Many businesses struggle to maintain their information systems and related databases. One of the main reasons for this is a lack of centralization. Is it possible that you are one of them? 

If this is the case, you need to know that a centralized data management system includes all of your company's everyday activities and procedures. With a centralized information system, users only need to access one location to find the information they need. 

With centralized data management, you can securely gather, store, and retrieve information in a single system while maintaining comprehensive access throughout the organization.

However, this is insufficient to persuade most companies to move to centralized data management. They seek additional reasons to migrate from their present dispersed information systems to a unified data management platform. 

Here are some of the reasons why centralized data management is important to operate at an optimum giving the company a competitive advantage.

Companies struggle to leverage data

Historically, businesses have built their software systems randomly, installing a variety of different applications and data management techniques and adapting as they grew.

The overall structure was disconnected, with multiple tools and data serving the same purpose. Data was isolated, dispersed among teams and locations, with little to no ability to share. 

This leads to insufficient data availability when needed, a loss of business insight and trend analysis, and increasing business costs.

Today, companies strive to unify and centralise their data because most data is inaccessible by default. It is frequently spread throughout the company and separated into information silos among business divisions and teams. 

• Businesses cannot make informed decisions in the absence of a centralised data management system. 

• Marketing teams are unable to fully evaluate product demand. 

• Product teams are unable to completely comprehend their customers' journeys.

• Analytics teams, who are frequently tasked with breaking down information barriers, are unable to give reliable business insight to leadership. 

When businesses are able to combine their data, all of their business units become more productive.

What is “Bad data”?

Businesses suffer as a result of bad data. For those who are unsure about the definition of bad data, this is what we mean.

Bad data is defined as: 

• Inaccurate

• Incomplete

• Inappropriate

• Non-conforming

• And/or Duplicate.

Now, let us compute how much bad data actually costs you. Here is some information that will shock you: 

• Gartner states that organisations lose $13.3 Million yearly average on poor data.

• Cio states that 77% of companies believe they lost revenue due to issues.

• Integrate states 40% of all leads have inaccurate data. 

• SiriusDecisions states it costs $1 to prevent a duplicate, which when left untreated amounts to a $100 expense.

• MITSloan states employees waste 50% of their time coping with mundane data quality tasks.

Making the case for centralized data 

What does it really mean to “centralize” data? 

It’s a fair question, and in truth, centralized data is as much about how you collect and store data as it is about how you access it. The way your employees access data and put it all together is an important factor to consider. 

Respondents to McKinsey & Company 2019 Global Data Transformation Survey reported that an average of 30% of their total enterprise time was spent on non-value-added tasks because of poor data quality and availability.

What you need is a system that allows you to collect information from wherever it is kept and share it with teams across your business. 

Integrating data from marketing initiatives, for example, into a sales-focused CRM might help both your marketing and sales teams be more productive. 

However, if you can broaden that to include purchasing data, revenue recognition, and even inventory data, you will have a more full picture of your company, allowing you to make better business decisions. 

Being data driven means being effective

The primary function of analytics is to assist businesses in gaining important insights. 

What is the most effective technique to do this? 

Centralization. 

Centralizing data sources throughout your business helps ensure that each division has access to a shared source of verified data, allowing for higher productivity, improved collaboration, and more confident decision-making.

Data as a valuable asset

Data may create revenue and provide opportunities for growth with the right investment of time and attention. Understanding and managing corporate data may be a significant component in the discovery of meaningful insights when using data analytics.

Optimization of data analytics

The quality of accessible data has a direct impact on data analysis. By moving to a consolidated data source, you can ensure that all business decisions are based on the same set of reliable data points. With verified and reliable data at your disposal, you can more quickly recognize and capitalize on market trends and developments, as well as forecast future demand.

Focus on what is important

Raw data is practically useless unless it’s cleaned and processed for analysis. If you have data spread out across multiple platforms and point to point connections, you will have to generate numerous reports. 

Whenever that happens, it’ll be challenging to see the “bigger picture".

If you're looking for a way to centralize all of your data and make it easy for your staff to access, process, and analyze, then the CommerceCore™ Merchant Operating System may be right solution for you. 

The CommerceCore™ Merchant Operating System offers a single out-of-the-box solution that links Odoo to a growing number of online store systems and marketplaces. This will avoid data duplication and offer data integrity within a single source of truth.

Contact us today if you want to learn more about how the CommerceCore™ Merchant Operating System can help grow your business.