Blog 9 Employer Advice 9 Why You Should Maintain Your Data

Employer Advice | Expert Opinion

Why You Should Maintain Your Data

by | Employer Advice, Expert Opinion

The secret to perfectly maintained data 

So, you’ve paid a 3rd party a large sum of money to classify and analyse your data.  Job done.  Right?

Well, not quite.  

Your data will almost certainly be correct when you receive it, but it will only stay accurate for a short period of time. Updates and changes mean that before you know it, your once neat & tidy data sets will contain unclassified data, data that’s been incorrectly classified by your team or AI, typos, and cut & paste errors to name but a few.

How can I keep my data clean?

The secret to keeping your data clean is really a case of good housekeeping – you just need to check and maintain it on a regular basis. In the same way as giving your carpets a regular once-over with the vacuum cleaner, regularly checking in with your data makes life easier in the long run. Just like a weekly or twice weekly hoover-up, it’s a good idea to check in on your data on a monthly or quarterly basis. If you have a lot of data and a lot of inputs, you’ll need to check it more frequently. 

Perhaps you have a 3rd party supplier checking your data for you. Great idea! Make sure you spot-check your data once in a while to ensure your supplier is fulfilling their obligations. And if your team is running the checks for you, make sure you check in with their progress once in a while to make sure everyone’s on board with the same standards and cleaning the data in the same way. It’s also a good opportunity for highlighting development areas for your team. 

Does it matter if I don’t maintain my data?

I get it. You’re busy and don’t have the time or budget to regularly spot check your data. Surely leaving it well alone can’t hurt that much?

Well, let’s go back to that carpet analogy. Leaving your carpet for a week doesn’t matter. It doesn’t really matter if you leave it for a month. But the more you leave it, the worse it gets. Leave that once fresh and spotless carpet too long and by the the time you pull out your vacuum cleaner, your carpet will be beyond saving. 

It’s the same with your data. Data that’s not maintained will slowly become unusable over time. Incorrect or conflicting information will build up. AI outputs become corrupted. And because you can’t afford to use bad data, you end up spending significant time or money to fix the problem. Ouch. 

Regular data maintenance means:

  • Better data accuracy for better business decisions.
  • Avoiding a time-consuming and costly data clean-up operation (because your data won’t slowly become corrupted).
  • A better-trained and more-responsive data team. Doing a little bit of something regularly is always easier than doing a lot of it occasionally.
  • An informal opportunity to stay in touch with the work your 3rd party supplier is doing. 

Want to know more about how to successfully maintain your data? Get in touch with me at susan@theclassificationguru.com

 

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