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The specter of compliance constantly hovers over the enterprise. But, as companies grow larger, expand to disparate locations, and ultimately merge, data redundancies that threaten not only the efficiency, but ultimately the good legal standing, of a business inevitably occur. That is why having consistent and reliable data is no longer a luxury, it is a requirement. Enter customer data integration.

We define CDI as the process of consolidating and managing customer information from all available sources, including contact details, customer valuation data, and information gathered through interactions such as direct marketing.

This month, SearchDataMangement.com will explore every aspect of CDI, from the technology to the experts to the market drivers, to help you get a universal understanding of the once elusive universal-customer-view.

 

Breaking news and analysis analysis

• Customer data integration evolves to customer hubs, says Forrester
  The customer data integration market is moving toward customer hubs, according to Forrester's latest ranking of the top vendors.
  
• Master data management: Gartner, Forrester take on vendor claims
  To combat confusion, Forrester and Gartner released frameworks for evaluating master data management technology. They say that no one tool can solve all master data management problems.
  
• CDI: How much does matching data technology matter?
  Customer data integration tools use matching engines and complex algorithms to accurately link records. How much does the underlying matching technology matter for CDI projects?
  
• Customer data management study: How ROI leaders excel
  Effective customer data management programs are endorsed by executives, centralized by location, and don't require enterprise master data management, an Aberdeen Group study finds.
  
• CRM, data warehouses not the answer to customer data integration
  Customer data integration can't be done with a CRM system or a data warehouse. Jill Dyche explained the reasons during her keynote at a recent customer data integration conference.
  
• Microsoft's must-have customer data integration feature
  Microsoft chose a vendor for its internal customer data integration project mainly due to one critical capability. Does your customer data integration software have this feature?
  
• Customer data mining built up by Northern Tool
  Northern Tool enhanced its customer data mining by bringing an outsourced database in-house, integrating new data sources and implementing marketing automation tools.
  
• Electronic medical record systems gets a leg-up with CDI
  Healthcare provider Sentara used customer data integration software to prepare for an electronic medical record project, diminish duplicates and match patient data across systems.
  
• Gartner CDI study picks the market leaders
  Gartner's Magic Quadrant for customer data integration hubs names the market leaders and some potential pitfalls. This year, one company came out in front.
  
• Microsoft tackles its own CDI project
  It takes more than just CEO Steve Ballmer's say-so to get a customer data integration project done right at Microsoft. It takes a lengthy commitment and organizational CDI support.
  
• Building a CDI business case takes careful planning
  Customer data integration has enterprise-wide benefits, but finding funding and executive support can be a challenge.
  
• CDI trends to track
  A recent study outlined customer data integration (CDI) trends to watch and offered recommendations for companies implementing CDI in a rapidly morphing market.
  
• Strategy, skills keys for CDI-MDM success
  The chairman of a new CDI-MDM summit told attendees to protect their people, shrewdly evaluate commercial offerings and avoid "repaving the cow path."
  
• Eight must-ask questions for CDI projects
  Consultant and author Jill Dyche recommends that companies considering planning or implementing customer data integration systems ask -- and answer -- this list of questions.
  
• Compliance, maturity drive CDI growth
  The market for CDI software continues to explode, doubling last year, with more record growth expected until 2010, according to Gartner.
  
• Informatica cleans up with Similarity Systems acquisition
  Informatica, a data integration software provider, today purchased data quality vendor Similarity Systems for approximately $55 million.
  
• 2005's top 10 stories in CRM and customer data
  We rummaged through our stories from last year and came up with a list of the most compelling and important articles in CDI and CRM. In many ways, it was a landmark year.
  
• Oracle acquisition highlights data management wars
  The Oracle-Siebel combo not only gives Oracle access to Siebel's customers, but also its infrastructure, improving Oracle's standing in the battle against SAP and IBM.
  
• Oracle-Siebel deal shakes up CDI world
  Which will win out in the contest between Siebel's Universal Customer Master and Oracle's Customer Data Hub?
  
• IBM rolls out first Ascential product
  Big Blue launched WebSphere DataStage TX 8.0 Thursday, its first major product based on tools obtained in the Ascential acquisition.
  
• Gartner sizes up CDI field
  In the relatively immature CDI market, there are still plenty of vendors vying for supremacy. Gartner examines the field.
  
• Relationships beyond customer relationships
  Business Objects SA has announced a new addition to its rapidly expanding business intelligence (BI) suite.
  
• Information quality market to reach $1 billion
  Compliance, poor returns on CRM and data warehouses and new technology are all driving the data quality market to reach $1 billion by 2008, according to a recent report.
  
• CRM's ROI answer
  Companies seeking to get the "360-degree view" of their customers and achieve some ROI out of their CRM investment may have to spend a little more on customer data integration.
  
• IBM buys Ascential
  IBM agreed today to purchase data integration vendor Ascential for $1.1 billion.
  

 

Understanding the technology and case studies

• Customer data integration expert predictions for 2007
  Customer data integration (CDI) is poised for another good year, according to experts and analysts. Learn what to expect in the CDI market.
  
• Seven reasons customer data integration projects fail
  Customer data integration projects are susceptible to failure because they touch people, process and technology across an enterprise. Here are some common pitfalls to avoid.
  
• The best practices in customer intelligence
  This article provides analysts' views of what BI really is, some of the reasons behind the increased interest in BI and the pitfalls to which users should be alerted, as well as recommendations for how best to proceed with BI.
  
• Oakwood Worldwide strikes a perfect balance with data integration
  A new data integration platform enables new tools, such as real-time BI, to coexist with old tools, including a legacy mainframe.
  
• Jelly maker gets out of a jam with SAP
  Poor data quality and inefficient business processes led to an overhaul of business software systems at Texas-based Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods.
  
•  XO gives a CDI initiative the kiss of success
  When XO Communications needed a better way to correlate customer data across disparate systems, it started with the basics and saw results in just a few months.
  
•  CDI pays off for early adopter MetLife
  One of the earliest adopters of customer data integration (CDI) technology, MetLife has learned that cultural change can facilitate a unified view of the customer.
  
• CDI: The missing piece to the CRM puzzle
  While CRM is finally gaining momentum, it still can't seem to deliver on its promise of "one single view of the customer." But customer data integration technology (CDI) promises to change that.
  
• Turkey store makes data easier to swallow
  IBM's first release after the Ascential acquisition will focus on metadata interchange, easy distribution and traceability. The Jennie-O Turkey Store is eager to get on board.
  
• Sanlam gets a new look on life with customer data
  Sanlam Life achieved a unified view of the customer by relying on a system that identified the most trustworthy data sources.
  

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Jill Dyche', Data integration expert

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