation Study 2024 also see it this way. Over 40% of top management responded that they would start much earlier if they were in the same situation again. Over 50% of IT managers would allow much more time next time! Our experience is - and this is impressively confirmed by the figures from the Transformation Study 2024: the better the preparation, the better the transformation results.

      Natuvion's answer to the challenges of an IT transformation is the ONE Data Transformation Approach. Why is that?

      For companies, an IT transformation is a complex project with which they have very little experience - we see that in the results of the transformation study and also experience it in our daily work. In the 2024 Transformation Study, around 40% of the more than 1,200 managers surveyed confirmed that they had to build up new skills for their IT transformation, and 34% were very surprised by their own team's lack of experience. And this situation is not getting any better. According to a long-term study by Bitkom (the industry association for the German information and telecommunications sector), there will be a shortage of around 663,000 IT specialists in Germany alone by 2040 - 510,000 more than in 2024. What does this mean for companies? They need a transformation approach that guides them successfully through this complex process while still allowing them the greatest possible flexibility.

      “I don't know of any company that takes “nothing” or “everything” with them into their new systems!”

      Companies with little transformation experience in particular often find that the initial assumptions and decisions they made at the start of the process cause them major problems in the middle of the process.

      And this is where we come in. We offer a method consisting of a combination of consulting and software tools that avoids all the typical pitfalls and, above all, prepares the company in the best possible way. Our approach also gives customers a high degree of flexibility. This means that we can react better to changes in the project or even other projects, such as the introduction of a new general ledger or a change of financial year, at the same time as the transformation. The ONE Data Transformation Approach provides a flexible solution to a large number of requirements.

      How does the ONE Data Transformation Approach work?

      The ONE Data Transformation Approach is an integrated method that helps companies to manage their IT transformation smoothly, quickly and, above all, predictably. This approach incorporates our know-how from more than 1,000 IT transformations. From successful SMEs such as FC Bayern Munich to global companies such as VW, BMW, EON and Vattenfall. The ONE Data Transformation Approach is supported by very powerful tools. These include Natuvion SOPHIA, which intensively examines the system to be transformed with over 500 analyses as part of the preparation. In this way, Natuvion SOPHIA creates the basis for most of the transformation decisions. The centerpiece is our transformation platform, Natuvion DCS. Tools for test data automation, project management and the decommissioning of legacy systems round off the concept. The ONE Data Transformation Approach combines successful methods and tools in an integrated approach. It also combines many existing SAP functionalities with predefined transformation templates.

      Greenfield, Brownfield, Selective Data Transition, Bluefield, Allfield, Near Zero Downtime and now ONE Data Transformation Approach. Can customers even keep up?

      This is the real strength of the ONE Data Transformation Approach. All these terms are rather confusing. This list does not include approaches such as greenfield plus or brownfield plus, or the many other names that describe the fact that there are also variations between the different transformation scenarios. With the ONE Data Transformation Approach, you no longer need to bother with all these terms. It guides you through a clearly structured and moderated process from the very first step. And it is completely independent of any specific migration scenario. This approach encompasses existing implementation methods and can be flexibly and individually tailored to the appropriate migration scenario. Even if the requirements change, the approach does not have to be changed. This is cost-saving, high-quality, reliable and, above all, goal-oriented. Because, as already mentioned, 43% of companies fail to achieve their goals with the transformation. This is problematic for such a large and expensive project. That's why companies need a structured process that enables them to achieve their goals on time and on budget.

      How is the story received by customers?

      Customers really appreciate our approach. The SAP trade press has been full of good advice for years. Do it this way and don't do it that way. A tool here, an approach there. There are actually very few integrated, moderated and complete processes that take the customer by the hand from the very first day in order to get them onto the new platform. And here too, our customers very rarely have experience with such transformations. For many employees in the IT department, it is even the first time. There are major risks for companies in this type of project.

      This is why most project teams are supplemented by consultants. Why? Because customers are looking for experience, guidance and orientation. And that's exactly what they get with the ONE Data Transformation Approach.

      Is the approach equally efficient and successful in all sectors?

      Yes, the approach is equally effective in all sectors. Perhaps I should emphasize that we don't just shovel data from A to B, but that our expertise in many industry segments actually shows customers the best way to use their data on the new systems. If we look at energy suppliers or the automotive industry, there are very few companies that understand the processes and systems in these segments better than we do. The situation is very similar in other sectors such as public administration or life sciences. Here we implement tried-and-tested, industry-specific transformation templates every day!

      Please give us an example of where a consultant's industry expertise supports the transformation process.

      Let's take the example of one of our customers, a Swiss energy supplier. In preparation for the project, the customer's team carried out an intensive analysis in advance and agreed on a migration scenario internally. We were then commissioned to carry out the migration. In the very first workshop, it was discovered that crucial issues had been analyzed inadequately or not at all. The result of the first workshop was that we had to redo all the preparatory work. Long story short: everything that the company had already worked out was thrown out the window. Including the migration scenario. You can only do something like this if you know the business processes and IT systems like the back of your hand and, of course, understand the customer's business objectives. The customer is looking for orientation and clear, resilient, comprehensible and, above all, successful procedures. And that is exactly what we offer them.

      How is the concept being received by our partners?

      Our partners love the method. It naturally helps them a lot with marketing. And it's a complete approach that gives them a skill set they can use multiple times! But for us, the biggest benefit is that, for the first time, our partners really understand what we offer in full. Many of our partners were under the misconception that they only needed to bring us in when things got really complicated in their project! Or for a complex carve-out, when they need to cut a set of data out of one system and integrate it into other systems. The name Natuvion is closely associated with the Selective Data Transition approach. This is certainly also due to the fact that SAP invited us to participate in the Selective Data Transition Engagement Community and develop methods and processes to support customers during the migration to SAP S/4HANA.

      Apart from us, there are only two other companies in the world that work closely with SAP in this area. The high visibility of this community in the SAP transformation environment has obviously made us the experts to call when things get really complex.

      We've finally been able to break away from this image of super nerds for everything “difficult”. After all, the actual migration is only one part of the whole journey. There's also the entire preparation and follow-up through to the decommissioning of the legacy systems. Many partners didn't even have us on their radar for these areas. And of course, we also do greenfield and brownfield conversions. Nowadays, more and more customers are talking about paths in between the two. There are new terms such as greenfield plus or brownfield plus. In our daily practice, we don't actually see any 100% greenfield projects. They almost always involve a selective data migration. Either because you have in-house developments, or because you need some historical data. It is similar with brownfield projects. They are always preceded by cleansing projects. I don't know of any company that takes “nothing” or “everything” with them into their new systems!

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