Master data management works, whether you think you’re using it or not

That’s among key findings by analyst Aberdeen Group, which also suggests that the point remains true, even for organisations that claim to have no MDM investment plans. “Among best-in-class companies identified by Aberdeen Group research, 94% improved on-time data migration project completion, while 88% improved on-budget completion,” explains Michael Dortch, senior analyst at Aberdeen. “Among [those] companies focused on customer data quality, 94% reported improvement in data integrity, 95% improved data usability and 88% decreased the time required to make data ready for business use. These benefits result directly from investments by these companies in a variety of MDM-related solutions, woven together with business-centric polices and processes.” Enterprises succeeding with MDM initiatives combine well-selected technologies with policies and strategies that focus on cross-functional consensus, he adds – also commenting that data accountability and stewardship, well-documented IT roles and responsibilities, and good business KPIs are essential. And to back that up, he says that all best-in-class companies focused on customer data quality surveyed by Aberdeen Group invest in data collection, cleansing and analysis tools, while 98% invest in data process management. Also, 83% employ MDM strategies that assign data quality and accountability to a data steward or manager, while 89% employ customer-related and operational KPIs and 84% specifically use use revenue-related metrics.