IT service provider amexus and value added distributor ADN have expanded their long-standing collaboration from traditional modern workplace projects into the data and AI segment. A reference project at bolt and fastener wholesaler Fastbolt shows how this partnership resulted in a central data warehouse built on Microsoft Fabric.
Digital technologies are currently evolving at short intervals, which confronts many companies with the task of keeping their IT landscapes stable while remaining adaptable. This applies to cloud architectures as much as to data platforms and AI-supported analytics models. IT service providers must continuously expand their expertise, which strengthens the role of value added distributors such as ADN in the channel.
The collaboration between ADN and amexus Informationstechnik GmbH & Co. KG, based in Ahaus, began in the modern workplace segment and has since developed into an ongoing partnership in the data and AI field. amexus today builds data platforms and Fabric solutions for mid-sized companies, while ADN contributes technical expertise and strategic guidance. Tobias Wurm, Head of Sales and Business Units at amexus, describes the benefit of this division of roles: continuous exchange with ADN and its well-founded recommendations help strengthen amexus’s own expertise around data platforms and AI, and implement projects more efficiently.
The practical impact of this collaboration is illustrated by the project at Fastbolt Schraubengroßhandels GmbH. The company had long worked with a historically grown data landscape, in which information from purchasing, logistics and quality management could only be consolidated with considerable effort. To modernize these structures and create a consistent basis for decision-making, Fastbolt commissioned amexus to build a central data warehouse based on Microsoft Fabric.
Since then, data has been processed according to the so-called medallion architecture, structured into three layers: bronze, silver and gold. In the bronze layer, raw data is collected unchanged; in the silver layer it is cleaned and harmonized; and in the gold layer it is modeled so that a robust and scalable information base for strategic decisions emerges. Operational reporting and Power BI analytics are planned to build on this structure going forward, with further extensions such as advanced analytics envisaged in subsequent stages.
Daniel Hirtzbruch, project lead at Fastbolt, assesses the project from the customer’s perspective: with Microsoft Fabric and the new data warehouse, a unified data platform has emerged that enables faster analytics and more transparent decisions, laying the foundation for future data-driven initiatives.
The example points to a broader development in the channel: given the complexity of modern IT landscapes, companies need service providers who understand their business processes, while these service providers in turn rely on value added distributors such as ADN to stay technologically current. Manufacturers such as Microsoft provide the underlying platforms; however, the practical implementation of viable data and AI strategies only emerges through the interplay of IT service provider and distributor.
For mid-sized companies such as Fastbolt, the value of such a model lies above all in the incremental approach: instead of a one-off, comprehensive system replacement, the data architecture is built up in clearly defined phases aligned with concrete business requirements. At the same time, the architecture remains open to future use cases, such as predictive analytics, without requiring the existing data base to be rebuilt.
From the perspective of ADN and amexus, the Fastbolt project is representative of comparable initiatives among German mid-sized companies, in which historically grown IT structures are being gradually replaced by cloud-based data platforms. Both partners expect demand for such modernization projects to keep growing as data volumes increase and regulatory requirements become more stringent.
Dr. Jakob Jung is Editor-in-Chief of Security Storage and Channel Germany. He has been working in IT journalism for more than 20 years. His career includes Computer Reseller News, Heise Resale, Informationweek, Techtarget (storage and data center) and ChannelBiz. He also freelances for numerous IT publications, including Computerwoche, Channelpartner, IT-Business, Storage-Insider and ZDnet. His main topics are channel, storage, security, data center, ERP and CRM.
Contact via Mail: jakob.jung@security-storage-und-channel-germany.de