Master Data Management as 21st Century Telco Competitive Differentiator

This survey is designed to be completed in 15-20 minutes and is organized in the following sections:

A. Overall master data management (MDM) plans
B. Customer data integration & master product catalog initiative(s)
C. MDM business drivers
D. MDM technology challenges
E. Anticipated MDM budget
F. About your next step
G. About your organization

Definitions:

MASTER DATA MANAGEMENT (MDM) - Authoritative, reliable foundation for data used across many applications and constituencies with goal to provide a single view of the truth no matter where it lies.
CUSTOMER DATA INTEGRATION (CDI) - Processes and technologies for recognizing a customer and their relationships at any touch-point while aggregating, managing and harmonizing accurate, up-to-date knowledge about that customer to deliver it ‘just in time’ in an actionable form to touch-points
DATA GOVERNANCE (DG) - Formal orchestration of people, process, and technology to enable an organization to leverage data as an enterprise asset
ENTERPRISE MDM - A 360 degree view of the customer (a.k.a. a unified view across databases and applications). In the past decade, organizations have added numerous more applications and databases to their IT environment. As a result, companies have a fractured, disjointed view of customers, suppliers, products, etc. No single application has a "single source of the truth." An enterprise needs to create a unified and comprehensive customer view from all disparate data sources-including CRM, financial, product, and external data services. Once integrated, such "unified customer views" provide the entire organization with the ability to drive meaningful business action within and across operational systems. Such "Enterprise MDM" or "Single View" initiatives provide the enterprise with a comprehensive "system of record" which incorporates analytical (e.g., life time value, next best offer, etc.), as well as operational (credit rating, last "n" customer service inquiries, etc.).

Section A. ABOUT YOUR MASTER DATA MANAGEMENT (MDM) INITIATIVE(S)

A1. Is there a STATED CORPORATE GOAL to ACHIEVE "ENTERPRISE MDM" a.k.a. "SINGLE VIEW"?

Yes
No
Don't know
Not applicable

A2. How IMPORTANT is CUSTOMER DATA INTEGRATION to ACHIEVE "SINGLE VIEW”?

A3. How important are MASTER PRODUCT CATALOGS to ACHIEVE "SINGLE VIEW”?

A4. How important is DATA GOVERNANCE considered to ACHIEVE "SINGLE VIEW”?

Definitions:

BASIC – Application-centric approach; meets business needs only on project-specific basis
FOUNDATIONAL – Policy-driven standardization on technology and methods; common usage of tools and procedures across projects
ADVANCED – Rationalized data with data and metadata actively shared in production across sources
DISTINCTIVE – Service-oriented architecture (modular components), integrated view of compliance requirements, formalized organization with defined roles and responsibilities, clearly defined metrics, iterative learning cycle

A5. How would you best describe your organization’s DATA GOVERNANCE "MATURITY LEVEL"?

A6. How do you RANK your company's MDM "STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES"? (1 = most important to 5 = least important)

	most important		least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Revenue generation
Cost savings
Market share and strength
Sustained competitive advantage
Regulatory compliance

A7. How do you RANK your company's DESIRED "BUSINESS PROCESS OUTCOMES" from MDM? (1 = most important to 5 = least important)

	most important		least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Integrated product view
Integrated customer view
Integrated customer subscriptions view
Integrated channels
Once-and-done, end-to-end customer facing processes

A8. How do you RANK your company's DESIRED “MARKETING” OUTCOMES resulting from MDM? (1 = most important to 5 = least important)

	most important		least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Enable product bundling
Enable solution selling
Evolve to real-time marketing campaign management
Systematize analytics to determine customer, segment, bundle, and product line profitability
Simplify / expedite time-to-market of new products

A9. How do you RANK your company's DESIRED “SERVICE” OUTCOMES resulting from MDM? (1 = most important to 5 = least important)

	most important		least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Enable universal queue via ”blended agents”
Enhance customer churn management
Increase customer data quality
Straight through processing / billing flow through
Zero touch provisioning

A10. How do you RANK your company's MAJOR MDM "TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES"? (1 = most important to 5 = least important)

	most important		least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Business process integration across applications/BUs
Database/data model integration
Legacy application integration (Billing, ERP, Provisioning, Service Assurance)
Scalability
Service-oriented architecture for business services infrastructure

A11. How do you RANK your company's MAJOR MDM "TECHNOLOGY SAVINGS"? (1 = most important to 5 = least important)

	most important		least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Call center consolidation
Data center consolidation
Server hardware consolidation
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) for future infrastructure buildout
Software license consolidation

A12. How would you best DESCRIBE your company's MDM DEVELOPMENT & DEPLOYMENT STRATEGY?

UTILIZING CRM or ERP APPLICATION MASTER DATABASE as systems of record
CUSTOM-BUILT INFRASTRUCTURE based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) or enterprise service bus (ESB)
OFF-THE-SHELF "GENERAL PURPOSE” MDM APPLICATION for customer, product, or supplier master data
OFF-THE-SHELF "BUSINESS-SPECIFIC" MDM APPLICATION, e.g. integrated risk management or billing convergence/campaign management
Don't know
Not applicable

Section B. ABOUT YOUR “CUSTOMER DATA INTEGRATION & MASTER PRODUCT CATALOG” INITIATIVE(S)

B1. What is the CURRENT NUMBER of MASTER "CUSTOMER DATABASES"?

B2. What is the TARGETED NUMBER of MASTER "CUSTOMER DATABASES" during the next 18-24 months?

B3. What is the CURRENT NUMBER of MASTER "PRODUCT CATALOGS"?

B4. What is the TARGETED NUMBER of MASTER "PRODUCT CATALOGS" during the next 18-24 months?

B5. How would you best describe your company's LEVEL OF “CUSTOMER MASTER” INVESTMENT?

Broadly EXPLORING solutions to focus in this area
Specifically EVALUATING one or more solutions
Currently TESTING one or more solutions
Currently IN PRODUCTION with a CUSTOM-BUILT SOLUTION that was developed by IT organization since 2001
Currently IN PRODUCTION with a VENDOR-OFFERED SOLUTION
POSTPONED development or evaluation of commercially-available solutions
CANCELLED deployment of a commercially-available solution
NOT CURRENTLY DOING ANYTHING in this area

B6. How would you best DESCRIBE your company's PLANNED USE OF A “CUSTOMER MASTER” ACROSS YOUR COMPANY?

Only within one area of the business
Multiple areas of the business but using different methods and rules
Common method and rules across the entire company
Don't know
Not applicable

B7. How would you best describe your company's LEVEL OF “PRODUCT MASTER” INVESTMENT?

Section C. ABOUT YOUR MDM BUSINESS DRIVERS

C1. How would you best RANK your company's BUSINESS DRIVERS to JUSTIFY your MDM BUSINESS CASE?

	most important			least important
	1	2	3	4	5	6
Achieve competitive advantage
Facilitate mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activity by integration of customer & product master databases
Enable views by households/organizations to provide greater visibility into product bundling efforts
Forecast & increase customer retention to reduce customer churn
Improve customer service, e.g. via end-to-end "once & done" business processes
Reduce operational costs

C2. How would you best RANK your company's BUSINESS CHALLENGES which further JUSTIFY your MDM BUSINESS CASE?

	most important			least important
	1	2	3	4	5	6
Inability to provision (configure), bill accurately or fulfill orders correctly
Lack of process flexibility adversely impacting time-to-market for new offerings
Lack of standards compliance – e.g., NGOSS/SID (Shared Information Data Model)
Multiple unsynchronized catalogs & customer DBs adversely affecting revenue, & quality of customer service
Need to streamline processes for multi-channel commerce (call centers, web & retail)
No updated product catalogs & service manuals for repairs & maintenance

C3. Which organization / Who is RESPONSIBLE for MDM PLANNING?

C4. Who would be the PRIMARY BUDGET SPONSOR(s) for such MDM initiatives?

Section D. ABOUT YOUR MDM TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES

D1. How would you best RANK your TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES?

	Most important		Least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Deliver rigorous cleansing, matching, linking & identification of master data
Develop enterprise-wide customer & product data models
Extend use of legacy master customer info file (CIF) to incorporate new info sources
Increase flexibility to add new processes via service-oriented architecture (SOA)
Manage federated metadata or reference data allowing business line autonomy

D2. How would you best DESCRIBE your ARCHITECTURAL PREFERENCE?

Data Quality Service - Enterprise cleansing of master data via centralized identify, match, and cleanse utility services or products
"Chernobyl" - Encapsulate legacy applications and run data pipes in/out
External (Service Provider) - Database marketing providers, data service providers, and service bureaus (e.g., Acxiom, Experian, Harte-Hanks)
Registry (Virtual Hub) - Essentially "cross-reference only" plus aggregation on-the-fly; utilizes metadata layer + distributed query utilizing middleware such as enterprise information integration (EII), enterprise application integration (EAI), SOA data services, & portal technologies;
Persistent (Data Hub) - Essentially master reference data only; master customer information file/database, operational data store, or active data warehouse; utilizes relational DBMS + Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) + Data Quality (DQ) tools; uses only ETL, DQ tools
Composite (Hybrid Hub) - Persistent master data and dynamic aggregation of transactional data; ability to fine-tune how much of transactional detail data is persisted in the hub; also fine-tune performance & availability by altering amount of master data persisted; utilizes XML, web services, service-oriented architecture (SOA)
Don't know
Not applicable

D3. How would you best RANK your TECHNICAL EVALUATION PRIORITIES (1 = most important to 5 = least important)?

	Most important		Least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Business services / process templates
Data governance methodlogy
Data model
Hierarchy / identity management
Integrated analytics

Business Services – Business process/transactions supporting primary customer lifecycle events (add name, identify unique customer, retire customer, et al); increasingly implemented as web services within framework of service-oriented architecture
real-time, near real-time, & batch; additionally, pre-packaged integration processes & templates for connectivity to major application suites (CRM, ERP, SCM)
Data Governance Methodology – Robust processes to support enterprise-scale data governance; i.e. data steward consoles with support of consolidation/survivorship rules, definition/management of privacy rules, & data cleansing; additionally, audit trails for privacy & merge/purge operations
Data Model - Modeling of the complex many-to-many & hierarchical relationships between the enterprise, its business & consumer customers, as well as any intermediaries & other parties such as suppliers & brokers/distributors
Hierarchy/Identity Management - Matching/search capability with cross-referencing capability for “entity resolution”; additionally, the ability to centrally generate & manage “universal” master keys across the various systems using the CDI identity management capability
Integrated Analytics – Batch, online & inline business intelligence to close the loop between operational & analytical processes; additionally, data profiling to manage the “degree of trust” associated with a given master customer data source (e.g., completeness, uniqueness, accuracy, & lineage/history)

D4. What is the RANKED PRIORITY of the INITIAL MDM PROJECTS? ?

	Most important		Least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Customer identification management systems (CIMS)
Customer network management (CNM)
Master product catalog
Migration from LEIS, LEIM, et al legacy systems
Single view of customer

D5. What is the investment % of CUSTOMER vs. PRODUCT targeted for the first year?

D6. What is the RANKED PRIORITY of desired HIERARCHY MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONALITY?

	Most important		Least important
	1	2	3	4	5
3rd party hierarchy mapping (e.g., DUNS)
Enterprise-wide financial roll-up
Enterprise-wide inventory roll-up
Global account management
Multiple internal hierarchy management

D7. Which PRIMARY CALL CENTER APPLICATIONS will INTEGRATE WITH THE MDM SOLUTION during the first year?

D9. Which PRIMARY ENTERPRISE BILLING APPLICATIONS will INTEGRATE WITH THE MDM SOLUTION during the first year?

D10. Which PRIMARY DATA ENRICHMENT APPLICATIONS will INTEGRATE WITH THE MDM SOLUTION during the first year?

D11. Which PRIMARY DATABASE MARKETING APPLICATIONS will INTEGRATE WITH THE MDM SOLUTION during the first year?

D12. Which ENTERPRISE “BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE” APPLICATIONS will INTEGRATE WITH THE MDM SOLUTION during the first year?

D13. What is the projected number of BUSINESS UNITS SHARING MASTER CUSTOMER DATA during first year?

D14. What is the projected MAXIMUM # OF MASTER CUSTOMER RECORDS processed annually (unique customer IDs)?

Section E. ABOUT YOUR ANTICIPATED 1st YEAR MDM BUDGET (note - assume $1 = US$1 = €1)

E1. What is your TOTAL MDM BUDGET for the first year?

E2. What is your MDM SOFTWARE BUDGET for the first year?

E3. What is your INCREMENTAL MDM HARDWARE BUDGET for the first year?

E4. What is your INTERNAL MDM STAFFING BUDGET for the first year?

E5. What is your EXTERNAL MDM STAFFING / CONSULTING BUDGET for the first year?

E6. What is your INTERNAL MDM-RELATED DATA ACQUISITION & CLEANSING BUDGET for the first year?

E7. What is your EXTERNAL MDM-RELATED DATA PURCHASE/ENRICHMENT BUDGET for the first year?

F. ABOUT YOUR NEXT STEP

F1. WHEN do you expect to make your MDM SOFTWARE PURCHASE DECISION?

F2. Which SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS are most likely to assist in your EVALUATION PROCESS?

F3. Which SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS are most likely to assist with your IMPLEMENTATION?

F4. Which MDM SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS are most likely to be on your SHORT LIST?

Section G - ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION

G1. Contact information. To receive your "2006-07 Telecommunications Master Data Management Scorecard" research report from The CDI Institute.

First name
Last name
Telephone (USA/Canada)
Telephone (non-USA/Canada)
Job title
Company name
Division name
Email address
Please confirm your email address

G2. Which of the following best describes your company's PRIMARY BUSINESS?

Cable carrier moving into telephony
Competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC)
Global carrier
Incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC)
Long distance carrier
Wireless
Other (e.g., combo of CLEC, ILEC, LD, wireless)
Other (please specify)
Other (please specify)

G3. What is the number of SUBSCRIBERS / CUSTOMERS / ACCESS LINES in your primary business line?

G4. What are the PRIMARY PRODUCTS offered by your business?

G5. How would you RANK your SOURCES OF MDM ADVICE?

	Most important		Least important
	1	2	3	4	5
Management consultants - e.g., BCG
Systems integrators - e.g., Accenture
Research advisory firms – e.g., CDI Institute, Gartner Group
Technical trade publications, - e.g., Billing World, DM Review
Managerial publications, e.g., CIO Magazine

THANK YOU for your invaluable time in contributing to the industry's understanding of this hot topic.

You should receive your industry scorecard and analysis within 3-4 weeks.

Aaron Zornes
Chief Research Officer
The CDI Institute
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Suite 100
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aaron.zornes@tcdii.com
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