How Effective Master Data Management Services Can Enhance Your Business ROI?
Garbage In, Garbage Out – The True Cost of Poor Quality Data
“Bad data stops good decisions.” This old business adage rings truer today than ever before in our data-driven world. With critical business decisions being made based on the data available, the quality and reliability of that data are paramount. Yet many organizations struggle with duplicated, outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate master data. The resulting effects of “garbage in, garbage out” on the business can be immense.
Poor master data quality leads to a staggering array of problems, including:
- Inability to gain a unified view of customers across business units, resulting in poor customer experience
- Supply chain inefficiencies due to lack of visibility into supplier data
- Marketing campaign failures due to incomplete or invalid contact data
- Revenue leakage from an inability to consolidate customer data into a single source of truth
- Bloated IT costs from maintaining excess duplicate records
- Operational disruptions from employees accessing different versions of product data
- Compliance failures from regulatory reporting based on unreliable data
The cumulative business impact of these issues is staggering, with poor data quality estimated to cost organizations an average of $15 million annually. But more than just the direct financial costs, poor data quality erodes trust in the information that runs modern enterprises.
The High Cost of Maintaining the Status Quo
Many organizations recognize these effects of poor quality data, yet struggle to improve. Common barriers include:
- Lack of Executive Buy-In: Data is often viewed as an IT issue rather than a business priority. Gaining leadership commitment and investment is challenging.
- Undefined Data Ownership: With data spread across systems and departments, consolidated ownership is unclear. Achieving consensus on standards is difficult.
- IT Legacy System Constraints: Outdated infrastructure often lacks integration or functionality for managing master data at scale. Data governance is challenging.
- Manual Processes: Reliance on spreadsheet based data management leads to fragmented, labor intensive upkeep. Achieving consistency at scale is impossible.
- Lack of Effective Tools: Purpose-built master data management software is required to automate data quality management. Budget or skills to implement are often lacking.
Faced with these barriers, the default action for many companies becomes maintaining the status quo despite the cascading consequences of poor data. However, leaving data quality unaddressed is no longer a viable long-term strategy.
The High Reward of Investing in Master Data Services
To avoid the “garbage in, garbage out” trap, leading organizations choose to actively invest in master data quality through a combination of software, services, and process change. With the right focus and partners, a properly executed master data management initiative delivers tremendous rewards, including:
- 360 Customer View: Consolidate customer data from all business units into a unified profile for unparalleled customer insight.
- Optimized Operations: Maintain complete, accurate supplier & product data to enable lean, efficient business processes.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Trust the quality of reporting data to confidently base strategic choices on facts vs. guesswork.
- Future Flexibility: Establish the data foundations and governance to quickly onboard new systems and data sources.
- Compliance & Risk Reduction: Adhere to regulatory mandates by having reliable and audit-ready data.
The path to unlocking these benefits begins by partnering with capable experts in master data management services to jumpstart operational and cultural transformation.
A Systematic Approach to Master Data Excellence
Delivering clean, complete, consolidated, and accurate master data is a complex challenge requiring a systematic approach. Leading master data management services providers such as Etomix execute structured programs, including:
- Master Data Cleansing
The first priority is cleansing existing data sets by deduplicating, correcting errors, filling gaps, and standardizing formats. Master data cleansing establishes an accurate baseline by removing duplicates and inaccuracies that accumulate over the years.
- Data Governance
A multi-disciplinary team codifies policies, owners, workflows, metrics, and tools to govern data as an enterprise asset. Governance provides the blueprint for sustainability moving forward.
- Process Alignment
Optimizing upstream business processes that create and maintain master data is key to ensuring quality data is captured at inception. Tight collaboration between business and IT is instrumental.
- Automation & Orchestration
Manual data management cannot deliver results at scale. Implementing MDM software with automation and integration capabilities is pivotal to embedded data quality across systems.
- Change Management & Training
Driving the adoption of new data stewardship processes through communication campaigns, incentives, an updated talent model, and training buoys a culture of data excellence.
With the right strategic roadmap and systematic implementation, organizations can rapidly transform into data-driven enterprises. But making this shift often requires outside expertise.
The Power of Partnering with Master Data Management Providers
Legacy challenges around poor data are difficult to rectify, given organizational constraints. Tap into external specialists to accelerate your roadmap leveraging:
- Industry Leading Expertise: Partners like Etomix focus exclusively on data management initiatives, bringing extensive methodology, software, and technical skills to bear.
- Accelerated Speed: Avoid needlessly spinning wheels by learning from other client transformations. External teams can rapidly set direction and deliver results.
- Objective Perspective: Without bias from internal politics or inertia, partners assess current practices and build the right strategic recommendations.
- Latest Capabilities & Tools: Partners maintain a pulse on leading master data capabilities to embed cutting-edge technical solutions.
- Flex Operations Model: Scale data teams up or down to meet project needs, avoiding pressure on internal headcount budgets.
Reaping the Rewards
The decision to finally address chronic issues with master data quality may feel daunting. But maintaining the status quo is no longer a viable choice given the business risks. Investing courageously in master data excellence now pays extraordinary dividends over time by unlocking accurate, unified data to optimize nearly all parts of modern digital businesses.
Partnering with capable master data management services providers accelerates this journey by delivering transformative solutions grounded in industry-leading methodology and technology. Like a fountain that can only pour clean water when sediment and leaves are filtered out regularly, removing poor-quality data unlocks a continuous stream of value across the enterprise. The time to start is now.