MY today’s story is about the “perfect storm”—a metaphor borrowed from a best-seller book and a hit movie and meaning the maximum worst-case scenario. Inflation, broken supply chains, recession, pandemic and the Ukraine war all point to this.
Some trends can be clearly seen:
• Total globalization is becoming a regionalized world economy. This includes the conscious safeguarding and diversification of supply chains, thinking and optimizing in economic blocs (“friend-shoring”). Including the need to get the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) going, including the Philippines.
• Inflation is returning and will make the differences between rich and poor countries even more pronounced. Hunger in Africa and Asia is increasing with more expensive fertilizers and food.
• After years of excessive debt, the financial resources to fuel growth are often lacking. The incoming Department of Finance Secretary Diokno will have to find the resources without undermining his successful capabilities in running the Philippine central bank.
After the zigzag course on the stock exchanges, there is a risk of further severe setbacks, to which the disenchantment of the previously grotesquely overvalued tech companies is making a significant contribution. Stockbrokers are not sensitive and talk about the “dead cat bounce”: The cat that fell out of the high-rise bounces up again after the impact, but no longer comes to life.
And then there is the EY group, which played an embarrassing role as the auditor of the collapsed companies Zeromax in Switzerland and especially Wirecard in Germany. Now the network of independent companies and partners with its 312,000 employees is planning a radical step that the then EU Commissioner Michel Barnier wanted to make a legal obligation a good 10 years ago: the separation into two areas, one for auditing and one for consulting. That would be the most extreme break in two decades for the “Big Four,” which also includes PwC, Deloitte and KPMG. The oligopoly apparently wants to escape tougher regulation.
More and more people are asking themselves: How can you actually examine companies independently, critically and severely on behalf of the state if, on the other hand, you are advising them and telling them how they can minimize tax payments to the same state via tax havens?
The perfect storm also includes data management. The nature of data analytics is changing so fast that many businesses struggle to understand what tools and approaches they should consider.
Companies that fall behind are either failing to act or are focusing on the wrong issues. As a result, they are getting outdone by competitors, often digital natives, who understand how to make the most of modern methods.
What matters most now are the three Ds of data in the cloud: diversity, distribution, and dynamics.
The three Ds concern the different challenges of data, where that data comes from, and how to manage information that is changing moment to moment.
Other critical factors for achieving a modern data environment include treating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) as real concepts, not just theoretical ideas; and enabling data to go from anywhere to anywhere—for example, from ML models or cloud data platforms back into operational systems in a more enriched state—rather than following a linear path from source to analysis to dashboard.
Have I scared you about the perfect storm? Let’s go back to the main topic of data management and understand how important the three Ds of data are. The three Ds concern the different challenges of data, where that data comes from, and how to manage information that is changing moment to moment.
If you require more information on some of the ‘perform storm’ issues, please contact me at hjschumacher59@gmail.com