The industry world takes off into the cloud

The pandemic has posed major challenges for companies worldwide. Who will emerge from the crisis weakened and who strengthened? This will become apparent in the coming months, for which experts forecast a slow revival of the economy. In particular, companies that have invested and worked on their cloud strategy during the crisis now have a good hand in the market. For all those who still have some catching up to do on the subject of the cloud, here is a summary of the most important things to know:

Following in the footsteps of the business pioneers and many startups, the industry is now beginning to increasingly lift its business models into the cloud on a broad scale. This is accelerated by the RISE initiative with which SAP with which SAP is paving the way for its customers into the S/4HANA world. The reason for a cloud transformation is not only lower costs. New functionalities and possibilities, such as the use of satellites with AWS Ground Station, are also winning over more and more companies. Today, not only Amazon Web Services, but also Microsoft Azure, SAP Cloud or the Asian cloud Alibaba are the basis for countless software-as-a-service offerings. Data spaces are no longer just a term for experts. The term data sovereignty has also found its way into operational (business) life.

In the field of cloud hosting, US corporations have clearly dominated up to now. The GAIA-X cloud initiative, under which European providers can now also network, offers an alternative to medium-sized companies in particular. The German government invested nearly 200 million euros in the project in March 2021, emphasizing the importance of European independence in the cloud sector.

 On the new infrastructure, the first industry-specific variants are becoming apparent after only a short time: The "Catena-X Automotive Network (Catena-X)", for example, aims to create a uniform standard for data and information flows throughout the automotive value chain. This alliance of companies such as BMW; Mercedes Bent, Bosch, Schaeffler or ZF Friedrichshafen is a good example of how the hegemonic position of large manufacturers is taking hold.

Data spaces are mandatory for new business relationships and models. In addition, they are not infrequently the basis for concepts such as the "digital twin" (read more about this here). But these data spaces remain "data dreams" if they are not sustained by the entire industry.. This means that especially medium-sized companies should be lifted to platforms such as GAIA-X.

 They have to decide whether they are taking the technical route to the cloud from their own motivation, because they want to help shape these digital data spaces and see it as an option for service-oriented business. Or whether they see the whole thing from the perspective of a supplier who is externally required to supply a "technical interface in the cloud"

What is needed here is a holistic view: on business orientation, on organization and finally also on technology. These are questions that every medium-sized management in the manufacturing industry should ask itself. In the msg group, it is first and foremost msg services ag that accompanies customers in this process. In the case of cloud transformation, mainly medium-sized companies rely on the msg group company, which provides them with vendor-neutral advice as a trusted advisor and provides all services from a single source: from the conception of the cloud strategy (private, public, multi- or hybrid cloud) and the selection of the hyperscaler to the transfer of the IT systems to the cloud and support via managed services throughout the entire cloud lifecycle. Customer experts from the entire msg group are also on hand to answer questions about cloud security and cloud governance.

Our conclusion: Anyone who wants to take their company into the cloud should not just address technical aspects. Especially since many questions cannot be answered in purely technological terms but – as described – must be addressed holistically. If this article has made you think about your cloud strategy or if one of the members of Catena-X is one of your largest customers, we recommend one thing above all: Don't put off making the decision.