Informatica Perspectives

Continuing the discussion started in Globe-hopping Customer Data I'd like to examine the issues related to identifying which customers you do NOT want to do business with.

One of our customers - a major bank in Saudi Arabia - learned first-hand the complexities that arise from having to comply with watchlists from multiple countries. At a minimum, the bank had to screen customer data against the Saudi Arabian government watchlists (in Arabic script) and the US government watchlists (in Romanized/English).  To further complicate matters - the bank's customer data was stored in two separate databases - Saudi customer data in Arabic script, and all other customers in Romanized form.  [Read more]

Over the past few months, an increasing portion of my conversations with customers has been about globalization.  The recent financial crisis has caused many companies to focus more on market diversification. Some traditional markets are experiencing slow or negative growth and some emerging markets have recovered faster than others.  In the global search for customers, crossing geographic boundaries has become less of an impediment and more of an opportunity.

Globalization and multi-country operations bring a whole host of complications ranging from tax implications and exchange rate fluctuations to labor regulations and cultural sensitivities.  However, one often overlooked aspect is the impact that globalization has on your enterprise data management strategy - and particularly - your customer data.

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Over the last few months I have observed a variety of posts and discussions relating to managing data quality.   I thought it might be interesting to discuss how we are using our own software to help drive data quality across our company.  We are on a journey and I’d like to share our progress with you over the coming months.  Our goal, like yours, is to deliver trusted, relevant and timely data to all parts of
our business.

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Data quality issues are like back pains…everyone has to deal with them at one point or another, and in many cases it requires some major surgery. The strategic use of data is critical, and is one of those things you have to put into hard dollars before people begin to take data quality seriously. Understanding the true cost of data quality issues provides a solid foundation of understanding around the business case for putting a good data quality program and core enabling technology in place to solve this problem.

There are two costs to consider: Operational inefficiencies and long-term consequences. [Read more]

On the publication of my new Informatica white paper, titled "Master Data Management: Building a Foundation for Success," I’ve been talking to several clients and vendors wanting more information about the build-versus-buy decision. In fact when I was writing the paper I was in the process of evaluating three MDM vendor solutions on behalf of a high-technology firm we work with, while at the same time counseling another firm not to jump too quickly into the MDM fray without first examining its incumbent technology solutions. As with most strategic IT solutions, when it comes to MDM one size doesn’t fit all. [Read more]

There is a new whitepaper from Evan Levy of Baseline Consulting available on our website, “Master Data Management – Building A Foundation For Success”. The theme of the paper is about what components make up the foundation of any MDM project – whether a customer hub, a product hub, an operational hub, an analytical hub, one that is bought from a vendor or one that you build yourself. In all cases, there is a common infrastructure that time and again, leading practitioners such as Mr. Levy find to be required. [Read more]

Since recently attending the Gartner MDM Summit, reading the latest report on MDM Trends from Forrester, and speaking with several customers, a few trends are starting to emerge:

• There is no one single technology that will help organizations solve all of their MDM challenges
• While some MDM products are supporting multiple domains, they are still either customer-centric or product-centric
• Analytical style of MDM is gaining in importance, and
• The common challenges across all data domains and hub styles are data integration and data quality

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   This week I listened to an intriguing interview with Dr David Blumenthal. He is President Obama's health records czar – and is tasked with setting up a nationwide health information technology infrastructure. Dr Blumenthal pointed out that in 2008, 90% of hospitals and 83% of physicians in the USA were still using paper-based patient health records. As data management practitioners we know the usual benefits that arise from switching to electronic records - real-time access, backup, archiving, and transportability and so on.  However, the opportunity to leverage data quality and identity resolution on health records promises even more benefits in saving lives and reducing healthcare costs.

But any time there is a discussion about gaining insight into identities and sharing access to personally identifiable information, concerns regarding privacy take center stage.  Patient identification and Health information exchanges are no exception. [Read more]

Ignoring the current firestorm concerning health care reform that is sweeping the country; I would like to focus on the major health care event of 2009 that seems to have slipped under the radar but is the cornerstone of all future health care reform.

As part of the stimulus package known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the President signed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. This act includes billions of dollars in incentive payments through Medicare to digitize and automate the health care industry starting in 2011 and going until 2015, with the goal of providing the platform for the implementation of a nationwide interoperable, privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure. What this infrastructure will be is being worked out now by various committees established by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Dr. David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P.. However, the starting point for these committees was defined, and incentive payments will only be dispersed if providers meet the following high level tenets: [Read more]

This week HP and Informatica made a joint announcement about a new strategic agreement between our two companies.

I often hear about such "strategic" agreements and am always left wondering whether if the relationship is more than just the two companies shaking hands and issuing a press release.

Yes! The answer here is profoundly different because this agreement is all about HP embedding and selling the Informatica Platform. It builds on a strong, existing relationship that our two companies have built over a number of years and represents our common goal - namely helping enterprises to drive more value from their data. [Read more]