How does an agile approach support the client Data Management System (MDM)?

What is agility in supporting systems? Why is the agile approach crucial for managing basic customer data? See what characterizes this approach and learn how to use it in contemporary business.

What is agile management?

A significant part of business applications is based on data. Regardless of whether they are operational or analytical applications. The data is the basis by which you can quite for the purpose set. Managing customer information, and even providing personalized product recommendations, depends on the quality of the data available. The accuracy and effectiveness of the applications used also depend on them.

For data to work properly, it’s worth using Master Data Management (MDM). With this solution, you will eliminate inconsistencies and create a uniform view of customer, product, supplier and material information. If you implement MDM correctly, it will help you strengthen your company’s architecture. It will also support the requirements of business analysis, increase operational efficiency and improve User Experience in all customer contact points with your brand.

However, despite the obvious advantages, the traditional approach to MDM implementation is time consuming – sometimes it lasts even from 12 to 24 months. It is worth remembering that the data is growing exponentially for each company. Therefore, as a result, by the time MDM system implementation is complete, they may become out of date or change. This applies in particular to customer data.

Due to the fact that business requirements and customer data are constantly changing, creating a gold record cannot be just a one-time activity. Moreover, different business users may need different main customer data. Therefore, meeting customer expectations in a multi-channel distribution environment can be extremely difficult. Except when survival rules that determine which values ​​will be selected to populate one master record are synchronized with changing business requirements. Is there one satisfactory solution? How can companies ensure their success in managing customer master data? The answer is of course the Agile MDM approach.

Adopting an agile approach (Agile approach) to managing customer master data can solve all problems with traditional solutions. Instead of working as a design silo, the agile MDM approach follows agile software development practices and evolves along with business requirements. Thanks to this, even if the company is growing rapidly, there is no problem with efficient data management.

Why is it worth implementing an Agile MDM system? Find out 5 reasons!

The implementation of the agile MDM system is the best of the existing ways to consolidate customer master data. Why?

Agile MDM guarantees effective cooperation

The Agile MDM strategy allows all teams and applications that use customer data to refer to one source. This ensures that the data remains consistent and all updates are based on the same unique copy of the master data.

Thus, all activities that use the same information are simplified. For example, opening and closing accounts at various companies, or obtaining information for marketing purposes, is not a problem for any team having access to one main customer data record. What’s more, all teams have constant access to the latest data. The resulting changes are universal and updated automatically. Thanks to this, colleagues can interact without hindrance without worrying about delays or errors in the information provided to each other.

Increased consistency thanks to Agile MDM

Because the Agile approach, master data management focuses on business activities, it is also consistent with clearly defined use cases. The data corresponds very well with how business users use them and how they work on them. For example, in e-commerce activities, customer profiles, managed as part of the main customer data, can be used by different parts of their ecosystem. Both through the sales platform itself, online marketing activities, payment gateway, order sending software, through accounting software as well as through the inventory management system, etc. In this situation, thanks to the agile approach, you can be sure that the data is always used in a consistent manner by all sites using them.

Improved ROI

What determines the agile approach system? First of all, from the real value provided to business users. It is important, therefore, whether the main client data can support business applications and how easy it is to interfere with and download data. Each of the parameters is strongly taken into account. Thanks to this type of dependence – linked to direct business effects – the ROI of MDM initiatives can be simply presented. The improved quality of customer master data is directly related to the ROI of Master Data Management implementation

Thanks to the agile MDM system for customers, you can support your marketing and sales team in reaching customers in the best possible way. You can also adapt to your requirements, thus maximizing your return on investment.

Reduced risk

Agile records have a higher success rate compared to traditional data management. This is because the system relies on agile or evolutionary data modeling. It is carried out in an iterative and incremental manner and places special emphasis on data quality.

Aspects related to data consistency, accuracy and usability are often tested for various business applications. In turn, better-quality data leads to a reduction in business risk. For example, by removing duplicate customer documentation, the risk of suffering a financial loss that could result, for example, from defaulting a loan repayment or credit line due to having multiple customer profiles is significantly reduced.

Lean data management – Lean Data Management

Unlike command and control strategies that explicitly seek to manage and manage development teams, the agile MDM strategy involves data specialists as active collaborators in development teams. Thanks to this, the data management team does not hinder the work of the programmers themselves, but cooperates with them in an effective way within one project. Lean data management is about enabling teams to choose the way they work and educate everyone involved.

In the case of customer data, efficient data management is becoming a key factor contributing to improving quality, increasing efficiency, reducing project duration and customer satisfaction.

Agile MDM’s extensive capabilities

Agile MDM also gives the possibility of rapid extension to new data domains. This ability to efficiently acquire new data sources, combined with the ease of model evolution for various business needs, allows any scaling.

So efficiently implemented efficient customer master data management has great potential to create unlimited possibilities for your business. Access to accurate and consistent data in real time gives the sales, marketing or customer service team the opportunity to exceed their expectations by offering them what is best for them.

Are you wondering what MDM system to choose? Bet on the open source Pimcore MDM platform. Thanks to it, you can manage any product data, customers, employees, digital resources, contractors, suppliers, location, reference and IOT data.