When British Gas was privatised at the end of 1986, the public was offered a limited number of shares per person. Unscrupulous individuals who saw the chance to earn a fast buck tried to fool the offering's auditors and get more than they should by using variations of their names and other personal details. For the first time, the artificial intelligence of fuzzy matching was used successfully to catch out the fraudsters. Now it has many more uses and is one of the common tools in master data management.

A report on a recent business survey found that, on average, out of every £6 spent out of their budget, departments wasted £1 because of poor data quality. Business people are aware that having clean data that gives accurate information helps them swim away from their competitors, but many still struggle to keep their heads above water rather than invest in data quality solutions.

Sometimes IT managers feel they could be losing the joust in trying to get the clean data message across. Everyone is so focused on their own aspects of winning the competitive edge, they don't see or understand that faulty tools could be undermining their efforts. Or if they do, it's why can't IT get it right for a change, or we've already invested in all these information systems, why do we need to spend even more money?

Sometimes, no matter how much hard work IT is putting in on data scrubbing andusing data quality software, you keep getting complaints that what's coming up in reports is not helpful. Unless everyone who touches data has a good understanding of how it is used to support the business activities, and how vital it is to get it right, things will continue to go wrong.

A data matching project has uncovered more than 5,000 ineligible immigrants receiving benefits in the UK. Since the government undertook this exercise of using matching software on benefits, tax and border control data for the first time recently, it has released figures stating that that around 371,000 benefit claimants were non-UK nationals when they applied for a National Insurance number.

The Hidden Dangers of Defective Data

The surface dangers of bad data are obvious: it renders mailings a waste of time and money, can cause reputation damage and seriously interfere with customer relationships.

But there are other dangers lurking beneath the surface that could bite harshly into your bottom line and deliver false information that lures you into making business decisions that are financially damaging.

Martin Doyle is a Data Quality Improvement Evangelist and the CEO of DQ Global, which is a UK-based data quality software and services vendor providing data cleansing, international address and email verification, data deduplication, and data matching solutions for Customer Relationship Management, Single Customer View, and Master Data Management. DQ Global has worked with over 500 businesses worldwide on a variety of projects, providing their clients with improved data quality, making their data fit for business use, and enabling them to trust their data and make decisions based on a foundation of fact.

Listen to the full interview here:

http://www.ocdqblog.com/home/the-johari-window-of-data-quality.html

As an alternative to positive data management predictions for 2011 a prominent thought leader Jill Dyché has put out her Anti-Predictions for 2011.

Whilst pessimistic, there is a definite ring of truth and I'm confident a number of you reading this will agree in whole or part. We'll be intersted in your thoughts.

Alongside our exemplary service and value for money DQ Global's primary unique selling points (USP's) are founded in our technology and data quality improvement processes. It's what we do and the way we do it that makes us different.

According to a Gartner Group report, bad data is the main reason that CRM projects fail; poor data quality compromises an organisation's investment in CRM and undermines customer relationships. So perhaps bureau offerings are not working?

Technical Support Engineer

Job Description

DQ Global is a leading provider of Data and Information Quality improvement software products to over 500 companies worldwide.

We are looking for a versatile IT generalist to manage a varied set of tasks that encompass the following:

• Sales and customer support for existing and future software applications.
• Bureau work requiring database application development and data processing.
• Customer training and product presentations.
• Documentation of products and training
• Data Curation and Digital Asset Management
• Software testing for new DQ 360 product
• Product evangelist and guru

This role will have many customer facing elements so candidate must be comfortable interacting with clients often in a pressurised environment.

Desired Skills & Experience

An appreciation of data quality issues and solutions would be highly advantageous. The applicant must be able to demonstrate the following technical skills:

• Infrastructure support – Windows Small Business Server & network
• Good general Database technology knowledge with Administration skills
• Must be expert with SQL Server 2005 / 2008 / R2 and SQL SSIS
• Windows 7 domain administration including Exchange and Microsoft CRM
• Good up to date T-SQL skills
• Working knowledge of JavaScript
• PowerShell scripting would be advantageous
• Good working knowledge of MS Access & MS Excel
• Any VB 6 or .NET development skills would be welcome

The applicant must be capable of working under pressure and must have the ability to learn new skills on a regular basis. Recruiting

Company Description

We work with organisations who care about data quality, companies who want to recover the 5% to 10% of revenue unnecessarily wasted which could otherwise be going directly to the bottom line.

Our clients typically want to obtain a Single Customer View or benefit from a Master Data Management capability.

Uncorrected data defects lead to wasted time and money as well as bad decisions; all of which directly impact the bottom line, which could otherwise be bolstered by 10% or more.

Our products and services identify and rectify and prevent data defects. They allow organisations to finally trust their data and make decisions based on a foundation of fact.

Additional Information

Type: Full-time,   Experience: Mid-Senior level,   Compensation: Dependant on skills and experience

A 50-year-old man from Birmingham, England, was understandably surprised last month upon receiving a letter from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital informing him that he was pregnant with twins. The letter asked Hilton Plettell to come in for an ultrasound and explained that he could expect the two bundles of joy in about seven months. Plettel only visited the hospital once --15 years ago for a kidney-stones operation. His wife was quick to point out that the babies are not hers.

Companies which employ master data management processes will benefit in several ways, it has been suggested.