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Master Data Management – an industry session with Mark

Each month KDR Recruitment’s MD, Mark Dexter, runs an industry session for employees to find out the latest trends in information management. This month’s theme was all things Master Data Management (MDM).

During the session Mark asked what is MDM, why use MDM and who are the main players in MDM?

What?

Master Data Management is a way of linking critical data to one file, called the ‘master file’, which provides one point of reference. When MDM is done properly it can help to streamline data sharing between multiple departments and personnel.

Why?

Master Data Management helps to standardise the data through the way things are formatted and coded. Having a master file can also help with the quality and governance of the data as MDM cannot happen without this. Not only this but MDM can increase the number and diversity of departments, roles and computing applications – this why MDM is more likely to be of value to larger, more complex enterprises rather than SMEs. Master Data Management can be particularly useful when companies merge as it can minimise confusion and maximise efficiency of the new, larger company.

Who?

There are several big players in MDM, the majority of these fall into two categories; customer data MDM and product MDM. Very few solutions fall into both of these categories. According to Gartner’s MDM magic quadrant either the product or customer MDM can fall into these four categories;

  • Leaders – which includes the likes of Informatica, IBM and Oracle
  • Visionaries – such as Orchestra Networks
  • Niche Players – such as SAP, Talend and VisionWare
  • Challengers

These examples are based on the Customer Data Solution magic quadrant; they may differ slightly for product MDM.

Case Study

During the session Mark showed the team a case study by Camden Council on how they used data to manage existing problems and increase revenue. By using Master Data Management Camden Council were able to get a single view of customers across 16 data sets which allowed them to view each individual household and how they were using each of the council’s services. This new solution also allowed them to crack down on fraud and they were actually able to generate extra revenue as a result, helping to pay for the cost of the MDM solution. Other ways Camden Council used MDM was to ensure the data was clean and up to date as well as gain a full picture of every household, especially those that needed more attention and were considered ‘vulnerable’.

All of this suggests that MDM is developing to cope with the demands of the ever-increasing variety of data sources as a result of the Big Data revolution.

Are you looking for a new career in Master Data Management? Check out our latest jobs.

KDR Recruitment is the home of the best data, technology and analytics jobs. For more data news and views follow KDR on LinkedIn.

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