Organizations are always striving to differentiate their products from the competition. Yet for all companies large or small, growing or downsizing, there’s this same direct correlation between relevant, timely and high-quality data and their ability to succeed in business. In fact, we’re finding that data assets have actually become a primary differentiator for organizations that compete successfully and increase shareholder value, and those that don’t.
There’s no clearer example than what we’ve seen in the global financial services market. As we’ve witnessed over the past year, poor data quality severely impacts organizations, damages entire market sectors and can deteriorate the public’s faith and trust in the economy.
But, the problem is, there’s so many types of data in today’s business systems. It’s varied, ever-changing and more complex than ever. Even sophisticated companies are having difficulty keeping pace with data quality. At the end of the day though, its’ the responsibility of key business stakeholders to make sure data from all over the company is “fit” for the business purposes for which it was intended.
So, it’s really exciting to see, more and more, that our customers’ business analysts are standing side-by-side and collaborating with their IT counterparts – implementing changes to data to ensure alignment with business processes – and always keeping in mind how these changes impact the data lifecycle and other processes downstream. What we’re seeing now is the demand for a more comprehensive, enterprise approach to addressing an organization’s data quality needs.
There’s this loud, growing call for an enterprise–wide approach to data quality, more closely aligned with strategic and operationally-oriented initiatives such as MDM, data governance, and Risk Management & Compliance. It’s these types of engagements that help organizations move beyond typical vendor approaches to solving data quality challenges, to one that actually instills trust and confidence in the quality of data throughout the whole organization.
Now, organizations are demanding that data quality providers clearly demonstrate how poor data quality manifests across all the organizations’ operational applications, in addition to the more traditional approach of providing the ever-elusive “single view.” They’re looking for a new approach to data quality – one that delivers not only best-in-class technology but a collaborative environment, enabling business analysts to instantly understand the impact of poor data quality through scores, ratings and KPIs. Data quality vendors being asked to deliver the People, Process and Technology to overcome whatever enterprise data quality challenges an organization may face.
What an exciting time for all us data quality lovers!
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