Data Integrity: What It Is, Why It Matters, & How You Can Ensure It

Most business leaders would agree that data plays a key role in steering the direction of their company’s decision-making process – in essence, creating a profound impact on a business’s daily operations. And it’s no wonder when considering the fact that data equips you with the tools necessary to best reach your audience, inform consumers, enhance your analytics, stay on top of market trends and much more.

While the importance of data cannot be understated, data integrity is what truly separates good data from the bad, helping professionals ensure the validity and accuracy of their data over time with the proper methodology and validation procedures in place. If you’re not quite sure what data integrity entirely entails or the steps your organization needs to take to ensure data integrity, we’ll outline everything you need to know to get started below.

What is data integrity?

In a nutshell, data integrity refers to the reliability, consistency, and accuracy of your business’s data. But what exactly does this mean?

In today’s digitally accelerated world, data collection is now standard protocol. While it may have been hard to collect data several decades ago, the exchange and collection of data is effortless given advances in technology and a more encompassing digital society. But now that we’re able to collect copious amounts of data, we must ensure that data integrity is upheld in the process.

As noted, data integrity denotes the reliability of data throughout its lifecycle. When discussing data integrity, this can refer to the state of your data – meaning, the completeness, accuracy, and reliability of your data. And, it can also refer to the process and methods instilled to uphold data validity and accuracy, too.

Why does data integrity matter for your business?

Maintaining data integrity is not an option for any business wishing to thrive—it is a necessity. Here’s a quick glimpse at several of the reasons why data integrity matters for your organization:

1. Protection from data leaks
   
   While data integrity is not synonymous with data security, it is the collection of measures taken to ensure accurate and upkept data that does help prevent data corruption. For businesses just like yours, protecting your valuable information against data leaks or loss is crucial. By implementing processes that make your data easily searched, recovered, and traceable, you’ll find it easier to trace data back to its origin while making data maintenance a breeze.
   
   Additionally, executing the proper data validation methods can help prevent the improper storage or categorization of data–a crucial act that reduces your business’s exposure to potential data risks.
   
   
2. Enhanced decision making 
   
   You have a plethora of information that you’ve collected regarding your customers and your business performance. But ultimately, it’s not just the quantity of data acquired that matters–it’s the quality of this data that is crucial, too. Imagine examining your customers’ profiles and making a strategic marketing campaign based off incorrect or inaccurate data. More than likely, you’ll fail to reach your intended outcome and you’ll find that your business will underperform.
   
   When you enter data integrity into the equation, you can confidently make decisions with the reassurance that comes with high-quality data. The closer attention to detail in your data collection and analysis process will equip you with the tools necessary to make informed decisions and drive business growth and performance.
   
   
3. Improved workflow
   
   Prioritizing data integrity makes it easier for your team to access the correct data needed at any given time with ease. Since accurate and reliable data will be collected, stored, and organized in the proper location, you’ll avoid confronting retrievability issues that can have a significant impact on workplace efficiencies.
   
   So, whether you’re trying to pull together data for a project, a marketing campaign, or a presentation on business performance, you can rest assured that you have the necessary information on hand whenever required.

How can you ensure data integrity?

The benefits outlined above are widespread perks you’ll enjoy from maintaining data integrity, regardless of your company’s size, industry, or business model. Now, the next step is to ensure data integrity within your everyday operations. Here’s a list of a few steps that will help you get started:

1. Remove duplicate data

Every day, businesses collect an insurmountable amount of data—which means duplicate data entries are almost a given at one point or another. That’s why one of the first steps in ensuring data integrity is remove duplicate data that may skew your reporting metrics or create deliverability issues when trying to connect with consumers.

2. Invest in data validation solutions

Once you dedupe and cleanse your data, you’ll want to establish a process that ensures all future data entries are as accurate and up to date as possible, too. That’s why many businesses turn to data validation solutions that uphold data accuracy and consistency over time.

Specific areas of focus that will assist your business in its journey to data integrity include:

• Address validation
• Phone verification
• Email validation

Storing accurate and verified consumer data is an important step in making successful data-driven decisions, and data validation solutions can help you achieve this goal.

3. Foster a data-informed workplace

As we discuss in our most recent research study, a data mature organization is a successful organization. The more you bring awareness to the role of data in your business operations to your team, the more likely you are to establish an environment where data awareness is more widespread.

Consider prioritizing training programs that emphasize the importance of maintaining data integrity in all workplace processes. You’ll find that a data-educated team will have a higher likelihood of handling data in a way that upholds its integrity.

How Experian can help you get started with data integrity

At Experian, we believe that data lies at the heart of the decision-making process for businesses. That’s why we help empower businesses just like yours with the tools and solutions necessary for accurate and reliable data. Ready to enhance the quality of your data and empower your business with the quality data it deserves?

Enjoy a data quality free trial today!