Informatica Data Quality

On May 15th, Informatica completed the acquisition of Identity Systems, a pioneer in identity resolution technology allowing customers to search and match identification data across multiple systems and more than 60 languages. As someone who has been in the data quality space since 2001, I remember encountering Identity Systems in various sales cycles when they were known as Search Software America (SSA). In each instance, I recall that the level of sophistication around matching they offered was something that was difficult to compete against. If we could expand the data quality discussion to include other aspects, such as cleansing and validation, we had a much better chance in the proof of concept or sales cycle.You might be asking – why am I reflecting on these (somewhat painful) memories? The reason is that with the acquisition announcement made last month, Informatica brings together two very complementary offerings that further expands the data quality suite and is clearly aimed at ensuring organizations can address all aspects of their global, enterprise data quality issues. Through Identity Systems ability to perform real-time, high volume matching for all master data types, as well as the ability to leverage cross language search capabilities, we begin to tackle the holy grail of data quality – how do I ensure I have a single version of the truth across my global organization? In addition, the ability to leverage Identity Systems technology in areas of identity resolution as it pertains to fraud and risk management is significant (I will discuss risk management in detail in a future blog entry). This technology becomes even more powerful when you consider marrying it with the existing capabilities of Informatica Data Explorer and Informatica Data Quality to analyze, cleanse, and standardize data (not to mention the current matching capabilities). Although the roadmap will be announced at Informatica World, the potential areas where the technologies can complement each other are exciting to consider.

I would also recommend checking out "Not Your Father’s Data Cleansing" on Tony Baer's OnStrategies Perspectives blog , as he does a great job discussing the acquisition and what it means to the marketplace.

In my previous post, I discussed the Data Quality Maturity Model. Although this article looked at the maturity model from an organization’s point of view, the concepts also apply to the direction Informatica is headed in with the Identity Systems acquisition. By expanding the data quality platform to include identity resolution, you clearly have an offering that further enables organizations that are addressing data quality from a proactive or managed point of view.

Until next time…