Lidl founder Dieter Schwarz has “accidentally” become a real alternative to the big U.S. hyperscalers. As a German cloud player, Schwarz Digits is an attractive option for companies with stringent requirements, including SAP and football club Bayern Munich.
In an interview with Financial Times, co-CEO Christian Müller explains that his company grew tremendously fast despite the fact that it was not formed at all with a commercial motivation.
First out of necessity, now for commerce
Indeed, Schwartz Digits began as an internal system for supermarket chains Lidl and Kaufland. Sensitive data from stores, customers and 575,000 employees could not simply be sent to AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, since as U.S. parties they might have to share the data with U.S. authorities.
Obviously, such considerations do not apply only to Lidl. European countries’ laws vary, but Germany and Austria have perhaps the strictest data privacy rules. This drove SAP and Bayern Munich to knock on Schwartz Digits’ door.
Cloud, security and AI
Schwartz Digits’ three main areas of focus are cloud computing, cybersecurity and AI. This is a well thought-out choice, Avispador consultant Axel Oppermann told Financial Times. However, the article does note that the real competition will take time to exist, as Schwartz Digits lacks the huge partner network of U.S. hyperscalers.
Nevertheless, a move to European cloud options may be necessary in the future for many industries. Data privacy has now become a central concern for policymakers. Hastily purchased U.S. solutions, such as Microsoft’s offerings, are not the future. Eventually, European alternatives must emerge so that the continent becomes more than a digital dependency for U.S. players. Schwartz Digits is now gaining the experience to be such a European alternative as a cloud player in the long run.
Also read: Google Cloud aims for a converged security approach