Master Data Management—the original killer app?
Posted on 05. Feb, 2009 by vbrown in Enterprise Architecture
Wow! The phone has been “ringing off the hook” in the past few weeks with inquiries related to master data management (MDM)! As an enterprise architect and consultant, I’ve been involved in several client master data management initiatives over the past few years (including my current engagement) but there seems to be a swell of interest building right now.
MDM’s Been Around Forever!
There’s no question that the latest generation of MDM tools are great enablers for sophisticated management of enterprise master data. Especially when implemented in a SOA environment with a data virtualization component (DVL), to provide robust data services (IaaS). But I find it fascinating that the MDM tool vendors have been able to create the perception that MDM is a new IT discipline, or specialty.
In reality, of course, organizations of all sizes and in every industry record and manage data about key business entities.. The need to manage this type of data has existed since the earliest forms of 
commerce and trade. The ancient Egyptians recorded their master data in hieroglyphics on the storage media of the day—papyrus, animal skins, even stone.
Fast forward a couple of millennia and few would dispute that the original “killer app” for information processing, and the genesis of the IT industry, was based on the need to capture and manage the master data that drives our commerce.
Master Data Management… Still the Killer App
Early in my career the big buzz was around the concept of CIF—Customer Information Files—which, as I recall, originated to solve a problem in the banking industry. With an escalating proliferation of products and services in that industry, banks were having a difficult time aggregating all data related to a customer to create a 360° view of its relationships. The CIF satisfied such a critical need that the concept was quickly productized and adopted by most other industries. It did, in fact, become an IT specialty.
So, in conclusion….
My perspective is that we’ve been managing master data forever and that arguably it’s the most important application in our portfolio!
But the really exciting news is that we have tools, techniques and technologies available, now, that enable us to derive unprecedented information and value from the key data entities that define our organizations! In my next posting I’ll start to discuss scenarios and best practices for maximizing the benefits that a robust Master Data Management capability can provide.
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