Episode 40: Why Master Data Management Matters

Guest: Clare Hutton

Our clients often ask us whether we “do” Master Data Management (MDM). It’s a good question because Master Data Management is important to DO, but answering the question can feel a bit like tip-toeing through a minefield. This is because the term “Master Data Management” means different things to different people. QueBIT’s answer may be “yes” or “no” depending on what you are thinking of.

This is why, when QueBIT launched its internal Guilds initiative in 2019 as a way to build community through having cross-functional teams explore and “go deep” on different topics that interested them, we selected Master Data Management as a guild topic. The goal was to drill down past the jargon, the hype put out by “MDM” software vendors and QueBIT’s own experiences, to understand the essential business problem that MDM purports to solve.

In this episode QueBIT Master Consultant Clare Hutton, who led the guild, shares the guild’s findings, including clear, elegant and simple definitions of “Master Data” and what it means to “manage” it. We also get into some practical recommendations for how to proceed with addressing your MDM challenges.