Communication technology has advanced a lot lately, and it has changed how businesses interact with customers. Recent research showed that about 50% of the organizations are now using ten or more channels to reach their customers. The greater number of channels customers used to interact with you, and the more channels businesses use to collect information from customers, the more risks of duplication and other data errors entering the CRM systems. Due to the advancement in data integrity solutions, it is now possible to prevent any such errors. In this article, we will also discuss how to improve Salesforce data quality.
Taking responsibility for data quality
We all need to do our part to ensure the quality of CRM data. It is often the Salesforce administrator’s responsibility to combine the right data quality tools with the app actions to implement those. Generally speaking, this involves developing quality standards and enforcing the same and training the users to work with the CRM. You should also consistently monitor the data to ensure data integrity. In line with the advancement in communication technologies, here will discuss some tips that will help you craft an effective and straightforward plan of action.
1. Monitor database activities
Anyone responsible for maintaining even the smallest databases will agree that data quality may degrade quickly and exponentially if not taken care of well. While updating the existing records or replacing valid information with more data, changing or deleting information by accident, and many such things may affect the data quality. New records entered manually or in an automated manner may contain some problematic fields despite the administrator’s best effort to prevent mistakes. You need to monitor the database to identify any erroneous data continuously.
2. Standardizing data management
Data administrators need to develop quality standards, which will define good and bad data in the database. These standards are a set of rules and tests that will automatically identify any bad data and fix it automatically when applied rightly. These standards may also prevent any bad data entries like abbreviations or formatting rules, names, addresses, zip codes, etc. After establishing the initial set of standards, you should also seek to improve and update it continuously so that the quality remains high, no matter how soon the database and the business requirements change.
3. Deduplication of data
Duplicate records may waste your time and create confusion. It will also make it difficult for the users to get a comprehensive view of the data. You may use any appropriate tool to prevent duplication and regularly search for any duplicates in the database. Having a good tool will help determine what to do automatically with the duplicates, like removing them as they emerge or sending alerts to the admin. Providers like Flosum may assist you with the necessary tools for data deduplication.
4. Data cleansing
Having quality standards defined for a database is essential to identify and implement data cleansing tools. You may use third-party solutions to search for database records that do not conform to the quality standardsto maintain high-level data quality consistently. You may also run automated schedules. You can run these schedules weekly or daily based on how quickly the data changes are happening in your organization.
5. Profile the data
Data profiling is a crucial step in understanding the data. One should know where your data is from and what it consists of. There are many sources for data as backend systems, spreadsheets, sticky notes, and from the rep’s desks. Take an inventory of data and include all information like:
- List the data sources and names of the fields where data is stored.
- Note all potential problems with data.
- Check and document whether you have automated quality checks before incorporating a new record.
- Check if all the fields are mapped correctly.
In Salesforce CRM, it is important to make sure that there is no duplicate information between the objects as Accounts, Opportunities, Contacts, etc.
Next, you need to control the data by achieving data accuracy and ensuring that the right kind of users has access to the right info. This covers restricting access, controlling data, and blocking access, etc. You also need to cover it by noting the errors and duplicate and set up the processes accordingly to keep the data clean. You may also use automate routines and tools to clean data.
6. Validation of data
Even if the users may enter 100% clean data, the quality may still get affected as data is a dynamic thing. Companies may grow, people may change their statuses, businesses may move or merge, etc. Contact information that was previously entered may change over time. You need to check the data alongside probable outside sources from time to time and leverage high-end solutions to ensure that the data is up to date.
7. Verification of data
After performing the remedial tasks discussed above, you should also verify the records to ensure that these are properly updated and databases confirm the set quality standards. Once it is completed, users across the organization can make informed decisions based on the data.
8. Educate the users
You may also leverage every opportunity to educate the users and the data managers about the importance of ensuring data quality, championing data integrity, and individual employees who rely on enterprise data. Training is very important in terms of ensuring quality, and all the users need to dedicate themselves to the cause of optimum data quality to actualize it.
9. Enforcing data quality standards
It is important to enforce the standards you create and ensure proper training is provided to the users.You may also restrict access to the data when necessary.
By leveraging the power of all these important considerations, you will be able to ensure the quality of enterprise data for the effective manifestation of Salesforce rules and principles. You can use it to get the best out of the data that you have. Proper data management can be beneficial in many ways.
