Data does not have to be a burden during cloud migration, here’s how

In the world of expanding data and unpredictability, it is more important than ever for businesses to equip themselves with the essential tools and insights that can help navigate the complex terrain of digital transformation. To explore the opportunities to do that further, ERP Today spoke to Thomas Iseler, global strategic partnerships advisor at Data Migration International (DMI), about his views on the transformation possibilities in retrospect of the SAP Adoption Catalyst event held in the spring of this year.

The Catalyst event brought together SAP experts and users to discuss the most effective and efficient ways of migrating to SAP S/4HANA. When asked about the key takeaway customers should note from the Catalyst event, Iseler focused on one specific aspect: data. Oftentimes, customers tend to not think about data as first and foremost matter, but rather leave it as a “difficult and painful” topic that “you deal with when you have to”.

He explained that, understandably, this tends to happen because of how much is at stake when it comes to dealing with data: downtime planning is a topic that is seen as particularly difficult because it involves business interruption with users deciding which data they want. During that process, it is common that “you will never get a straight answer. It will change five million times and it’s probably always more data than [end users] really need”.

So, when customers do realize that they are about to face this issue, they, in the words of Iseler, “select more traditional ways” and begin SAP archiving or moving all of the data which can eventually cause a volume problem.

However, there is a different approach to this. As a partner at the Catalyst event, DMI unveiled JiVS Information Management Platform (JiVS IMP) – the SAP-certified solution for S/4HANA migration, aimed to help companies halve their migration workloads, slash operating costs and bolster security measures.

How is JiVS an alternative to traditional methods of archiving and moving data? JiVS IMP is an end-to-end information management platform that “divides and conquers” customers’ data, separating operational and historical data to reduce the burden on the live systems. The platform cleans, sorts and refines the data to preserve its quality. This way, the historical data and documents are stored in JiVS IMP and can be accessed from both inside and outside SAP.

“It’s almost like the jump directly from very old technology to brand new technology”, Iseler said. “It’s not just the technology but it’s actually the approach of how things are done and how things are handled.

“That makes that topic less scary and less complex. That’s the specific approach of JiVS”.

At the time when cloud is gradually overtaking ERP technology, it is vital to consider how digital transformation will affect your data. With a solution like DMI’s JiVS IMP, you can be confident that your data will be stored safely and your cloud migration journey is smooth and efficient.