The 2017 Gartner MQ for MDM Solutions Is Out! What Do You Need to Know?

The wait is over: the much-anticipated Gartner Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management Solutions is now out. Get your complimentary copy here (email address required). 

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for MDM Solutions launched in 2016 as a successor to two retired MDM MQs – MQ for MDM for Customer Data Solutions and MQ for MDM for Product Data Solutions. It was not a combined MQ, but rather a replacement to reflect changing market conditions. 

Come 2017, Master Data Management (MDM) continues to gain importance in organizations embarking on business initiatives that support customer experience, governance, analytics, growth, and efficiency. 

Having been involved in MDM Magic Quadrant-related activities for last four years, I’ve been lucky enough to get first-hand experience on the work behind this report. To create such influential research, Gartner spends an awful lot of time talking to end-users, looking at survey results, and keeping a close eye on the market. 

The analysis in this document is based on information from many sources, including:

• Extensive data on functional capabilities, customer base demographics, financial status, pricing and other quantitative attributes gained via a "request for information" process engaging vendors that meet their qualifications for inclusion in the Magic Quadrant.
  
  
• Interactive briefings during which vendors provide Gartner with updates on their strategies, market positioning, recent key developments and product roadmaps.
  
  
• Telephone interviews and web-based surveys of reference customers identified by each vendor. These activities allow analysts to capture firsthand data on usage patterns (for example, data domains and implementation styles), satisfaction with significant product functionality categories, various non-technological vendor evaluations (such as pricing, product support, and overall service delivery), and more. This year, a total of 180 organizations across all major regions and vendors provided input on their experiences.
  
  
• Feedback about use cases, business and technical strategies and priorities, and vendor experiences captured during conversations with customers of Gartner's client inquiry service.
  
  
• Estimated market share and revenue growth developed by Gartner, as of March 2017.

Inquiry analysis and inquiry share estimate developed by Gartner to determine market perception and mindshare. This is based on the volume of inquiries received from clients (these estimates are not representative of the entire market). This data was captured as of the end of March 2017. 

To ensure close alignment with buyer’s requirements, Gartner focuses their evaluation on the multiple domains, a variety of new use cases, and support for different implementation styles as part of the research criteria. As a consequence, we feel Gartner’s MDM research is of high quality and becomes a de facto go-to guide by a majority of today’s decision makers. With that background, let’s now look into a few key takeaways that stood out in the new Magic Quadrant:

• Strategic assumption (no change from 2016): By 2020, 80% of all master data management (MDM) solution revenue will derive from vendors' support for all of the buying organization's requirements relating to industries, data domains, use cases, organizations and MDM implementation styles, up from less than 15% in 2015.
  
  
• Per Gartner, the trend for mastering multiple data domains continues to gather momentum as awareness increases that the benefits of MDM are most transformational at the business process level.
  
  
• Cloud-based MDM remains in the early stages of maturity. Majority (81%) of the 144 survey respondents reported having an on-premises solution
  
  
• In the case of NoSQL database technologies, it is possible that the currently available technologies are inappropriate for MDM scenarios that require the level of transactional integrity generally provided by relational databases.
  
  
• The forecast growth of IoT-enabled things and the data generated by them, along with the projected economic value generated by the IoT, will increase associated master data requirements and their impact on organizations — and do so on an accelerated basis. Read my article to know how the Success of IoT Revolution Hinges on Master Data Management.
  
  
• Many vendors are active in the market, but their presence is not large enough in one or more respects to be included in the Magic Quadrant
  
  
• Informatica is named a leader and positioned in the leader quadrant highest for “Ability to Execute” and furthest in “Completeness of Vision”

If you’re starting an MDM initiative, I hope you consider reading Gartner’s in-depth analysis provided by Bill O’Kane, Alan Daylen, Michael Moran, and Simon Walker – great thought leaders and top industry analysts in the MDM space. 

Here at Informatica, we have achieved a lot over last few years. As a result, we delivered strong results, improved our delivery capabilities, and have a large number of satisfied customers. Our consistent track record of successful deployments is the key strength of Informatica. We believe our placement as a Leader validates our ability to deliver the next generation MDM experience for organizations. To learn more, visit this page. 

While we have a mature offering, we continue to innovate based on the feedback we hear from our customers, making it easier to implement MDM and create trusted, relevant and governed data for business users. Over 5,000 active customers use Informatica MDM to unleash the disruptive power of data by ensuring its relevance and trustworthiness. 

In our ever-changing world, it’s critical for businesses of all sizes to continuously innovate and adjust to fickle — and unpredictable — market demands. It is time for you to be a data-driven disruptor. Are you ready to take control of your business-critical master data? 

I’m looking forward your comments, insights, and questions. Connect with me on Twitter @MDMGeek and let’s continue the conversation! 

P.S. Don’t forget to get your complimentary copy of Gartner’s 2017 Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management Solutions today.

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Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management Solutions, by Bill O’Kane, Alan Dayley, Michael Patrick Moran and Simon James Walker, published on Oct. 30, 2017

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.