In today’s world, data is more valuable than ever, yet chances are your data isn’t as good as you think it is. With over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data generated every day, the sheer volume of data businesses handle is staggering. But here's the catch: bad data can ruin even the best strategies. In fact, tools like CRM systems are only as powerful as the data fed into them—if you input garbage, you’ll get garbage results. That’s why getting your CRM data right from the start is crucial for any business aiming to maximize its data analytics and reporting.

Why Big Companies Fail: The Cost of Bad Data

You’d be surprised how many large companies overlook the importance of clean, reliable data. Nearly 80% of companies admit that a significant portion of their data is unstructured, coming from sources like social media, emails, and videos. This makes managing and analyzing data a bigger challenge than ever. And it's not just about volume— 61% of companies say the growing mountain of data is limiting their ability to fully harness its potential.

When data is incomplete, inaccurate, or difficult to move between systems, your business suffers. A CRM system, which is meant to make your business smarter, can easily become a liability if the data you feed into it isn’t reliable. 

Companies often face delays in analytics projects due to data being unavailable in the right format. Worse still, 8 out of 10 companies had to rework analytics projects because of poor data quality. And yet, 49% of executives believe their current data solutions aren’t flexible enough to address these problems. It’s a data crisis that impacts performance and costs big time. In 2018, FIS, a leading fintech provider, faced a $30 million setback and had to restate three years of financial statements due to a major accounting error in its reconciliation process.

In this article, we'll explore why data accuracy, security, flexibility, and portability are essential to CRM success—and how to avoid common pitfalls that many businesses face.

Data Accuracy: The Bedrock of Reliable Insights

The phrase "garbage in, garbage out" perfectly captures why data accuracy is critical. A CRM is only as good as the data fed into it. Imagine trying to analyze sales performance when 20% of your data is missing, or half of your contact database includes outdated or incorrect information. Accurate data enables you to:

1. Understand customer behavior in real time.

2. Improve sales forecasting by making sense of historical trends.

3. Segment customers more effectively for targeted campaigns.

4. Drive automation based on reliable customer information.

To maintain data accuracy, your CRM should be set up to:

• Validate inputs at the source to ensure data is correct before being stored.
• Regularly audit existing data to clean up duplicates, inconsistencies, or outdated records.
• Standardize data formats so that everything from names to email addresses is captured uniformly.

Security: Safeguarding Your Most Valuable Asset

The more data you collect, the greater your responsibility to protect it. This is especially true for CRM systems, which often hold sensitive customer data, from contact information to purchasing history. Data security is not just about protecting your business; it’s also about maintaining customer trust. Nearly 7 out of 10 C-suite executives cite security and risk management as their top concerns in relation to big data. In 2019, Capital One experienced a data error that exposed personal information of around 100 million individuals in the U.S. and Canada, leading to estimated direct costs of $100-150 million associated with the incident.

But protecting data isn’t just about preventing cyberattacks; it’s about ensuring role-based access so only authorized personnel can view or modify specific types of data. A well-structured CRM will:

• Encrypt sensitive information both at rest and in transit.
• Implement access controls based on roles and permissions.
• Keep logs of all data modifications for audit trails and accountability.

Without these safeguards, you risk more than just a data breach—you risk the collapse of customer confidence and long-term business losses.

Flexibility and Usability: Making Your CRM Work for You

Every business is unique, and so are its data needs. Your CRM system should not be a one-size-fits-all solution. It needs to be flexible enough to adapt to your specific workflows and data structures. This flexibility often comes in the form of:

• Customizable data fields that allow you to track metrics unique to your business.
• Integrations with other systems, from email marketing platforms to customer support software.
• Automation capabilities that streamline repetitive tasks based on customer behaviors.

But flexibility is useless if your team can’t use the system effectively. A user-friendly interface ensures that employees across departments can input, retrieve, and analyze data without friction or error. Citi Bank's biggest mistake in digital banking history was a UX blunder that cost the company $500 million. The more accessible the CRM is, the more likely your team will use it, leading to higher data quality and better insights.

Data Portability: Moving Data Between Systems

In today's cloud-based world, data portability is essential. As your company evolves, you might need to transfer data between different CRM systems or export it for analysis in external tools. This can be a significant challenge, especially when data formats are incompatible or fragmented across multiple systems.

For instance, many businesses collect data from various sources— websites, social media, emails, and more. Integrating this data into a single CRM system is complex, but it's crucial for a unified view of your customer base. Portability between systems ensures that:

• Data silos are eliminated, providing a comprehensive view of customer interactions.
• You can migrate data to new systems as your company scales or as technology evolves.
• External analytics tools seamlessly access CRM data, enriching your reporting capabilities.

Failing to prioritize data portability results in cumbersome migrations and lost insights. In fact, 80% of IT decision-makers report delays in analytics projects due to data not being available in the required format. Making sure your CRM allows for smooth data transfers is crucial to keeping operations agile.

How to Ensure Clean, Secure, and Usable Data in Your CRM

So how do you get it right? Implementing a successful CRM requires more than just selecting a software package. It requires a strategy focused on data quality at every step. Here are the key pillars:

• Data Accuracy: Implement validation checks at data entry points and set up regular audits to clean up old or incorrect information.
• Data Security: Secure your CRM with encryption, access controls, and audit trails to protect sensitive information and ensure compliance with regulations.
• Flexibility: Customize your CRM fields and automation workflows to match your business needs, ensuring the system grows with you.
• Usability: Ensure the interface is intuitive and accessible to everyone in the organization to promote widespread adoption.
• Portability: Make sure your CRM allows for easy data migration and integration with external tools, avoiding bottlenecks in your analytics processes.

The Samhar CRM Difference: Data Integrity at Its Core

At Samhar CRM, we believe that data integrity is the key to CRM success.  Our mission is to help businesses make data-driven decisions with confidence. When you partner with us, you’re not just getting a CRM setup; you’re ensuring long-term data integrity and the ability to scale as your business grows. Here’s what sets us apart:

• Data Accuracy: We help you implement the best practices for data validation and auditing to ensure your CRM is always operating with the most reliable information.
• Security: We employ advanced encryption, access control, and compliance features to protect sensitive customer data and ensure peace of mind.
• Flexibility: Our CRM implementations are tailored to meet your unique business needs, allowing for customization and integration with various tools.
• Portability: We ensure your data flows seamlessly between different platforms, making migrations and integrations effortless.

Ready to get your CRM data right? Contact Samhar CRM today to learn how we can help you build a system that drives efficiency, insights, and growth.