You may already know that IBM MDM v10.1 goes out of standard support in April 2018– but here’s your wake-up call. As you plan and consider the timing, resources, and budget required for upgrading, ensure you are getting the maximum value from this upgrade by asking several questions. Some of these questions were covered in our recent webcast, but here’s some additional food for thought:

HOW IS THE CUSTOMER-CENTRIC VIEW OF DATA BEING USED TODAY? AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, IN THE FUTURE?

Almost every industry prioritizes strategic initiatives advancing customer-centricity —  especially healthcare, banking, and telco. Buzzwords like population health, consumer self-service, consumer engagement, and consumer experience clearly indicate that MDM is critical to strategic and operational priorities. Competition, consumer engagement, consumer demands, and analytics are fueling this priority. Consider how well your MDM data already supports this imperative, while being agile in how MDM is constructed.

WHICH BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL STAKEHOLDERS SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN THE UPGRADE PLANNING?

Make sure your business stakeholders actually have a stake in your MDM technology. Historically (and sadly), MDM was frequently seen as an information technology project. Today, your business stakeholders should be actively engaged in defining not only the data that is used by MDM, but also the work processes surrounding MDM. If your business users are not engaged, an upgrade is a great opportunity to bring them into the fold. Without this engagement MDM risks being viewed as an IT project that may not be useful in a tight economy with budget constraints.

HOW CAN YOU USE MDM TECHNOLOGY MORE EFFICIENTLY?

An upgrade presents a good opportunity for conversations about better managing the workflow of the data used by MDM – and it’s a great way to engage your business stakeholders. IBM MDM v 11 includes business process management (BPM) software to create automated workflows that can increase efficiency, decrease manual interventions, and create an audit trail. This powerful addition to IBM MDM (with no license fee required) enhances the productivity and communication amongst stakeholders when tackling merging or linking decisions, training, and coordination of data integrity.

HOW DOES MDM RELATE TO YOUR DATA GOVERNANCE PROGRAM?

If you have a formal Data Governance program today, or are considering one, make sure MDM is included. Since the genesis of MDM is to master data (through merging or linking) that is used by many applications, systems, processes, and analytics, it just makes sense that MDM is a key component of a Data Governance program.

IMT offers several optimization services to help you maximize the value from your MDM deployment or upgrade. These include

• Data Quality Review, focused on the MDM data including accuracy, validity, and distribution of source-specific and linked data.
• MDM Health Check, primarily geared to the hardware and software environment supporting IBM MDM.
• Data Governance Strategy Planning, focused on how the MDM data supports a strategic and operational Governance Program
• Active Integration, which integrates the probabilistic algorithm into search, thus higher data quality is captured at its origination

We outlined these considerations and others in a recent webcast that can be found on demand here. Call IMT or email us at info@imt.ca to discuss these services and your future upgrade, as April 2018 is less than 18 months away!