Master Data Management Cloud Software: A Complete Guide
Master data management (MDM) is essential for businesses looking to improve data quality, gain a single source of truth, and enable more informed decision making. With the rise of cloud computing, MDM solutions delivered via the cloud (MDM cloud software) have become increasingly popular. Cloud Based MDM Solutions In this complete guide, we will explain what MDM cloud software is, the benefits it provides, top solutions on the market, how to select the right product, steps for implementation, and much more. Master Data Management Cloud Software
What is Master Data Management Cloud Software?
Master data refers to the critical business entities that are essential for an organization to conduct operations. This includes data on customers, products, suppliers, employees, assets, and more. MDM software helps manage this data by eliminating duplicates, standardizing formats and values, adding enrichment like hierarchies and attributes, and creating a "single version of the truth" across the enterprise.
MDM cloud software delivers these same capabilities but as a cloud-based solution rather than an on-premises system. The software is hosted on the vendor's servers and accessed by users via web browsers. This provides greater flexibility, speeds up deployment, reduces infrastructure costs, and enables frequent updates/enhancements by the vendor. Leading examples of MDM cloud solutions include Informatica CLAIRE, Oracle Product Hub Cloud, and SAP Master Data Governance.
Benefits of Master Data Management Cloud
There are several key advantages to using an MDM cloud solution instead of legacy on-prem products:
- Rapid time to value: MDM cloud software can be up and running in weeks or months rather than the months or years required for on-premises deployments. There is no need for extensive infrastructure and hardware investments.
- Lower costs: MDM cloud eliminates the large upfront licensing fees and significant IT costs associated with on-premises MDM. It follows a subscription model that allows you to start small and scale flexibly.
- Accelerated innovation: Cloud vendors release frequent updates and new capabilities, allowing customers to take advantage of the latest MDM innovations. On-premises software evolves much slower.
- Global accessibility: MDM cloud software provides secure access from anywhere, on any device. This enables global teams to collaborate more easily on MDM initiatives.
- Scalability: Cloud-based MDM offers quick and easy scaling to support more data volume, users, and transaction loads. It provides elastic resources aligned with your changing needs.
- Enhanced agility: The configuration flexibility of MDM cloud software allows organizations to be more responsive to changing market dynamics, new data scenarios, and evolving analytical needs.
Top Master Data Management Cloud Solutions
There are many MDM cloud platform options available from technology vendors. Here are some of the leading solutions:
- Informatica CLAIRE: Informatica is a recognized leader in MDM and CLAIRE is their intelligent, AI-powered cloud solution. It provides extensive pre-built connectors, automation capabilities, and support for multi-domain MDM.
- Oracle Customer Data Management Cloud: This solution offers robust functionality for customer data mastering, data quality and matching, hierarchy management, and identity resolution.
- SAP Master Data Governance: SAP MDG on the cloud helps organizations govern master data across heterogeneous landscapes. It focuses on finance, supplier, and material data domains.
- IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management: IBM offers flexible deployment options for its enterprise-grade MDM platform, including a cloud-native version leveraging IBM Cloud Pak for Data.
- Stibo Systems STEP: STEP provides multi-domain MDM capabilities on the cloud combining pre-built integrations, data quality, hierarchy management, and stewardship.
- Riversand Cloud MDM: Riversand takes a SaaS approach for MDM focused on PIM, supplier data, location data, customer data, and finance data mastering.
How to Select the Right MDM Cloud Software
Selecting the best MDM cloud solution for your organization depends on several key factors:
- Scope of master data domains: Assess which business entities require mastering such as customer, product, supplier, location, asset, employee etc.
- Data quality needs: Determine requirements like data standardization, cleansing, matching, duplication removal, and survivability.
- Integration requirements: Evaluate existing landscape and need for pre-built connectors, data replication, API access, and ease of integration.
- Budget: Cloud MDM solutions have flexible pricing models but costs will depend on your scale and use cases.
- Vendor viability and roadmap: Choose an established vendor with a clear vision for ongoing investment and innovation.
- Ease of use: Look for an intuitive, configurable UI that enables user self-service where appropriate.
- Analytical capabilities: Some cloud MDM solutions integrate tightly with data visualization, analytics, and machine learning capabilities. By carefully weighing these aspects, you can find the ideal cloud-based MDM software aligned to your needs and environment. Leading analysts like Gartner also provide helpfulMagic Quadrant evaluations of MDM solutions.
Steps for Implementing Master Data Management in the Cloud
Deploying an MDM cloud solution involves careful planning and execution across these key phases:
1. Planning & Scoping: Define MDM program objectives, strategies, master data domains, requirements, and success metrics. Develop business case and get stakeholder buy-in.
2. Data Profiling & Analysis: Profile source systems, identify master data, assess data quality, and analyze integration needs. Map data flows.
3. Cloud Setup & Configuration: Provision MDM cloud infrastructure, install software modules, configure security and access controls, set up workflows.
4. Data Integration & Loading: Extract data from sources, transform and standardize it, and load into the cloud MDM platform. Leverage connectors.
5. Mastering & Governance: Apply data quality rules, create hierarchies, resolve duplicates, and enable governance processes for stewardship.
6. Consuming Data: Expose clean, unified data from the cloud MDM to downstream systems through APIs, web services, virtual views, replication etc.
7. Adoption & Training: Drive adoption through change management and training initiatives for both IT and business users.
8. Iterate & Improve: Continuously enhance governance policies, leverage new features, and expand MDM footprint across domains.
Following an iterative, incremental rollout focused on delivering business value is recommended over "boil the ocean" approaches. Start with a targeted pilot.
Cloud MDM vs. On-Premises MDM
Here is a comparison between cloud-based and on-premises MDM deployments:
| Parameter | Cloud MDM | On-Premises MDM |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment Time | Weeks to months | Months to years |
| Upfront Costs | Low | High |
| Ongoing Costs | Subscription model | Large licensing, infrastructure, personnel expenses |
| Ease of Scaling | Flexible, easy | Difficult, costly |
| Upgrades | Automatic, seamless | Manual, requires testing |
| Data Security | Shared responsibility model | Managed internally |
| Customization | Limited | Highly customizable |
| Skills Required | Cloud, business focus | On-premises infrastructure, development |
While on-premises MDM provides greater customization flexibility, cloud MDM enables faster time to value, lower TCO, frequent innovation, and strategic alignment. A hybrid approach combining the strengths of both can be valuable for certain organizations.
Tips for Maximizing Success
Here are some top tips for driving maximum success with your cloud MDM initiatives:
- Foster executive sponsorship and create cross-functional governance early on
- Take an incremental, business-case driven approach focusing on quick wins
- Automate redundant tasks through workflow, AI, and machine learning capabilities
- Complement MDM with strong data quality and metadata management
- Use self-service access models to empower business users while maintaining IT oversight
- Focus on adoption and change management through training and communication
- Integrate with downstream analytics, BI, and digital transformation initiatives
- Monitor KPIs and progress regularly and course-correct as needed
- Keep pace with new vendor releases and cloud capabilities as they emerge
FAQs
What are some key capabilities of MDM cloud solutions?
Key capabilities include data standardization, duplication removal, hierarchy management, data stewardship workflows, analytics enablement, pre-built integrations, self-service access, automation through AI/ML, and more.
How long does it take to see value from cloud MDM?
With proper scoping and planning, initial business value can be realized in a matter of weeks or months through pilots and quick wins vs. years for legacy deployments.
What are the economics of cloud MDM?
Cloud MDM eliminates large upfront costs through subscription-based pricing. It reduces ongoing infrastructure and personnel costs and provides great TCO savings.
Is my data safe in the cloud MDM?
Reputable MDM cloud vendors invest heavily in data security including encryption, access controls, backups, and high availability. A shared responsibility model is followed.
Does cloud MDM work with my existing infrastructure?
Leading cloud MDM solutions provide pre-built connectors, APIs, and integration capabilities to work with on-premises apps, data warehouses, ERP/CRM systems etc.
Conclusion Master Data Management Cloud Software
Cloud-based master data management software enables organizations to achieve a single source of truth while reducing costs and accelerating time to value. When carefully planned and adopted, MDM cloud solutions like Informatica CLAIRE, Oracle CDM, and SAP MDG can provide game-changing business benefits. Key aspects to focus on include assessing integration needs, sizing scope incrementally, emphasizing data governance, driving adoption through change management and following a metrics-driven approach. With the right cloud MDM foundation, organizations can enable data-driven agility, insights and digital transformation.