In this article Robert Haynes looks at the advent of Master
Data Management in the cloud and if, or why, it is actually a sound and solid
idea.

Let's face it cloud based systems rely on the simple basis
that the users perception of the value in their data is low... so it's your cv,
your contact list or even personal finance and banking details - all stored on
what seems to be a trusted network where the information is safe and away from
harm. Or is it? How much do you know about the Dropbox, SkyDrive or ECloud
system, and more importantly how secure it is for you to store your personal
and most sensitive information? In an environment where we can't even trust our
politicians, bankers, and journalists why would we trust a bunch of Silicon
Valley geeks to look after our valued data?

Some years back we started to look at the concept of a
single customer view ... and many systems from Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) and Data Warehousing (DW) systems all professed to be the answer to our
prayers, finally we would be able to understand our customers, and apply the
most appropriate amount of tender loving care to each one. No more would we
target customers with inappropriate financial offers or invites to join loyalty
programs that they have already been enrolled in for 3 years.

So what happened next? MDM or Master Data Management evolved
as the next big thing, because we all recognized that although we started to
treat our customers better on the face of things, we didn't really have a
suitable grasp on actually who or what a customer was. Without repeating the
many and varied analogies that exist about MDM and customer governance issues -
the problem was still alive - "we know how to measure, talk to, and
segment our customers", but ehem, "exactly who are our customers and
how many do we really have ...?"

So let's build an MDM system, that will cleanse, validate and
govern our most trusted data ... and let's stick in the cloud... (sounds of tumbleweed)
why then would you risk your customer or prospect information to an system
that's based entirely in the cloud where others might inconceivably have access
to it - however secure that system could be?

Why? Well, why not? If you like many hundreds of thousands
of organizations store your customer relationship information in the cloud on
SFDC or MS Dynamics then you might be interested to know that a similar
solution exists to enable you to clean up, and govern your customer base too.

And if like me you're not so trusting of cloud based
systems, then you could see it as an opportunity to test expensive and complex
systems out before you think about committing to a full on premise based
solution, after all - how many MDM vendors truly let you "try before you
buy" outside of a very managed and contrived Proof Of Concept scenario...?

Not many would be my best guess!