The Information Difference Company

The Information Difference MDM Landscape
At The Information Difference we have developed the following chart which summarises the key players in the MDM Landscape, and assesses their relative positions. It is important to understand that any summary level diagram like this combines various weighted assessments of a vendor and its technology, and these may not match your particular project priorities. For example certain vendors have much better track record in tackling certain data domains (customer, product) than others. So the positions of vendors would potentially change if the weightings were done as they relate to your particular project. You are encouraged to examine the vendor profiles, which go into greater depth, or to talk at an Information Difference analyst about your particular needs.

The landscape diagram is a representation of the major players in the MDM market, measured against a set of criteria.

"Technology" is a weighted assessment of three factors:

• Technology Breadth – how broad are the vendor’s offerings as mapped to the Information Difference functionality model (20%).
• Technology Depth – our assessment of how complete and mature the vendor’s technology offerings are, taking into account the time and number of major software releases in the market (40%).
• Architecture Quality – a subjective assessment of the quality of the architecture of the technology (40%).

"Market Strength" is a weighted assessment of two factors:

• Revenue associated with MDM software; the Information Difference maintains estimates of this for each vendor, as this information is rarely public. (80%)
• Growth in calendar year 2007 compared to 2006. (20%).

"Customer base" is shown on the diagram as small, medium or large, indicated by the size of the bubble. It is not to scale. The Information Difference maintains estimates of the customer base of each vendor in the market e.g. see our "vendor profiles".

The Information Difference also assesses vendors against:

• Financial Resources: our assessment of the financial resources of the vendor.
• Geographic Spread: both the spread in terms of physical offices the vendor has, and also the spread of deployed customers geographically.
• Partner Network: our assessment of the breadth and depth of the partner network of the vendor.

These scores are not used in the landscape diagram but can be found in our "vendor profiles". On request, we can produce a customized landscape diagram which takes into accounts the factors and weightings most relevant to your specific requirements. The underlying scores are the same, but the representation may vary significantly based on the strengths of the vendors in the areas in which you are interested. For example you may want to see a landscape in which the factors shown are technology strength, customer base and growth. Another example could be to illustrate geographic spread, partner network and technology depth, which are factors that may be relevant if you were interested specifically in a global rollout of an MDM technology.

It is important to understand that such diagrams are useful but inevitably simplified summaries of a vendor’s offerings. Your particular project may have a very specific aspect which is critical e.g. scalability, sophisticated hierarchy management or complex data governance workflow. You should discuss the specific needs of your project with an Information Difference analyst rather than relying purely on diagrams of this type.