The problem with Dirty Data

The Problem with Dirty Data - by Gerry McGovern, a very good article on why companies do not really understand the true value of their websites and more importantly the value of the content they provide to their customers and internal users.

More than 25 percent of critical data in Fortune 1,000 companies is poor quality because organizations have little experience in managing content. Gartner Research believes that very few organizations are making progress towards professionally managing their most important data. Research Vice-President Andreas Bitterer said that "dirty data" is often overlooked as a business imperative.

"There is not a company on the planet that does not have a data quality problem," said Bitterer.

"And where a company does recognize it has a problem, it often underestimates the size of it."

Why is this? Why do most organizations do such a poor job of managing their content? The reason is that most organizations have little experience in managing content. In the past, they have only administered it.

Before the Web, content was rarely seen as critical to the future of the organization. It was important, but only in the same way that an invoice or a product manual is important. How many organizations are run by people who started their careers as librarians or journalists? Not many. Organizations tend to be run by people with an accounting or sales background.

The Web has changed the role of content. Content can now make the sale, deliver the service and build the brand. Slowly, organizations are beginning to realize that content is a business asset.

How do we professionally manage content? We don't. We shouldn't manage content in the same way that we shouldn't manage technology. Content and technology are merely a means to an end. What is the end? The end is the task the customer wishes to complete. That is what we should manage.