Big Data in German: Solid fountainhead of knowledge for business.

Data is seen as the oil of the digital age. German companies are also pushing ahead with the digitization of their processes and business models and want to profit from Big Data. However, many companies in Germany feel the data laboratory approach from the big Internet firms is unsuitable and the discussion about the possibilities arising from digitization is too theoretical. Above all, they are interested in practical benefits and use cases. As a result, Horváth & Partners offer companies a special platform: In the Steering Lab at the management consultants’ Munich office companies can analyze data with the latest tools to establish its information potential for their business. Specialists provide support in testing concrete use cases.

In this data workshop large and mid-sized companies can take advantage of the latest analysis instruments. They bring their own data with them, can enrich that data with external data, and can solve strategically important questions using practical examples under the free conditions of the lab. “Our clients are just beginning to gain an overview of the potential for extracting information from raw data and are amazed at how much they can learn,” says Alexander Vocelka, Head of the Steering Lab and Partner at Horváth & Partners. “Manufacturing companies can, for example, identify weaknesses in their supply chains, better understand required production capacities, gain insights into sales channels, and receive better information about stock levels and customer and demand potentials, thereby reaching higher levels of operative efficiency and improving their ability to take the right strategic decisions.”

Users of the Steering Lab are supported by so-called “Quantitative Business Modelers”. They are professionals at filtering relevant information from unbridled data streams and developing appropriate use cases and predictions for the companies. “The principle is based on the premise that there is enough data out there to model all the functions and processes of a company so well as a system that their improvement potentials become much more transparent,” says Alexander Vocelka.

Horváth & Partners do not see the Steering Lab as a mere data laboratory but more as a place where knowledge can be forged into something solid with real-world applications. “Metaphorically speaking, our tools work like an information prism which splits the incoming “white” data stream into a multi-colored information spectrum. In the Steering Lab we often only need a couple of weeks from proof of concept to fully-fledged, productive pilot solution. And at the same time our clients can also learn a great deal about Big Data.”

The management consultants see the Steering Lab approach as a possibility for thinking about the digitization of business from start to finish and as an alternative to depending on the data giants of Silicon Valley. “We’re not only talking about production and supply chains here: All products must be digitized end-to-end. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the fast lane for German companies on the data highway. This is where German Engineering can use systematic, rigorous digitization to firmly assert its supremacy in the information era.”

 

Alexander Vocelka
Horváth & Partner GmbH
E-Mail: muenchen@horvath-partners.com

April 25, 2016

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