What does data quality mean to you?

Data quality expert Jim Harris recently penned an ode to data in the Obsessive-Compulsive Data Quality blog as a way to celebrate Valentine's Day and show appreciation for the information that helps businesses do their jobs better.

Harris mashed up famous love songs in the post, expressing common data dilemmas in lyrical form such as the following rendition, "They say we're young and we don't know/ We won't find data quality issues until we grow/ Well I don't know if that is true/ Because you got me, data/ And data, I got you/ I got you, data." 

Although Harris understands how vital clean content is, other companies may not know the value of good data quality. A recent article by Search Engine Land points out that it can mean a big difference in profitability and marketing campaign success because Google Shopping rankings reward correct and consistent information. 

The source explains that Google will prioritize companies that provide accurate, reliable data that does not conflict with other information such as product pricing and descriptions. If there is incongruent information, there are risks that firms are purposely providing misleading prices or product specs to get consumers to their websites.