The fact that B2B data ages at an alarming rate is well established, with various rates quoted, often in the region of 35 per cent per annum. Aside from the rate of decay, there are also some scary numbers attached to the financial impact of that decay. As an example, Experian estimates the average business loses 12 percent of its revenue to inaccurate data due to reductions in productivity, wasted resources, and crucially, missed opportunities for cross-channel marketing due to gaps in contact data records.

With GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) in place, compliance is more important than ever, impacting how organisations collect, handle and process personal data but there are many good business reasons for adopting a robust data management process.

Poor quality data impacts every part of your business – from the customer experience and relationship, to sales and marketing activity, branding, resourcing, through to aligning your teams and strategies. It is also intrinsic to your ability to maintain staff morale, when, for example, your customer service team grapple with an inaccurate, fragmented view of the customer, and as a consequence struggle to provide good service. Similarly, where your sales reps are wasting their time chasing poor quality leads with no real interest or likelihood to purchase. What is more, poor data can undermine your other investments – there is no point investing in expensive sales acceleration tools or marketing automation software, without a solid data strategy to support it.

In a recent survey of over 100 mid- to senior-level B2B marketers, 88% said their organisation’s approach to data management relies on internal resource, with only 6% employing external data specialists. Given the financial impact outlined above, this would appear to be a false economy. The fact is poor quality data equals high cost and poor ROI and it is imperative that data management is given the attention and resourcing it deserves by B2B organisations that want to succeed.

In case you are in any doubt, here are five compelling reasons to cleanse and maintain your data…