I received an e-mail earlier today from a software company, who shall, in order that I may be spared a lawsuit, remain nameless. They were thanking me for being a customer. I will say this much, the software they develop and market is a data integration product which includes an entire module for data quality. This e-mail was from one of the senior leaders and was being sent to all of their customers in Cincinnati, OH to inform them that this particular leader would be in town and would really enjoy the opportunity to meet and hear my perspective on their products and services. How nice … two problems. I’m not a customer, never have been, and I live in San Antonio, TX. My company has no affiliations or branch offices in Cincinnati, OH and the last time I was there was in 2006.
Someone must have realized the mistake because I received a recall request on the e-mail … at least they know they have a problem. Well, the great news is I just got e-mail number two from the world’s premier data integration and quality software company, this time describing the wonders of their product and all of its capabilities. The e-mail then informed me that I was receiving this message because I had stopped by their booth at some conference in New Orleans. Okay guys, just one more small problem … I’ve never been to a conference in New Orleans. My favorite part is the last line of the e-mail, and I quote, “I would like to chat about any current or upcoming projects that will require data integration or cleansing efforts.” Let’s just say that a company that can’t solve the data cleansing and integration issues in their own CRM process probably won’t make my short list of vendors for my next project. Oh by the way, this is not some small company!
It is an all too common problem and the most frustrating part of my 15 year career in information management and strategy. Data quality has been a passion of mine since I helped a manufacturing company save $4.6 Million dollars by solving one data quality problem in the management of fixed assets. After that, I gave it a try in retail, and demonstrated a measurable $12 Million in real savings over one year thru a holistic, comprehensive, approach to data quality. Even with these great success stories, and many others, I get more executive blank stares when I address the issues of data management and the importance of understanding an organizations current state data quality and associated costs.
If you are an I.T. leader in any organization you should be able to easily quote one simple statistic … your data quality index. You should know what is it, what it was, and be able to communicate the significance of it to a non-technical person with ease. The data is the life blood of your organization; you spend millions storing it, millions backing it up, and millions making beautiful reports out of it. How much money did your organization spend last year insuring the data being used in all manner of corporate decisions is of high quality? If you want to know more about data quality maturity, how to calculate the costs of data quality issues, and how to track and manage a data quality index, please contact me using the information below.
Shaun N. Williams
Managing Partner – Information Strategy
The Operari Group
shaun@operarigroup.com
www.operarigroup.com
(866) 219-9224 Ext. 302 ofc
(210) 326-6146 mbl
September 12, 2009 at 1:59 am |
Shaun,
Great article.
Mike