To maintain high quality, businesses must look out for data decay

In an increasingly data-driven world, businesses must make sure their quality is trustworthy, meaning they can effectively match up certain sets of information and verify its accuracy seamlessly. While most companies understand the vast potential Big Data holds, most are still uncertain about the best ways to harness it and use it to generate reliable insight that's highly actionable.

If businesses aren't using solutions to ensure the information they're gathering is trustworthy, they may be sacrificing data quality, according to a recent report by ZoomInfo about data decay. Using information pulled from researchers at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Small Business Administration, the report revealed an extremely high rate of decay regarding business data.

The study found nearly two-thirds (65.8 percent) of job titles and functions change within a year, followed by 42 percent of phone numbers, 41 percent of addresses, 37 percent of email addresses and 34 percent of company names.

Moreover, 1,920 businesses will change addresses, 1,200 business phone lines will be disconnected, 32 companies will change their names and 96 new businesses will open each year, the report explains, indicating the significance of regularly validating data and checking the trustworthiness of information.