Organisations grasp the value of data - but don't act
10 Aug 2012: Despite the fact that organisations are aware of the commercial benefits of high-quality customer contact data and the negative impact of poor information, almost half of 291 respondents questioned in a recent survey (40.9%) stated that their organisations don’t have an enterprise-wide DQM strategy. That’s a key finding from the 2012 Data Quality Management (DQM) survey conducted for international data quality management (IDQM) and customer registration solutions supplier Capscan.
The survey was commissioned by Capscan and completed by independent analyst Graham Rhind in May this year to measure the perceptions that companies have about data quality and the actions that they are taking to achieve improvement. Unsurprisingly, data quality has a high level of importance within organisations (66% stating very important). However, whilst the value of customer data is clear, there is an apparent disconnect between how it is being managed, and the perception of its quality.
Rhind commented: “62.9% of respondents view their contact data to be excellent, accurate, valid and relevant, or good and sufficient for the task. Yet, one of the most startling findings from the research is the lack of validation that is being applied to the information entering these organisations, from an increasing number of communication touch-points. Over time this neglect can have serious repercussions on customer satisfaction and the overall health of the organisation.”
Some 63.3% of respondents stated that ensuring data is kept secure and up-to-date is the biggest challenge facing their respective businesses today, as well as citing data decay (56%) and inadequate data entry (55.7%) as two other primary areas of concern. Whilst 82.5% reported that they collect the customer address and postcode information, 67% the mobile number and 71.1% the business email address, less than half of all information collected is validated.
“Considering the wide availability of tools available, it is a worrying precedent that so many organisations are failing to validate this basic essential information,” noted Rhind. “As the way in which customers interact with businesses continues to evolve, these organisations need to increase and enrich the data they acquire for their sales and marketing activities, but it must also be accompanied by scrupulous data quality management.”
International Sales Director at Capscan, David Mead adds: “Data quality management needs to be ingrained from the initial on-boarding of the customer and throughout their entire journey with the business. Our survey shows that organisations are aware of the rewards of a DQM strategy but many are falling short in its implementation and management.” Mead concludes: “Despite little change in the two years since we last commissioned this research there are positive signs that investment is to be made in DQM, MDM, identity authentication, de-duplication and address management in the next 12 months.”
The full results will be published by Capscan in a new whitepaper entitled ‘Data Quality Insight’, which can be downloaded for free at: www.capscan.com.
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