IBM - CIO Interaction Channel - Information Agenda

Organisations have come to realize that they need to achieve the right view of the master data on which their business decisions are based.

Abstract: The only constant in business data is constant change. On average, 14 percent of the nation’s population changes addresses each year, rendering customer information in countless databases obsolete. And that’s just for starters. These same customers change jobs, swap credit cards, open new bank accounts, get divorced, make new purchases, change phone numbers, make payments and get married. This constant change holds true as well for patients in healthcare, citizens in government and prospects tracked by the salesforce.

If changes such as these are not accurately reflected in an organisation’s data records—and pushed out to all the systems and processes that depend on those data records—the organisation can pay a high price.

Incorrect or duplicated customer information costs corporations more than US$600 billion annually.2 For example, in 2007 alone, poor quality data will cost the insurance industry US$14 billion and the banking industry US$27 billion in operating costs.

There is, however, a significant flaw in the “single” view approach to managing master data. Given the organic way in which most organisations’ information systems and IT infrastructure have grown to meet changing business needs—not to mention the reality of information silos, legacy systems and multiple information architectures—a literal single view of master data has proven virtually impossible to achieve. As organisations reorganise, merge, acquire new business units and grapple with new security and compliance regulations, master data management problems are only becoming more pressing.

Improving your data governance practices can help safeguard your corporate information and satisfy auditors and regulators.

Abstract: In the past few years, dozens of high-profile incidents involving process failures and data mismanagement have gained international media attention. Caught off guard by these failures, the organisations impacted by them have struggled with eroded brand confidence, lost business, and in some cases, legal liability.

Incidents such as these have catapulted corporate governance to the top of the boardroom agenda and made it one of the most important strategic priorities for companies and governments throughout the world. Embedded in nearly every aspect of an organisation, IT plays its own increasingly critical role in governance initiatives. Foremost among these challenges is the need to effectively manage and control the mountains of data that reside within different parts of the organisation.

Data is at once an organisation’s greatest source of risk and greatest source of value. Poor data management often means poor business decisions and results, and greater exposure to compliance violations and theft. For example, regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley in the United States, the equivalent European Sarbanes Oxley and the Japanese Financial Instruments and Exchange Law (J-SOX) dictate a balance between information access and appropriate use as mandated by rules, policies and regulations.

On the other hand, the ability to leverage clean, trusted data can help organisations provide better service, drive customer loyalty and spend less effort complying with regulatory policies. Effectively leveraging information also brings with it the promise of increased innovation by optimizing people and processes through creative uses of information.