5 January 2009

Survey Reveals That Organisations Are Still Facing Huge Challenges In Realising Enterprise Data Quality Management

Issues of overestimation of data quality, lack of management buy-in and reliance on the IT department prevail says Capscan

Capscan, a leading supplier of international address management solutions and data integrity services, today announced the findings of its international data quality management (DQM) report and survey of business professionals. Whilst awareness levels of the importance of data quality are high with 88% of respondents viewing data quality as important or fairly important to their organisation, only 41% claimed to have a DQM policy in place.

The independent survey commissioned by Capscan polled business professionals (predominantly CIOs and IT heads of UK and international organisations) about their organisation’s existing DQM strategies, as well as how they perceive the quality of their data. It also asked about the wider issues, including to what extent senior management was recognising the importance of data quality and what they believed the impacts of good or bad data quality is on the organisation.

Although 66% identified operational efficiency as the most affected by poor data quality and 69% suggested that one of their main challenges was ensuring data is up-to-date and accurate, very few organisations had the policies, tools and processes in place to manage data quality in the most effective manner – or at all. Almost 90% of respondents claimed to capture name and address data, for example, but just over half validated this data using appropriate software, such as de-duplication, suppression and address management tools. In addition, almost 28% and 39% of respondents stated that establishing a link between data and ROI and getting organisations to understand the impact of poor data respectively were two big challenges.

“The survey has identified a huge contrast between intentions and actions,” says author of the report and independent analyst and data management expert, Graham Rhind. “Senior management buy-in will remain an issue, as with all strategies, they want to see where it will positively impact the bottom line. Many organisations do see the advantages to improved data quality, but fewer have acted and even fewer have installed the necessary infrastructure to achieve this goal. It is clear that a great deal of work is still required to turn around the perception of data quality issues and how they are to be tackled within companies regardless of type and size. Reality still lags considerably behind the rhetoric.”

The majority of those surveyed believed the responsibility and consequently the tactical management of data quality lies with IT, with 30% of respondents pointing to members of the IT department when asked where they believed responsibility for data quality lies within the business.

“Data quality is not the sole responsibility of the marketing or IT departments, but each and every member of staff that capture, use or leverage it in some way on a daily basis needs to take ownership,” comments Managing Director of Capscan, Terry Hiles. “The survey has highlighted a severe lack of a data quality culture in many organisations, with many either unaware of the processes and tools being used in the organisation as well as grossly overestimating how good their data actually is, with a massive 92% claiming their data was either alright to excellent quality. Certainly a confident claim when data decays at a conservative rate of approximately 20% every year.”

The full report is available now and can be downloaded from the Capscan website at www.capscan.com. Capscan will also be discussing the findings of the report at Technology for Marketing and Advertising 2009, which takes place on the 24th and 25th February at Earls Court 2, London.