An exciting topic occupied us on March 4, 2026: How can data from independent systems be brought together centrally in order to use this data profitably?
We all do something with data, more or less, but the central question was how to implement an integration concept in a company on the basis of historically grown isolated solutions that enables synergies from links.
Our workshop was led by the point8 team, consisting of Dr. Lena Linhoff, Dr. Florian Kruse and Dr. Carsten Zwilling.
After a brief round of introductions, point8 founder and partner Dr. Florian Kruse presented the origins of point8 and how scientific methods and interdisciplinary expertise are combined to find tailor-made answers to individual challenges.
Two case studies showed how data from different systems was made usable for targeted analyses, how a central data hub connected systems and how databases could be automatically reconciled. Process efficiency was increased. Data linking opens up new possibilities and dashboards, reporting, forecasts, assistance systems, AI, etc. can be considered as additional applications.
The next part of the workshop involved working on personas in small groups. We were interested in how, for example, an accountant, a production manager or a sales manager would work in an island IT environment: What systems and data does this persona need access to in order to complete their task? Which tasks can be automated? What could the ideal workflow look like if there is a linked system as a basis?
This is where the concept of the data hub comes into play: as a central instance, it receives messages from various individual systems, which must have a specific format. There are “producers” of messages and “consumers” of messages. Both are part of an integration layer, which in turn accesses the systems’ data via an interface and serves as a translator. This is the foundation for linked data, which can become intelligent assistants in a further step.
Finally, we were given valuable tips on technology and tools, some of which are open source programs that help set up a data hub.
As with almost everything: nothing, and certainly not AI, does everything by itself; we need knowledge, experience and motivation to become better.
Therefore, many thanks to the team from point8, who showed us the advantages and individual steps for implementing a data hub in a varied and expert manner during this informative afternoon.
