Like a good chunk of the country, we’re dealing with a snowstorm here in St. Louis. We don’t get accumulating snow often – and, truth be told, we don’t handle it very well.
But like any other issue or challenge, it will need to be dealt with sooner or later, and ignoring it will only cause more problems.
There are many issues where delay can make things worse – like with your health, car, house – the list goes on. The same rule holds true for problems with your data.
Maintaining accurate data requires discipline and effort. Once its quality gets compromised, its value rapidly decreases. Couple that with a perception that getting it back on track will be a heavy undertaking – and the task gets delayed.
At some point, the problem needs to be addressed. The upside is that it doesn’t need to be a huge, painful undertaking.
Get Some Help
There are tools out there that can aid in most problems that we face. The key is to get the right tool for the job. While a broom might work for light snow, a solid snow shovel or a snowblower is better when the snow starts piling up.
When it comes to your data, manual verification checks & updates might work if there are just a few items of concern. But if your overall data quality has been neglected for a while, an automated solution is a better option to make meeting the challenge manageable.
Spend Wisely
The beauty is that leveraging automation doesn’t automatically require huge investments of time and money. Likely, the time and money you are spending to work around your data issues are costing you far more – & is not a great long-term investment.
Break It Up
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” – Desmond Tutu
Big challenges don’t always have to be approached with an all-or-nothing response. When it comes to your data, breaking it up into manageable chunks can often be the best approach. Coupling this with automation – and you’ll be surprised how quickly the overall task can be completed.
Repeat the Process
Once you get started addressing your data issues and trusting your data again, you need to maintain it. The best way to make sure this happens is to make it easy. After all, if something is easy to do, it’s far more likely to get done.
Dealing with data problems doesn’t have to be a huge, awful undertaking. Using these simple steps can get you back to trusting your data faster than you may have thought.
