High-quality master data and transparent processes are necessary to protect and grow your business. Master data governance helps you achieve it.

Transparency and high-quality master data are essential to everything related to your business: revenue growth, operational efficiency, risk management and compliance, analytics and digital transformation; and your ability to control costs and be agile.

The following discusses what master data governance is, why you need it, and how to implement it.

The importance of data integrity in delivering an optimal digital experience for customers

Shopping behaviors shifted dramatically last year as consumers adopted more digital tactics across the entire shopping journey. Many consumers engaged in digital activities throughout the shopping process such as researching and purchasing products online or selecting different delivery options. These retail trends are here to stay, according to a McKinsey survey, which found that 71% of apparel shoppers and 66% of grocery shoppers who used digital shopping services for the first time during the Covid-19 crisis will continue to do so after it ends.

Not all “multidomain” master data management (MDM) solutions are the same. Here are the differences and why you need to know.

When selecting solutions to help support your master data management and data governance ambitions, one of the many aspects you are likely to evaluate will be support for “multidomain” MDM. Your initial inclination is almost certain to be selecting a solution that can “do-it-all.” In many cases, this will be despite the fact you currently have a business use case for only one data domain; customer or product data, for example. A single solution that could do more in the future would, of course, be desirable, to make more efficient use of available resources.

Together, small data and multidomain MDM reveal new insights into your business

Over the past few years working in data governance, I have encountered many projects aiming to re-write decision making processes using ”big data.” Data lakes, predictive analytics, AI and a cacophony of other acronyms have for many people veiled the complexity of big data, which pledged to deliver the four golden eggs of data insight; 1) better decision making, 2) happier customers, 3) freedom from risk and 4) identification of new opportunities.

Increasing the value of your data is easy with master data management

Last year was a year of tremendous change for businesses and consumers, as they adjusted to the realities of life during a pandemic. Many consumers turned to apps to track diet, fitness and other personal goals with incredible detail, accuracy and consistency, often connecting them to wearable technology that captures data automatically (e.g., heart rate or steps taken).

Trustworthy, transparent data has never been more essential to business success than right here, right now

A healthy, well-run democracy is characterized by a willingness among its leaders to find common ground they can stand on in order to create a better future for its citizens. Despite the fact they often have different opinions on what actions need to be taken, experienced politicians know they can only succeed through collaboration. They also know success depends on being able to agree on some basic assumptions about what the facts are, and what they are not. It is otherwise impossible to make sustainable progress in a democracy.

Trusting the data you use has never been more important in the life sciences industry

As supply chains undergo ever greater pressure to perform faster and more efficiently, business leaders need to become more data-driven in their decision making to identify areas for cost efficiency improvement, new business opportunity and transparent compliance management. However, the most business critical of data, including product, supplier and customer data, is impeding the data-driven objective. This data is lacking in quality, coherence and availability due largely to fragmented and inconsistent data management processes.

You just cannot be data-driven if you don’t trust the data you use.

Lessons learned and digital wins provide confidence for retail success this year

Over 20,000 leaders from retailers and brands convened this year for NRF’s Big Show. But for the first time in 110 years, it was completely virtual. Despite the challenges, NRF came through just as retail did in 2020 by innovating and pivoting to create an excellent experience. There were more than 130 sessions by 330 speakers from over 3,500 participating companies.

Creating value for CPG brands in 2021 starts with optimizing the value of data

The CPG space experiences significant change every year, but for manufacturers of consumer packaged goods, 2020 was one for the record books. At this time last year, industry experts already predicted big changes were coming. Then came the global pandemic, causing the market to shift at an even faster pace. For brands that had taken steps to anticipate and prep for evolving trends and opportunities, the journey was tough but navigable. For others, there were difficult, unexpected challenges.

According to Gartner¹, "Seven out of 10 boards of directors responded to the COVID-19 crisis by accelerating digital business initiatives." Commentary from recently released 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions¹ supports this fact, concluding that "The MDM market continues to evolve and thrive as organizations seek to benefit from the business agility afforded by mastering their most critical data, particularly in times of change." You might be interested in reading the full report, of course. More on that later in this blog, or click here if you can't wait.