Data Quality Do’s and Don’ts – Part 1: Degrading Data

In today’s highly mobile markets, up to 30% of a firm’s CRM contact data can degrade each year. People get hired, fired, promoted and change jobs; they move and change addresses; they get married and divorced; some retire and a few die. This means that if you don’t pay attention to data quality, your end users will begin to distrust the data and, by association, the CRM system. It’s also important to appreciate that your CRM data represents relationships – and relationships represent revenue.

To encourage ongoing system adoption and utilization, data quality and maintenance have to be top priorities. Resources have to be dedicated – including time, money and people. Processes and procedures need to be put in place to maintain ongoing quality. Most importantly, training and communication are essential to ensure that end users don't create unnecessary duplicates or introduce more bad data into the system. Additionally, there are several areas to focus on to ensure ongoing data quality success…