It is not an easy time for business with the cutbacks and changes necessary to adapt to the new global economy. This includes the ability to establish clear processes for having consistent data that is used across business processes and decision making. It should be no surprise to anyone in business or IT that organizations have struggled to get that consistency as the number and disparate set of systems have created large challenges to rectify. So why do we have to deal with such data chaos anyway? Well that is too long of a story for this short discussion, but it is clear that precise steps are needed to make improvements to the interchange of data across our systems or sometimes referred to as master data management (MDM).

To make these steps I would recommend clear definition of the problem and costs of operating with data that is not consistent. Examination of your customer and product data are usually great places to start as they have the immediate impact to revenue and potential improvement and clear recognition of it. For many organizations the duplication of definitions of customer and product data has proven to cost companies millions and impact the financial close process to name one specifically. If you have a good handle on these costs and value of the lack of consistent data across systems then you can establish the business case and build the right team to drive improvement. But just doing that is not enough as understanding the difference of the data definitions will require some data discovery to determine where you might want the data translations to occur across systems or where you want them stored in a hub or repository to support it.

Master Data Management is a process and technology that is intertwined across multiple organizations and processes that can create havoc if not carefully traversed. I would recommend that you examine these incremental costs and time to make these changes as they are part of establishing the total cost of ownership as this must be weighed to the benefits that can be achieved. I have seen a lot of discussion and shelving of MDM projects due to the clear lack of strategy and planning. Do the full analysis of the time required to implement, deploy and achieve the value required and find the value of the investment. Many organizations have made MDM a business process transformation initiative instead of a business process improvement effort. Understanding the difference and pinpointing the improvements and finding the means to make them transparent is critical.

If you have not endeavored down this MDM path before or established the link to data governance processes, then be warned that it might turn into a project that could distract your business not improve it. Instead of having an expensive bill that will create you and your business a headache, look to find the steps to deliver incremental value that you can easily achieve. Looking at what you might need to do across a small set of systems, and then expanding out, or finding methods to reduce significant time in existing processes by having clarity on data will be what you need.

If you are not sure, then examine our research and education, and through examples of other organizations and best practices you will find what you need to make MDM pay dividends and not take them away.

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Regards,

Mark Smith - CEO & EVP Research