By Vera Smirnoff, Senior Content Manager at EasySend 

The world revolves around data.

Properly managed data can provide valuable insights into customer preferences, identify opportunities to improve efficiency, and even help organizations gain a competitive advantage.

Unfortunately, a significant portion of that data is flawed or unreliable. As a result, bad data can prove extremely costly:

• “The average financial impact of poor data quality on organizations is $9.7 million per year.” ( Gartner research)
• In the US alone, businesses lose $3.1 trillion annually due to poor data quality. (IBM)

The business impact of bad data

Poor data quality can negatively impact an organization, for example:

• Increased costs associated with inaccurate inventory tracking, incorrect pricing decisions, and inefficient sales processes
• Loss of customer loyalty due to miscommunication or wrong information being provided
• Unreliable reporting on performance metrics, leading to flawed decision-making
• Difficulty in meeting regulatory compliance requirements
• Inability to identify new opportunities for growth and cost savings

How manual data collection amplifies the bad data problem

Manual data collection is still a prevalent way to gather information. Many organizations rely on emails, faxes, paper, and PDF forms to collect data.

Unfortunately, manual data collection makes it difficult to maintain data integrity.

For example, manually collected forms may contain errors due to incorrect handwriting, omissions, or mistakes. Additionally, manual data collection can be incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive.

There are several ways manual data collection exacerbates the world’s bad data problem:

• Inconsistent data entry standards: Different employees may have different ways of entering the same data
• Lack of control over data quality: Data can easily be corrupted or incomplete, resulting in unreliable information
• Inefficiency due to time-consuming manual processes: It takes longer to manually enter and review data than it does to use automated systems

The importance of data integrity for your bottom line

The importance of data integrity for profitability data integrity is essential to ensure the accuracy and reliability of business operations. It involves ensuring that all data recorded in a system is accurate and complete and that any changes are tracked and audited.

Data integrity is essential for any organization to maximize profits and remain competitive. Here are five ways data integrity affects profitability:

• Increased Revenue: When data is accurate, businesses can target the right customers with the right products and services, resulting in increased sales and revenue.
• Improved Decision Making: With clean and reliable data, businesses can make better informed decisions in all areas, such as marketing campaigns and product launches.
• Cost Savings: Accurate data reduces the need for manual correction and rework, leading to cost savings.
• Reduced Risk of Fraud: Data integrity helps detect fraud and malicious activities quickly, preventing costly legal issues and reputation damage.
• Increased Efficiency: Clean data helps automate tasks and processes, resulting in improved efficiency and productivity.

5 ways to ensure data integrity

To ensure the accuracy of their data and protect against costly errors, organizations must take proactive steps to maintain data integrity. Here are five key best practices:

1. Digitize data intake: Digitize as much of your data collection and processing as possible to reduce the chances of manual errors and omissions.
2. Validate data accuracy: Use validation checks such as input masks, format checks, range/domain checks, duplicate checks, and referential integrity rules to ensure data accuracy.
3. Introduce robust controls: Establish control measures such as access controls, audit trails, and change/update logs to monitor data integrity.
4. Utilize automated systems: Automated systems such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can detect discrepancies quickly and accurately.
5. Verify data accuracy regularly: Schedule regular reviews of your data to identify any errors or inconsistencies in a timely manner.

With an increasing number of organizations collecting large amounts of data from a variety of sources, data integrity is an increasingly important factor for success.

By taking the necessary steps to ensure data integrity, organizations can improve the accuracy of their data and maximize profits. With clean and reliable data, businesses can make better decisions, identify new opportunities for growth, reduce costs, and protect against costly errors.