Many businesses are now looking to migrate critical IT applications to the Cloud, to help deliver greater benefits to the organisation. However, no matter what the application, the common denominator is your data – namely, your Master Data (the central repository for all your “clean” corporate data). Check off these 3 key steps and your data migration project will set you up for greater future success than just short term gains:
Take a good look at your data – You certainly do not want to carry-over duplicate data, incorrect “bad” data, obsolete or even outdated data to your new Cloud environment. Doing so would open up potential corporate liability, extra storage, added costs and basically give you “what you have today”, only in the Cloud!
Tackle the big issue upfront – Data Governance & Master Data should become a key priority to address upfront, prior to any data migration to the Cloud. This covers key topics such as data migration, data cleansing, and how to govern data that comes into your company daily.
How to choose a Data Governance Tool– This is what will set your project apart and deliver long term benefits to your company if chosen correctly. You not only want a “data cleaning tool” you want a tool that delivers both Data Governance as well as manage your Master Data every day. Stick to these evaluation areas and you’ll quickly see the difference in quality and therefore your project success:
Built for your Industry – There is no shortage of vendors with offerings that are “all things to everybody” aka, no industry domain alignment. Many companies in the EAM, Consumer Goods, Energy and Manufacturing space wrestle with numerous materials, part numbers and plant codes, with complexities where data can often be miss-interpreted, or duplicated, leading to incorrect material masters, which result in incorrect vendor purchases or wrong in-house material purchases. An extremely costly issue in any organization.
Fast Deployment & ROI– Master Data deployments can typically take 6 months to a year, depending on complexities and tool/vendor selection. Selecting a tool that addresses your industry needs and requirements, is configurable to your domain, has built-in vendor integration and Cloud support, with a superior UI, can drastically cut deployment times and deliver a fast ROI.
Built-in Collaboration and Workflow– This area is crucial, as Master Data leads, analysts and data quality personal are often in different work locations and need to collaborate on the same data issues. Having a tool where workflows can be customized, prioritized and acted upon quickly, is paramount to success in organizations managing master data.
Flexible Deployment options– Look for a tool that is available with both on-premise and (especially) Cloud deployment options, as this is where your corporate data will be targeted.
Integration with leading enterprise systems– Look for full integration with target ERP/CRM systems, such as SAP, Salesforce and Microsoft.
Superior, Configurable User Interface– it’s one thing to have a superior UI. It’s entirely another to have superior UI that is configurable for each customer specific master data domain!
Attractive Price point– Many vendor tool offerings are what I refer to as “Seven and Seven” – They cost Seven figures and take Seven months to deploy! Today’s customers are demanding lower cost, faster deployments than ever before, particularly with Cloud target applications. The days of “Seven and Seven” are nearly gone.
If it’s clean, long term data you are aiming for to help gain competitive advantage and launch your company to the next level – don’t just move it to the Cloud, Trust it in the Cloud!
Terry Del Casale, General Manager USA – Prospecta
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