In a move that may go some way towards countering criticism that its vendor-funded status stands in the way of its ability to establish industry standards for enterprise data management, the EDM Council is beginning a planned shift from a vendor-funded model to a membership model.
Its base of vendor sponsors is already expanding. BearingPoint and Cicada branding joins that of founder sponsors IBM, SunGard and GoldenSource on its web site, and the council says interest among vendors – including data vendors – in joining the initiative is high. Beginning in January 2007, a membership fee will be charged to participating institutions.
The council’s membership has increased to 70 firms (from 25 a year ago), with individual membership standing at 181.
Mike Atkin, managing director of the EDM Council, says it is in discussions with its members at the moment to ensure they put the membership fees into their budgets for early next year. There was always a three stage business plan for the council, he says, beginning with the founding sponsors who seeded it with dollars and intellectual capital, moving through sponsor expansion and then converting to a membership model. “If there is value in the council, then industry participants will support it via their membership. If there is no value, then the council should go away,” he says.
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