There have been a number of discussions and blogs recently questioning or musing (“tongue-in-cheek”) if MDM, as we know it, is dead. Andrew White of Gartner unleashed a torrent of comment and debate with his blog “Something beyond MDM is coming your way – would MDM 2.0 fly?”. While Christopher Blotto from the Knowledge Group suggests for MDM read EIM..
I think MDM as a discipline is alive and well and at a very interesting phase of maturity, even if MDM the Project may be a little “dazed and confused”. I am very encouraged by the recent attention being paid to Information Architecture. In particular how it can be a conduit to support Data Governance from the office of the Enterprise Architect. I am also encouraged to hear more people talking about ‘Operational MDM’ as opposed to ‘Analyical MDM’.
Call me a blind optimist, but I believe MDM has a very bright future; especially if we can focus more on the operational side and take a more process centric view: i.e. ensuring data (and master data in particular) is fit to support business processes.
There are barriers of course, but none of them is insurmountable. In particular organizations need to think about gaining control of and governing master data, right at the point where it is being originated or first captured. If they can achieve this they are more likely to be able to
Long Live MDM!
