Master data, also called reference data, defines subjects such as products, customers, suppliers and brands. When effectively managed, it provides a consistent context against which business performance can be measured. Gartner describes master data in various master domains including:

Customer Information Management (CIM) or Customer Data Integration (CDI)

Finance Information Management (FIM)

Product Information Management (PIM)

Supplier Information Management (SIM)

On the market you will find generalist tools as well as tools that take a specialist approach for one of the sub-categories. The goal of master data management tools is to allow business to create 'one version of the truth' or a 'golden copy' of the data being managed. This reduces duplication and redundancy and can enable communication across disparate systems and across the enterprise.