It’s human nature to procrastinate. If given the choice of doing something uncomfortable and unfamiliar most of us would rather put it off.

Procrastination
–verb
1. to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.

We see this all the time in business. I can think of one company right now who has procrastinated for 5 years over one data quality project. They know they need to do it. It is strategic, there is no getting around it, they have no choice. To align their business and reap the benefits of a unified services and IT architecture they must move forward.

But they can’t.

They delay and create excuses for why it’s not the right time.

The problem is that it isn’t really a “they” kind of problem. These things generally come down to one person. Sure, in my example above, there are whole steering committees and panels who are procrastinating en masse but ultimately the decision to take action rests with one person.

This is a perennial problem for data quality.

For most companies, particularly those low down on the maturity scale, data quality is uncomfortable and unfamiliar for those who need to make the decision to act. New ways of thinking to learn, new methods to adopt, new software to buy, new skills to teach. All to protect an asset most people assumed was already being effectively managed. So the decision to move forward is a tough one, particularly when it can be easily put off. Serial procrastination soon follows.

But if we take a look at the definition of procrastination at the start of this post we’ll see why taking action is the right decision.

Without action, there is no opportunity.

Back to my case study organisation. Each day, each week, each year they defer the decision to act on data quality they lose more and more opportunities. The opportunity to automate new services that their customers demand. The opportunity to cut capital costs and streamline their workforce. The opportunity to regain the competitive advantage they once possessed.

If you have business critical data that lacks sound data governance and robust data quality controls then things are not suddenly going to get better. The data isn’t going to magically improve itself. The staff are not suddenly going to create a culture of data quality overnight. It will only get worse.

The longer you defer, delay and procrastinate, the harder it will become to regain control. The hole is only going to get deeper.

And when you do make the decision to tackle data quality, you will inevitably make mistakes. People will dig their heels in and fight you all the way. There are no silver bullets. It can be a long, thankless task.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t the right option for you to take.