Reltio Connect

Loïc Tordo is one of the master data management professionals that makes the Reltio community such a vibrant and dynamic place to connect with data and architecture experts from around the world. Loïc is the Customer Master Data Global Director for Schneider Electric, a French multinational company that develops efficient, sustainable energy and automation solutions; nominated recently “the most sustainable company in the world” by Corporate Knights.

With customers that rely on Schneider Electric to power their homes, businesses, and data centers, the need for a comprehensive approach to Master Data Management (MDM) is clear. Schneider needs to effectively communicate with 12 million individuals distributed across 5 million organizations in almost 100 countries around the world. 

The company has a global team of nearly 100 data stewards, feeding accurate, high-quality data into its global customer relationship management (CRM) system, several high-profile enterprise resource management (ERP) systems, and more. Currently, Loïc is overseeing the expansion of customer master data to Schneider's marketing tools, connected assets repository and external user identity, among others.

For Loïc, masterized customer data is not just a tool for reporting and analytics. It is the key to tap into a strategic asset to increase top line growth = customer data; it also provides the opportunity to push accurate, high-quality data back into source systems and ensure operational efficiency across the global enterprise. This ensures that Sales, Marketing, Finance, Services and more all have gathered their customer information from a single, consistent source.

Loïc's Professional History

With more than two decades of experience in the world of IT, Loïc did not come directly into master data management by itself. Like many other MDM experts, his trajectory has taken him through many different parts of enterprise IT.

His career began in consulting, before moving to infrastructure and operations management. This, in turn, gave way to application management, program management, outsourcing, business relationship, and then to architecture. It was from architecture that Loïc made the transition to data and architecture in 2016.

Loïc's introduction to data architecture and master data management allowed him to be at the forefront of game-changing technological advances over the past few years. He paid close attention to the hype surrounding artificial intelligence and machine learning, but remained well aware that these systems only work when fed accurate, high-quality data. Building the right foundation for emerging technology is one of the most valuable things MDM solutions like Reltio can do.

Having such a wide breadth of professional experience gives Loïc an excellent perspective on the utility of master data management throughout every level of the enterprise. It also gives him a valuable opinion on the importance of community.

Loïc On Reltio's Community of Users and Developers

Loïc admits that a vibrant community makes a strong impression, providing the foundation for ongoing success in the enterprise SaaS market. For Loïc, it's important that these communities be built of users and developers alike. When users and developers communicate, they can overcome technical and process challenges and expand the functionalities of the platform they share.

MDM touches almost every aspect of enterprise operations. Unlike strict analytics, there is a need for MDM professionals to be intimately aware of how their work impacts every other department in the organization. Implementing ambitious customer MDM solutions requires developing a deep understanding of how customer data impacts marketing, sales, finance, and the supply chain, among many other things. 

These things drive business growth and operational efficiency, and the better MDM users and developers can communicate with one another, the more effective they can be at achieving that.

Reltio MDM Fuels Positive Business Outcomes

Loïc turned to Reltio to provide master data to enterprise business departments that need it, delivering high-quality insight to whoever needs it, when they need it, where they need it. Schneider Electric's MDM deployment focuses on enabling business growth and operational efficiency. Some of the core outcomes that reflect this focus include:

• 360-degree customer view
• Emerging technology (AI, ML) deployment
• Cross-selling opportunities
• Sales platforming capabilities
• Faster logistics operations
• Better financial reporting
• Improve field engineer service
• Better and faster support by our customer care center

With Reltio as his first-choice MDM solution, Loïc is able to complete complex high-complexity projects under pressure, with new demands coming in on a near-daily basis. His team has the support it needs to respond decisively to these challenges, making the MDM project a rewarding one.

Challenges in the MDM Industry

It can be hard for master data management professionals to demonstrate the value of robust MDM deployment. In finance-driven enterprise environments, the case for implementing a comprehensive MDM solution often fails to capture executives' attention simply because it includes a large number of assumptions. For many enterprise leaders, transitioning to an MDM system is a leap of faith.

Often, enterprise leaders will instead leap forward and try implementing emerging technologies like AI and ML. Only then will they realize that those initiatives cannot deliver their full value without a strong master data management foundation. This kind of misstep can cost the enterprise a great deal of time and energy, and it remains a strategic issue among large organizations.

Additionally, Loïc admits there is a scarcity of skilled architects, developers, and other professionals in the industry. Finding talent is an everyday struggle at the enterprise level.

Looking Forward

Loïc looks forward to the day when the Reltio marketplace makes a wider variety of new services available. The convergence of new actors on the MDM market should consolidate the market in ways that help unify enterprise adoption of MDM technology. Right now, it's hard to find an MDM solution that covers both the needs of an industry as well as its unique technical needs.

Loïc  recommends today's MDM professionals to explore Reltio's advanced search options and familiarize themselves with the crosswalk-style profile view. This is how Loïc inspects master records, looking for specific data inconsistencies through Reltio's highly visual engine.

Loïc looks forward to mass activities and automation from Reltio. Most of the functionalities in current Reltio UI are a good fit for individual actions (making one potential match decision, checking Data Qualify on one record), but it has limited options to perform those activities in mass from the UI. So enabling this would be a first step and improve a lot DS productivity dealing with high volumes. Ultimately, my vision is that all those activities should be automated (via ML/AI, RPA), and that the role of Data Steward will not be needed any more. But that is on the paper… we are far from being there yet 🙂

Outside of work, Loïc is passionate about the environment and spends his free time training for his 3rd Taekwondo Dan, as well as ice swimming and open water swimming with his team. He has swam across the Straight of Gibraltar, is the first French and Spanish Ice Water Swimmer to swim an entire mile in near-freezing water (41ºF / 5ºC), and is preparing for the 2022 World Ice Swimming Championship.