Poor data quality can cost insurers and financial organizations between 10 and 20 per cent of their operating profits, it has been claimed.
According to David Howard-Jones, a partner at global consultancy firm Oliver Wyman, the cost of poor data quality manifests itself in excess regulatory capital, bad decision making, poor allocation of resources and personnel problems, he explained.
With the growth-starved financial services industry facing a difficult few years, Mr Howard-Jones says there are will be few better opportunities to make a significant impact on the company's profitability.
"There are not too many ways to get a 10-20 per cent uplift in the bottom line," CIO magazine reports him as saying.
"You need to understand the context of data quality, and then create opportunities to fix it."
Kristin Hambleton, vice-president of marketing for Neolane Inc, says that data quality is one of the most important issues for marketing firms to get control of.
Posted by Rachel Wheeler