Survey: Large Organizations Experience Compliance, Performance Risks Because of Poor Data Quality

While few organizations have an enterprise strategy in place to manage the quality of their data assets, this will change within two years as senior executives expand their involvement.

This was a key finding from a survey released July 18 by Trillium Software, a business of San Antonio, TX-based Harte-Hanks , and a provider of total data quality solutions.

The survey of 216 information professionals that had attended industry-sponsored data management events in Britain, the United States and Australia/Asia-Pacific, found that 51 percent of organizations represented among the respondents run localized data quality initiatives ad hoc.

At this time, just 14.5 percent of those surveyed were tackling data quality using a coordinated management led enterprise strategy.More positively, those surveyed reported that management is likely to show greater interest in the near future: 75 percent of respondents said data quality tackled strategically, according to a multi-divisional or enterprise-wide plan, represents a "best practice," and 79 percent said senior management will become more involved in data quality governance within two years.

The survey also revealed uncertainty amongst information professionals as to who actually owns responsibility for ensuring data is of good quality -- a finding that suggests that in some firms, no one person or department may be held accountable for it at all. This could taint the accuracy and credibility of information used in key business processes among them corporate governance, prompting greater executive-level attention.