It's no secret that more and more businesses are relying on data to steer decisions and determine strategy. As the amount of data collected grows, organizations must focus on managing it.
Peeling back the layers of data management, we uncover the importance of data being clean, accurate, accessible and consistently formatted across any organization. Scalability and security remain of the utmost importance as well.
In turn, Master Data Management (MDM), which goes hand in hand with data governance, has moved to the forefront of data-driven organizations. MDM solutions are required to support and advance data management objectives. Finding the right MDM solutions is a key in optimizing data governance and data delivery and mitigating data management risks.
What is Master Data Management?
Master Data Management, or MDM, is a data organization and consolidation process that generates an accurate and thorough view of an organization's information. It is designed to create a clear singular view of customer profiles.
Benefits of MDM Solutions
MDM helps improve data quality by ensuring that identifiers and other key data elements about those entities are accurate and consistent enterprise-wide.
MDM solutions entail data consolidation so that a unified set of information may be used throughout all systems. Proprietary data, as a result, becomes housed in a singular location and is filtered through one standard system of rules.
MDM is a key component of general data management solutions. Specific benefits of a modern MDM system include the elimination of redundant data, the removal of inaccuracies caused by incongruous formats and overall accuracy and consistency of data in near real-time.
Master data itself varies from industry to industry. Constants often include the customer, biographical information and related products.
Practical Applications of MDM
The introduction of data privacy and protection laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)has moved Master Data Management into the spotlight. Companies can better identify and protect all of the personal data they collect through Master Data Management best practices.
MDM Systems Architecture
There are a variety of architecture options for Master Data Management. The strategies differ by the way in which the data is culled.
In a registry architecture, a unified index is created, but the source data is not altered. In the consolidated strategy, master data is extracted and placed in a centralized repository.
Transaction architecture represents the most drastic and intrusive style. All data is moved to a centralized hub, which becomes the primary source. All data management then goes through the hub, creating the greatest control for a company.
Snowflake and MDM Systems
The number of systems and apps used by companies is rising, as is the need for MDM solutions.
Analytical MDM is designed to feed consistent master data to data warehouses. Snowflake and its full range of technology partners provide the modern Master Data Management (MDM) and data analytics foundation for data-driven enterprises. Plus, with modern, secure data sharing capabilities, Snowflake can reduce or eliminate the need for time-consuming and often error-prone ETL and ELT processes that can adversely impact MDM.