How do I prepare for a cloud MDM migration?

Start with your business requirements. Understand and document all of the use cases for MDM, and the business rationale for those use cases. You’ll need that later on, as you have to figure out how to satisfy the use cases in different ways (i.e., with different functionality or approaches). Ultimately you may need to reimagine the use case to deliver business value in a different way. 

Profile and analyze the data in MDM, the data feeds into MDM, the consumption patterns of MDM, and document every MDM business rule extensively. 

Finally, prepare a realistic timeline of setting the cloud MDM system up, migrating data feeds to it, and then data consumption. Be prepared to run your cloud and on-premises in parallel for some time as you cut over. 

Cloud MDM doesn’t have the same functionality as on-premises MDM – what do I do?

Don’t panic! Cloud MDM Solutions are still relatively young. They don’t have the same functionality, or depth of functionality, as the 20 year old on-premises MDM products. The key is to document use cases and business requirements thoroughly. Understand how to address those use cases in new ways. Don’t think of it as a compromise or workaround. It’s actually an opportunity to reimagine how you use MDM. And after careful consideration, a fresh approach to MDM may be the best choice. 

How do I recreate the same business logic and rules in the cloud MDM system?

Start with documenting all of the business logic and rules within the existing MDM system. Compare those business requirements to the capabilities of the cloud MDM system. You’re likely to find more than a handful of rules that can’t be implemented exactly the same as your old MDM system. Don’t worry, you’re not stuck! 

Go back to your use cases and business requirements and then answer one key question – ‘Do you need all of those business rules to satisfy the use case?’ What’s more, who’s using the processes that those rules reside within? You may find that those rules aren’t critical. They could be implemented later, to a lesser degree, or in some cases, they don’t need to be implemented at all. 

This requires significant MDM expertise – someone who has implemented MDM dozens of times and is familiar with the business side of an MDM implementation, both the use cases and functional requirements.

Can cloud MDM handle my workloads?

This is an important question. Generally yes, cloud MDM solutions are ready to handle typical MDM data volumes. However, you still need to do your homework. Document your record volumes, data input processing volumes, and data output (consumption) processing volumes. Make sure to document the timing of those inputs and outputs, so you get an idea of the peak loads handled by your MDM system. Then present them to the cloud MDM vendors you are considering. Ask them whether your pattern is similar or different to their other customers. If you are co-residing in the same cloud with other MDM clients, make sure the vendor has elastic processing to handle data processing peaks even if they occur at similar times.

Which vendor should I choose for cloud MDM – my incumbent vendor or a new one?

This is another important question. First and foremost, this is a migration, not an upgrade. So the concept of an incumbent vendor doesn’t really apply, outside of migration tooling, financial pricing incentives and ease of doing business with an approved vendor. None of those factors are as important as the capabilities and roadmap of the cloud MDM solution. 

Select the cloud MDM solution that meets your needs and has an impressive roadmap for how they will expand their MDM and data management capabilities. The right choice may or may not be your incumbent on-premises MDM vendor. And it may be hard to get impartial advice – incumbent and new vendors have a very obvious bias. Again, that is why working with an experienced MDM consultant can be a huge benefit and help your MDM migration start off with the right decision for you. 

The Next Step in Addressing the Key Question “How do I migrate to Cloud MDM”

These are just a few of the questions to be answered. Rest assured, you can be successful in migrating to a cloud MDM Solution. Q Spark Group would like to help. We have 25 years experience in the MDM market. Importantly, we have developed leading MDM products, both on-premises and cloud, and we’ve implemented them too. We know how these products work. We know the requirements that drive them and how to satisfy them with new cloud functionality. Above all, we know how to make you successful.