Four Steps to Good Data Quality
Does your organization have these data quality issues?
Corruption and Inaccuracy:
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Multiple data sources mean multiple risks
Databases are often compiled from legacy systems or are an amalgamation of multiple data sources. The process of gathering and merging data can invariably cause problems with data integrity. Data can appear in the wrong fields, become corrupted, suffer incorrect casing and name splitting, and include erroneous characters and inaccurate ZIP codes. In the worst cases there is a real danger that processes used to merge data can cause data misalignment, which results in placing a contact at the wrong establishment. Once your database has been created, the myriad of touch points in your system will exacerbate the situation.
Duplication:
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Slight variations in data result in duplicate records
As in the case of Data Inaccuracy, merging disparate data sources has many dangers. Most home grown matching solutions will try and use exact matching between records to establish duplication; however, there will often be many records that contain minor variations that are not picked up by such a process. These variations may occur due to differences in record structure, spelling, casing (where case sensitivity applies), and ZIP codes. A professional matching solution should consider all elements of a name and address together with other unique attributes if available (e.g. date of birth and Social Security number) and develop a profile of each record irrespective of spelling and data position.
Decay:
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Your customer records need constant updating
Databases decay at an alarming rate. Business data can change by as much as 30% per year, and with 9,000 people moving to new houses and 2,000 people dying every day consumer data will decay by at least 3-4 % per year. This implies that if you are using a database to mail or contact prospects and customers on a regular basis substantial investment is required to keep your data up to date. Such investment can in part be offset by savings in mailing and other promotional costs. However, the key focus should be protecting your brand image.
Lack of information:
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Targeting bad contacts is wasteful and unprofessional
It is often said that data is a company’s most valuable asset. Without detailed information on prospects and customers it is impossible to target companies or individuals with relevant messages. Not only is inaccurate targeting wasteful, it can also be seen as unprofessional. Because successful marketing campaigns rely heavily on accurate data and a plentiful supply of historical information, more and more companies are investing in data analysis tools in order to profile prospects and customers.
helpIT systems has the solution for you:
Data problems should be tackled as part of an integrated plan with key milestones – and with steps repeated on a regular basis. This is not a one off project. Click on the pages below for more information on how to solve your data quality issues.