The Cloud Drives Harmonization and Standardization

Abstract

IT islands—they rise up from the flood of data in every corporation and every medium-sized company. As sunny as they may sound, they cast a long shadow over a company’s flexibility. In this dynamic age of digital transformation, effective administration is wrecked on the shores of these islands. In reality there are often local databases, each of which has grown independently for years and now holds layer upon layer of a quarter century of IT history. These IT landscapes are almost impossible to manage efficiently, and their complexity leads to inefficient and opaque processes which waste the valuable energy of IT employees and CEOs alike. It starts in day-to-day business: Existing data is needlessly recorded multiple times, and relevant information is not taken into account in new developments because no one knows it exists—or where it can be found. Ergo, even as companies merge and become one, their IT remains fragmented across different sites. This was the case at ThyssenKrupp—and we wanted to change it. International companies in particular require agility, flexibility, global communication and cooperation in order to gain a competitive advantage. One of ThyssenKrupp’s goals, therefore, is to consolidate and harmonize its existing IT landscape worldwide.