It's important to have a strong footing in the area of information management before you buy a powerful master data management solution. The reason? You're likely to be overwhelmed, says information management consultant David Loshin in a recent BeyeNetwork article.

IT Business Edge contributor Loraine Lawson recently blogged about that article in her post "Are You Really Ready to Buy a Master Data Management Tool?"

Loshin argues in the article that you'll cause more problems than you'll solve by buying technology before you've laid the MDM foundation. To help companies prepare, Loshin has produced a series of checklists, which are designed to help companies identify the business factors and organizational preparedness for MDM.

The Knowledge Network also contains Master Data Management Research Notes, provided by Ventana Research. This document gives users tips on the business case for MDM and other related MDM topics.