Lots of people are weighing in on Informatica's latest acquisition. I am of the opinion that the acquisition of Siperian by Informatica was very strategic as it continues to round out their data integration portfolio. I also believe that it is very important for Informatica to continue to add capabilities as it competes against Oracle and IBM in the marketplace. This coupled with the acquisition of SilverCreek by Oracle begs the question: How long will Initiate Systems stay independent? My guess is that it won't be very much longer!

As with every acquisition, there are always differing opinions. Bill Hewitt, president and CEO of Kalido, had these comments about the acquisition:

"Informatica has long been rumored as a key acquisition target by one of the megavendors, but it has become increasingly clear that the megavendors have assembled their own stack of products to compete with their offerings. This acquisition is Informatica's attempt to level the playing field with IBM and Oracle by acquiring technology solely focused on managing customer master data, not every type of data. Informatica will level the playing field, but customers will be no more satisfied than they were before the acquisition. Informatica has focused on filling a niche - managing customer master data - while Kalido is the only independent MDM provider who can manage EVERY master data domain, giving customers the ability to have their master data management system match their business, not the opposite."

The costs of poor information quality are tremendous. And the sad part is that those costs could have been avoided.

Larry English just published his new book, Information Quality Applied: Best Practices for Business Information, Processes and Systems. I know the importance of eliminating process failure and waste caused by poor quality information, and this book is a great resource to help your organization prevent the huge costs associated with such failures.
 
In an easy-to-read style, Larry provides a step-by-step guide for assessing information quality, measuring the costs of poor quality information and improving information processes. If you follow the steps in the book, you will be able to improve your organization's information and business effectiveness. That's worth a lot more than the cost of the book.

Larry has a great offer that I want to share with you. From midnight (U.S. central standard time) on January 13 to midnight on January 14, if you buy the book through Amazon.com, you'll receive more than $1,500 worth of FREE educational items. After purchasing the book, all you have to do is click this link: Register for Membership. Use the last 4 digits of your Amazon.com order number as your password. Once you have confirmed registration, click here to register for access to the free educational items on IQApplied.com.

Get started on the path to improving your organization's information Quality. You'll be glad you did!