Data quality

Definition :

Data quality represents the reliability and effectiveness of data. Business data decays by 37% every year, so it is essential that you have a way of measuring the quality of your data over time.

Experian QAS research 2008

Did you know ...

• 40% of businesses still have over 80% of their data stored in separate systems across their organisation

Software AG, March 2009

• Every day in the UK 9,000 people move house and around 1,500 people die

Royal Mail, 2009

These factors can affect the quality of your data and poor data quality can affect your relationship with your customers, your business costs and your overall efficiency.

Maintaining and improving the quality of your data requires establishing processes which update your customer and prospect data on an on going basis. Every time your database is updated, with new contacts or details, the data quality should be confirmed.

Ways to improve data quality include updating data, standardising it, and removing duplicate records. These improvements will enable you to gain a single view of your data, even if it is stored in multiple systems.

Data quality can not be achieved instantly, it is a vital and on going process

Related information

• Read more about achieving a Single Customer View
• Read more about how our products came help maintain your data quality
• Find out more about the importance of on going data quality. Read our data quality blog