By now most people know two things about Master Data Management. One,  you can't just "install" MDM--you need to solve a problem with it. And two, that's easier said than done.

2008 taught us some important lessons about our MDM efforts. Companies began to transcend the "tire kicking" phase and actually perform proofs of concept. Some actually on-boarded multiple source systems and availed bona-fide operational data integration to the enterprise. What was cool was watching these companies come to terms with the organizational and skills implications of master data. Entire new teams and methodologies sprung up as a result of MDM in production. Headcounts were justified. Paradigms were shifted.

This Wednesday, February 4, Philip Russom and I will be doing a webcast for TDWI in which we'll discuss MDM trends. Philip will review some of his research in the areas of MDM and data governance, revealing some interesting intentions companies have around deploying their master data for the long-term and how it fits with BI.

My piece will focus on learnings from 2008 and trends for 2009. I've based my content on some of the conversations we've had with our clients this past year, and have actually quoted a few of them. When a Chief Marketing Officer tells you, "I'm honestly not sure whether IT really understands what we're trying to do as a business...so how do they know whether MDM is really the right answer?" it can set into motion a range of improvements to get a company ready for MDM. In t his case, we helped the IT organization formulate a series of use case scenarios to play back to the business. It defined new rules of engagement between IT and the business side, and set up conversations that will ultimately transcend MDM.  We'll talk about those and other knotty MDM conundrums on Wednesday.

Register here:

http://www.tdwi.org/display.aspx?id=9236

And while you're on TDWI's website, check out the MDM Readiness Assessment tool. It's a multi-disciplinary survey that will not only score your MDM readiness, but compare your scores to those of survey takers in your industry and give you tips for how to jump-start MDM. Take the survey here:

http://www.tdwi.org/display.aspx?id=9226

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