Innovations in MDM Implementation: Success via a Boxed ApproachPre-built processes, data models and best practices out of the box can go a long way toward mitigating the risks associated with MDM projects.

Executive SummaryThe market for master data management (MDM) has exhibited phenomenal growth since 2009 and the outlook appears promising. But despite the view that MDM is an essential enterprise technology, many MDM implementations are far from successful.

We believe that many of the critical issues that cause MDM projects to fail are actually common across most engagements; hence, we propose a different approach to address these challenges. We believe that a boxed approach, which offers pre-built processes, data models and best practices out of the box, can go a long way toward mitigating the risks associated with MDM imple-mentations.

In this white paper we explore how the critical risks and concerns of an MDM implementation may be addressed through a boxed approach.

Master Data Management: A PrimerMDM includes tools, processes and best practices to help acquire, standardize, de-duplicate and cleanse business-critical, shared data entities and distribute them to CRMs, analytics systems, business intelligence systems, campaign management systems, etc. Despite a slowdown in

overall IT investment, Gartner predicts the MDM market will grow 21% in 2012 — the biggest leap since 2008.1

A sluggish economy demands operational effi-ciencies and quicker returns from all technology investments. This has increased the focus on MDM as MDM is a critical enabler for efficient operation of most enterprise IT systems like ERP, marketing analytics, CRM and more. MDM provides these systems with accurate and standardized data that in turn improves the operational efficiencies of these systems, enhancing overall customer sat-isfaction and decision making. But in spite of its importance, a successful MDM implementation still remains hard to achieve. Many organiza-tions that have initiated an MDM implementation project have struggled at various stages, resulting in high failure rates across verticals.

We believe that a boxed approach can significant-ly decrease this failure rate and help organiza-tions realize quicker and better value from MDM implementations.

Success via a Boxed ApproachA boxed approach is a business-centric method that provides data models, best practices, workflows and data adaptors specific to industry needs. These features come pre-built and ensure

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that time and effort is spent on implementing and optimizing a client’s specific business needs and not on general industry-specific require-ments common to most implementations. The boxed approach not only reduces time and effort required to implement successful MDM projects through its pre-built processes, but it also reduces implementation risks through its industry-specif-ic data models, data adaptors and integration adaptors that also come pre-built out of the box.

Examining the ChallengesA closer look at the critical barriers to success for MDM projects reveals that the key reasons for the failure of MDM projects are typically business

related rather than technical. They include failure to justify the budget, perception of long ROI realization timeline and difficulty defining critical requirements, among others.

As we describe in the following sections, we believe that a boxed approach can mitigate many of these business risks associated with MDM implementations. In the next sections, we discuss some of the key concerns surround-

ing MDM projects and elaborate how a boxed approach may alleviate some of these concerns.

Budget Justification

Justification for any major investment centers on the returns that can be generated. A typical MDM implementation program takes two to three years to complete; the returns are normally realized a year from the time of project initiation. In contrast, the boxed approach ensures a quicker time to market that translates to faster return from the investment. This guarantees quicker buy-in from the business stakeholders. From our experience, pre-built data models, integration adaptors for downstream systems and other out-of-the-box features can constitute up to 70% of key technical requirements and for some clients reduce configuration and implementation time by up to 40%.

ROI Achievement

ROI is a major factor in making any business investment decision. While normal MDM projects tend to have a high total cost of ownership (TCO), a boxed approach lowers TCO dramatically. Since much of the implementation effort is reduced due

to consolidation of the critical requirements and use cases, there is minimal effort needed for cus-tomization during the implementation process. For example, a boxed approach will include data adaptors for each industry; namely, adaptors for information feeds from Bloomberg, Reuters, IMS and D&B, among others. By providing these pre-built data adaptors out of the box, imple-mentation time and cost is significantly reduced. Due to lower total investment, ROI can be more quickly achieved.

Requirements Definition

Understanding the scope of a project and properly defining the critical requirements based on the scope can make or break a project. It is extremely important for business stakeholders to understand the systems and the MDM require-ments in depth to ensure a smooth and error-free requirement definition that does not miss any vital needs. The boxed approach is driven by pre-built use cases, processes and workflows that are derived from firsthand experience implement-ing MDM projects. Hence, they cover a large part of the enterprise’s business-critical, industry-specific requirements out of the box. The boxed approach usually comes with pre-implemented industry-specific features such as a “know your customer” module for banks, a loyalty card management module for retail and consumer goods manufacturers, clinical trial management workflow for life sciences, etc.

Senior Leader Buy-in

Support of the senior executives and major stake-holders is a critical necessity for the success of any project. Since MDM projects are perceived as technical in nature, there is typically limited buy-in from the business side. However, MDM projects are critical enablers to vital business processes such as customer relationship management, supplier management, product management, etc. and hence require enterprise-wide support and coor-dination from senior business leaders. A boxed approach addresses the critical requirements of the business and highlights the business-specific benefits that the project will provide. The boxed approach also brings business use cases such as customer on-boarding, compliance reporting, etc., from the get-go. These use cases can be directly related to cost savings from improved customer satisfaction, enhanced compliance reporting, better decision making, and more. This ensures greater visibility of the potential benefits of the project, and greater involvement from business stakeholders.

A closer look at the critical barriers to

success for MDM projects reveals that

the key reasons for the failure of MDM

projects are typically business related

rather than technical.

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Complex Delivery Requirements

MDM projects have complex delivery require-ments that are further exacerbated by the need for platform customization. The boxed approach captures a large part of the standard require-ments including industry-specific data adaptors, use cases, downstream integration adaptors to integrate with SAP, Siebel, SFDC, etc. — all of which reduces delivery complexity to a large extent. Deployment risks are further reduced due to minimal platform customization require-ments owing to pre-configured data models and pre-built industry-specific accelerators.

Presenting Cognizant’s MDM-in-a-BoxOur MDM-in-a-BoxTM platform is an industry-aligned, business use case-driven solution that can be quickly deployed to drive business effi-ciencies in less time and at a lower cost than traditional MDM approaches. It also facilitates increased customer satisfaction, improved data standardization and enhanced data governance, among other benefits. The solution comes with pre-built, industry-specific data models, out-of-the-box support for integration with industry-spe-cific data sources and additional functionality to address key master data requirements of various industry segments including financial services, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, consumer goods, manufacturing and logistics and retail.

MDM-in-a-Box helps implement MDM projects effortlessly through its pre-built data models, features and workflows that cover up to 70% of critical requirements. Compared with traditional implementations, configuration and implementa-tion time can be reduced by up to 40%. Because it is an end-to-end solution based on a business-driven framework, implementation benefits can be more quickly realized.

Best-of-breed Solution

We understand that every business is unique, with its own data obstacles, people challenges and integration concerns. MDM-in-a-Box is a multi-vertical MDM solution that requires 30% to 40% of functional customization to address an enterprise’s specific business and technology needs. Other necessary features come pre-built to address industry-standard use cases and do not need much customization, making MDM-in-a-Box a best-of-both-worlds solution.

Deployment Flexibility

MDM-in-a-Box can be installed on the premises or delivered via the cloud as software as a service (SaaS). This ensures that the enterprise can deploy the options best suited to its specific business needs, thus providing ample financial and operational flexibility. The SaaS model can be further enhanced with a business process as a service (BPaaS) layer,2 which gives the client an option to outsource the resourcing aspect of an MDM implementation through data stewardship services managed by us.

MDM-in-a-Box Benefits

• Based on a business-driven framework.

• In most cases, less than 30% to 40% of cus-tomization is required.

• Value realized within three to six months of deployment for on-premises solutions, and even sooner for cloud solutions.

• Driven by industry-specific processes, work-flows, use cases and best practices.

• Significant reduction in total cost of ownership.

• Can easily integrate with clients’ existing MDM solutions.

Key Solution Features

• Exhaustive pre-built yet flexible data models to capture information on critical entities.

• Pre-built industry-specific features aligned with business-specific use cases.

• Pre-built hierarchies for critical entities with support for several industry-standard entity views.

• Pre-configured adapters to load back-office and front-office data from external data providers for data enrichment services.

• Configurable, Web-based data governance application with pre-configured multilevel workflows.

• Advanced services integration frameworks to integrate data in the hub with downstream consuming systems.

Our MDM-in-a-BoxTM platform is an industry-aligned, business use case-driven solution that can be quickly deployed to drive business efficiencies in less time and at a lower cost than traditional MDM approaches.

About CognizantCognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process out-sourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 50 delivery centers worldwide and approximately 145,200 employees as of June 30, 2012, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

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About the AuthorsAlok Saxena is a Senior Manager within Cognizant’s Business Consulting Practice and leads the CRM and MDM consulting practice in APAC. He has over 10 years of experience in IT and business consulting domains including MDM, CRM and CRM analytics within the pharmaceuticals, banking and consumer goods industries. He has an MBA from NITIE, Mumbai and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from I.E.T. Indore. He can be reached at Alok.Saxena@cognizant.com.

Reshmi Nath is a Senior Associate within Cognizant’s Business Consulting Practice. Reshmi has over six years of experience in the technology and consulting domains in the U.S. and India. She has an MBA in marketing and finance from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Bemidji State University, MN. She can be reached at Reshmi.Nath@cognizant.com.

Footnotes1 http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1886314

2 BPaaS combines advanced algorithms, global talent and outcomes-based commercial models to help companies simultaneously optimize processes while reducing the handling costs of certain critical business processes such as customer service, data management, document management, etc. By embracing BPaaS, companies can shift resources from non-differentiating activities and concentrate on growing their core competencies.

References

• Rob Karel, Connie Moore, Charles Coit, Sander Rose, “2011: It’s Time for the Business to Own Master Data Management,” Forrester ID: RES58399.