The vast majority – 75 per cent – of businesses who improved data quality last year exceeded annual objectives, according to research from Experian.

These include objectives relating to customer experience, managing talent, and workforce development, data security, and business resilience.

The study, which surveyed 905 data practitioners and data-driven business professionals around the world, also revealed that 89 per cent of respondents feel that contact data is key to customer engagement.

A further 88 per cent said that data management has enabled them to keep up with understanding their customers’ rapidly changing needs.

Nearly every business that responded - 97 per cent - said they plan to make their data management programme more flexible and agile over the next year.

“The last year has tested every industry, with a new requirement for business models to be agile and change in line with their customers’ rapidly shifting demands,” said Andrew Abraham, global managing director, data quality, Experian. “Our research shows that businesses who have improved their data quality were not just better equipped for this but exceeded their performance expectations too.

“However, business experiences with data accuracy and issues around how data is managed remain and are unlikely to improve unless businesses upskill current employees and continue to work with wider industry and government on addressing the data skills gap.”

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