The Forrester Wave Becomes Blobs

April 4, 2016

I want you to know that I read this statement attached to the illustration in “Master Data Management: Which MDM Tool Is Right For You?”; to wit:

Unauthorized reproduction, citation , or distribution prohibited.

Okay, none of that, gentle reader. The Forrester Wave has morphed from a knock off of the Eisenhower grid which was reinvented by Boston Consulting Group. The new look is like this:

Remember Psych 101? What do you see? How do you feel about that? What do you mean it looks like a dog’s breakfast? Do you love your mother?

Each tinted region denotes a type of Master Data Management classification. The classifications which the mid tier consulting firm generated from a rigorous statistical analysis of the data available to the wizards working on this report are:

Integration model vendors
Logical model vendors
Contextual model vendors
Analytic model vendors.

I am not sure what the differences in the categories are because I am familiar with some of the outfits in the Master Data Model space and it seems to me that outfits like IBM, Oracle, and others offer a range of Master Data Model services and capabilities. Hey, I don’t want to assemble the bits and pieces on offer from IBM into a functioning solution, but I suppose one can.

What companies deliver what function in this Rorschachian analysis?

Integration model, a pale blue horizontal elliptical blob:

Dell Boomi
Information Builders
Microsoft
Profisee (like prophecy I assume)
Software AG
Semarchy
Teradata
Tibco (the data bus folks)

Analytic model, a gray circle:

Novetta
Reltio

Logical model, a blue gray ellipse which looks like an egg standing on one end:

SAS
SAP
IBM
Tibco (yep, in two places at once like an entangled particle)
Software AG (only the “ware AG” makes it into the logical egg thing)
Information Builders (the “builders” component is logical. Go figure.)
Teradata (yikes, just the “ata” is logical. Makes sense to the mid tier crowd I assume.)

Contextual model, which looks like a fried egg to me with a context of breakfast:

Informatica (another outfit which is like a satyr, half one thing and half another)
Liaison Technologies
Magnitude Software (the outfit is another entangled MDM provider because it is included in the logical model. Socrates, got that?)
Orchestra Software (also part of the logical category like a Rap musician who fills in when the the first violin at the London Philharmonic is on holiday).
Pitney Bowes (the postage meter outfit?)
Verato

I wish I could reproduce the diagram, but there is that legal threat. A legal threat is one way to make sure that constructive criticism of the blobs is constrained. I suppose my representations of the geometry of the analysis connects the dots for you, gentle reader. If not, the mid tier wizards will explain their “real” intent.

I love the fried egg group. How about some hot cakes with that analysis? Also, no half baked biscuits with that, please.

Stephen E Arnold, April 4, 2016

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Consulting, Database, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.