Accurate and reliable information and the data on which it is based is a cornerstone of business success, but its value is often not appreciated, setting companies up for underachievement and potential business failure.
Data quality issues are regularly addressed by the IAIDQ and analyst groups such as Aberdeen and Gartner. However, up until the launch of the IAIDQ's South African CoP this month, there hasn't been a South African forum for information and data quality knowledge sharing. Run by professionals for professionals, the forum will be the 16th member country to join the IAIDQ.
“The forum's mission is to build a community of businesses and individuals who value data management and information quality as critical to the success of their enterprise systems and programmes, and who share their knowledge for the benefit of all information producers and consumers,” says Bryn Davies, MD of InfoBlueprint.
“High-quality information can only be created from high-quality and effectively managed data. Often this data - usually spread across business units - is incomplete, invalid, inconsistent, misinterpreted or not compliant with business rules, and this weak foundation has a damaging impact on decision-making, planning, customer relations, service-delivery, productivity and competitive advantage.” says Bryn.
“Some large corporates are taking the issue of data quality very seriously and embarking on data management and information quality programmes, but the majority of South African businesses does not view data as a valuable asset and this has a direct impact on their success.”
“Yet, a strong focus on data quality will significantly minimise risk and increase the value of enterprise programmes such as business intelligence (BI), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management, master data management (MDM), and other critical business initiatives.”
The forum plans to run regular discussion groups and practical workshops on the impact of poor data and information quality on these initiatives. “We welcome anyone involved in activities such as data management and BI to join,” adds Bryn.
For more information, contact InfoBlueprint on cell +27 (0)82 941 9634 or +tel +27 (0)21 551 2410.
