[RECORDED] Master Data Management & Personalization: Building the Data Infrastructure to Support Orchestration

The Increasing Criticality of MDM for Personalization for Customers and Employees

Master data management seems to be one of those perennial, evergreen programs that organizations continue to struggle with.

Every couple of years people say, “we're going to get a handle on our master data” and then spend hundreds of thousands to millions and tens of millions of dollars working toward a solution.

The challenge is that many of these solutions are not really getting to the root cause of the problem.  They start with technology and begin by looking at specific data elements rather than looking at the business concepts that are important to the organization.

MDM programs are also difficult to anchor on a specific business value proposition such as improving the top line. Many initiatives are so deep in the weeds and so far upstream that executives lose interest and they lose faith in the business value that the project promises. Meanwhile frustrated data analysts, data architects and technology organizations feel cut off at the knees because they can't get the funding, support and attention that they need to be successful.

We've seen this time after time and until senior executives recognize the value and envision where the organization can go with control over its data across domains, this will continue to happen over and over again. Executives all nod their heads and say “Yes! Data is important, really important!” But when they see the price tag they say, “Whoa hold on there, it's not that important”.

Well, actually, it is that important.

We can't forget that under all of the systems, processes and shiny new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning lies data. And that data is more important than the algorithm. If you have bad data your AI is not going to be able to fix it. Yes there are data remediation applications and there are mechanisms to harmonize or normalize certain data elements. But looking at this holistically requires human judgment: understanding business processes, understanding data flows, understanding dependencies and understanding of the entire customer experience ecosystem and the role of upstream tools, technologies and processes that enable that customer experience.

Until we take that holistic approach and connect it to business value these things are not going to get the time, attention and resources that they need.

In our next webinar on March 15th, we're going to take another look at helping organizations connect master data to the Holy Grail of personalized experience. This is an opportunity to bring your executives to a webinar that will show them how these dots are connected and how to achieve significant and measurable business value. We will show the connection between the data, the process that the data supports, business outcomes and the and the organizational strategy. We will show how each of the domains that need to be managed and organized to enable large scale orchestration of the customer and the employee experience.

Please join us on March 15th and share with your colleagues - especially with your leadership. This is critically important to the future of the organization and getting on the right track has to begin today.