What is Master Data Management?

Master Data Management or MDM is a software toolset. Data, with the MDM toolset, is consistent, and accurate. Data can define Vendors, Customers, corporate assets, and more. And best of all, data is usable. Usable to other systems, and to employees needing clean, accurate informtion to do work.

Work can be product management, customer relationship management, merchandizing, marketing, sales and executive management. External data consumers like sales partners, and operations partners can be administered to receive and update data, if an enterprise wishes. Customers, interfacing with catalogs and e-commerce applications, can make decisions with clean, and rich information at their finger tips.

When data is clean and accurate, it is like an enterprise is on automatic. Work which effects profits can be done faster and easier. Human resources are not wasted doing administration tasks like finding and cleaning data. Processes like data governance, and new product introductions, are simplified.

The problem is information or data is silo’ed. Data resides in several different systems, laptops or even outside the enterprise. Finding this data is akin to going on safari and hunting for big game. Digital assets, a component of product information, live, in many cases, all over the business; on desktops, in design software, on network servers, etc.

Data which resides all over the place, and even in multiple places, makes ordering harder, invoices inaccurate, customer service more difficult and just throws mud on the rails of an operating business. Compliance reporting that relies on inaccurate, hard to find data invites penalties. Human efforts to find, clean, and enrich data are a silly cost, considering MDM solutions are available.