“It’s difficult to integrate data into any system unless you have a process in place to standardize that data and share it across systems in an organized way,” Mueller said. “If you just feed raw data into a system like a CRM without a process to cleanse, structure and connect that data, it’s very difficult to use the data to make any decisions. In fact, it may make the task more difficult because you can get conflicting data.”
Identifying and fixing duplicate records is often a time-intensive process. And many data integrations rely on manual imports of spreadsheets, which is a process prone to error, according to Adam Hecht, director of product management at CRM firm Boostr.
Another issue that makes it difficult for organizations to get the most out of their CRM data is that different departments in the organization may use different platforms to house this data.
“In order to truly maximize how a CRM is used, it has to be connected to other systems across the company so businesses are getting a complete picture of the customer,” Mueller said.
To ease these kinds of problems, marketers are trying to centralize their data.
In a February 2018 study by Winterberry Group, Data & Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau of 113 North American marketers, publishers and tech developers, about half of respondents said that centralizing ownership of data would be one of the most important changes their organization could make to get value out of their data.
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