Gartner emphasizes that the new Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management Solutions Published 19 January 2017 is not solely about multidomain MDM or a consolidation of the two retired MDM quadrants for customer and product master data. However, a long way down the report it still is.
If you want a free copy both Informatica here and Riversand here offers that.
The Current Pole Position and the Pack
The possible positioning was the subject in a post here on the blog some while ago. This post was called The Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM 2016. The term 2016 has though been omitted in the title of the final quadrant probably because it took into 2017 to finalize the report as reported in the post Gartner MDM Magic Quadrant in Overtime.
Below is my look at the positioning in the current quadrant:
Starting with the multidomain MDM point the two current leaders, Informatica and Orchestra, have made their way to multidomain in two different ways. Pole position vendor Informatica has used mergers and acquisitions with the old Siperian MDM solution and the Heiler PIM (Product Information Management) solution to build the multidomain MDM leadership. Orchestra Networks has built a multidomain MDM solution from the gound.
The visionary Riversand is coming in from the Product MDM / PIM world as a multidomain MDM wannabe and so is the challenger Stibo. I think SAP is in their right place: Enormous ability to execute with not so much vision.
If you go through the strengths and cautions of the various vendors, you will find a lot of multidomain MDM views from Gartner.
The Future Race
While the edges of the challengers and visionaries’ quadrants are usually empty in a Gartner magic quadrant, the top right in this first multidomain MDM quadrant from Gartner is noticeably empty too. So who will we see there in the future?
Gartner mentions some interesting upcoming vendors earning too little yet. Examples are Agility Multichannel (a Product Data Lake ambassador by the way), Semarchy and Reltio.
The future race track will according to Gartner go through:
- MDM and the Cloud
- MDM and the Internet of Things
- MDM and Big Data
PS: At Product Data Lake we are heading there in full speed too. Therefore, it will be a win-win to see more MDM vendors joining as ambassadors or even being more involved.
Liliendahl on Data Quality 
I always like you down to Earth summary of these reports – “the top right quadrant is noticeably empty” – sums it up well. Like you I believe the empty space will be filled by upcoming companies currently not on the quadrant but with strong vision.
Thanks Richard. There are room for more vendors indeed. We might see the current leaders accompanied by newcomers, a challenger or a visionary or a reawakening of one of the mega vendors currently suffering as niche.
I was right in predicting that SAP would go up, literally vertical up. No movement to the right. I still find it difficult to see a SAP (MDG) in the MQ, because it is so very much aimed at their own ERP systems. I am also missing Reltio. Didn’t they make the cut? And EnterWorks, I haven’t come across them outside the US yet. All in all I am still a bit struggling with the multi-domain MDM approach from the analysts perspective. It feels a bit like trying to have both SalesForce and Workday in the same quadrant, each best-in-class, while serving different purposes and entities. But it is nonetheless interesting to see how this will evolve in the next years to come.
Yes Ramon, EnterWorks as a US only PIM (Product Information Management) specialist sitting there side by side with Oracle is a bit of a surprise.
Nice Article! I was hopping to Profisee since we are moving mdm to cloud. Any thoughts on profisee?
Yes, it is exciting to follow Profisee in doing what MicroSoft did not do in the MDM space
From a user point of view, how would you rate Profisee – I mean can it be considered as a safe investment in a horizon of 4-6 years for meeting immediate needs as well as evolving to cater to changing requirements in future
To me it still seems to be a question about, if you think it is good to sit on the MicroSoft stack. Many do. From my experience, this is not something that is safe. On the contrary it is asking for continuous investments as MicroSoft changes and discontinues their stuff.
I agree, nothing is safe, but I believe that companies going the MS cloud way can benefit much getting a consistent platform and strong integration to other MS services.
I have followed the market for some years, and Profisee is under strong transformation.
Profisee is doing good. I have had the pleasure of contributing to some of the blog posts that describe the MDM capabilities offered by Profisee.