2008 could well be the year where data quality will be the next big thing. As more and more companies use data for all sorts of applications, it will be more and more important to make sure this data is of good quality.
Data Quality expert Larry English has claimed data quality is the second biggest threat to human kind, after global warming. Even with this bold statement he makes some good arguments, like:
“Poor Quality Information as a Threat to Humankind
The second most serious threat facing the world today is the costs and losses caused by poor quality information. Up to 96,000 U.S. hospital patients die each year as a result of preventable medical error (wrong patient, wrong procedure, wrong site, wrong medication or dosage, etc.). Additionally, many airline crashes have information quality problems as a contributing cause (recently, a plane crashed after taking off on the wrong runway).
The second most serious threat facing the world today is the costs and losses caused by poor quality information. Up to 96,000 U.S. hospital patients die each year as a result of preventable medical error (wrong patient, wrong procedure, wrong site, wrong medication or dosage, etc.). Additionally, many airline crashes have information quality problems as a contributing cause (recently, a plane crashed after taking off on the wrong runway).
The costs of consumer goods are from 5 to 10 percent higher than they should be in most organizations because of the added costs of process failure and recovery and “information scrap and rework” as the result of poor quality information. “
In last weeks NY Times coverstory:data quality problems threaten this year’s presidential election process.
Eligible voters are being rejected because data doesn’t match other government databases such as social security and motor vehicle administration records.
So you see data quality issues arise everywhere nowadays, and i think it will happens more and more till the market responds with some tools and or toolsets.