For mid-market organizations, master data management is no longer a nice-to-have operational capability. It is now a necessary operational tool that can be a major competitive factor in how a company views, manages and delivers on its data management assets.

If you’re new to this, the 30-second overview of master data management (MDM) is this: it’s a process that consists of combining, cleansing, and coordinating data from disparate sources into one, unified, and consistent set. By improving the quality and accuracy of data, MDM can lead to better decision-making, better business processes, and lower costs.

Why You Need an MDM Strategy

In today’s business landscape, global enterprises and mid-market businesses alike face growing challenges for their data management. Too many piecemeal solutions, like ERP and CRM systems, have been deployed over the years. With all these numerous applications and systems in place, datasets and customer information can become scattered across organizational departments and divisions. The end result is fragmented, duplicated, and outdated data, which makes it difficult to accurately clarify and answer basic questions about a business’s performance.

A company’s master data (aka the “golden record”) is an integral financial and operational asset for the organization. As the source of common data, it usually includes application-specific metadata, as well as business-specific transactional data with information on customer IDs or department identifiers.

The master data holds all the accurate and timely information that gets shared across departments for a company’s daily operations. A company’s master data – which includes analytical data, customer data and transactional data – is absolutely the foundation for executives to make smart business decisions around customers and products, sales and service, marketing promotions and other areas, depending on the business.

As new data sources continue to rise in numbers, businesses must get their data organized more efficiently. That’s where master data management solutions come into focus. An MDM strategy becomes integral to managing the disparate sets of data into one unified data solution.

Researching your MDM Strategy

Building a master data management plan is a top best practice in data and AI for businesses. Typically, MDM solutions include master data repositories, tools for stewardship and governance, and applications for integrating and cleansing data. Repositories can be physical or virtual databases, file systems, or other data storage devices.

As experienced data consultants with deep experience in managing MDM projects for businesses, we see that MDM is no longer just the domain for global enterprises. Its quantitative impact has trickled down to mid-market organizations, and in some cases, down to SMB levels. MDM is no longer the proverbial ‘can that gets kicked down the street’ to deal with later. It’s time for your MDM strategy to start.

MDM is not a distinct project with a specific start/end date. It becomes a living capability that needs care and attention. We know this, which is MDM strategies specific to mid-market businesses are needed. We’ll help provide you with a single source of knowledge and strategic understanding for your critical business data.

Understanding Your Digital Data

Entire businesses are migrating to the cloud. Polaris Research estimates that the global MDM market will grow by nearly 16% annually by 2030, on its way to become a $50 billion-plus market. This is leading to a massive expansion in the number of businesses seeking master data management expertise.

MDM adoption by mid-market businesses is lifting entire industries as well. Other firms that want to stay competitive with modern technology are investing in MDM strategies to keep up with the growth of data, applications, and customer connection points.

This competitive pressure is leading more mid-market companies to seek the value and expertise of data services partners to leverage all kinds of data management processes – strategy, storage, computing, and management of cloud-based platforms.

It’s a much faster world today than 20 years ago. Businesses are seeking real-time answers to logistic issues, customer solutions and market developments. Data is moving at the speed of light, and businesses must continue to evolve to analyze data for business outcomes.

How to Enable Master Data Management

Building and implementing a master data management strategy provides a unified view of your critical business data. Your MDM strategy serves as the foundation to collect, transform and correct data to build the “golden record” for the entire organization.

Cleansing and coordinating data from your separate data sources into one, unified, and consistent set brings a holistic opportunity for your business to share data with trusted suppliers and partners. When you automate these larger, various data sets, systems and resources, your data visibility rises and offers your organization more real-time data accuracy, and better decision-making processes.

Keep in mind that when you initiate an MDM strategy, it’s not a “one and done” project with specific start and end dates. Your MDM capabilities are now a key asset to your business. It becomes a living capability that needs care and attention.

Getting MDM Help

Evolution Analytics can help your mid-market organization develop an MDM strategy and implement MDM solutions. Here are some way we do this:

• Review current data management processes
• Assess gaps in data processes, and identify improvement areas
• Offer one singular POV of critical business data for good fit use and consistency
• Develop an MDM strategy that aligns with business goals, addresses data governance, and defines data standards and policies

Once these initial evaluation steps are completed, our team will present to you a viable MDM strategy to collect, transform and make your data accurate to build the “golden record” for the entire organization.

Experienced Data Transformation Services

It’s a no-brainer! If you’re running IT processes for a mid-market company and need data analytics with an AI / ML expertise, reach out to Evolution Analytics. We’re an experienced data transformation services team that can design and implement MDM that integrates easily with existing systems, yet offers flexible solutions over time for growth ahead.

We’d love to hear from you. Let’s get your MDM strategy in place!

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