DQ Global Calls for Data Quality Attitude Change

April 26, 2012 - PRLog -- Earlier this year, nearly 1000 businesses took part in an online survey. Their responses have now been reported in the Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census 2012. Some of the trends recognised give real cause for concern.

For example, email marketers are not giving as much priority to data and list quality. This now only comes 4th on the list given to prioritise in the survey. Perhaps even more worrying is the fact that nearly half of the respondents have no policies or systems set up to avoid breaches of data security, and no plans to do so.

This demonstrates a really cavalier attitude to data which needs to change. It’s no good having one or two data quality champions if no one else in the organisation cares. Developing a data quality culture must start at the top and cascade throughout all departments.

Talk to the Hand

International data quality provider, DQ Global, meets this problem all the time, and not just in email marketing. The company has published a White Paper on its website that addresses the issue head on. Talk to the Hand discusses “the ‘soft side’ to Data Quality Management: The cultural changes required to achieve success.”

Recognising the common disposition to blame other departments when data isn’t helpful and needs re-working or scrapping altogether, the paper refers to a ‘blame culture’ in which no one takes responsibility. It also covers reluctance to change, that old bugbear in many aspects of business life. “Things only change when people make it happen.”

Metaphors and similes help to reinforce the message that data quality really does matter. “Building information on bad data is like trying to build a house on sand. The data must be a foundation that business information and decisions are constructed from.”

Fixing the Problem

Talk to the Hand advocates finding the root cause of the problem and attacking it there. While there is nothing new in that, the paper also gives guidance on the approach needed to make people realise the value of solving the problem. It then goes on to recommend a plan for reaching the right level of data quality and then maintaining it. It all makes good sense and gives this article a helpful aspect that makes it stand out from the crowd.

Information for editors:

Adestra is a market leader in the email marketing industry, with offices in Oxford, London and New York. Its Email Marketing Census 2012 can be found at http://www.adestra.com/

DQ Global is a world player in the development of data quality software and data management services based at Urban House, E2 Fareham Heights, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 8XT, 0044 (0)23 9298 8303.
Contact: Martin Doyle.

The DQ Global White Paper, Talk to the Hand, can be downloaded at
http://www.dqglobal.com/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemi...