Andrew WhiteI was a little frustrated last week when I was held at bay by an MDM related issue at work. We tag our inquiries, when appropriate and allowed, with the vendor’s that are the focus of the conversation. One specific vendor name is not maintained correctly in our very large, and erstwhile accurate customer master. The issue is that this name has been incorrect for ages, and I have struggled to find a) who is responsible for changing the data, and b) who would approve such a change. It turns out that this is a major concern for users in general too. This suggests (really) that governance policies need to be transparent if they are to be supported. If there are delays in “fixing” data, the business user will give up and “work around the system”. And we will back to where we started – a need for information governance and MDM.
Maybe you are coming to our MDM Summit in London, February 8-9. Perhaps you can share with me your war stories related to MDM, and how you got round them. I certainly could do with the help 
.
I was reading the WSJ this weekend and I spotted a very interesting book review: The New American Divide, WSJ Print Edition January 27 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577170733817181646.html
This extract or book review, from the upcoming “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010” by Charles Murray (of “The Bell Curve” fame) won’t sit well with many readers. The review explores primarily the cultural divide that has separated what was a newly emerging middle class in the 1960’s and looks how the economic and social differences between the now forming slightly-more-upper-class and the now-more-lower-class. The middle class apparently, nudged along by social policy of the 1960’s, basically went separate ways. The data Murray shares seems to show that there are indeed two different cultural groups that came from a common pool that was “us”. The cultural gap that Murray explains is what others would call “income inequality”. Such inequality is the playground of the politicians, and in today’s economic climate, this is very topical. Murray suggests however that such inequality is as a result of a deeper, more culturally driven divide that remains in place today. His answer to the reduce the gap, and to impact or slow the growing economic gap enjoyed by both groups, is for those that “have” to sell the merits to those that “don’t” and to encourage those that “don’t” to behave more like themselves. This won’t go down well since it will be derided by many as politically incorrect. My experience in the UK, during the 70’s and 80’s, epitomized by the schism with which Thatcherism is perceived, suggest Murray has some good points. The “progress” we adored in the 60’s did create unintended consequences – and many of our politicians, because they are politicians, won’t accept that.
This is a comment from an article I read over the Christmas break: True Conservatives are writhing in their graves, Letters, Financial Times, US Print Edition, December 15th 2011
I have to disagree with John Szemerey. His letter to the FT was in response to UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s avoidance of signing up to the emergency agreement just before Christmas to save the Euro. I happened to agree with the Prime Minister’s decision, though it was not the ideal result the UK has a chance to preserve its own economy while many Europeans attach their lifebelts to a leaderless, rudderless Titanic. That being said, I think Szemerey misunderstands what Conservatism means. He says, “Churchill, Macmillan, and Heath – must be writhing in their graves at the betrayal of the ideals for which they fought during their political lifetimes.” He concludes, “The euro crisis would not have occurred if Britain had been a member of the euro group of countries”. That last point wound up my clock since it is clearly preposterous. The crisis did not occur in isolation to what happened in the US. The euro crisis was always “hiding” since its primary cause is an imbalance in trade between the richer, producer countries and the southern consumer countries. See Europe’s crisis is all about the north-south split, Alan Greenspan, Financial Times, US Print Edition, October 7 2011. The gap in trade balance was always going to cause a crisis and it took the US housing bubble to trigger – but if the US had not crashed, the euro crisis would have happened later. I don’t really know one Brit who opening talks about giving up political and economic sovereignty to a bunch of Europeans, in the way the French desire it (which, by the way, have their own reasons to counterweight their German neighbor). Britain needs a truly open market and that is what should be protected in Europe. Political unification is not going to happen soon, not least because France and Germany have differing views on what this means anyway, and that is another reason why the euro crisis was just waiting to happen. So I don’t think Churchill would be writhing; he will mostly likely be sound asleep with a wry smile on his face. As to Heath, I don’t really remember him but what I do remember I don’t like. I matured, politically, when Thatcher sacked a tired, old Conservative party that needed reviving.
And here is a book review, also from the Christmas break: Parker Payne Investigates, Agatha Christie, GGP Media. I read the collection many years ago and had forgotten how good they were. I happened to find this fine hardback edition and decided to reacquaint myself with Christie’s fine work. I again remembered, all too soon, that the collection is too short. If only there were more sorry souls for Parker Payne to help make happy! I am not sure I could ever force myself to visit him though. He was all too quick to correctly disarm his clients. His travels were from a bye gone age when everything was a little more prim and proper, and I wish I had been there. For a rainy day, or a long train or plane ride. 8 out of 10.
Comments Off
Category: Economy MDM MDM of Customer Data Tags:
