"If only we had a single data model, a single view of the truth, then all our data problems would be solved..." Those words have launched many a multi-million dollar MDM effort -- and yet, such efforts have proven far more difficult than predicted, leading enterprises far and wide to pour money into an illusory vision of a perfectly organized data world.

We can hardly blame the vendors for this sorry state of affairs. After all, they continue to roll out new technologies at a breakneck pace: NoSQL, NewSQL, Database-as-a-Service, you name it. But despite all this new gear, why can't we simply settle on a single, stable, universal data model for the enterprise?

The answer: that's not the way that business - or people - understand and use information. Every department, in fact, every interaction, has its own business context. And furthermore, the business context is inherently dynamic. Information is inherently context-sensitive and always in flux. Expecting any organization to shoehorn their information into some techie ideal of a master data model is woefully unrealistic.

It's time for the technology to get with the program. Schemaless data stores that support metadata-driven, late-bound schemas. Real-time personalization and change management. Business entities that maintain separate, dynamic business contexts. Multiversion Concurrency Control (MVCC) and immutable data for high performance in the Cloud as well as trace and audit control and universal version control.

Instead of shoehorning data into an unrealistic technical ideal, let's build better technology that truly supports the business.

Attendees of this session will learn:

• Why traditional technology approaches will never solve the Master Data Management problem
• How dynamic business context should be the driver for any MDM effort
• A paradigm-shifting approach to managing data that supports dynamic business context in a Cloud-friendly, enterprise-class environment