MDM Can Be Challenging Due To Its Complexity

MDM projects can be quite a complex and arduous task. However, understanding the issues and challenges can see the enterprises through. Anand S, Research Director, Technical Insights, Frost & Sullivan, in conversation with Biztech2.com sheds light on the challenges involved and the answer to these.

What are your suggestions for CIOs when choosing the MDM solution/vendor?

Choosing a MDM vendor can be an arduous task. MDM remains a fast-growing and increasingly competitive market in data management, with new vendors and products being launched. In the current scenario, there are a multitude of MDM tools and architectures to choose from, depending on operational or analytic needs. At the same time, understanding the needs of an organisation is not always simple and this makes it difficult for firms to make informed decisions on which MDM vendor’s solution matches both its business and IT needs. CIOs must realise that not all MDM products are equally built, and understanding the differences between them is crucial to selecting and evaluating the right tool for success.

The MDM tools marketed by vendors today vary considerably in terms of approach, architecture and functionality and the CIO should avoid being blindsided by market hype and vendor rhetoric. They should be able to get insights into the functional merits and drawbacks of different MDM tools and be confident that it matches the expectations of their data management needs. A good practice would be to have an evaluation framework in place before selecting MDM vendors.

What factors will drive the adoption of MDM in the cloud?

Leveraging on-demand availability of the cloud computing module, MDM solutions when offered as a service, empower organisations with a higher level of flexibility. Enterprises that require handling voluminous information with restricted infrastructure capabilities can benefit to a large extent from this service-based data management offering. The key factors driving adoption could be attributed to the inherent capabilities of cloud computing such as cost-effectiveness, ease of use and availability on web.

However, the readiness to accept MDM-as-a-service is limited by the business goals and delivery concepts of enterprises that restrict sharing of customer data outside the enterprise firewall.

What are some of the key issues that enterprises need to address as they embark on their MDM projects?

An MDM project has a highly complex structure and can be influenced by various factors such as resource availability, time frame, and the size of the problem. Enterprises are required to address the following key issues:

Identify master data sources: This step is usually a very revealing exercise and companies need to find out the amount of existing databases that contain customer data.

Analyse metadata: Companies are required to find out entities and attributes of data. If the company has a repository loaded with all the metadata, this challenge becomes simple.

Deploy a data-governance council: This council, appointed by the company, must have the knowledge and authority to make decisions on how the master data can be maintained, what it contains, how long it is kept, and how changes are authorised and audited.

Build the master-data model: Companies must decide the look of the master records. Factor such as size, data type, attributes, etc. should be established. This is normally the most important and most difficult step in the process.

Can you talk about some of the key challenges with MDM?

MDM is a relatively new concept and poses numerous challenges due to its complexity. Maintaining a single view of products, customers, locations and financial accounts is a significant challenge. The greatest complexity comes from the changes in the business processes and issues in process integration, and above all the data integration requirements. Some key challenges that need to be addressed include:

Align business processes with MDM: Business units need to spend time and effort to change business process and applications to align with centralised master data. This would require significant investment in technology and training.

Selection of right technology: Tools purchased from vendors or developed in house should work with multiple applications, tools and platforms including legacy systems to capture, integrate, share and synchronise master data. Many vendors are providing technology and services around MDM. Before selecting the tool a proper vendor evaluation and proof-of-concept exercise should be carried out.

Controlling time and cost: Bringing all the organisation’s master data under the umbrella of a single master data environment might take few years, millions in investment, budget overruns and possible cancellation of the initiative due to lack of interest and poor sponsorship. So the MDM initiative must be properly planned and cost and time overrun carefully monitored.

Continued integration: MDM is not a one-time activity. Due to changing business scenarios, changing regulations, mergers and acquisitions, the master data needs to be modified and enriched on an ongoing basis. Also all applications need to synchronise with master data periodically, though not on a real-time basis. There should be sufficient resources and budgetary support to achieve continued integration.