The 7 Signs of a Data Meltdown

Exhausted by the prospect of accessing and correlating all the data coming at you from disparate systems? Feeling like you can’t find the right focus in your marketing campaigns? You are not alone. These symptoms plague the thousands of marketing operations professionals at work all over the world who are fighting a losing battle with organizational data. Here are the seven signs that indicate you could be on the verge of a data meltdown:

• Poor Data Quality: If you can’t make sense of the information you’re collecting, you’re likely not getting the data accuracy you need to present the right metrics.
• Can’t Take In All the Data: Data overload is a common complaint in marketing operations. Failing to reconcile different data sources can lead to mismatches of fact and misinterpretation of what the data actually means.
• Not Enough Data: It’s not uncommon to find it difficult to segment on data in ways that are needed—you just simply haven’t got enough sources or context to make sense of the data in front of you.
• Inflexible Reports: Perhaps you believe your reports are already perfect but you find yourself frequently getting into arguments with users who are fed up with you churning out the same format month after month. If people are asking for too many new reports and you can’t keep pace, then your reporting tool could be to blame.
• Poor Feedback Cycles: You’re constantly running around having to update data or create ad hoc lists, views and reports to share out with various stakeholders. This
is the fastest route to a serous data meltdown.
• Stale Data: Effective marketing decisions are made with fresh, real-time data. It’s never a good sign when your A/B testing tells you that A is better than B after the campaign is already over.
• Arms-Length It: Many marketing operations teams find they’re cut off from the IT resources they need to get things done due to blocked request and unsightly data flows.

Luckily, there is a new tool that can prevent data meltdowns before they happen: Progress Easyl. For those of you attending SiriusDecisions Summit 2014 this week, stop by booth 51 to learn how Easyl helps sales and marketing teams use integration and data sharing to assemble meaningful reports to help them achieve their numbers. You can also follow along @DataDirect_News for real-time updates from the showroom floor.