Government Technology

Ensuring data quality with address management  
Each year millions of pounds are wasted because of poor data quality. Poor contact data management not only impacts on costs, but can also damage brand image and increase an organisation's exposure to identity theft and fraud. The information gathered and held about customers and stakeholders in databases is subject to deterioration as soon as it enters the system. For example, some will move home, a number will pass away, names will change as a result of marriage or divorce and geographical borders will be revised.  All of these elements contribute to this decay. In fact a rate of 5% degradation per month is not uncommon and this means that if a database is left neglected for one year, more than half of the information will have deteriorated.

There are many address management systems that can improve the quality and efficiency of the customer/stakeholder database, but traditionally these have been the preserve of the larger organisations that are able to set aside considerable resources to implement and manage them. However, advances in technology are creating more flexible ways in which the benefits of address management can be accessed and budgeted for by smaller organisations.

The first step is to recognise the importance of maintaining name and address data, the second is to understand the exact addressing requirement which depends on the frequency and volume of the data that needs to be validated or cleansed. Also, consider whether there is both the necessary expertise and resources to manage the process in-house, as this will help shortlist the options. If you have the budget, skill and significantly high volumes of data to maintain, then there may well be a strong case for an enterprise scale addressing system. If not then a range of new online addressing and data cleansing services is likely to prove to be a compelling alternative.

What are on-demand services?
The rise of on-demand services are providing these smaller organisations with a requirement for low to medium volume cleansing with a viable option to instil a workable address management policy. These data cleansing services provide a simple yet cost-effective way of cleaning, enhancing and suppressing data to improve the accuracy of data and increase the effectiveness of marketing communications. These web-based services typically operate on a pay-per-use basis. They can be used by anyone with a web-enabled PC, providing those with a need for small-to-medium volume address look-ups with a convenient low cost and risk free route to an accurate address database.

Stopping the rot
Data decays from the moment it enters the system, so it is vital that the information entered in the first place is accurate. If you are running a call centre or providing citizen advice information from a branch, or even via the website, getting the data correct at the point of entry is vital. A simple rapid addressing system that enables a user to simply enter the postcode into the system for a correct address to be recalled and verified can be implemented in minutes. This has the advantage of reducing data entry time by dramatically reducing the number of keystrokes needed to enter address information and ensures fast, accurate capture of an address that can be used for all follow up.

Of course, once the information is in the system it needs to be regularly maintained to keep it healthy and online or on-demand services can provide the complete verification, cleansing and enhancement of all address data using tools such as the Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File of 28 million UK addresses, as well as international addresses, business-to-business, lifestyle, geographic and government information. Other valuable tools include suppression screening for a person no longer at an address or have gone away, Mortality and Bereavement screening, Telephone (TPS) and Mail Preference screening, telephone number verification and appending, consumer names profiling and records de-duplication.

On-demand also enables users to enhance address data by providing geo-codes, lifestyle and B2B information and link together customer data from other databases, legacy systems and web-based sources. Such additional information can help increase the effectiveness of sales leads follow -up and the targeting of direct marketing.

Those who require a small-to-medium volume of address look-ups will find this type of service particularly beneficial as it allows the business access and pay for different data pools as and when they need them, avoiding the inherent costs linked with sizeable software implementations and associated licensing costs for data sets.

In the main, address management solutions are easy-to-use, but regardless of whether you go down the pay-per-search, enterprise implementation or bureau route, you should investigate the reputation of the supplier, the quality of the services and support can they provide, such as online and helpdesk support.

For more information
For more information on data quality solutions visit http://www.capscan.com or call 020 7428 1255.