What processes/systems have you put in place help you govern all those data flows? Because we've all seen with GDPR and CCPA out in California, that these data privacy laws are all over the place. And they're really hurting companies because they don't have a governance model in place. How have you done that? And what's the impact that you've seen internally?
I mean if you look back companies start with-- we need the data lake. That's the very first reaction to-- it's coming from the big data hub, just like we need to get our data, our data is near full. We need the data lake. But the problem starts with that because the data lake's not going to ever have all the data in the company, which is real. Because you have data that needs to be kind of local, needs to be on-prem. So you cannot just put everything into the lake. Yet you need to make the best use of this data as well.
So the data lake concept takes you to a particular place, but it's not the solution. On the other hand, it's like-- we, and companies like E.ON, they are not just one single company. So you have many legal entities. And they all have their own requirements, because they are in different geographies. GDPR was a huge kind of a relief for us because it was common. First of all, right, it was common and if you comply you can really say, or explain to your customers, guys, we are dealing with your data in the proper way.
For us, the most important thing is our customers. And with our customers the responsibility of dealing with their data in the best way possible is common also to us. We Implement it [INAUDIBLE]. But again, at the end you have data you have GDPR requirements. In our industry, we have federal regulations like unbundling. So we need to separate the Great Depression from the commercial part of the energy. So you many regulations and you need a system to understand-- well, which data we have where? Who is responsible this data? What's the best way accessing this data?
And just putting too many restrictions is equally bad, because you are not unlocking the potential. And sometimes we misinterpret GDPR in terms of, no you can't. Actually, you can but you need to observe A, B, and C. And what we need is to have a system where we can just implement that. And that's what drove us to work with your company.
We appreciate it. It's definitely been a perfect marriage between two different companies. Data governance is central to who we are and what we do as an organization. But primarily being able to solve those challenges and providing one system that can help you govern all of your data flows is really the heart of our company. So with that, look, you guys are so far ahead of other companies I speak to. If somebody else is about to embark on this journey, what do you do to get there? What's some advice that you would give them?
Well, first of all, it's like-- you need to be ambitious enough but not too ambitious. Because EON is-- after the merger with Innogy we're going to be kind of 75,000 employees. And it's an elite company and with many-- the complexity is huge. If you just come up with a global data readiness program, you're going to be laughed at obviously. It's like thank you, we tried it, It didn't work. Right. So my advice here is very clear. Start small but don't lose sight of the vision. The vision is kind of a global way of dealing with your data. And you need to kind of have advocates in the different parts of the organization just to help. And you just coming closer and closer to your vision. And they need to speak for that and they need to drive it with you. So there's no-- you can be the impulse but your impulse is not going to be enough to get you there. That would be my advice.
That's great advice. So just to-- if I could just sum that up, right. So have a bigger vision for what you're trying to accomplish. Figure out some short term goals that you get out there and achieve against. And then have those local advocates to help you make sure that you're successful locally. I think that's great advice for everybody that's embarking on a data governance approach. Well, Juan, thanks so much for having me. This is definitely a great session. I appreciate you coming out and spend some time together.
Thank you, Adam. It's a pleasure. And thank you for supporting us in this journey.
You got it.