Getting Started with Data Products

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2023. We’ve updated the content to reflect the latest information and best practices so you can stay up to date with the most relevant insights on the topic.

Are you looking to get more value out of your organization’s data? Chances are, your answer is a resounding “yes!” But if you are like many data leaders we talk to, you may not know how to generate more value—or even where to begin. The good news is, you’ve come to the right place. At Tamr, we believe that implementing a data product strategy through the design and use of data products is the best way to get more value from your organization’s data. 

But first things first. What is a data product?‍

Data Products, Defined

‍A data product is a pre-configured packaged application that utilizes master data management (MDM) platform capabilities to deliver the best version of your enterprise data to all consumption endpoints. Organized by business entities and governed by domain, data products are the best version of data. They are comprehensive, clean, curated, continuously updated data sets, aligned to key business entities, that both humans and machines can consume broadly and securely across an enterprise. 

Said differently, data products are what help to make data tangible for your data consumers. And good data products should be:

1. Discoverable and interoperable using intuitive user and machine interfaces that support real-time operations‍.
2. Comprehensive and consistent by aligning to a domain-specific, universal schema and enriching data with relevant reference data sources‍.
3. Clean, accurate, and reliable with validation and cleaning based on global standards and version control for monitoring and provenance.‍
4. Curated and continuously updated using pre-built, machine learning-based matching models.‍

5 Steps to Help You Get Started with Data Products‍‍

Once you know how to define a data product, the next step is to build your data product strategy. And while creating a data product strategy may sound like a daunting task, we believe that if you follow these five simple steps, you’ll be on your way to realizing results such as increasing competitiveness by improving the customer experience, creating product differentiation, and delivering value for your organization by driving growth, saving money, and reducing risks.

1. Know your why: Start small, and identify a specific objective that aligns with business priorities.
2. Assess your data, your organization, and your technology: Know where your data lives and if it’s accurate, integrated, and complete. Identify gaps in your team’s skillsets—and how to fill them. And ensure you have the right technology in place to support your efforts.
3. Define your use case: Ask yourself questions such as “Why do we need a data product?” “Who is going to use it?” and “What data does it need to include?”
4. Secure buy-in and budget: Create a business case that defines the value.
5. Deliver an MVDP (minimum viable data product): Start small, release quickly, iterate, and prove value.

Data Products from Tamr

Tamr provides data products that tap into our core set of powerful master data management platform capabilities, including Tamr RealTime, entity resolution, data quality, data governance, data enrichment, cross-entity relationships, and LLM Connectivity with MCP. Our approach, grounded in our powerful AI-native MDM solution, accelerates your time-to-value for key business entities, including:

• B2B Customers
• B2C Customers
• Contacts
• Healthcare Providers
• Healthcare Organizations
• Suppliers

Using data products elevates the value of your data by making it discoverable and consumable for everyone across the organization. But don’t take our word for it. Explore stories from our customers to see how Tamr transformed their data and enabled them to deliver meaningful business results.