As awareness grows about the importance of having high-quality data to avoid organisational inefficiencies, delays and disasters, more companies are tempted to go the DIY route.
This is according to Bryn Davies, MD of InfoBlueprint, who says: "DIY data quality is like DIY electrical installation; in theory it could save time and money, but in practice, and unless you have all the skills you need, it could cost more in the long run - and be dangerous to boot."
Davies says IT departments without specialist skills in data quality management may also lack knowledge of the software tools they need to do the job. "It's no easy task to write code for tasks like data profiling, matching, merging, and textual parsing. It's far simpler to use one of the off-the-shelf data quality tools that have all the necessary functions built in, such as statistically-based algorithms for fuzzy matching and de-duplication."
He adds that getting data quality right needs an ongoing governance programme that outlines what the organisation's data strategy and policies are, what tasks need to be performed and by whom.
Better data quality requires not just introducing new or improved business processes, but also training everyone in the organisation so they understand the true role, value and importance of the information they're working with.
"In the same way it's sensible to call in an electrician if you're planning to rewire your house, it's sensible to call in data quality experts if you're planning to overhaul your data management. Outside experts will not only have the specialist knowledge you need, they'll also be more easily able to negotiate the political battles involved in getting data right."
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