Recently in Data Governance Category

As I stated in last week's blog (where I stated that Initiate would be the next acquisition), the MDM (master data management) landscape keeps changing. Less than two years ago, we watched as Oracle bought Hyperion. This was quickly followed by SAP's acquisition of Business Objects and IBM later followed with the acquisition of Cognos. Now it has happened again in the MDM space with Oracle buying SilverCreek, then Informatica bought Siperian and now IBM is buying Initiate. I am sure that there will be more consolidation in the information management markets because the only way for companies to increase their revenues in these tough economic times will be through acquisition as internal growth is going to be hard to come by.

As he did last week when Informatica announced its acquisition of Siperian, Bill Hewitt, president and CEO of Kalido, again had a comment about this acquisition. Hewitt said:

"IBM continues to acquire companies in order to fill out industry-specific solutions, and this acquisition is no different. By acquiring a niche vendor like Initiate, they bolster their portfolio of industry-specific tools that help integrate data, but do little to provide a stronger information management platform for their customers. This acquisition will be delivered like so many others, with dozens of IBM global services consultants to 'knit' the patchwork of tools together.

"What neither Informatica nor IBM really understand despite these acquisitions is that customers are looking for solutions that deliver not only high quality data but the processes to maintain it - in short, data governance."

I have just finished reading The Data Asset, a great book that discusses how the best companies govern their data for business success. This book will help any organization develop methodologies and processes that will enable them to treat data as a strategic asset. Author and data quality expert Tony Fisher outlines the rules of data governance and looks at how a business can improve data quality, as well as plan and implement an effective data governance program. If you are responsible for any aspect of data governance or data quality in your organization, you will want to get this book right away!