Master data management needs to be aligned with business goals and the business intelligence (BI) strategy and not solely remain in the hands of IT.
Werner Swanepoel, Deloitte Consulting senior manager, said at this week's ITWeb BI Summit in Bryanston, that master data management is the first step in aligning BI with the business strategy.
Master data consists of valuable structured information that is shared across the enterprise and describes the context of business functions. According to Swanepoel, master data management needs to be owned and governed by business and not IT.
Data is often not viewed as an organisational asset, explained Swanepoel. “If a business understands the value of its data, it will begin to see it as an asset to the organisation. By creating a strong foundation around master data management, companies have achieved significant benefits. Master data management enables agile and fast decision-making.”
Information regulations
Swanepoel added: “Driven by the economic crisis, the UK is introducing regulations on the single view of the customer and it's only a matter of time before data management regulations are implemented SA as well.
“In the current regulatory environment, there's a significant amount of regulations coming in relating to data management such as the Protection to Personal Information Act. Lack of data management will have an impact on business compliance.”
Swanepoel warned: “There are many companies who have suffered significant financial losses because they have not paid enough attention to managing their data effectively. Data management is often overlooked and they don't realise how much money can be made by managing contracts and data effectively.”
Forrester research says that by 2011, at least 75% of IT organisations will consider master data management.
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