Unternehmen & Trends - Ausgabe 1/2018

Digitisation is, therefore, a prerequisite for the use of many data sources which can be used to optimise cooperation, products and offers. “We want to support these many business processes as external partners and consultants. We also view ourselves as add- ing enormous value as a consulting compa- ny. In addition, we provide the tools and the technologies,” Uwe Bergmann, CEO of the COSMO CONSULT Group, assures his cli- ents. Europe’s leading Microsoft Dynamics partner implements Industry 4.0 and IoT projects with cooperation partners such as the Fraunhofer IFF or large companies such as Bosch. Many solutions have already been extended to the entire industrial value chain. Future-proof through networking and integration The number of applications with which IT departments are confronted is growing – whether mobile, in the cloud or classically server and workplace-based – due to the fact that, these days, not every function is implemented within the ERP software. Hence Bergmann’s logical conclusion: “We want to provide our customers with the orchestration of their IT landscapes from a single source, including the base ERP.” For him, the technol- ogy being used in the company is important. It is not only the functional scope and the performance capabilities of an ERP system that is critical. It is whether or not it is capable of process-related merging with neighbour- ing applications. “Future-proof ERP software must already be able to network in a dynamic environment,” he asserts. At COSMO CONSULT, we, there- fore, develop concepts and prototypes that allow users to best progress towards their concrete goals - from individual modules all the way to end-to-end solutions. Since it is no longer imperative that all requirements are shown in the ERP system, the best solutions that come into play each time by no means always have to come from one partner. “This is how we can also serve the customers of other ERP providers because, first of all, we do not need their systems for field service, analytics or sales,” says Bergmann. Integra- tion becomes the important issue. Everything is possible from one source Gartner predicts that by 2020, 50 per cent of IT costs will be needed to integrate inter- nal and external systems. However, with the number of systems involved, the amount of data and complexity increases. That, in turn, makes cloud topics so interesting because many things are easier to integrate there. This works best on common technology platforms such as Microsoft Azure. If huge amounts of data also accumulate in the production en- vironment as a result of digital transforma- tion, these can be assigned algorithms in the BI software that transfer the data to the ERP system. “Power BI is an extremely high- performance visualisation tool, while Azure COSMO CONSULT supports complete digital transformation By Volker Vorburg Digital transformation means handling as many things as possible via digital processes. It means increasing efficiency and productivity, accessing additional information. It means that I can share information more easily, and that networks, teams, internal and external partners can all work together optimally, regardless of their physical location. Large additional quantities of digital data are also useful for analysis, forecasting and forward planning. Digital, there- fore, because analogue processing just couldn’t be done. 76 Unternehmen & Trends Image: © Cosmo Consult/Daniela Glunz Uwe Bergmann