Why would you base your business decisions on unreliable data?

Studies indicate that bad data costs US businesses trillions each year; as a result, approximately 40% of company goals go unmet as a result of this poor information management.

Data can be found anywhere; if you ignore it, you could miss out. Emails, customer profiles and inventory systems all contain valuable pieces of information that could prove invaluable - but outdated or inaccurate data can cause confusion, slow your team down and cost you money.

Your company doesn't require hiring an entire IT team just to keep its data safe and organized, when an IT partner can do just as much with ease.

Why Accurate Data Is Essential?

Bad data can make running your business even harder, yet with accurate information you can improve its performance, increase sales and provide excellent customer satisfaction.

Aren't data integrity and data protection the same thing? Actually no; data integrity refers more specifically to security and preventing records from becoming vulnerable over time.

Your information must be accurate and useful in order to make informed decisions while protecting the integrity of your data.

What Qualifies Data as "High-Quality"?

It's simple. Your data meets these criteria to qualify as high-quality.

1. It Is Accurate

Accuracy in data capture is of utmost importance; errors such as spelling mistakes, incorrect invoices or outdated contact information must not exist within it.

2. It Is Complete

All forms have been filled out completely; no information is missing that requires guesswork to fill in, leading to delays and impeding progress.

3. It Is Current

Outdated data can be more damaging than nonexistent ones. Relying solely on sales trends from last year for decision making this month can cause serious complications.

4. Consistent

It can be confusing if customer names appear in various ways on your system. To keep data clean and organized, all data should remain the same from wherever it's stored.

5. It Should Be Unique

Wrong Information can skew results; entering "Bob Smith" five times with five different email addresses would distort results significantly. One record per person. Simple.

6. Use It

It is best to provide only the information that is necessary, no more or no less. Too much data makes it harder to recognize what matters.

What happens if data quality is ignored?

Imagine you are planning a major email campaign and discover that your list contains old addresses, misspellings or duplicate contacts - open rates could drop significantly as will your good standing with email service providers.

Imagine your team making deliveries to incorrect addresses because customer information has remained static - this would be a waste of both time, money and trust.

Importantly, fixing these issues once they occur requires more effort than preventing their emergence in the first place.

How to keep your business data tidy: 7 simple methods

1. Determine What Information Is Critical

It is key that you identify key information vital for the running of your business, such as customer contact details, order details or payment terms that your team must adhere to in order to stay organized. Creating guidelines makes organization much simpler when everyone follows a similar format.

2. How Can Your Team Learn What the Right Way Is?

Most data errors result from people not understanding what's expected. Instead of overwhelming your team with lengthy manuals, provide them with clear guidance - such as what format should be used when entering names or how addresses should be entered - instead. Organizing a short, straightforward session without too much jargon could prove very helpful in getting their task accomplished successfully.

3. Take Action Now

Don't wait to clean your data; perform a monthly review instead and spot duplicates, errors and outdated information quickly and efficiently.

4. Use smart tools to detect errors

You can quickly detect mistakes as soon as they arise with the proper tools in your arsenal.

• Validate forms to make sure that dates, emails, and numbers are formatted properly.


• Make certain fields mandatory, such as phone numbers and emails addresses.


• If your CRM allows, create automated checks for common mistakes.

5. Provide your team with an effective method for flagging issues

Your staff are often the first to detect discrepancies within your business and should be able to flag issues such as names being mixed up or records being missing quickly before they become bigger problems. Establish an easy system so your employees can notify management as soon as they identify an issue before it escalates further.

6. Keep Your Documents Current

As tools, systems, and team members evolve rapidly, things change quickly too. Therefore it's essential that documentation remain up-to-date so it can reflect where data comes from, who handles it, and its intended use.

7. Keep an Eye on Certain Key Metrics

There's no need to track everything. Just focus on monitoring some key metrics such as:

• Are there many duplicate items?


• Are important fields being left blank?


• How accurate are your customer details?

Stay on top of any potential issues by performing quick monthly inspections.

Do not let data hold you back

No need for drastic overhaul - simply start making smart changes now by cleaning and organizing data in an orderly fashion and setting some basic rules. Reach out if help is required as we're here to assist in managing data for both small teams and organizations efficiently and affordably.

Better data leads to smoother days at work, clearer decisions and happier customers. Are you tired of dealing with unorganized data? Reach out today so that we can organize it! For inquiries on how to fortify your business:📞 (404) 932-5940 or 📩info@nuwaveitc.com