Why data quality is important for your business?

One of the most important elements in an organization is managing data quality and it’s essential to ensure that the data used in the organization is accurate, reliable and complete without errors. This management is essential because most of the people in the enterprise make use of the organization’s data to make important decisions and therefore mandatory compliance has to be followed to maintain the quality of data.

As organizations look to adopt the new wave of coming technologies, like automation, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, their success in doing so and their ability to differentiate themselves in those spaces will be dependent upon their ability to get data management right. This will become increasingly important as connected devices and sensors proliferate, causing exponential growth in data — and commensurate growth in the opportunity to exploit the data.

Those that position their organizations to manage data correctly and understand its inherent value will have the advantage. In fact, we may see leaders pull so far in front that it will make the market very difficult for slow adopters and new entrants.

There are some important components that will ensure data quality. When each of these components is properly executed, it will result in high-quality data. It is also imperative that everyone who uses the data collected has a general understanding of what the data represents. The extent of a data initiative is not limited to the data produced by the company’s own research, it must include data obtained from external sources as well. High-quality data will ensure more efficiency in driving a company’s success because of the dependence on fact-based decisions, instead of habitual or human intuition.

The components are:

Data Availability and Accuracy

The accuracy of available data is a key characteristic of data quality. While exact data, such as location, may be available for some users, for others it may be less accurate, or missing completely.

Your data profile has to specify whether to include the less accurate data as your standard or to discard users for which the data with higher accuracy is not available. For a location-based application, for example, your decision would depend on whether exact user location information is critical for your work.

Compliance

In industries where regulations govern relationships or trade with certain customers, especially in finance, maintaining good-quality data can be the difference between compliance and millions of dollars in fines. Compliance must be an ongoing focus as new regulations continue to evolve in regions around the world and wherever a company conducts business. Graph databases are emerging as an important tool for financial firms to understand the complex relationships among their customers and comply with anti-money laundering regulations.

Data Consistency

The consistency of your data impacts data quality and has two critical components. Data stored in several locations must be identical, and data of a particular type must be consistent across all records. For example, if you have customer addresses stored in two databases, the address of a customer must be the same in both locations. In addition, all addresses must consistently apply formats such as abbreviations. It may seem obvious, but inconsistencies can easily lead to false assumptions.

You can help ensure data consistency by preparing data entry rules and by storing data in only one database. If the data is needed elsewhere, it can be linked via a unique field such as a customer ID number or email addresses.

Key Takeaways

Data quality management is vastly important and requires the full cooperation and discipline of the business and its departments and staff in order to keep accurate reliable data. Each employee understanding his/her job and having the will to complete it can go a long way in maintaining DQM and the cross-functionality of the employees will only guarantee more attention and precise data calculations. 

If you would like to have a free consultation regarding your project, you can reach out to:

BDS Services Pvt. Ltd. We will be happy to help you!