News
 Why
Global Data Integrity is Important
By Sophie Womack
Every day around the world 138,000 Americans, 18,000
Britons, 16,000 Canadians, 11,000 Australians and
8,000 French move and change their address. 1,000
Germans, 700 Italians, 580 Spaniards, 200 Dutch and
155 Greeks get married and change their names daily.
While 300 Belgians, 200 Austrians, 120 Norwegians,
100 Poles and 77 New Zealanders pass away. That’s
why it’s important to team up with a global data
integrity
provider who can help you maintain accurate and
updated data on a worldwide scale.
Businesses are increasingly familiar with the
challenge of maintaining accurate and up-to-date
data to ensure they can contact customers in another
state. However, can the same be said about the data
quality standards they apply when reaching customers
overseas?
According to recent global research, 97 percent of
organizations claim that they keep data clean to
enhance customer satisfaction, protect their brand
and make cost savings. Yet, three quarters also
admit that potential revenue is lost through missed
business opportunities because of poorly profiled
customer and prospect databases.
The challenge to maintain global data integrity
standards becomes clear when considering the myriad
of different data permutations. There are 241
countries and somewhere around 5,000 to 10,000
different languages and 130 address formats. The
availability of postal reference data varies between
territories. Other data elements such as names,
titles and dates of birth can vary in casing, order
and date formats. Furthermore, each country has
significant differences in data protection,
compliance practices and legislation to monitor how
data is used and manage its commercial availability.
There are also significant internal challenges to be
examined when developing a consistent strategy to
global data integrity. Many companies have not
clearly identified data owners in their organization
– individuals tasked with providing a clear
understanding of their company’s current data
capabilities and needs. There also is often a lack
of foreign territory understanding outside of the
domestic marketplace, including data protection
guidelines, data formats and standards.
Global organizations looking to develop a unified
data integrity strategy should address and establish
standards within each organization and within each
country. Marketers cannot expect to connect with
customers overseas if they do not have their own
local best-practice data strategy in place.
Ultimately, they need to get their own house in
order before turning attention overseas.
To ensure data management practices are as effective
as possible, companies must be sure to partner with
a global data integrity (GDI) provider who can
supply the necessary capabilities to capture, clean,
validate, suppress, enhance and match data.
When selecting a GDI provider, companies should
assess the provider’s credentials in terms of the
following factors:
• Global expertise. Providers should demonstrate
clear understanding and experience of managing data
integrity issues around the world. A GDI provider
which has a track record in only a single local
territory is unlikely to be able to offer the same
level of service and expertise for multi-territory
data.
• Local fluency. Providers should be able to
recognize and effectively manage local data
differences, preferably through local territory
experts in each of the relevant countries.
• Client understanding. Every client has different
needs and issues with data, and rolling these across
multiple territories doesn’t change that. This makes
the need for a truly tailored situation greater as
the volume of data and data anomalies are
multiplied.
• Comprehensive services. A GDI provider should
offer a complete range of capabilities and tools to
improve all aspects of data quality. This should
encompass the ability to capture accurate name and
address information at the first point of contact,
through keeping this information accurate and
up-to-date throughout the customer lifecycle. Data
integrity should site at the heart of every
organization’s direct marketing strategy – wherever
it is in the world. However, only 51 percent of
organizations plan to invest in better global data
management practices over the next 12 months. The
one out of every two businesses that are investing
in data integrity will be in the best position to
ensure that behind every one of their campaigns they
are thinking global but acting local. If you are one
of the global companies that isn’t in this camp,
simply consider that in the time it has taken you to
read this article nearly 500 Americans have just
moved house. Now consider what has happened in the
space of five minutes in the other 240 countries
around the world.
--- Reprinted
from a recent issue of DM News magazine. Sophie
Womack is head of product management for Experian
Marketing Solutions in London.
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