Database wars enter a new phase
The row versus column debate is a moot point in the database world – old hands and newcomers alike must turn their attention towards building better optimisers
View ArticleLive long and prosper
The likely longevity of a product line or vendor should be an important consideration in any software purchase. But it is possible to spot imminent obsolescence
View ArticleIPO investments will filter down
The tech IPO market is back. Will fresh injections of cash into technology startups benefit the enterprise CIO?
View ArticleHow to estimate the correct testing requirements
Back in the days when I actually developed software, I became interested in software testing. Once you write some code, what is the right amount of effort to devote to making sure it actually works?
View ArticleSoftware is for life...
If you engage the whole business in specifying and buying your next piece of enterprise software, says Andy Hayler, it will be a more profitable investment in the long run
View ArticleThe State of MDM
One definitive set of data in a company is still an uncommon occurance, says Andy Hayler, but the signs are that the situation is improving
View ArticleData quality checked
The data quality software industry largely consists of name-and-address checkers, leaving a gap in the market for developers willing to tackle more complex information
View ArticleMDM grows up, slowly
Data management software of one form or another has been around for a quarter of a century, yet typically slow corporate take-up means it’s still considered niche
View ArticleHive a serious open source alternative to data warehousing
Data warehouses are typically associated with traditional relational databases such as DB2, Oracle or SQL Server. Data is gathered from multiple sources, inconsistencies and duplication dealt with via...
View ArticleHalfords are on the master data road
The real benefits of master data management become clear when viewed in a business context like the product data clean-up project under way at retailer Halfords
View ArticleJoining the MDM dots
The master data management (MDM) market is still barely a teenager in absolute terms, but is showing signs of growing up. After some gentle exploration in the early years accompanied by the odd...
View ArticleVendors should be farmers not hunters
According to business guru Michael Porter there are three generic competitive strategies for a business: you can be innovative, cost-efficient or customer-focused, but not all of these at once.
View ArticleRead up on project management estimations
“The More It Changes, The More is Stays the Same” (Jean Baptiste Karr, 1849)
View ArticleHow MDM adoption is changing
Master data management became widely noticed around 2004, though there were a few early adopters prior to that. So, almost a decade on, how has the implementation of MDM progressed?
View ArticleA tale of software and frogs in saucepans
There is little doubt that cloud computing constitutes a seismic shift in enterprise computing. Just as client/server computing shifted the balance of power from central mainframe data centres to...
View ArticleThe Brave New World of Open Data
Much of the current interest in 'Big Data' has been focused on analysis of the data in the corporate world, such as web advertising data, or sensor data gathered by devices in such things as cars,...
View ArticleA little data management history in figures
The world of data management has changed greatly in the last decade, with the appearance of master data management (MDM) and data governance as disciplines, the growth and maturing of data warehouses,...
View ArticleBig Data, big databases
Making a database decision used to be easy when I started my career as a database administrator - which version of IMS were you going to install? Databases evolved from the need to better manage...
View ArticleBeauty is in the eye of the Beholder - Buying a software company
Large enterprises face no shortage of technology challenges in 2014, and will need all the help they can get from the young software companies that actually spur most of the innovative in our industry.
View ArticleThe rise of the MDM platform
The master data management (MDM) industry is, depending on your view, at least 10 years old now. As with any young child, it stumbled about in its early years, uncertain of its direction, but has now...
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