If I were to ask you how much data do you think you consume in a day? What would your answer be?
Ballpark.
Whether it’s customer details, sales figures, or operational metrics, you’re surrounded by data, but we need to let you in on a little secret…
Not all data is created equal.
Poor data quality is a silent killer, eating away at your profits and slowing down your operations.
It’s easy for us to sit here and tell you that bad data is affecting your bottom line, but we wouldn’t say that, would we? We want to clean it up for you.
Let’s take us out of the equation for the minute and break down the key reasons why we think that bad data is costing you more than columns on a spreadsheet.
The Hidden Financial Costs of Bad Data
You might not notice it right away, but poor data quality can lead to some hefty costs. According to Gartner, poor data quality costs businesses an average of $9.7 million each year. While that figure is staggering, the reality is that it’s not just about the money you can see. It’s about the opportunities you’re missing out on.
Think about the last time you ran a marketing campaign. Did you hit the right audience? Or did you end up with a load of bounced emails, wrong addresses, and disinterested customers? Every bit of inaccurate data in your CRM or email list represents a missed opportunity—a sale that didn’t happen, a customer that slipped through the cracks, or a relationship that never got the chance to be built.
Real-World Examples of Costly Mistakes
Bad data doesn’t just hurt in the abstract. Let’s run through a few real-life scenarios that probably sound all too familiar:
Misleading Reports: Imagine using a report riddled with errors to make big financial decisions for your busines. making a strategic decision based on a report riddled with errors. Maybe the sales figures were inflated because of duplicate entries. Or perhaps a crucial customer demographic was misrepresented due to incorrect data categorisation. One wrong move based on faulty data can lead to costly consequences, from wasted resources to missed targets.
Wasted Marketing Spend: Let’s say you’ve allocated a chunk of your budget to a targeted advertising campaign. But what if 30% of your contact list is outdated or incorrect? That’s 30% of your budget down the drain, not to mention the missed sales opportunities.
Poor data doesn’t just waste money, it actively restricts your ability to generate new leads and build relationships with the right prospects.
Operational Inefficiencies: Picture your team wasting hours trying to reconcile conflicting data from different departments. The time and effort spent untangling the mess could be better spent on tasks that actually drive value. But instead, bad data creates bottlenecks, frustrates your team, and slows down progress.
The Long-Term Impact on Growth and Competitiveness
In the short term, poor data quality is frustrating. It’s the difference between a good day and one that makes you want to swing from Miley Cyrus’s wrecking ball.
In the long term, it can be a disaster.
Imagine spending time and money implementing processes to scale your business only to find that the data you’re trying to scale from is riddled with errors and inconsistencies, meaning all your planning is in vain.
You can’t trust your forecasts because the data isn’t reliable. You’re hesitant to invest in new markets because you’re unsure if the numbers add up. And all the while, your competitors are racing ahead, armed with clean, actionable data driving their success.
Bad data doesn’t just hurt today—it puts your future at risk. If your data’s causing you pain now, it’s only a matter of time before it starts eroding your market position and stifling your growth.
What Can You Do About It?
The good news is you don’t have to let bad data dictate your future. At assimil8, we’ve spent nearly two decades helping businesses like yours get their data in shape. We’ll work with you to audit, cleanse, and optimise your data so that it’s a reliable asset, not a costly liability.
It’s not just about avoiding the costs of bad data, it’s about unlocking new opportunities for growth and success and feeling confident that you can create a strategy based on reliable information.
Don’t let bad data eat into your profits. Contact our team today to learn how we can help you turn your data into a strategic advantage.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or need to refine your existing data, we’re here to help. Let’s get your data in a great place so it can start working for you.
