Data management is an economic issue…
To any business the cost of poorly managed data should not be underestimated. The problems which stem from a failure to manage data comprehensively are wide-ranging in both their nature and their impact on business performance. In any market, and especially those with a high percentage of online business, a lack of adequate data management – which manifests itself as invalid, inaccurate or poorly referenced data – puts unwanted obstacles in the path of both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions.
Confusing & misleading information causes wastages of time & effort, which can amount to a significant loss of productivity, especially where supply chains involve several business parties (both internal & external). The benefit of the best information technology available is all too easily eclipsed by a lack of adequate data management. Even the fastest and most 'user-friendly' systems will appear valueless if the quality of the data delivered is insufficient for the task at hand.
The price of poor customer experience…
At the point of customer contact, inadequate data management can diminish revenues both directly and indirectly. Online sales applications become unnecessarily ‘clunky’ and time-consuming if the products or services listed include those which are not currently available, or whose descriptions lack sufficient detail. Even when a customer endeavours to make a successful purchase, the feeling that it was a more arduous task than it should have been lingers in the memory as a bewildering experience: one which at best they will report to others, at worst they will refuse to go through again.
With business done face-to-face or over the phone, the best trained and most experienced staff are generally powerless to overcome the restrictions of poorly maintained data, and therefore limited to offering customers empathy over what they should be able to provide them with, but cannot. And whilst the ‘human touch’ may help to relieve the customer’s frustration and limit reputational damage, it cannot remedy the impact of sales lost to more organised competitors, or the extra demand placed on customer services teams over the handling of complaints & returns.
As well as adverse effects on sales operations, the symptoms of inadequate data management include, for example, mis-spelled customer names & addresses, inexplicable inconsistencies in customer account histories, and instructions in manuals which are incompatible with the relevant products; all of which fuel the perception that “one half of an organisation doesn’t know what the other half is doing”. Customers who experience this can quickly lose faith in a company’s ability to deliver on their basic promises, let alone provide good service and value for money.
The cornerstone of successful change management…
Further, within business systems delivery, comprehensive data management is the cornerstone of successful change management; which all organisations need to achieve sustainable growth. Without structured documentation which affords a comprehensive view of how business activities depend on data, project teams can easily overlook data quality issues which impact not only the value of solutions and how easy they are to support, but also the ability to deliver them in the first place.
Such shortcomings result in a squandering of capital and other resources, whether it be down to systems which are never completed, or those which are, but remain unfit for purpose to varying degrees. At the very least a lack of change management introduces disparities into the business systems environment, which in turn impairs Business Intelligence. And in the worst cases applications can go live with major flaws, such as those which facilitate unintended customer credits or debits.
The perils of shedding key staff...
Worse still, a failure to appreciate the value of comprehensive data management typically results in the shedding of staff who understand the business logic involved in core operational systems – i.e. how their correct function and interoperability with adjacent systems relies on their configuration with reference & master data. This greatly increases the possibility of calamitous system upgrades, which cannot be easily rolled back….resulting in a total loss of core services, such as that which leaves customers ‘camping’ in airports or frozen out of their bank accounts.
We can help…
Corporate Data Management can add value to your organisation, by helping you to implement a structured & collaborative approach to managing data, and managing change in your business systems…