The business case for Modern Master Data Management

High quality data is a critical requirement when operating a business. In theory, there should be no good reason why business leaders would raise objections to projects that provide access to high quality data that delivers business insight. In today’s highly competitive and digitally-driven business environment, high quality data is a prerequisite to seizing growth opportunities and driving operational efficiencies. This is borne out by the 82 percent of business leaders who strongly believe that data helps create a strategic advantage in strengthening their level of customer trust as well as their bottom lines1.

Yet many companies remain reluctant to commit to Master Data Management (MDM) initiatives, despite the fact that they recognise they have a problem when it comes to reliable, actionable data. In fact, according to a recent article by KPMG, 56 percent of CEOs have concerns regarding the integrity of their data2. So why the hesitancy when it comes to MDM?

One major cause is that there are a significant number of technical and business leaders who will have embarked on MDM projects before, only to have been met by failure and frustration. Gartner estimates that close to 85 percent of big data projects fail – a frighteningly high proportion – and anyone who has been burnt by the big data promise may be understandably reluctant to tread that path again.