The majority of IT professionals lack confidence that the information their get from corporate databases is up to date or accurate, despite nearly all organisations having clear business objectives for their databases.
The figures come from a European-wide survey of IT, sales and marketing professionals carried out by data integration firm Informatica.
The survey found that 99% of organisations now have set of clearly defined business objectives for their databases and data management, but there is an alarming gap between policy and practice. 80% of sales and marketing professionals and 83% of IT professionals are not completely confident that the information they get from their company’s databases is completely up to date and accurate.
With the majority of respondents agreeing that corporate databases fall short of the ideal, Informatica believes that companies need to get their data management policies in order.
"Data management is one of the greatest challenges faced by organisations trying to gain a strategic advantage from harnessing the value of their information assets," said Mark Seager, vice president technology EMEA at Informatica.
"It’s very encouraging to see that this concept is now well understood in Europe, but unless companies take the plunge and begin to put theory into practice this insight will yield little practical benefit," Seager continued. "Organisations must combine sensible, uniform policies with the right technologies to ensure both are used at all times."
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The survey also uncovered a disconnect between the seniority of an employee and their opinion on whether a company is successful at meeting stated database and data management objectives.
Specifically, says the survey, more sales and marketing professionals at director (20%) and senior manager level (16%) think their company achieves database objectives perfectly compared to middle managers (4%). More IT professionals at director (45%) and senior manager level (15%) agree, compared to middle managers (6%).
The survey was carried out by Dynamic Markets, who spoke to sales and marketing managers and 301 IT professionals across the UK, France and Germany at companies with at least 250 employees.
