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Deep thinking on platform engineering, MRO data governance, and building software that lasts.

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The Layer SAP and IBM Cannot Build From Inside

By Raghu Vishwanath, Managing Partner | May 2026 | 10 min read

A manufacturing CIO showed me a remediation proposal for his SAP Material Master two years ago.

1.8 million records. Eleven plants. Eighteen months. Eight figures.

He signed it.

Last quarter, his successor — three CIOs later — showed me a near-identical proposal. Same SI. Same scope. Same eleven plants. Same eight figures.

The records had drifted back. Not partially. Substantially. Back to where they were before the first engagement, before the second, before any of it.

The Layer They Cannot Build

Notes from 30 years of building software that lasts.

The Layer SAP and IBM Cannot Build From Inside

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Insights

Deep thinking on platform engineering, MRO data governance, and building software that lasts.

The Layer They Cannot Build

Notes from 30 years of building software that lasts.

Enterprise Data Engineering

The unglamorous engineering that makes AI agents work.

Builder's Log

Notes from 30 years of building software that lasts.

AI and MRO

What we learned building AI that understands MRO data

The Layers — MRO

Lessons from living inside the MRO data problem

Bluemind Thinking

Vision, philosophy, and the future of platform engineering

Ark Series

Data governance, MRO operations, and building foundations that last