An observation in the market is that every organization recognises that it has some sort of data issue that could be potentially improved with the implementation of yet another data quality, data management or data governance solution.
There are plenty of vendors whose primary objective is to push their technology or solution without too much concern about whether the solution perfectly meets your particular business needs. Suitability is ultimately determined at the time of subscription or software maintenance renewal. Companies that don’t have a solid and compelling offering that is easy to adopt or implement eventually get relegated to the “we tried that” heap.
In part, this is because the software vendor salespeople are coin-operated, in that they are compensated on the number of units that they move or deals that they close at a maximum revenue price point.
Some account managers will cement a relationship with you and your organization out of a genuine interest in understanding more, but most will focus on how they can delve deeper into your organization’s structure to find the next deal or opportunity.
Accordingly, your decision to embark on a data governance program with MDM as a key component needs to consider whether the reason for the expedition into this realm of data governance, is to solve a business pain or to genuinely establish a solid approach to data management as a whole. One that will serve your enterprise potentially for decades to come, irrespective of the tools and technologies used. Your organization needs to have a certain level of maturity for this to be successful.
If a holistic approach is considered too, much of an ask of the business, that’s not an entirely bad thing, it simply means that you are making a potentially pragmatic choice to only tackle one relatively isolated aspect of how your business manages and distributes data. It could also be that you don’t have a big budget, you don’t have executive sponsorship or you don’t have a centralised data management strategy.
Choosing a solution tactically will often mean that either your existing technologies or solutions are not quite fit for purpose or that you don’t feel that your business is ready for the commitment to a full-blown data governance approach. Departmental or business unit-specific solutions are not unusual.
It could also mean that you want to dabble with data governance and master data in particular and want to see how far you can push rigour in your organization.
There is no single characteristic that typifies organizations that will choose a solution tactically over strategically but good consideration should ultimately be given to where the greatest value lies in terms of return on investment (ROI) and an acknowledgement that adding rigour even in isolation, while it can lead to organizational frustration with other areas, will drive improved data quality and ultimately reduce organizational inefficiency.
Pretectum considers the customer master as a foundational element of every organization that engages with consumers or the public in general.
Accordingly, Pretectum offers a CMDM solution that we believe offers flexibility with enough rigour, to meet the needs of most mid-tier and small organizations and even enterprise clients who have specific needs. To learn more contact us.