Bring a problem. Leave with a solution.

Master data problems are rarely as unique as they feel. In the CDQ Data Sharing Community, members solve them faster by putting them on the table, where someone has usually found an answer already. In September 2026, Stuttgart showed how powerful that can be. 

Picture a room full of data experts from different companies and industries. Each one arrives with a challenge that has kept their team busy for months. By the first coffee break, many have already met someone who faced the same issue and knows the way out. That is the CDQ Data Sharing Community at work, which was was built for exactly these moments.

The CDQ Data Sharing Community is a network of companies that jointly maintain business partner data on the CDQ platform and learn from each other along the way. Members share data. Just as importantly, they share experience. Twice a year, that experience comes together in one room.

What happened in Stuttgart?

In September 2026, members gathered in Stuttgart for two days of open exchange. Member companies shared how they tackle their daily data challenges and the CDQ team presented the latest developments on the platform. No sales pitches. No polished showcases. Just real challenges, discussed by the people who face them every day.

At the September 2026 edition of the Data Sharing Community workshop in Stuttgart, four CDQ customers shared their stories. A global steel and technology group showed how it cleanses supplier data from many ERP systems wave by wave during its migration. A packaging and paper leader explained why it builds its vendor process on CDQ. A global provider of access solutions cleans customer and vendor data before every rollout of its transformation. A specialty chemicals company piloted the first connection between its own AI agents and CDQ Genius. The common thread: trusted data is the foundation for every transformation.

How does the community turn problems into solutions?

Ask any master data team about its biggest frustrations and the answers sound familiar. Duplicates that return no matter how often they are cleaned. Supplier onboarding that drags on for weeks. Bank details that raise more doubts than confidence.

Alone, each team fights these battles from scratch. Together, members skip the detours:

• A member puts the problem on the table. Including the attempts that did not work.
• A peer shares experience. What solved it for them, and what they would avoid next time.
• CDQ turns insight into impact. Where it makes sense, a solution for one becomes a feature for all.

Challenges raised in one session found answers in the next, often from members who had walked the same path before.

Why are questions the community’s greatest asset?

Presentations inform. Questions transform. Every question shared in the community creates value in three ways.

It exposes a common problem. What one member thought was an isolated issue often turns out to be a shared priority.

It unlocks candid experience. Members speak openly about setbacks as well as wins. They openly discussed what had not worked for them and lessons like these spare others months of costly experiments.

It shapes the product. Member questions land directly with the CDQ team. That is why no question is too small. The one you hesitate to ask is often the one the whole room was waiting for.

Some of the best insights never appear on a slide. They surface over coffee, during dinner or in a quick exchange between sessions that starts with one simple question: “How do you handle this?”

These moments build trust. And trust is what turns a group of companies into a community.

Every member leaves a community workshop with something different, but the core is always the same:

• Proven approaches they can apply in their own organization right away.
• Honest lessons that help them avoid costly detours.
• New contacts they can call the next time a challenge comes up.

Newcomers gain years of experience in two days. Longtime members sharpen their approach. And everyone goes home with a stronger network.

The conversations from Stuttgart do not end with the workshop. The questions raised there will shape the agenda when the community meets again.

Better data is never built alone. It is built by people who ask, answer and share.

Which question would you bring to the table?

Frequently asked questions

Who can join the CDQ Data Sharing Community?

The community brings together companies that maintain their business partner data on the CDQ platform. Membership details are available on the CDQ Data Sharing Community page.

How often does the community meet?

Members meet in person twice a year for a two day workshop. Recent workshops took place in Cologne and Stuttgart.

What do members gain from sharing data?

Instead of maintaining every record alone, members benefit from a shared pool of more than 200 million records, over 2,600 data quality rules and more than 80 trusted reference data sources. The result is less manual effort and more reliable business partner data.

How does the community influence CDQ’s products?

Member questions and feedback go directly to the CDQ team. For example, the community input helped shape the CDQ bank trust score and contributed to more than 310 new out of the box data quality rules within eight months in 2023.

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