Trust in IIoT data declines, according to survey

According to a survey by Experian Data Quality, just over a quarter of organizations don't trust their data and more than half rely on educated guesses or gut feelings to make decisions based on their data.

By Gregory Hale, ISSSource March 15, 2017

In the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) era, data is king, but it also has to be reliable. However, businesses don’t trust their data, according to a survey by Experian Data Quality. This is crucial because data supports major business initiatives. The level of data accuracy, however, appears lower, and without trusted data, quality decisions cannot occur.

Businesses leverage data to increase revenue and better serve their customers. Along those lines, 84% of U.S. organizations said they believe data is an integral part of forming a business strategy. However, organizations lack confidence in their data. On average, businesses believe 27% of their data is inaccurate, and the C-suite estimates error levels to be even higher, the report said.

It seems hard to believe, but 52% of organizations rely on educated guesses or gut feelings to make decisions based on their data. While businesses are starting to make strides in improving the issue, many of the efforts end up based in departmental silos and lack consistency across data sources. This is due, in part, to the difficulty of building a compelling business case for an enterprise-wide data quality program.

The study, which polled more than 1,400 data professionals across eight countries around the globe, showed organizations struggle with inconsistent, legacy data management practices. Also, the survey found 82% of organizations have less than optimum data management practices, leaving significant room for improvement.

A big challenge is existing data management strategies end up based on individual departmental silos or sit primarily within information technology (IT) organizations. However, data usage is shifting out of IT and into the business units. In fact, 70% of organizations globally believe the responsibility for ongoing data quality ultimately should lie with the business, with occasional help from IT. Other key findings from the survey include:

  • 62% of organizations said the IT department has the greatest influence on how data ends up handled.
  • 73% of C-level executives said inaccurate data is undermining their ability to provide an excellent customer experience.
  • 85% of organizations globally experienced more timely and personalized customer communications as a result of improving their data quality solution.

Gregory Hale is the editor and founder of Industrial Safety and Security Source (ISSSource.com), a news and information Website covering safety and security issues in the manufacturing automation sector. This content originally appeared on ISSSource.com. Edited by Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, Control Engineeringcvavra@cfemedia.com.

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