Report: SMBs have trouble with data quality

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often experience significant difficulty when adopting sophisticated technologies in an attempt to keep pace with rival enterprises. This was highlighted in a recent study of more than 300 SMBs by a major data integration company, which found that most respondents have difficulty sharing accurate information about prospects and customers with the rest of the organization.

A significant number of SMB decision-makers said the top IT pain point in 2013 will be data quality, as only 40 percent of firms said they seamlessly share resources across departments and teams, the study reported. Another 52 percent of respondents said reporting marketing information was a top concern, while 44 percent said doing the same with sales data was somewhat or very challenging.

The Data Warehousing Institute said companies need to accept the difficulties associated with data quality before attempting to mitigate the problem. This will become increasingly important as decision-makers continue to accumulate massive amounts of digital resources in the coming years.

By understanding what goes into addressing data quality issues and using the right tools, SMBs can gain a competitive advantage over rival firms.