• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 19, 2023

Businesses are being rocked by changes in technology and other shifts. And 88% think their discomfort is going to intensify over the next year, according to Mastering Tomorrow’s Markets: The Data Quality Revolution, a study by Experian.  

The biggest market disruptors are: 

• Technology advancement in AI — 33% 
• Increased operational costs — 32% 
• Depleting skills — 29%

Also high on the disruptor list are changing customer expectations and supply-chain issues. But there is some hope:

“While these pressure points have been gaining momentum over the last decade, the impact of post-pandemic economic distress has accelerated their influence, requiring organizations to scale, and for some industries start, their data quality operations to respond effectively,” the study states. 

What are companies doing to buck up data quality? They have set these business priorities for the year to come:

• Integrating automation to reduce mundane tasks — 30%
• Integrating automation to reduce operational costs — 30%
• Investing in the digital employee experience — 26%

To do this, they are investing in these imperatives: 

• Automation of data quality rules and processes — 40%
• Automating data quality tasks — 32% 
• Data skills — 47%

Given these pressures, firms are working hard to capture “foundational customer data” like contact information.

The most-used forms of contact data are:

1. Email
2. Phone
3. Address
4. Name and date of birth 
5. Social media
6. IP addresses 

Of the companies polled, 99% used email data or have plans to use more. In contrast, 93% use phone data. 

Of course, all of the above data points are used by high percentages. The study notes: “Capturing valid contact data paired with continuous monitoring and profiling allows organizations to keep up with the constant movement of customer data.”

In general, smart companies are following this playlist:

- Improving and accelerating decision-making through actionable data

- Scaling business growth

- Upholding sustainability

- Increasing agility to better manage uncertainty

- Investing in the digital experience

- Automating data-quality processes to reduce cost and improve efficiency

Working with Insight Avenue, Experian surveyed more than 500 senior leaders and managers in organizations in May 2023.