Organisations Neglect Their Customers Through Poor Approach To Data

Published 21st March 2008

Data quality is still a global issue but, according to a new report issued today by Experian®, the global information services company, many organisations are still not taking basic steps to care for their customer data.


The report entitled, ‘Contact Data: Neglected asset seeks responsible owner’ commissioned by Experian’s specialist data integrity business, QAS, surveyed 2,078 organisations worldwide, and revealed that the overall approach to data quality and integrity around the world is at best half-hearted and, at worst, cavalier. In particular, it highlighted a need for customer data to be championed at a board level.


Whilst nearly a quarter of organisations (23 per cent) use data for strategic planning and decision making every day, responsibility for the upkeep of this data is passed from pillar to post. 59 per cent of respondents said that responsibility sits with middle management, from a CRM Manager through to an IT or Sales Manager. Only 50 per cent of organisations went on to say that data quality is championed by someone at board level.


Lack of responsibility at the top is reflected in the low value employees place on customer and prospect data. Organisations admitted that only half (52 per cent) of their employees have bought into the importance of data quality, revealing a lethargic approach to an issue that affects business success on a day-to-day level. From a UK perspective, over a quarter of organisations confess to not knowing how ‘bought-into’ data quality their employees are. The effects of this unstructured approach were shown in Experian’s research in January, where only 46 per cent of the same sample said they have a documented data quality strategy in place and 34 per cent said they do not validate ANY of the information they collect on their customers and prospects, whether that be name and address, contact number, e-mail address or bank account information.


“I find it incredible that organisations are not paying more attention to data quality,” said Jonathan Hulford-Funnell, Group Operating Officer, QAS. “No organisation would want to be seen as ignoring its customers, but this data represents the picture or understanding that a business has of its customers. If it is not properly maintained, how can organisations claim to know who their customers are, where they are based or how to engage with them? Data quality should not be seen as a burden for middle management, it should be something that every employee in the business takes responsibility for.”


The research did reveal some good news. Despite data awareness remaining a problem for many organisations, the results showed a marked improvement since 2005. The last three years have seen a 16 percentage point increase in the number of businesses where responsibility for data integrity has climbed to board level. This has also led to an increase of 5 percentage points in the number of employees totally bought into data quality since 2005.


“I believe that organisations are presented with a simple choice,” continued Hulford-Funnell. “They can commit themselves to improving data quality with a documented data quality strategy in place that is supported and enforced by the top. Alternatively, they can continue to ignore the issues and allow current problems to persist. In future, the onus will really lie with these organisations to catch up with the market leaders; otherwise they risk being left behind and having to pick up the pieces that poor data management will have on customer service, future planning and credibility.”


A full copy of the release can be found at: www.qas.co.uk/responsibleowner