unternehmen & trends DIGITAL 1/2021

means the version probably did not work properly so we know we must work on it again. Or: To do task X took two min- utes in the old version and users clicked 30 times, and in the new version it takes half a minute and users clicked on aver- age ten times. It appears, therefore, that the new function works. Surveys such as these are only possible in the Cloud. It gives me the possibility to optimise based on real data, not through guess- work, gut feeling or the usually limited direct customer feedback”. End-to-End and Platform-IT Other new developments and trends such as Platform IT and End-to-End solutions can only be used effectively in the Cloud. Klaus Aschauer explains: “On the Microsoft platform, an Azure Cloud is the basis for the business soft- ware and within this Azure Cloud there are different apps. One app is the Dy- namics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management app, which in turn can also be broken down into subsections. May- be only the Finance section is needed, or only the Project Operations section, and perhaps also a subsection from Of- fice 365 with Teams. This allows me to provide my business applications on one platform via an app, that has the concept of a platform. ERP systems used to be equipped with more and more function- alities, now people are trying to put the functionalities on one platform in order to use smaller applications and make it easier for the users to operate them.” Commenting on End-to-End solutions, Fenster explains: “More and more cus- tomers are recognising the potential of integrated or at the very least well-con- nected systems, i.e. they want to make the move away from closed data and function silos. If a service provider can offer this end-to-end throughout an en- tire value chain, with a manufacturer that has most of the required products in its portfolio and offers open interfaces, then this significantly helps to minimise inte- gration expenditure and frictional losses. This is part of our philosophy to enable our customers to become winners in the digitalisation process. The Digital Con- sultant is one of our new tools designed to support users on their way to the Cloud. The idea is to cover certain parts of a project or, in the case of smaller, less complex customers, even entire projects with a digital asset library, which they can then implement and use themselves.” Digital consultancy and the right strategy To Aschauer, the „Digital Consultant“ has a key role to play in the entire „SaaSifi- cation“ of companies: “It is a tool that we are developing for different applications and that can be downloaded via an app store. For example, it can be used to download content from within a Business Central application that is needed to set up independent bookkeeping. The Digital Consultant then integrates the customer into the system and helps to set up the bookkeeping. In other words, it is a digi- tal assistant with the ambition to handle specific things autonomously and some- thing we simply cannot be without in the future. The same applies to „Cosma“, our bot that we make available. „Cosma“ is a bot technology to which questions are asked that would otherwise be asked of a consultant, and which translates them directly into search queries within our COSMO universe and then - maybe with the help of the Digital Consultant - returns them to the user as information. „Cosma“ is thereby also a component of our Move2SaaS strategy to provide more and more services that can offer added value based on the Cloud”. CCO Aschauer is certain: “Thinking in terms of SaaS and cloud applications is a significant must for us; not just a pass- ing fad, but an absolutely clear strategy. I believe that all businesses should not even consider updating to a new version that is not SaaS; as that would only be a half-step into the future. It is therefore essential for our customers that our Move2SaaS strategy offers a predefined path for moving ERP applications from on-premises to a cloud model. For this reason, we have defined touchpoints for customers that allow us to address their current questions individually and exactly where they are on this path”. https://www.cosmoconsult.com 29 Companies that do not have a cloud-capable solution today and do not think about how they can use their data to benefit their business model are not thinking far enough ahead.