MDM Drivers

Bob Bloom, President of Business Development Solutions, recently attended the MDM (Master Data Management) New York 2009 Conference.

I spoke with Bob in order to get an understanding of some of the main points of the Conference.

The conference had a focus on Financial Services and Healthcare.  However, the presentations, discussions and case studies had relevance for all organizations working to succeed in today’s economic environment.

The most talked about topic at the conference was Data Governance.  Managing and controlling data throughout the organization are critical elements in successfully managing today’s organizations.  Attendees were briefed on how leading organizations are conducting formally managing their data, understanding where data is, keeping it accurate and understanding what the data means.  Data Governance is an essential foundation for MDM, Business Intelligence, and Data Access by the users in an organization.

Concerning the drivers for implementing MDM, Compliance was a major driver for these organizations.  This is understandable since the conference had a focus on financial services and healthcare.  These organizations are highly regulated industries and will only continue to see more regulation in the foreseeable future.  However, it is important for all organizations to consider the Compliance and Risk Management issues they face and how their data is a key element in this.

Other big drivers discussed for MDM implementations were Cost Savings and Revenue Creation.  Better information and making that better information more accessible with complete views of your customer data can significantly help an organization both save and make money.  Even if you are not optimistic about your sales growth in this current economic environment, better information can help you maintain your customer base as much as possible.  As we are seeing with our customers, Retention Marketing is critical in these economic times.  Harnessing and effectively using your data assets becomes vital in planning and carrying out the retention effort.