Today, an erroneous amount of data flows through an organization. It is one of the crucial assets for organizations and has the potential to gather intelligent insights that can help in smart decision-making. It can help businesses answer important questions like:
- Which products offer the best profit margin?
- In which process do errors occur frequently?
- What are the buying patterns of customers?
- Who are the most profitable customers?
But, for this to happen, the data is required in a consistent form. If the data is scattered, and unstructured, it won’t be of much use. In this scenario, master data management (MDM) comes into the picture. Master data management solutions help in making the data accurate, and organized, which enables the business heads to take crucial steps for the success of their organization.
Here’s an insightful write-up on the master data management process, its four pillars, and its significant benefits. Let’s get into the details.
Master Data Management: Maximising the Potential of Your Business Data
Organizational data can be categorized into four major types, as follows:
- Unstructured Data (documents, emails, portals, etc.)
- Transactional Data (bill of sales, claims, invoices, etc.)
- Metadata: (reports, configuration files, etc.)
- Business-Specific Master Data (data related to products, services, customers, etc.)
Merely gathering, recording, and storing this data is no longer enough because if the data is outdated and inaccessible, it is meaningless for the organizations. Inconsistent and disintegrated data can even result in higher cost compliances, weaker market penetration, slower time to market, and supply chain inefficiencies in the long term.
That is why, Master Data Management Solutions have gained significance in recent times. MDM is the technology or the process meant for ensuring that the master data of a business is accurate, enriched, and consistent to be used for insights, analytics, and BI. Now let’s look at the four pillars of Master Data Management.
Four Pillars of Master Data Management Process
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Data Migration
The process of transferring/migrating data, particularly from legacy systems to modern ones, or enriching current systems with external sources, can be challenging. It requires addressing structural problems with incoming data and ensuring a seamless start to the data journey - beginning with collection and verification, to culminating in the master data hub.
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Data Consolidation
Due to its application and system-agnostic nature, MDM can consolidate all data from various sources seamlessly. This includes data from your CRM, ERP, physical stores, or even directly from customers. With Master Data Management Process, you can effortlessly combine the data, integrate it, and establish trackability measures.
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Data Access
To ensure the efficient use of master data, access rights should be assigned based on an individual's job or role. A practical MDM strategy ensures that users are only granted access to specific and restricted information that is necessary to fulfill their functional requirements, rather than being exposed to all data streams.
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Data Governance
In MDM, data governance plays a critical role in identifying, verifying, and resolving data issues while maintaining proximity to the source. Despite the fact that quality assurance can be automated in master data management, it is important to make sure governance of complete information to optimize the accuracy of your "golden records."
Potential Benefits that Master Data Management Services Offer
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Guaranteed Data Quality
Master Data Management Solutions help in the elimination of inconsistent and insufficient data so that one can get much-refined quality data. MDM ensures data consistency and uniformity and thus helps business processes become more effective and efficient.
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Reduced Data Duplication and Increased Data Accuracy
Decentralized data applications often face the challenge of redundancy, which can cause significant issues. The duplication of data can create confusion and subsequently result in errors, not just in the master data process but also in other business processes that rely on the accuracy of the master data. MDM reduces such inconsistencies and duplication in the data and thus reduces the risk of data inaccuracy.
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Efficient Data Compliance
As regulations and policies governing data become increasingly stricter, proper data storage and management become crucial for any business handling data. Failure to comply with data regulations can result in severe consequences, including penalties and damage to reputation. Implementing master data management solutions can help reduce the likelihood of regulatory non-compliance and security breaches.
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Single Source of Truth for All Users
Master data management offers a unified and reliable data source i.e. a single source of truth for all users. This facilitates business operations and decision-making in numerous ways. When equipped with an effective master data management process, staff can have access to up-to-date and accurate data, as required to support their work. This diminishes reliance on other teams and departments, leading to better performance and enabling employees to perform their duties in an efficient and speedy manner.
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Better Data Storage
Although data lakes are popular among many enterprises, if the data isn’t fit for its intended purpose, storing data offers no value and can actually incur additional costs. Master data management, however, can aid in establishing better controls for data storage.
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Easy Data Alterations
In the absence of Master Data Management, users may store data in multiple locations, resulting in isolated changes and significant inconsistencies. However, by implementing MDM, any edits and alterations made to the master data will be reflected across all relevant data destinations, ensuring consistency and control over the data.
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Redundant and Unnecessary Workload Reduced
In an organization, multiple departments rely on and use the same master data. By utilizing the MDM as the primary data repository, teams can avoid wasting time working on data in isolation. Thus, the workload is reduced to a great extent.
Final Takeaway
As the significance of data rises, businesses will be needing master data management solutions inevitably in the future. Even today, a plethora of businesses are benefitting from these services. So, when are you beginning your MDM journey?
We, at ITCube Solutions, are a well-established firm providing master data management services to global clients. We have almost 2 decades of vast experience in the software world and have accomplished several projects related to MDM. For consulting our MDM experts, kindly reach out to us at inquiry@itcube.net.