SAP, Microsoft and Adobe announce data alliance

Frankfurt : Business software companies SAP, Microsoft and Adobe said on Monday they were forming a data alliance that will make it easier for clients running their applications to get a better overview of the customer. “The core focus of the Open Data Initiative is to eliminate data silos and enable a single view of the customer, helping companies to better govern their data and support privacy and security initiatives,” the three said in a joint statement.

The initiative will enhance interoperability and data exchange between their platforms - Adobe Experience Cloud and Adobe Experience Platform, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and SAP C/4HANA and S/4HANA - through a common model, the partners said. It comes as a new European data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), puts a premium on access to customer data given by consent, structurally favoring direct marketing channels over the advertising ecosystem that relies heavily on tracking users online.