March 25th, 2009
Is having SOA and Master Data Management at the same time a form of overkill?
Is building out SOA and a Master Data Management (MDM)-based infrastructure at the same time too much for organizations to handle?
That’s what Gartner’s Andrew White found in a study of companies that were wrestling with the two efforts. He even observed that there is even fear among some companies with SOA efforts underway that adding MDM to the mix would be a form of “overkill.”
However, working on SOA and MDM in a coordinated fashion is not “overkill” — in fact, the two approaches depend on each other, as I explained in a recent post over at the Informatica Perspectives community.
SOA in and of itself holds little value to an organization unless it provides the capability to open up information to the enterprise. As is the case with SOA, successful MDM is a silo-breaker, invoking collaboration across the enterprise. MDM helps assure that the information populating SOA-based services is accurate, timely, and consistent.
Dave Linthicum adds another perspective to the MDM challenge — in many situations, just as is the case with SOA, MDM efforts get gummed up by organizational politics. Thus, MDM devolves into an exercise in “Managing Dumb Meatheads.”
So, as you can see, there is a lot of uncertainty about MDM, and a lot of education still required.
Joe McKendrick is an author and consultant with deep knowledge and insights regarding trends and developments in the technology industry. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 03/29/09
