It’s not always absolutely necessary to put in place one (or an additional) Master Data Management (MDM) tool in a company.And the different raisons are multiple:
Your company is small or medium and the efficiency of this investment is not guaranty
The number of MD to manage is very limited
Due to the economic situation, it’s not the right time for the company to invest on this topic
...
"...But then, how the business can obtain a clear view on its Master Data (MD) without any MDM tool?"
First of all, it’s important to make the difference between a MD repository generally part of an MDM tool and a Metadata Repository.
Secondly, the objective is not to manage the MD by itself but to centralize somewhere the definition, the place where is used and stored, the list of who own and consume what. It's help to manage the Metadata that represents a part of the knowledge of the company who is necessary for the work on the regulatory compliance and the risk management initiatives. Like an accountant or a controller, it’s important to have a perfect understanding of the situation of the data asset and the inventory is, of course, the best way. Another big advantage is that, if later, the company is convinced to invest in an MDM tool two big works are already done: the inventory and the definition.
The inventory is an accelerator for the change due to the fact that it’s very easy to evaluate the amount of the efforts to realize the changes.
The definition is the glue to ensure that everybody share the same understanding and is ready to collaborate on that basis.This is the starter for the Data Governance and Stewardship.
The Metadata Management is therefore a preliminary step with or without any next step.