"Enough already!" - Too much variety, too much data but not enough insight for Category and IT executives
One of my Infosys colleagues, Madhu Janardan, blogged right before the Holidays last November about how consumers are suffering from “item variety overload” when confronted with 24 varieties of mustard, Heartburn pills that are either fast-acting or long-lasting (wouldn’t you want both?) and the like. Now besides being an expert in Grocery Retail, my friend Madhu is an excellent cook, so he knows his way around a Grocery aisle and knows the pain of which he writes. But Madhu and consumers aren’t the only ones that may suffer from “item variety overload.” Grocery category managers and IT executives are straining under the weight of all the data that this “variety” is causing.
All 24 varieties of Madhu’s mustard quandary represent different item data categories, which can then vary further by packaging sizes (24 varieties in 12 oz, 18oz and 32oz packages). Then when you consider locations that carry all these varieties and then trying to track which ones are more popular among your Loyalty Card holders… whew! Grocers will need to take one of those “fast-acting” pills for the Master Data heartburn they’re generating.
While Grocers may suffer from self-inflicted Master Data Management (MDM) wounds trying to offer more spice to one’s life, (especially in the Post-Holiday season…) we all know that the issue of rapidly growing Master Data (item, location, customer, even vendor) is not going away anytime soon. In fact Grocers were on the leading edge in developing custom MDM solutions 3-5 years ago; only recently have other Retail segments begun to catch up in the quest for the “single version of truth” over one’s Master Data. At the same time, the package software MDM solutions have also begun to catch up and just like the inner aisles, are springing up multiple varieties of solutions.
Grocers looking to work with Systems Integrators and Consultants for guidance in solving their MDM problems or updating custom solutions that can’t scale their enterprise should consider those SI’s that have strong Alliance relationships with the growing number of MDM technology players emerging in the market. MDM solutions come in many “varieties” as well: some offer “toolkits” for a Grocer’s own modification desires; others offer a complete application with best-of-breed functionality that may offer lower TCO over the long run. Still others operate out of middleware platform that emphasizes the need to integrate data from multiple legacy and ERP transactional systems.
SI’s that foster strong partnerships with the major MDM software companies can offer Grocers a collaborative MDM solution that provides a better marriage of MDM process improvement with leading-edge technology; rather than picking a product and an implementation partner separately. SI’s develop these Alliance Partner relationships to stay current on latest versions, offer specific software recommendations based on initial assessments, build client-ready demo’s to test-run the solution, and to put together a solution delivery team that can also include specific product expertise from the MDM software company. The SI and MDM software firm can then operate as one team enabling faster time to delivery at less risk with a lower TCO.
