Unlock Information Management

By Jean-Christophe Steels and Jean-Paul Otte, Business & Decision

"Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other" — Bill Gates

Companies now understand that information is key to overcome current challenges. Marketing cycles are shorter, regulations are ever-evolving, customers continuously expect more responsiveness to their needs, etc. these challenges present a mandate for companies today: Enterprises need to increase their agility - or risk falling behind. this need for agility is generally fulfilled by companies with plans to make a more intense and intelligent use of their operational data. That's where they begin thinking about master data management (MDM), which objective is to consistently define and manage the non-transactional data entities of an organization - also called reference data.

MDM should indeed be considered as a noteworthy solution for information management challenges. However, there is a considerable risk of missing out in the objective and entering the "tunnel effect". Think back on the huge corporate warehouse projects launched when business intelligence (BI) was still immature. These projects had great justification and business cases. Yet, just like you cannot exit a tunnel before you reach the end, a project deliverable of this kind of project is impossible before establishing a substantial foundation. Due to their vast scope and technically driven approaches, these projects needed a massive effort to deliver the initial report. Additionally, the reports delivered most likely corresponded to business needs formulated 10 to 15 months earlier. In the mean time the business had evolved and, with it, the associated needs. Moreover, the quality of the delivered information was also questionable. Not overcoming these issues meant the gradual disconnection of those projects with the business needs and ultimately many of these projects were abandoned because they never brought the promised business value.