Crossing the finish line on your MDM launch is a cause for celebration. However, the fact that your platform is delivered doesn’t mean it’s done. MDM done right is a journey and best in classes organizations leveraging MDM are consistently building capability in their people and organization to better support their long term business strategic goals.
A few areas to consider as you think through operationalizing MDM:
- Empowering your super users at the start,
- Enabling your platform along the way, and
- Planning for long-term solution enhancement.
In this article, we’ll explore each area and provide a glimpse into what your life may look like after you go live.
Give Your Super Users a Solid Start
Typically, the core MDM administrators – or ‘super users’ – are not traditional IT professionals. Instead, they are individuals in various functions that understand the majority of use cases and have a basic understanding of core MDM concepts. The superuser has a lot of responsibility for user permissions and privileges, and it’s a big job to keep up with that day after day – especially when it’s not their primary role.
The success of an MDM implementation revolves around the timeliness and accuracy of data, so it’s critical that superusers understand what’s required to maintain the data, how to troubleshoot any issues, and when to elevate problems to the team.
A company can help their super users succeed by:
- Establishing (and documenting) clear user activities
- Understanding and establishing how to use access permissions
- Supplying the right tools
- Providing ongoing training
Some of the enablement and tools will come directly from the MDM system itself, while additional support will need to come from the organization and outside experts. Defining these parameters upfront will help empower your super users from the start.
Enable Your Platform Along the Way
Once a company has gone live with MDM, they begin to understand their data better. The natural progression is to start making small changes and tweaks, such as fine-tuning business rules or linking algorithms. This is the beginning of solution enablement, but over time, the scope runs much deeper. Along the way, companies will encounter:
- Ongoing maintenance – For companies that did not leverage a Solution Integrator, the extent of this maintenance can be underestimated. At Amplifi, we often step in and address these gaps with quick solutions that were overlooked during the implementation.
- Managing integration points, as well as the services involved in maintaining them.
- Evolving workflows – This is something we’ve seen a lot of recently due to COVID-19; organizations are rapidly adapting to business model shifts, and their original workflows must be modified to support their changing needs.
- Incident management – Maintaining the traditional software lifecycle includes troubleshooting, fixes, constant testing, and validation.
Patches are also critical, but not all are necessary, so strategy is involved in deciding what will be most impactful.
Throughout your solution enablement journey, a trusted advisor becomes a critical tool in your toolbox. Holding the keys to your data kingdom is a big responsibility, and you don’t want to make mistakes that will cause your data or digital initiatives to get derailed. Having eyes and ears from someone who has seen it all before can make all the difference.
Develop a Mindset for Continued Use Cases
You’ve empowered your super users, established an effective set of governing rules and workflows, and have a solid plan in place for updates and incidents…now what? This next step is what separates data leaders from the pack: Building a strong post-implementation strategy.
The mistake organizations often make is assuming that your MDM platform has a finite purpose. Establishing a single source of truth is essential, yes, but limiting the scope of your implementation can actually create more silos and waste.
A common barrier to expanding your program scope often lies in a lack of understanding about the MDM platform. Users simply aren’t aware of the platform’s full capabilities, or haven’t had a chance to express their requirements.
To overcome these roadblocks, the MDM team can encourage a mindset for exploring how to apply MDM to virtually any business pain point or problem. Be proactive about asking, “how can we help?” and then develop solutions and processes to meet those needs. As you create opportunities to expand business use cases, internal users will gain confidence in the system and take a more active role in making it a continued success.
The X Factor: Confidence
Along with having the right people, processes, and tools in place, there’s one ‘X factor’ that can have a significant impact on operationalizing your MDM implementation: Confidence.
Confidence is essential to your MDM journey, knowing your platform is ready to meet your business needs as they evolve and grow. It’s the assurance that your team can seize a new opportunity to keep ahead of the competition. It’s peace of mind knowing you can jump into action to resolve an issue.
To get confidence, you need capability. Our team has handled a variety of MDM implementations, with years of deep data experience across multiple environments. We’ve seen it all, and we know what to expect. We can get things done in a shorter period of time, in a way that saves our clients costs and resources. Amplifi offers this assurance through our X-Care solution, covering everything from “break in case of emergency” to a “how’s it going this week” touchpoint.
To learn more about getting the care you need to operationalize your MDM implementation, download our Amplifi X-Care Overview.
