Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with Mike Delgado from Experian for a ‘Data Talk’ interview. We chatted about the 2017 Global Data Management Benchmark Report, and you can see the video of that interview below.
Since we conducted this global benchmark research, we have seen a continued interest around the lack of trust in data. Data is said to be at the core of many of our business decisions, yet we lack trust in its very accuracy. We don’t believe that it is truthful, held to a high standard, or managed properly. Because of that, we often dismiss it and instead rely on our educated guesses.
Now as I said in the interview with Mike, data will never be the sole way that we make decisions, and it shouldn’t be. We are going to rely on our personal experiences, counsel from colleagues, and our overall gut feeling. But, data should be a key area that is taken into consideration when we have so much of it at our disposal.
The challenge that presents itself when we lack trust in that, is that we dismiss it if it falls outside our standard norms. If the data presents something new or different, we may say it is inaccurate. However, if we have trust in that data that falls outside of our standard norms we may seek more information. We might take a bit more time to make a decision or ask more questions prior to coming to a final conclusion. That can lead to an increase in the number of accurate decisions we make as a business.
Data is hard, whether it is big data, enhanced with machine learning, or stored in an organization-wide data lake. At the end of the day, gaining insight from information in a meaningful way is not easy, and it requires the proper people, processes, and technology around it to make it useful. There is not one quick solution, and it isn’t going to happen overnight.
However, we have seen businesses make strides in their data management processes. When they make progress and develop more trusted information, it often provides a large return on investment.
There is still much that needs to be done in this space. But identifying the problem is always a good first step.
For more data management benchmarks, download our report.
