Explaining MDM

Overview of Master Data Management

Leading Market analyst intelligence firm IDC differentiates between transactional data, reference data and master data. Transactional data is limited to dates and times and is changing frequently. Reference data is more static information about products, customers, inventory etc. and is considered of crucial importance to operating ones business. Master Data is defined as "agree to reference data that is used by more than 1 system". In other words, master data is typically shared by many users across your organisation. Master data management (MDM) is the process of providing a unified view of the master data and ensures proper governance and management of the data through the use of enabling technologies. 

The Cost of Fragmented Information Management

As businesses have grown, data silos have emerged, which has resulted in duplication of data management, out of synch processes and duplication of efforts. As a result, IT has been burdened with managing too many systems, while business users have been complaining about out-of-date information being shared within the business as well as with customers. Inefficient management of master data affects every aspect of your business. It makes it more difficult to integrate new information into your business when merging or acquiring another business.

Often, the solution is just to bolt on another IT department to the existing one, resulting in more data management headaches. The absence of clear data ownership results in inter-departmental disconnects, which at best make it difficult to generate accurate business intelligence and at its worst result in missed revenue opportunities and loss of sales and shrinking market share.

A Single View of Master Data

The solution to this business problem is to provide a central Master Data Management (MDM) platform to eliminate data redundancy and to ensure proper control of all master data in the business. The core MDM platform integrates with other business systems, which are responsible for the delivery of all content to internal and external users.

A key benefit to this approach is that departments and users and entire departments can work with specialised applications and are not forced into adopting standardised applications, which may not fully address their business needs. Most importantly, MDM eliminates the data silos within your business, thus reducing the burden on your IT department and significantly reduces the cost of managing data across the enterprise.

Product Information Management (PIM)

While MDM addresses the management of all content in your business - customers, inventory, locations etc. - Product information management (PIM) addresses the aspect of managing product content. PIM is an integral part of your businesses MDM strategy but should be viewed in its own right.


PIM enables efficient management of all product data - structured and unstructured data - on the web and across all print media. It includes catalogue management, digital asset management and web content management related to products and promotions.

Contact the AgilityCMS Team

“AgilityCMS is an integrated PIM solution that has helped us to improve the data quality and given us greater control over data usage for our multi-channel marketing.”

Julie Giordano, Multi-Media Manager, Stanley Supply & Services, Inc.

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