Philip Meier and Benedikt Stolze have created the podcast Hashtag Digital with the mission of accelerating digitisation in Germany. To this end, they regularly conduct interviews with experts from science and practice and publish these podcasts on the topic of digitisation on their website. This time, Alexander Thamm, founder and CEO of the company of the same name, was on hand to answer questions about data, Digitisation and Artificial intelligence to answer.

The Foundation of Alexander Thamm GmbH in the podcast

The podcast starts with the CEO himself. Having grown up in Munich and completed his business studies, he discovered his enthusiasm for statistics and analysis at BMW. For BMW, he developed a own algorithm for manufacturers of vehicle spare parts, which showed which customers needed which parts and when, based on vehicle analysis data, and presented it at conferences worldwide. Overwhelmed by the positive feedback and interest in his algorithm, he decided to to found Alexander Thamm GmbH in 2012. This was followed by the development of the Data compass and the Data Journey. Due to the lack of Data ScientistsAlexander Thamm also called for a specially developed Data Science Trainee Programme into life.

Data - the heart of digitalisation

In the next part of the podcast, the focus is on digitalisation. The importance of understanding the customer is emphasised, because scaling a good product, is Alexander Thamm's opinion, is only possible through the best handling of the Customers achievable.

For Alexander Thamm, the three success factors for digital projects are clearOne important point is the human being itself, as well as the Knowledge, which he possesses and which, despite increasing Artificial intelligence will continue to be needed.

Likewise, the Technology play an important role. With conventional tools or databases, one already reaches one's limits in some cases. We should open up and refocus, says the data science expert, instead of sticking rigidly to the old standards.

As a final success factor, Alexander Thamm cites Data governance. This includes legal privacy, which is also becoming more important due to different legislations. But also data ownership, which is often a problem if it is not clear who is responsible for storing the collected data and what is contained in it. As a result, it is often not clear what exactly the data represents. However, the correct documentation of this data is worth more than the actual process work, says Alexander Thamm, and for this the Create awareness among the client's employees.

Digitisation in Germany & Europe

The keyword that immediately comes to Alexander Thamm's mind when talking about Germany as a digital location and its changes is "catching up". On the one hand, more of the Grassroots work be dedicated. However, this will only pay off in 10-20 years. This includes, for example, the promotion of children, whether it is teaching them programming or awakening in them the fun of inventing, trying things out, taking responsibility or even wanting to be entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, in the Businesses lead the way in innovationwhich middle managers in particular often lack the courage to do for fear of negative consequences. Germany should also invest more.

Chatbots - machines that make decisions like humans

Alexander Thamm sees an example of the concerns and lack of courage in Germany in the subject of Chatbots. Many companies do not yet dare to fully address this issue. They are afraid that these digital assistants give wrong answers and thus damage the company. Nevertheless, Alexander Thamm is of the opinion that it will take another 3-5 years at the most until we KI We will have assistants on our mobile devices that will support us almost as well as human assistants do today.

Chief Digital Officer - Overrated or Underrated?

The podcast ends with the question of the significance of the Chief Digital Officers. Alexander Thamm sees the position as someone that every company needs, as this person has a overriding responsibility and the digital processes can often only function well through the existing structures. On the other hand, however, one must not see the CDO as the person "who will fix everything" and work apart from the other colleagues.

You can listen to the entire podcast with Alexander Thamm here:

(Soundcloud, iTunes and Stitcher)