2019 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Master Data Management Solutions: Key Takeaways
Analyst house Gartner, Inc. recently released its 2019 Critical Capabilities for Master Data Management Solutions. Used in conjunction with the Magic Quadrant, Critical Capabilities is an additional resource which can assist buyers of data and analytics solutions in finding the products that fit best in their organizations.
Gartner defines Critical capabilities as “attributes that differentiate products/services in a class in terms of their quality and performance.” Gartner rates each vendor’s product or service on a five-point (five points being best) scale in terms of how well it delivers each capability. Critical Capabilities reports include comparison graphs for each use case, along with in-depth descriptions of each solution based on the various points of comparison.
The study highlights 14 vendors Gartner considers most significant in this software sector and evaluates them against 15 critical capabilities and six use cases prevalent in the space, including:
- B2C customer data
- B2B customer data
- Buy-side product data
- Sell-side product data
- Multidomain MDM
- Multivector MDM
The editors at Solutions Review have read the report, available here, and pulled out three key takeaways.
Organizations must identify a use case
While no MDM provider scored better than 4 stars for any of the use cases included, and may highlight a research and development shortfall by the top vendors, organizations must identify their use cases as to align software with their business requirements. The folks using master data management tools should also weigh each use case against the requirements of their organization. This is the only way to ensure a proper fit in a world where feature capabilities are still lackluster on the whole.
Orchestra Networks is the class of the MDM marketplace
Orchestra Networks finished as a top-two provider for each of the six main use cases. Its highest score came in the multidomain MDM setting, where it scored considerably higher than its next closest competitor. In the lone spot where it wasn’t the best fit (B2C customer data), the company trailed only Informatica. Orchestra’s reference customers describe that its platform exhibited a “robust distribution across all data domains, usage scenarios and implementation styles.”
There is no one-size-fits-all product (yet)
Gartner recommends that organizations use a “best fit” approach to evaluating master data management software, especially since there is no single provider that offers a fully standalone tool that can satisfy each use case. It may seem like common sense, but data management leaders should first zone in on their most important use cases during the vendor selection process. As Gartner interestingly puts it: “Successful MDM implementations start with a single domain and use case.”
Read Gartner’s Critical Capabilities to see how all the top providers scored.