IBM InfoSphere MDM vs SAP Master Data Governance comparison

IBM and SAP are both solutions in the Master Data Management (MDM) Software category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0, while SAP is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.5. IBM holds a 8.6% mindshare in MDM, compared to SAP’s 23.3% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SAP users who would recommend it.

IBM InfoSphere MDM

Read 9 IBM InfoSphere MDM reviews

452 Views
343 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SAP Master Data Governance

Read 27 SAP Master Data Governance reviews

1,619 Views
1,037 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

IBM InfoSphere MDM

SAP Master Data Governance

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

IBM InfoSphere MDM and SAP Master Data Governance are competing solutions in the master data management sector. SAP Master Data Governance appears to have the upper hand due to its robust features, perceived value, and strong data quality functionality.

Features: IBM InfoSphere MDM is recognized for its ability to manage large volumes of multi-domain data and offers advanced data integration features. It also provides support for flexible deployment models, making it easy to adapt to different enterprise environments. SAP Master Data Governance excels with comprehensive data stewardship features, superior governance workflows, and consolidation of master data across systems. Additionally, it offers a strong integration with other SAP products, which is beneficial for enterprises already utilizing SAP infrastructure.

Room for Improvement: IBM InfoSphere MDM could enhance its data governance capabilities to compete with SAP's offerings. Its integration with non-IBM systems also has room for improvement. Simplifying the interface for less tech-savvy users might widen its appeal. SAP Master Data Governance faces challenges with a complex deployment process, which could be streamlined. Its high initial setup costs might deter some potential users. Improvements in customization options could provide more flexibility in changing business environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM InfoSphere MDM offers a flexible deployment model that is often praised for its quick installation process. Its customer service provides straightforward support options and a faster initial setup process. SAP Master Data Governance presents a more complex deployment but benefits from strong integration within the SAP ecosystem, which might lead to quicker integration. The proactive support offered by SAP customer service is frequently commended.

Pricing and ROI: IBM InfoSphere MDM typically offers a lower initial setup cost, appealing to organizations focused on cost efficiency, and provides substantial ROI through its integration capabilities. SAP Master Data Governance generally demands a higher setup investment but yields a significant ROI owing to its advanced features and strong integration with SAP infrastructure, accentuating its data governance capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM InfoSphere MDM vs. SAP Master Data Governance Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM InfoSphere MDM vs. SAP Master Data Governance

March 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM InfoSphere MDM

Ranking in Master Data Management (MDM) Software

6th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAP Master Data Governance

Ranking in Master Data Management (MDM) Software

1st

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Master Data Management (MDM) Software category, the mindshare of IBM InfoSphere MDM is 8.6%, up from 7.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Master Data Governance is 23.3%, down from 23.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Master Data Management (MDM) Software

Q&A Highlights

it_user545286

Principal Software Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Dec 09, 2016

Reltio: Question about Master Data Management Capabilities

Riversand technology is leader in the MDM space and makes a product called MDMcenter. Gartner and Forrester put these guys in a leader and visionary quadrant topping Informatica, oracle, and sap. They have a product used by many fortune 1000s and multinational companies. I have rolled out MDM solutions for a bunch of customers using different platforms and Riversand's is the best. They have cloud based and on premise solutions. It can scale from small projects to biggest implementations of the planet, different geographies/locations, langauges and near infinite entities. Their licensing can vary based on required modules; but they offer Matching, Deduplication, Searching, Workflow, Modeling, Analytics, Integration, Domain / cross-domain, Governance tools to change / commit / rollback. The applications modeling and framework is flexible so it can handle any domain, product, retail, manufacturing, customer, vendor, finance, investment vehicles, jewelry, oil and gas, person, auto, high tech, oil gas, fast food, grocery, etc. Hands down this is best product in its class. It's top shelf. Given the choice and having used other products, I'd choice Riversand over the other competing products. If you didn't check them out yet, you definitely should.

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Featured Reviews

SoumikDolui

Assistant Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services

Provides inbuilt data model and good matching engine

It's a tough tool for developers. Right now in the market, I think Informatica MDM is number one and is used a lot. IBM MDM was developed by some other company and IBM developed it more. There are definitely some flaws. The tool is difficult to understand from a customer perspective and for developers. Generally, customers can understand Informatica MDM and its functionality easily. If a developer is facing issues with IBM MDM, then a customer will definitely not understand most of the functionality. That is the main concern. IBM is introducing some Next-Gen MDM, where they are using a lot of current technologies and machine learning. Most of the problems we may be facing right now are probably solved in that version.

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Vishal Khare

IT manager at Electrolux Home Products

Provides efficient technical support services, but it could be more affordable

We use the platform for centralizing and streamlining the management of an organization's master data With MDG, we have established an efficient process for easily managing country-specific data. At an enterprise level, it has proven valuable in imposing control over master data changes across…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"When users update their information on one product, the data is sent to a database. My approach was to maintain a master data record, ensuring that each platform loads the latest updated record. Instead of having three separate records, the system keeps one master data record, storing the historical records for reference."

"There are not really many areas of the product that need improvement because the product stays up-to-date with data management needs."

"The features that are most valuable are the governance, the end-profiling and the ETL which allows you to see the metadata repositories."

"The advantage is that the matching engine is very good, so that's why customers generally prefer it. From the inbuilt data model perspective, IBM MDM is good."

"A good solution for large enterprises."

"Validates all aspects from security to authorization and authentication."

"It is a stable solution...The initial setup of SAP Master Data Governance is very easy."

"SAP Master Data Governance integrates well."

"User-friendly and provides customized reports and personalized data."

"I am satisfied with the solution's customer service."

"SAP MDG has extensive data models and good integration with upstream and downstream systems."

"The ability to identify and manage duplicate data is valuable. The solution automatically checks for duplication possibilities based on criteria like name matching."

More SAP Master Data Governance pros

Cons

"The product is really only created for large organizations."

"The tool is difficult to understand from a customer perspective and for developers."

"We also want better cloud integration, so we could do things in the cloud if we needed to. This would be a good feature to add in a future release."

"IBM InfoSphere MDM's UI is complicated. It also needs to improve its on-prem configuration."

"The UI could improve by being more neat and clean. Sometimes users find it difficult to use it."

"The user experience can be improved."

"Overall, they just a little bit more flexibility in terms of assigning roles or adding new roles. We have a longer approval process, so we need to break it down into more roles than what is typically available and we need to hard-code it."

"In general, I want artificial intelligence added to SAP Master Data Governance since I feel it is one of the areas where the solution has certain shortcomings."

"They should improve the solution's performance as sometimes the process consumes much time."

"It could be more user-friendly."

"The platform's pricing needs improvement."

"The implementation could be easier."

More SAP Master Data Governance cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It may be costly for small organizations but adds value for large organizations with demanding workflows."

"The pricing is a bit too high."

"SAP Master Data Governance is an expensive product."

"SAP Master Data Governance is an expensive solution."

"SAP Master Data Governance is a licensed product. While there might be no upfront cost for the MDG component itself, you still need to pay for user authorizations."

"The product is too expensive."

"The cloud solution is subscription-based, it is paid monthly or quarterly. If the solution is on-premises, it is a one-time fee. As far as I am aware there are no additional costs."

"I rate the tool's pricing a seven out of ten."

"The cost of the product is not ideal."

More SAP Master Data Governance pricing and cost advice

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Answers from the Community

it_user545286

Principal Software Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Dec 9, 2016

Reltio: Question about Master Data Management Capabilities

2 out of 7 answers

it_user348246

Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Dec 8, 2016

If you buy InfoSphere MDM Domain Hub Standard Edition you can use following products: IBM Process Server Standard v8.5.6 IBM Process Server Standard for Non-production Environment v8.5.6 IBM Process Center Standard v8.5.6 IBM Process Designer v8.5.6 IBM Content Integrator v8.6 IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition v10.5 IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10.2.2.0 IBM InfoSphere Information Server Enterprise v11.5 IBM Integration Bus Healthcare Pack v3.0.0.0 IBM Integration Bus Express Edition v9.0.0.3 IBM Watson Explorer v10.0 IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software v9.5 IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment v8.5.5 IBM WebSphere Application Server Base v8.5.5 IBM WebSphere MQ v8.0 IBM WebSphere Portal Server v8.5 IBM Installation Manager & IBM Packaging Utility for Rational Software Development Platform v1.8 IBM Security Directory Server v6.4.0.0 For IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management Enterprise Edition you can use also: IBM InfoSphere Big Match for Hadoop v11.5 InfoSphere Information Server contains both DataStage (ETL engine) and QualityStage (DQ components which are fully integrated with ETL). You could always check which products are provided in license on Software License Portal (http://www-03.ibm.com/software/sla/sladb.nsf/search)

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it_user311469

Works at Deloitte

Dec 8, 2016

Will do but can you help me out with my groceries for this week ? ( please stop sending me these emails. I am a professional not a volunteer) Sent from my iPhone

Read full answer

See all 7 answers

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

25%

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Energy/Utilities Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM InfoSphere MDM?

When users update their information on one product, the data is sent to a database. My approach was to maintain a master data record, ensuring that each platform loads the latest updated record. In...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM InfoSphere MDM?

IBM InfoSphere MDM's UI is complicated. It also needs to improve its on-prem configuration.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM InfoSphere MDM?

See all answers

What do you like most about SAP Master Data Governance?

We've managed tens of thousands of updates within 30 to 60 minutes, and we can also replicate these changes to all connected systems.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Master Data Governance?

The challenge with SAP MDG is not only the cost but the resources. The skills required are niche in the market, and while you can purchase the product either one time or on a subscription basis, th...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP Master Data Governance?

SAP could do better in attracting talent and simplifying technology adoption. There's a need for SAP to develop an overall technology stack and bring resources up to speed with new technologies lik...

See all answers

Comparisons

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs IBM InfoSphere MDM

Compared 51% of the time

IBM Master Data Management on Cloud vs IBM InfoSphere MDM

Compared 11% of the time

TIBCO EBX vs IBM InfoSphere MDM

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft MDS vs IBM InfoSphere MDM

Compared 8% of the time

Reltio Cloud vs IBM InfoSphere MDM

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM InfoSphere MDM Competitors

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs SAP Master Data Governance

Compared 29% of the time

TIBCO EBX vs SAP Master Data Governance

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft MDS vs SAP Master Data Governance

Compared 11% of the time

Reltio Cloud vs SAP Master Data Governance

Compared 10% of the time

Stibo STEP MDM vs SAP Master Data Governance

Compared 6% of the time

More SAP Master Data Governance Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Master Data Management (MDM) Software

February 2025

Download IBM InfoSphere MDM product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP Master Data Governance

March 2025

Download SAP Master Data Governance product report

Also Known As

InfoSphere MDM, InfoSphere Master Data Management

SAP MDG

Overview

InfoSphere Master Data Management (MDM) is the most complete, proven and powerful MDM solution with collaborative and operational capabilities. InfoSphere MDM manages master data for single or multiple domains - customers, patients, citizens, suppliers, locations, products, services offerings, accounts and more - for improving application & business process effectiveness

IBM

Your company wants accurate, complete, and trusted data to master your digital business processes and business models. The SAP® Master Data Governance application provides ready-to-run, domain-specific master data governance, enabling you to decentrally own and consolidate and to centrally create, change, and distribute master data across your enterprise system landscape. Tight integration with other SAP solutions supports the reuse of data models, business logic, and validation frameworks with open integration to third-party products and services to support your entire technology stack. It supports cleansing, standardization, duplicate detection, and best-record calculation. It then lets you synchronize clean and standardized data across cloud and on-premise applications.

SAP

Sample Customers

L'Oreal S.A., Kingland Systems, Oncor, Farmaceuticos Maypo, Volkswagen Financial Services

Convergent IS, CHIO Aachen, Dell, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), City of Boston, Mozzart, Mitsui Knowledge Industry (MKI), AOK Bundesverband, eBay

Buyer's Guide

IBM InfoSphere MDM vs. SAP Master Data Governance

March 2025

Free Report: IBM InfoSphere MDM vs. SAP Master Data Governance

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM InfoSphere MDM vs. SAP Master Data Governance and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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