When you work with a lot of data, you end up hearing multiple terms that may sound a little similar. “Data matching,” “data management,” and “data migration” may feel like nothing more than a collection of buzzwords, but each is crucial to the success of your company. Read on to learn more about why data matching is important for your business.
What Is Data Matching?
Data matching is an essential process in which different sets of data are analyzed to find overlap and potential redundancies. Even though two pieces of data may not look the same on the surface, they may be referring to the same thing. For example, if one piece of data refers to a Jonathon S in Osceola County, Michigan, and another refers to John Smith with a postal code of 49631, they are likely both referencing the same person.
Records Consolidation
Data consolidation is one of the biggest keys to efficiency. Think about it—if you’re working with 500,000 pieces of data and 50,000 of them are duplicates, you could waste 10 percent of your time looking into leads you’ve already been through. With consolidated records, you can dive deeper into customer insights without worrying about whether the work you’re doing is redundant.
Customer Segmentation
Customer segmentation isn’t as effective when you may have multiple pieces of data pointing toward the same individuals. Without data matching, your segmentation figures may be skewed and won’t paint an accurate picture of a customer’s interests and behaviors.
Data Matching and Migration
Finally, data matching is an absolute necessity if you’re planning to migrate your data to a new system. When you combine data from multiple sources, repetitive data can turn a well-oiled machine into a clunky mess. Before you migrate your data, you must ensure you have cleaned up and matched your information.
Now that you know why data matching is important for your business, be sure to follow the necessary steps to ensure you’re working with efficient and trustworthy information.