FEBRUARY 2, 2010 -- Baseline Consulting, an acknowledged leader in information design and deployment to improve business performance and realize strategic objectives, recently released the results of an international market survey which found that approximately one-third of enterprise organizations worldwide have undertaken more than two Master Data Management (MDM) implementations, suggesting that MDM has moved beyond the pilot stage and is coming of age.

The survey, titled Master Data Management Projects in Practice, was conducted to gain deeper insight into the levels of expertise, experience and usage of systems integrators specifically related to undertaking MDM implementations. Baseline Consulting was a sponsor of the survey.

“Increasingly, organizations are turning to MDM as a key enabler in improving the quality, timeliness, and reliability of business intelligence with the ultimate goal of improving business performance,” said Andy Hayler, CEO of The Information Difference Company which conducted the survey. “Against this backdrop of growth, organizations are increasingly turning to Systems Integrators (SIs) for help with architecture and implementation services. We believe it important for end-user organizations, SIs and MDM software vendors to understand the current position and the degree of satisfaction, confidence and success that SIs deliver.”

Key findings from the research study included the following:

• Those organizations that have undertaken MDM implementations indicated they manage a median of three million master data records, have taken six months to implement, and involved an eight-person project team. The membership of the team was 25 percent business, 40 percent internal IT and 35 percent external SIs staff.

• Data quality is a key component of any MDM implementation and the time and effort (cost) required to achieve data of acceptable quality is frequently severely underestimated. The median reported was 30 percent of the overall initial project costs.

• Both those already implementing (80 percent) and those planning to implement recognize the pivotal importance of establishing data governance.

• Despite the claims of SIs in terms of their ability to implement MDM, most have not undertaken many projects – the median reported for 2009 was five projects.

“This survey suggests that companies are becoming increasingly savvy about the MDM value proposition,” said Jill Dyche, partner and co-founder of Baseline Consulting. “This informs a more deliberate approach to MDM development, including requirements gathering, business case development, and vendor selection. And it confirms our suspicions that 2010 will be the year of implementation for serious data integration initiatives!”