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Data journey

We take you by the hand – from Excel chaos to a data-driven business.

Four maturity levels, one path: we guide you from the first trustworthy report through a solid lakehouse to productive AI in daily business.

Start your data journey
4
maturity levels
90 days
to the first productive use case
1 Team
from strategy to operations
The data journey

Four maturity levels – and a clear next step for each of them.

Nobody jumps from spreadsheets straight to productive AI. Find the level that matches your day-to-day: we show you how to recognise it, what we actually do there and what result it delivers.

Level 1

Reactive

Numbers are produced by hand – and the leadership team still argues about them.

Typical duration: Weeks to a few months
How to recognise this level
  • The monthly close costs a lot of copy and paste and depends on individual people
  • Sales, production and finance bring different numbers to the same meeting
  • Reports live in Excel files whose origin nobody can trace
  • Individual employees use ChatGPT privately – with no rules and no company data
What we actually do at this level
  • Define the decision-relevant KPIs properly – one agreed, written definition per KPI
  • Connect ERP, CRM and other systems automatically instead of exporting manually
  • Build a management report that refreshes itself every morning
  • Set clear AI guardrails: which data may go into which tools – and which tasks are worth it at all?
  • Collect use-case ideas from the business and roughly rate them by value and feasibility
Result
Month-end close without night shifts
Finance delivers the numbers from an automated report instead of chained Excel files
Result
One set of numbers in the management meeting
Leadership, sales and production discuss actions instead of arguing about figures
Result
Sales sees incoming orders and margin earlier
React to outliers within the running month instead of afterwards
Result
AI usage without data risk
clear rules on which content may go into which tools – agreed with IT and data protection
Level 2

Consolidated

A foundation where every department finds the same truth.

Typical duration: Several months
How to recognise this level
  • Data sits centrally, but every department calculates its KPIs differently
  • Every new report ends up in the IT backlog
  • AI pilots stall because clean, connected data is missing
  • Nobody can say what the data landscape costs per month
What we actually do at this level
  • Justify the platform decision (Databricks or Microsoft Fabric) based on cost, existing skills and roadmap
  • Build data layers and a shared metrics layer – one calculation, valid everywhere
  • Reduce governance to what matters: access rights, data quality checks, traceability, GDPR
  • Provide a central, GDPR-compliant AI gateway: one approved access to current language models for everyone
  • Select the AI use cases with the biggest leverage and calculate a business case for each
Result
Business units get analyses without an IT ticket
Controlling and sales work directly on certified data products
Result
One binding KPI definition
Finance, sales and operations calculate revenue, margin and utilisation the same way
Result
Platform costs become manageable
IT leadership sees consumption per unit and can justify budgets
Result
Every employee has GDPR-compliant AI access
vetted language models instead of private accounts across departments
Level 3

Scaling

Use cases are delivered repeatably – not as heroics by single teams.

Typical duration: Several months to a year
How to recognise this level
  • Every new use case feels like starting from scratch
  • Vielversprechende KI-Prototypen schaffen es nur selten in den produktiven Betrieb
  • Only a few early adopters use AI, the rest of the workforce is left out
  • There is no solid order for which use case comes first
What we actually do at this level
  • Establish a delivery standard: testing, automated rollout, monitoring in operations
  • Run a use-case portfolio with value cases and prioritisation – decisions traceable instead of political
  • Deliver individual high-potential AI use cases: assistants on your documents, quote and order processing, demand and maintenance forecasts
  • Actively manage AI adoption: role-based training, champions in every department, concrete use cases instead of just enabling a tool
  • Move ownership into the business: every domain owns its data products
Result
Quotes and orders run with AI assistance
Inside sales handles requests with suggestions drawn from your own documents
Result
Demand forecasts instead of gut feeling in planning
Procurement and planning decide order volumes on one shared forecast
Result
Maintenance plans ahead
Production spots critical assets before they fail
Result
Use-case portfolio with a business case
Leadership decides sequence and budget by value, not by who shouts loudest
Level 4

Data-driven

Data and AI take effect where the money is made: in daily operations.

Typical duration: ongoing
How to recognise this level
  • Use cases run in production – but their profit contribution is documented nowhere
  • AI usage grows faster than governance and cost control
  • Forecasts end up in dashboards instead of triggering orders, maintenance jobs or prices directly
  • Value still depends on a handful of specialist teams instead of the business units
What we actually do at this level
  • Embed AI assistants into daily work per role – on your own data, via the central gateway
  • Feed forecasts automatically into core processes: order proposals, maintenance jobs, price recommendations, quality checks
  • Measure and steer AI adoption: active usage, time saved per role, quality of results
  • Make value and cost per use case transparent and actively steer the portfolio
Result
Forecasts trigger processes directly
Order proposals, maintenance jobs and price recommendations land in the ERP, not in a dashboard
Result
AI assistants are part of daily work
Service, sales and procurement use them daily on your own data
Result
Value contribution per use case is proven
Leadership sees value and cost side by side and steers the portfolio
Result
AI usage stays auditable
IT and compliance see access, cost and models in one place

Start your data journey with us.

In 30 minutes we assess your maturity level together and show you the three steps with the biggest leverage in your context.

Start your data journey with us
Our promise

For us, guidance means building with you, not just advising.

A real assessment instead of gut feeling

We assess your maturity across data, technology, organisation and culture.

One path, no leaps

Every level builds on the previous one – with results that deliver value along the way.

The same people all the way to operations

Strategy, architecture and delivery all come from one team.

Next step

Let us determine your starting point in 30 minutes.

We listen, assess your maturity level and show you the next three steps – free and without obligation.

  • An honest assessment instead of a sales pitch
  • Concrete next steps for your maturity level
  • Delivery by the same people who advise you