Interview: Data Streamhouse - IT in Flow

Handelsblatt Trendreport interview with our CEO

October 29, 2024

I had the pleasure of speaking with Handelsblatt – Trend Report about the Data Streamhouse and our vision for advancing data infrastructure and automation across organizations.

🇩🇪 German
‍You can read the original German interview here:
‍Read on Trend Report (Publicly available)
Read on Handelsblatt (Subscription only)

🇺🇸 English
‍Below is the English translation of our full conversation:

Mr. Buick, what is on the minds of IT managers these days?

The flow. For a long time, it was almost axiomatic that more data and advanced technologies would automatically guarantee greater flexibility and responsiveness in the market. But for many managers, the reality is that data systems are cumbersome, IT projects are extremely complex, and resources are often lacking. Fully automated, adaptable processes are, for many, still aspirational. Companies, therefore, need to find their flow again.

Companies need to find their flow again—can you elaborate on that?

Being in flow means you’re deeply engaged in a creative process. There are no obstacles, and the work just flows effortlessly. This is a state of highest efficiency. Imagine this applied to the entire company: every process, every step is interconnected, efficient, and accessible—then your whole company is in flow. A Data Streamhouse makes this possible.

What are the advantages of a Data Streamhouse?

With data in motion—that is, data streaming— vast amounts of information can be processed and integrated in real-time. This empowers organizations to make better decisions faster and to create or refine processes with agility. Today, data sits stagnant in warehouses, largely forgotten, inaccessible, and costly: not everyone has access or even knows if and where the data exists. This results in “storage costs” and delays, leading to interruptions. Many data points don’t even make it to storage. When information, instead, remains in flow throughout the entire organization, it’s like a perfectly tuned conveyor belt. Every work step and intermediate product is visible and accessible. This transparency and accessibility are the greatest advantages. This isn’t just about automation or real-time decisions; it’s about dissolving data silos and moving the organization into a perpetual state of flow. It’s a profound, structural shift—a tangible, fundamental transformation.

How do you ensure this data accessibility?

Key to accessibility is significantly reducing the typical high complexity. Both data access and data processing today require a lot of technical expertise, often within a project framework. With a Data Streamhouse, accessing data that flows between systems—data that would typically be invisible—is as easy as opening an Excel file. You can immediately connect further systems, create new processes, or even experiment with this data. To make this possible, we reimagined the successful concepts of the cloud data warehouse and applied them to data streaming. Since we developed our system from the ground up specifically for data in motion we had to take a completely new technical approach. A Data Streamhouse not only makes accessing and working with data in motion easy but also secure. An integral part is a fully integrated governance layer, which controls access on a personal, role, or team level and provides information on who to contact with data-related questions. As in many areas of life, organization is key to keeping an overview.

So, do you want to replace databases?

No, quite the opposite: the two approaches complement each other. The focus of a data warehouse is on storing the final results. However, the area that has received little attention, which incurs high costs and is perceived as a bottleneck, is data processing. The Data Streamhouse, therefore, focuses on data flow, i.e., on data processing and its intermediate steps.

What is your view on AI in this context?

You can think of AI as a brain: without real-time information, AI can’t make smart or relevant decisions. Instead of perceiving the environment through senses, AI relies on real-time data. This applies for the output as well. AI, like human employees, benefits from the simple access to data within the company that a Data Streamhouse enables.

Do all companies benefit from a Data Streamhouse?

Of course, some companies will experience the impact sooner than others, but no industry is immune to the value this brings. Achieving a state of flow—where companies generate true value from their own data and operations—isn’t just relevant; it’s essential for everyone. I question the popular idea in the software industry that every company must morph into a software company. Instead, our mission is to deliver solutions like the Data Streamhouse that let companies focus on their core competencies and business logic. Standard software is, unfortunately, too inflexible for these strategic processes.

How does the Data Streamhouse differ from standard software?

We focus on a different area within the company. There are standard processes within companies that differ only slightly between organizations, which can be well supported by standard software. There are already many successful solutions here. However, beyond this, there is software of strategic importance to a company, software that ensures a competitive advantage. This is where we come in. Here, it’s about data-centric processes, and a solution like the Data Streamhouse brings the most significant benefit to clients. Often, it’s stakeholders from business units or IT themselves who want to implement these processes faster and more easily. Thus, the entire organization benefits from data accessibility, flexibility, and reduced development times. We can cut time-to-market down to a fraction. For many, this is a striking “aha” moment. It allows you to build or optimize competitive processes in a shorter time than the competition.

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Interview: Data Streamhouse - IT in Flow

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