Put an end to data chaos

How GenAI saves your system migration and refines master data

Are you about to migrate your system, switch to SAP S/4HANA or undertake similar projects, and are you concerned about your master data? Inconsistent item descriptions, duplicate customer records and missing product information are often the biggest hurdles on the path to digital transformation. Traditional, rule-based tools quickly reach their limits when it comes to processing and threaten to delay or even cause your project to fail. But let's start at the beginning.

The nightmare before the project starts: when rigid rules fail

The following situation at ‘Muster & Co.’, a fictional medium-sized mechanical engineering company: The planned migration to SAP S/4HANA was hanging in the balance. The reason: article descriptions from three different systems, over 20 years old, full of typos and internal abbreviations. Rule-based tools were unable to consolidate this data and adapt it to the format requirements of the new system. The estimated manual effort was 150 days.

This problem is widespread. Conventional systems fail when faced with the complexity of real data. They can recognise clear duplicates such as ‘Thorsten Müller’ and ‘Torsten Mueller’, but they fail when faced with variations such as ‘T. Müller’ with the same address or telephone number. The situation is similar with article data: For a classic system, ‘stainless steel seal, type C, 200 mm’ and ‘seal (V2A), 200 mm, model C’ are two different products. Without extensively maintained synonym lists, this is where it ends. The result is inefficient processes, flawed analyses and delayed projects.

The game changer: AI that understands data like a human being

The solution lies in an application based on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Unlike rigid rules, GenAI works with context and semantic relationships. Our solution, developed by adesso, acts like a digital expert that learns and applies industry-specific abbreviations, internal company glossaries and linguistic nuances.

For companies like ‘Muster & Co.’, this means in concrete terms:

• Intelligent consolidation: The AI analyses article master data from various sources, extracts the essential technical features, discards redundancies and generates a single, precise and format-compliant target description for the new system. The manual post-processing effort is virtually zero, as the system continuously learns. Optional human feedback can be used to further refine the quality of the results and increase accuracy in the long term.
• Holistic customer view: GenAI breaks through data silos from CRM, ERP, PIM and web shops. The AI intelligently links customer records, even if names or email addresses differ slightly. This finally gives your sales team a complete picture of each customer, making the data not only clean but also strategically valuable.
• Use of unstructured data: Valuable information often lies dormant in free text fields, such as maintenance logs. Our solution reads and understands these texts and converts the information into structured data for your SAP or analysis system. Customer and contract data can thus be supplemented with valuable information.

The turbo boost for better data quality: external enrichment

Even cleaned master data is often still incomplete. This is where the GenAI application, which is based on Google Cloud, shows its true strength. As with Google Search, the application can also search specific external sources to supplement missing information.

The AI analyses unstructured technical documents or PDFs from suppliers on the web, extracts missing attributes such as weight, customs tariff numbers or material classes, and automatically inserts them into your data records in the correct (SAP) format. The result is a master data record that is not only clean, but also complete and up to date.

Strategic advantage: More than just clean data

With our Google Cloud-based GenAI solution, you benefit from much more than just data cleansing:

• Higher data quality: Significantly increases the consistency and accuracy of your master data.
• Massive efficiency gains: Reduces the manual effort and costs of master data maintenance many times over.
• Accelerated projects: Launch system migrations and other strategic initiatives faster and more smoothly.
• Real competitive advantage: Use enriched, high-quality data for better analysis and informed business decisions.

Act before unclean data slows down your next project

Accurate and consistent master data is the crucial foundation for success. Don't wait until faulty data leads to project delays and additional costs – future-proof your data. We would be happy to discuss with you personally how we can solve the challenges of master data management in your company. Contact us to arrange a personalised demonstration of our application.