Do you believe your data is been managed adequately? Are you extracting as much value as possible from your company’s data sets? Have you got processes in place to ensure the integrity and quality of your data remains high throughout its lifecycle? Do you understand the impact having accurate, consistent and reliable data has on your bottom line?

This article highlights 5 reasons why managing your data effectively is so important for the success and development of your business operations. This list is in no particular order, as we believe that no reason supersedes another in terms of importance or significance……

To begin…

Ask Yourself……

How would you expect your car to run if you’ve filled it up with dirty petrol?

How would you expect a sat-nav to work with poorly configured GPS information?

How would you expect your body to function if you didn’t feed it correctly?

Common answer? Expect very poor performance…

So, it raises the question:

Why do many organisations feel as though they can grow and develop by fueling their business processes and decisions with poor quality data?

*Disclaimer* This blog does not condone the kicking of company assets across the office

Just like food fueling the human body, data has become the fuel of every modern organisation. However, statistics show that many organisations are mismanaging their data to such an extent that it is increasing risks, reducing efficiencies and driving up costs. The manner at which technology and data are shaping and advancing the business landscape means that accurate data is more important than ever; whether it be for training a machine learning algorithm for automation or having to comply with new data regulations and directives.

“The average financial impact of poor data quality on organisations is $9.7 million” Gartner (2017)

“The World’s Most Valuable Resource Is No Longer Oil, But Data”

Data drives every single business decision today due to the sheer volume and speed at which it is been created, yet why are organisations still failing to implement effective data management strategies? Why are business decisions been supported by analysis work that has been carried out on redundant, duplicated or erroneous 3 data? Not only does this result in poor decision making, but it can also have damning effects on organisations reputation and ability to remain competitive in the marketplace

“Rubbish in, Rubbish Out”
Refers to the concept that flawed, or nonsense input data produces nonsense output data.

Effective data quality management requires user acceptance from all stakeholders within an organisation – it must have complete buy in from ALL data users in order for data to be managed correctly. It requires the right people, the right tools and the right processes to come together and view data management as a continuous and evolving process that requires constant monitoring and evaluations to protect the integrity of your data sets.

Five Reasons Why High-Quality Data Is So Important

More Informed Decision Making

The more high-quality data you have, the more confidence you can have in your business decisions. By planning ahead, organisations of all sizes can embrace big data and ensure the information they collect is accurate and consistent, allowing for a stronger and more resilient decision-making process. When data is reliable, guesswork and risk in decision-making can be mitigated against, thus increasing confidence levels when making business decisions.

Increased Efficiency

High quality data can be used to tighten up processes, reduce errors, and cut external spending. Analysis can be carried out on data to highlight patterns or trends that show wasteful or inefficient business processes, and as a result, procedures and guidelines can be introduced to make better use of company resources. Instead of spending time validating and fixing data errors, staff can focus on their core mission and tasks. Data is also supporting new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, which is improving organisations efficiency through automation.

Companies can leverage good quality data to:

• Improve cost savings
• Redefine processes
• Drive market strategy
• Build a personalized customer experience

Competitive Advantage

The success of the likes of Facebook, Google and Amazon highlights how effective management and use of data can provide a real competitive advantage in the market place in terms of R & D and meeting customer expectations. Due to the sheer volume at which data is now been created and the opportunities that data presents, those companies who support their business decisions with good quality data can get a real advantage over their competitors and set themselves apart from in the minds of customers. Access to this growing pool of information creates a significant competitive advantage and provides a unique opportunity to conduct in-depth market research, offering rich insights into various issues such as recent sales trends, critical business improvements and gaps in the market to exploit.

New Technologies

As we see Artificial Intelligence (AI) continue to grow and become more advanced, we will see a lot more companies (big and small) turning to it to come up with better data strategies to attempt to win customer adoption, and to better compete in the industries.

Data quality and AI, for example, have a mutually interdependent relationship: AI can be used to greatly improve the quality of an organisations data, and high-quality data is crucial to the enhancement of AI development and training. Data underpins all innovations and emerging technologies: Internet of Things (IoT) is where we collect data, AI is where we make sense of the data, Augmented Reality (AR) is where we visualize data, and Blockchain is where we ensure trust in our data.

The business implications for organisations wanting to expand their use of emerging technologies means a deep analysis of their current data strategies, however, having high quality data can help speed up the adaption of these new technologies by removing the need for data enrichment or remediation. As a result, organisations can then focus on how best to utilise these new technologies to improve and evolve their current business procedures.

Healthier Customer Relationships

Customer expectations have reached an all-time high and industry competition is ever increasing, which has put businesses under constant pressure to increase efficiency and improve results. Businesses need to understand these expectations and adopt a proactive business approach to better meet the needs of their customers. The cycle for optimization of customer experiences is getting shorter and shorter too, however, having good quality data can enable organisations to carry out effective analytical work and anticipate the needs of customers early, thus developing a strong relationship between both parties.

This blog has mentioned five benefits that good-quality data can bring to your organisation; however, the opportunities are endless. Effective data management practices and buy-in from all data users are essential in ensuring the integrity of your company’s data, so adopting a culture that understands the importance of data and how to protect its integrity is pivotal to reduce costs and risks. It also allows for a smoother transition process should your organisation decide to introduce an emerging technology into your business processes.

If you enjoyed this blog, feel free to share it around your network by sharing it on social media, and we look forward to bringing you further blogs on all things data, artificial intelligence and Getvisibility!