Majority of businesses believe data is obsolete

Research has found that the majority of businesses believe that the data they hold for customers and prospects is obsolete, out-of-date or just plain wrong.

Data quality systems could be needed by the 85 per cent of firms that indicated this to the DemandGen researchers.

In addition to this, the report found that up to 40 per cent of the data companies use to generate new business is inaccurate.

Andrew Gaffney, editor of the paper, commented: "Our research revealed that companies are wasting massive amounts of time, which leads to missing out on millions in potential revenue, by using invalid prospecting data."

"Data quality should be an area of intense focus because the impact of accurate, high-quality data can be exponential."

Revenues can be impacted by inaccurate data, with 80 per cent of companies reporting that their lead generation efforts had been hampered by data issues.

Unfortunately, not all firms have a plan in place to sort out their data problems, with 30 per cent stating that they have no strategy at the moment.