Monthly Archives: January 2018

Data quality is objectively a good thing—I doubt there’s a business that doesn’t agree with that fact. But how do you know what quality data looks like? How can you assess your data quality to determine how your data stacks up?

Without data quality testing, you won’t know what potential data issues you may have, or how significant they are, making it extremely difficult to work toward the right solutions. That’s why it is essential to create a data quality checklist for your business before attempting to conduct a data quality audit.

Data governance and compliance: it’s safe to say the two go hand in hand. Without proper data governance, how can you be confident your organization is adhering to regulations? On the other hand, when organizations are compliant, you can bet there is an effective data governance strategy in place. If you’re asking yourself, “how can I get started,” we are here to help! First let’s take a look at the terms data governance and compliance, and see how they are related. 

This blog post is the third and final post in a mini-series we are calling The art and science of matching your data. In the previous matching articles, we talked about the fundamentals of data matching, and both the art and the science of building matching rules based on the context of your end goal. In this final section, I want to discuss some of the more advanced aspects of record matching, and how they can provide business value.

As 2018 commences, customers have sky-high expectations when it comes to their experiences with every business they interact with: retail brands, utility services, and even their banks. We expect these businesses to anticipate our needs, know who we are, and always be relevant. Essentially, we want companies to read our minds. While this is impossible and unrealistic, businesses can make strides by enriching their customer data to improve their customer experience.

This blog post is part two of three in a mini-series we are calling The art and science of matching your data.

Matching data should be simple, right? Well, that depends on your perspective. As much as processes can be automated these days, when it comes to record matching, the results still depend on the context in which you want to view the relationships.

This blog post is part one of three in a mini-series we are calling The art and science of matching your data.

Matching is a term used commonly throughout data management, but it is also known by several other terms: linking, deduplication, joining, aggregation, and so on. For the purposes of this discussion, let’s define matching at the process in which I can determine a relevant association between two or more individual data records.

Data doesn’t have to be a plethora of digits stretched across an Excel spreadsheet; it can be transformed into colorful imagery or visualizations and still achieve its purpose—sometimes even more effectively than just numbers on a screen ever could. Data represents statistics that measure everything from revenue growth to employee engagement to weather patterns. It’s everywhere you turn. Although the numbers may be tedious to analyze, there is greater meaning to derive from those statistics and what they tell you. The key to making the numbers more appealing is to paint a picture with your data.