Recession is perfect time to make the MDM business case, Gartner speaker says

"Instead of viewing the current economic downturn just as a dangerous time to be survived, companies should also consider it an opportunity to look inward to improve efficiencies, Lay said. Improved master data – be it customer or product data – can help companies do just that, he said."
...
"If, for example, you can illustrate how better master data will lead to improved cross-selling and – ultimately -- increased profits, executives and line-of-business managers are more likely to listen.

Or identify "processes that are on fire," which, once corrected by MDM, will give the company a leg-up on competitors that are content to maintain the status quo during a downturn.

"Now is the time to start putting the fires out," Lay said. "[As data management pros], we must be savvy about business processes" like supply chain management, cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, and marketing campaigns, and understand how MDM can improve them, he said."
...
"It is important, too, for data management pros to target their MDM business cases to the right people, he said. To do that, having identified a broken business process that better master data can help fix, the next step is identifying the correct business stakeholder to pitch.

"Find something that really matters, a hot-button issue," Lay said, "then find the person who owns the broken process."

If data management pros follow this advice, he said, they are virtually guaranteed success. "I've never seen this thing fail to get a constructive response.""

Recession is perfect time to make the MDM business case, Gartner speaker says
By Jeff Kelly, News Editor19 Nov 2008
SearchDataManagement.com
http://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid91_gci1339507,00.html?track=NL-340&ad=675432&asrc=EM_NLN_5063783&uid=4087156