Liliendahl on Data Quality

The previous post on this blog was about Forrester vs Gartner on MDM/PIM. This post was about who is recognized as a major Master Data Management (MDM) / Product Information Management (PIM) solution vendor by the analyst firm Forrester versus who is recognized as a major MDM solution provider by the analyst firm Gartner.

Now, let us have a look into how the individual solution providers are ranked in either the same way or differently by these major analyst firms spiced with my humble take on where this will be going. In the cause of brevity, I will focus on vendors positioned by Forrester as an MDM /PIM leader or strong performer or by Gartner as an MDM leader, visionary or challenger.

Informatica is an MDM leader both with Forrester and Gartner. When it comes to PIM Forrester has Informatica a little behind the leaders and back in the days when Gartner had specific customer MDM and product MDM quadrants, Informatica did better in customer MDM versus product MDM. Informatica has strengthened their grip on customer MDM with the recent AllSight acquisition. Will be interesting to see what moves Informatica will take to catching up on the product MDM / PIM battle ground and thus consolidating their multidomain MDM leadership.

Orchestra Networks who was recently acquired by Tibco is a leader in the eyes of Gartner but a bit less prominent positioned as a strong performer in the eyes of Forrester. The question asked on the market is if Tibco, against how earlier acquisitions turned out, will be able uphold Orchestra’s position as examined in the post Tibco, Orchestra and Netrics.

Reltio is a leader in the Forrester wave but still a niche player in the Gartner quadrant. This may say more about Forrester versus Gartner than about Reltio. Forrester seems to focus more on where the market is going while Gartner emphasizes on where the market has gone.

Riversand is a strong MDM and PIM performer at Forrester and a visionary in the Gartner quadrant. Perhaps Gartner sees a bit more on the vision side and Forrester a bit more on the offering side, but all in all the two analyst firms seems to be in agreement about Riversand. I think Riversand is on a good track.

SAP is a strong performer in the Forrester wave and a strong challenger according to Gartner. A lot of SAP ECC clients have and will choose the SAP MDG offering based on IT landscape simplification considerations. The Forrester PIM wave has SAP trailing the other solutions, which corresponds with my impression, which is that the SAP Hybris offering is struggling with really being a PIM solution.

Semarchy just made a high jump into the Gartner MDM quadrant challenger zone and according to Forrester they have the strongest MDM strategy possible. No doubt about that Semarchy is going in the fast track.

Profisee just moved up from niche player to challenger in the latest Gartner MDM quadrant. However, they were not included in the Forrester MDM wave. In my eyes, Profisee belongs among the major MDM solution providers.

Stibo Sytems is a challenger in the Gartner MDM quadrant. Forrester has Stibo Systems as a PIM leader but less prominent as an MDM contender. Stibo Systems has been on the same track as Riversand going from being a PIM vendor to become a multidomain MDM vendor. Perhaps because they are self-funded, versus Riversand being funded from outside, their tracks seem different.

IBM hangs on as a challenger in the Gartner MDM quadrant. Forrester only have IBM as a contender both for MDM and PIM. Nevertheless, large companies, not at least in the financial sector, will continue to rely on IBM also when it comes to MDM.

EnterWorks is a PIM leader and also an MDM leader according to Forrester. According to Gartner they are still a niche player in MDM. Recently EnterWorks joined forces with WinShuttle as told in the post The Recent Coupling on the MDM Market. It is not unlikely, that the Forrester view and the Gartner view will be aligned in the future.

Pitney Bowes is a strong performer in the latest Forrester wave sliding a bit from being a leader two years ago. They are not included in the Gartner quadrant. Pitney Bowes need to promote themselves as an MDM vendor and come up with new stuff to remain a major player on the MDM market.

Magnitude Software, who’s MDM solution was formerly known as Kalido, has moved up from contender to be a strong performer in the Forrester Wave. They are not included in the Gartner quadrant. Will be exciting to see if Magnitude Software can reignite the momentum Kalido had back in the first MDM years. Agility Multichannel is a part of Magnitude Software and a strong PIM performer at Forrester – and in my eyes too.

Contentserv is a PIM leader on the Forrester wave. Contentserv is also an MDM niche player on the Gartner quadrant. inRiver and Salsify are strong PIM performers on the Forrester wave but not big enough (and perhaps not MDM focussed enough) to be on the Gartner MDM quadrant.

PS: You can learn more about many of solutions mentioned here – and some more – on The Disruptive Master Data Management Solutions List.