MDM Landscape
The MDM Landscape Q2 2021
Master data management (MDM) is the software and set of supporting processes to support the handling of data that traverses an organization. Customer data and product data are the best-known examples, but many other data fits into the same category, for example data on suppliers, assets, locations, staff, contracts etc. This master data is often duplicated across the many computer systems of a large enterprise, with the competing versions of such data causing problems when you need to take a view across the business. For example, if you want to know your profitability by customer, then the revenues and costs associated with each customer need to be consistently stored, allocated and calculated.
Specialist MDM software initially focused on customer or product data in distinct markets, but in the last decade or so this changed significantly. In 2003 the first “multi-domain” MDM software appeared, designed from scratch to be able to handle all kinds of master data domains, and the vendors that previously focused on customer or product data gradually adapted their products and market positioning in response. Although in reality some MDM vendors focus heavily on product or customer data even today, it is normal for a typical master data project to contain several different data domains, even if its focus is on just one. Reference data, such as currency and country codes and ISO industry classifications, is now frequently deemed within the scope of master data. Some vendors offer cut-down versions of their products specifically targeting reference data, as this is seen as an easy entry point due to reference data being less volatile than most master data.
The adoption of MDM has been driven mostly by business need, either by regulatory requirements (especially in finance and pharmaceuticals) or simply the need to get a better handle on the data in an organization as companies focus on more digital initiatives. This greater involvement of business people has seen the maturing of data governance as a discipline. Most MDM products now offer at least some level of support for data governance processes, such as dashboards for data stewards, and workflow capabilities to handle data that requires manual intervention to iron out inconsistencies or quality issues.
MDM software has also had to adapt to the gradual but steady and far-reaching migration of core enterprise IT applications from on-premise to the cloud. As a critical mass of applications become deployed in the cloud rather than the corporate data centre, MDM systems need to adapt to that reality and be capable of being deployed in either a public or private cloud, on premise or a hybrid configuration. Depending on which survey you read, perhaps a third of enterprise IT budgets are now devoted to cloud computing, and virtually all MDM vendors are seeing faster growth in their cloud computing deployments than on-premise. One consequence of this fragmentation of location for the sources of master data is the awareness that MDM vendors may need to support a federated deployment strategy rather than one based on monolithic MDM hubs. Although just a few MDM vendors have any real level of support for this, or even much understanding of the implications of it, there are signs of movement on this front in 2021.
In general, master data software nowadays tends to incorporate a wide range of data management capability, whether developed in-house or provided by partners or via OEM of 3rd party tools. Certainly, MDM goes hand in hand with data integration and especially with data quality, and now with support for data governance. Demand for broader solutions has also seen some mergers and acquisition activity as vendors seek to widen their capabilities. For example, in June 2021 Precisely purchased Winshuttle, which itself had quite recently bought the MDM vendor EnterWorks. Such activity is likely to increase as the industry consolidates in response to customers trying to get greater control over their wide-ranging data in order to enable more responsive and better business decisions.
We calculate the pure software license revenue for MDM software at $918 million, maintenance revenue at $284 million and MDM professional services revenue of the software vendors at $467 million. Our research shows that on average the people costs of an MDM project are four times that of the software license cost, so there is clearly a large and separate consultancy market associated with MDM.
The main vendors in the market are summarised in the diagram below.
The landscape diagram represents the market in three dimensions. The size of the bubble represents the customer base of the vendor, i.e. the number of corporations it has sold MDM software to, adjusted for deal size. The larger the bubble, the broader the customer base, though this is not to scale. The technology score is made up of a weighted set of scores derived from: customer satisfaction as measured by a survey of reference customers [*], analyst impression of the technology, maturity of the technology in terms of its time in the market and the breadth of the technology in terms of its coverage against our functionality model. Market strength is made up of a weighted set of scores derived from: MDM revenue, growth, financial strength, size of partner ecosystem, (revenue adjusted) customer base and geographic coverage. The Information Difference maintains profiles on each vendor that go into more detail. Customers are encouraged to carefully look at their own specific requirements rather than high-level assessments such as the Landscape diagram when assessing their needs. We maintain a comprehensive MDM functionality model and evaluation approach (MDM Select) that we offer to customers.
A significant part of the “technology” dimension scoring is assigned to customer satisfaction, as determined by a survey of vendor customers. In this research cycle the vendor with the happiest customers was Viamedici, followed closely by Magnitude and Ataccama, and then Winshuttle (now acquired by Precisely) and TIBCO. Congratulations to those vendors.
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(*) In the absence of sufficient completed references, a neutral score was assigned to this factor.
Below is a list of the significant MDM vendors.
| Vendor | Brief Description | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Akeneo | PIM vendor. | www.akeneo.com |
| AllSight | SaaS vendor that populates an intelligent Customer 360 through synthesis, inferences and analytics. | www.allsight.com |
| Ataccama | Vendor with integrated data quality, data governance & MDM offering. | www.attacama.com |
| Bluestone | PIM vendor. | www.bluestonepim.com |
| Cadis | Enterprise data management vendor specializing in financial services industry. | www.cadisedm.com |
| Cluedin | Cloud-based MDM and data quality vendor. | www.cluedin.com/modern-mdm |
| Contentserv | Provides retailers and brands a “Product Experience Platform” combining MDM, PIM, DAM, and Marketing Experience Management in a single stack. | www.contentserv.com |
| D&B Purisma | Customer hub software acquired by business services giant D&B. | www.pursima.com |
| Dell Boomi | Services arm of Dell now has a cloud-based MDM software product. | www.boomi.com/mdm |
| Denodo | MDM vendor with emphasis on data virtualisation. | www.denodo.com |
| Global IDs | New York-based vendor with an emphasis on data governance. | www.globalids.com |
| Golden Source | UK vendor specializing in financial services industry. | www.thegoldensource.com |
| GXS | Vendor specializing in product master data but which can manage other data domains. | www.gxs.com www.gxsproductmasterdata.com |
| hybris | Vendor specializing in product master data and eCommerce. Now part of SAP. | www.hybris.com |
| IBM | Industry giant with comprehensive MDM offerings across all data domains and implementation styles. | www.ibm.com |
| Indus Valley Partners (IVP) | Enterprise data management vendor specializing in the buy side of the capital markets. | www.ivp.in |
| Informatica | Informatica offers a modular, end-to-end, multi-domain MDM that’s unified, flexible and scalable. Built on Intelligent Data Platform (IDP), MDM provides master data-fueled business apps such as Product 360, Supplier 360, Customer 360, Customer 360 for Salesforce, Relate 360 that are designed to address key business challenges every organizations face. Informatica’s MDM solution combines Data as a Service (DaaS), Data Quality, and Business Process Management. | www.informatica.com |
| Information Builders (IBI) | Provider of Enterprise BI, MDM, Data Quality and Integration. Offers iWay Master Data Suite, OMNI packaged solutions for healthcare, and OMNI-Gen MDM automation technology. | www.informationbuilders.com |
| Innovit | MDM vendor. | www.innovit.com |
| InRiver | Product Information Management vendor with its HQ in Sweden. | www.inriver.com |
| InterSystems | Vendor using an object database combined with an application integration platform to provide MDM. | www.intersystems.co.uk |
| Lansa | Vendor with PIM and eCommerce tool amongst a broader software portfolio. | www.lansa.com |
| Liaison | Cloud-based MDM software with an emphasis on product data. | www.liaison.com |
| Magnitude Software | Provider of data management and analytics solutions including Agility PIM, Kalido MDM, and a portfolio of data connectivity, process analytics and process automation offerings. | www.magnitude.com |
| Naveego | A hybrid and multi-cloud data accuracy product using artificial intelligence. | www.naveego.com |
| Oracle | Database and applications giant with several MDM solutions. | www.oracle.com |
| Pimcore | Open-source MDM vendor. | www.pimcore.com |
| Pitney Bowes Software | A large vendor that in 2012 launched an MDM product based on a graphical database. | www.pb.com |
| Precisely | Data management vendor that acquired Winshuttle in mid 2021. | www.precisely.com |
| Profisee | Vendor with an offering complementary to, and based upon, the Microsoft MDS platform. | www.profisee.com |
| Prospecta | Australian MDM vendor. | www.prospecta.com |
| QAD | Vendor specializing in product master data. | www.qad.com |
| Reltio | Master data cloud solution specializing in life sciences. | www.reltio.com |
| Riversand | Multi-domain master data provider specializing in product data. | www.riversand.com |
| Rollstream | Vendor specializing in supplier master data. | www.rollstream.com |
| Salsify | Product content management vendor. | www.salsify.com |
| SAP | Applications giant with its own MDM solution. | www.sap.com |
| SAS | The privately held software giant has a multi-domain MDM solution. | www.sas.com |
| Semarchy | Hybrid, "Intelligent Data Hub" multi-domain MDM vendor focused on governance, quality, catalogue and workflows in parallel. | www.semarchy.com |
| Sigma Systems | Vendor with catalogue management, order management and provisioning software. | www.sigma-systems.com |
| Smartco | Enterprise data management vendor specializing in financial services industry. | www.smartco.com |
| Software AG | Vendor of multi-domain MDM, BPM, and SOA solutions. | www.softwareag.com/mdm |
| sparesfinder | Vendor specializing in the mastering of spares part data. | www.sparesfinder.com |
| Stibo Systems | Stibo Systems provide a multi-domain solution that supports large data sets at scale. It has a strong presence in Manufacturing, Distribution, and Retail. | www.stibosystems.com |
| SupplyOn | Supply chain management vendor with MDM capability. | www.supplyon.com |
| Syniti | Enterprise data management vendor. | www.syniti.com |
| Talend | Open source vendor with an MDM suite. | www.talend.com |
| Teradata | Database giant with its own MDM solution. | www.teradata.com |
| TIBCO | TIBCO EBX is a model-driven, multi-domain MDM product with an emphasis on collaborative data governance. | www.tibco.com/products/tibco-ebx-software |
| Veeva | Provides cloud-based multi-domain MDM software to the life sciences industry. | www.veeva.com |
| verato | Provide identity management software and data, crossing the boundaries between MDM, data quality and data broker. | www.verato.com |
| Verdantis | Provides cloud-based MDM software for the material and product domains with self-service and turnkey delivery models. | www.verdantis.com |
| Viamedici | German MDM vendor specializing in MDM for manufacturing and distribution with real-time data provisioning and integrated configuration rule engine. | www.viamedici.com |
| VisionWare | MDM vendor based in UK and US specializing in healthcare, financial services and local government with their MultiVue product. | www.visionwareplc.com |
| Winshuttle | Data management and process automation vendor providing a multi-domain MDM solution called EnterWorks. Acquired by Precisely in June 2021. | www.winshuttle.com |