What’s Next On The MDM Horizon?

Many large organizations have finally “seen the light” and are trying to figure out the best way to treat their critical data as the trusted asset it should be. As a result, master data management (MDM) strategies, and the enabling architectures, organizational and governance models, methodologies and technologies that support the delivery of MDM capabilities are…in a word…HOT! But the concept of MDM - and the homegrown or vendor-enabled technologies that attempt to deliver that elusive “single version of truth”, “golden record”, or “360-degree view” - has been around for decades in one form or another (e.g., data warehousing, BI, data quality, EII, CRM, ERP, etc. have all at one time or another promised to deliver that single version of truth in one form or another).

The current market view of MDM has matured significantly over the past 5 years, and today many organizations are on their way to successfully delivering multi-domain/multi-form master data solutions across various physical and federated architectural approaches. But the long-term evolution of the MDM concept is far from over. There remains a tremendous gap in what limited business value most MDM efforts deliver today compared to what all MDM and data management evangelists feel MDM is capable of delivering in terms of business optimization, risk mitigation, and competitive differentiation.

What will the next evolution of the MDM concept look like in the next 3, 5 and 10 years? Will the next breakthrough be one that’s focused on technology enablement? How about information architecture? Data governance and stewardship? Alignment with other enterprise IT and business strategies?

To debate and look for answers to these questions, on Tuesday, July 20 between 3-4 p.m. ET (noon-1pm PT), Forrester analysts Boris Evelson, Jim Kobielus, Gene Leganza, Clay Richardson and Noel Yuhanna will join me in hosting our second Data Management TweetJam on the topic “MDM’s Next Evolution: We’ve Only Just Begun…”

As with our last TweetJam, this event will use the hashtag #dmjam. Take a look at my recap from our extremely successful first TweetJam which discussed “What BI Is Not!” In that TweetJam, in addition to the Forrester analysts, we had over 65 unique data management thought leaders and visionaries actively sharing their opinions.

During this one hour TweetJam, I will facilitate the discussion by asking the following provocative questions about the future of MDM, leaving 10 minutes of Tweet-time between each question:

• What is the linkage between MDM and Data Warehousing?
• Do Data Virtualization efforts jeopardize MDM strategies?
• Is “Lean” or “Agile” MDM possible?
• Who should own/drive the MDM strategy in the organization?
• When will MDM become MIM (Master Information Management)?
• Should business process improvement efforts lead MDM strategies?

We hope you join us!

Rob also blogs at http://blogs.forrester.com/rob_karel/.