The most recent Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM Solutions has been retired. While Gartner has most recently released a Market Guide on the MDM space, it is a significantly less exhaustive piece of research as compared to a ‘Magic Quadrant’ (MQ), relying more on qualitative and self-reported metrics compared to the more rigorous and quantitative approach in a Magic Quadrant.

So why is there no Gartner MDM Magic Quadrant anymore?

As a Gartner MDM analyst for nearly three years, I was involved in the decision to stop publishing a Gartner MDM Magic Quadrant (MQ). The primary justification for no longer publishing an MDM MQ is that the MDM software market is an extremely stable and mature software market where the capabilities across vendors are largely undifferentiated.

When viewed through the lens of the Gartner ‘Hype Cycle’ for software solutions, MDM is nearing what Gartner calls the ‘Plateau of Productivity’ — which means MDM software has become widely accepted as a ‘must-have’ within an enterprise data architecture. This is absolutely a good thing, as MDM is on the verge of progressing beyond the hype to something far more meaningful.

So, when you couple together an undifferentiated and mature market, with the fact very little has changed in the underlying enabling technologies, a decision was made in early 2022 by Gartner to stop publishing a Magic Quadrant in favor of a Market Guide.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, along comes ChatGPT. In the span of just a few months, the evolving capabilities of AI stand to drastically alter many software solutions, including MDM. There will be an entirely new area for MDM vendors to innovate and compete, which has many questioning if the MDM MQ will return.

Speaking only for myself, I sincerely hope the answer here is “yes.” The MDM software market may indeed be mature, but that doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly important — and that plenty of companies continue to evaluate MDM for the first time.  For newer CDOs or data leaders seeking guidance on MDM vendors, the MQ is a great asset.

But in the meantime, anyone evaluating MDM can join me and a growing community of data leaders at no cost.

Join me every month for CDO Matters LIVE, an hour-long open forum where data leaders and practitioners can ask questions on MDM, data governance and more.

ALPHARETTA, Ga., December 9, 2021 — Profisee, a leader in master data management solutions, announced today that Gartner has positioned Profisee as a Challenger in its 2021 Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management Solutions. A complimentary copy of the report is available here.

“We are honored to have been recognized again as a Challenger in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM,” said Len Finkle, Chief Executive Officer at Profisee. “

The Magic Quadrant research helps decision-makers considering an MDM vendor unlock analyst insights on the strengths and cautions across 16 MDM vendors to identify a solution that aligns with their unique business and technology needs.

“With three new product releases this year, we are proud of our pace of development and new features available to customers, including direct integration with Microsoft Azure, a re-imagination of data stewardship and the use of machine learning for augmented data stewardship,” said Eric Melcher, Chief Technology Officer at Profisee. “We are excited to continue to lower the barriers to widespread MDM adoption and be in the forefront of augmented MDM and data-fabric integration as MDM becomes increasingly important as a foundation for digital transformation.”

*Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management Solutions”:  Simon Walker, Sally Parker, Malcolm Hawker, 6 December 2021.

Download The Report

 Additional Resources   

• According to Gartner, the #1 reason for MDM failure is the lack of a business case to qualify and quantify data management value creation. Learn how to sell MDM to leadership here.
• Profisee is the first and only-cloud native containerized Platform as a Service (PaaS) MDM solution. Read more about it here.
• Click here for a comparison of the 30+ Best Master Data Management Tools.

Gartner Disclaimer  

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Gartner® and Magic Quadrant™ are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About Profisee  

Profisee is changing the MDM game, dismantling the perception of Master Data Management (MDM) being ‘difficult’ and making MDM an easy and a natural foundation for any data management strategy. Easy to buy, easy to use and easy to deploy, Profisee’s approach to making MDM easy provides organizations with a fast, affordable, and scalable solution to deliver high-quality, trusted data across the enterprise.

Built for the cloud, Profisee offers the industry’s first and only cloud-native containerized PaaS MDM solution, giving customers the freedom to choose their deployment between on-premise, in the cloud, or via a hybrid model. With an industry-leading low total cost of ownership, fast implementations, and a truly flexible multidomain MDM platform, Profisee helps customers “make MDM a way of life” as they approach digital transformation and deliver business outcomes. For additional information, please visit https://profisee.com/.