Implement best practices for ensuring robust Customer Data Quality in Africa outlined in our guide.

Unlocking the Value of Data Integrity at the 7th Annual GIS Conference in Johannesburg

In May, I had the honour of presenting a thought-provoking paper at the prestigious 7th Annual GIS Conference in Johannesburg. Although I am not a GIS professional like most of the other speakers, my talk focused on a vital aspect that impacts every business – the value and challenges of bridging the gap between spatial data, typically used by the GIS team, and relational data, which is essential for IT and most business users.

“Meeting Your Customers Where They Live”

For my presentation, I chose the theme “Meeting Your Customers Where They Live,” which revolves around leveraging GIS to enhance customer experience. One of the key applications of big data analytics is to analyze customer behaviour and identify interactions that lead to purchases. My premise was straightforward yet profound – to elevate our customers’ experience, we must empower them to engage with us at their preferred time and location.

Leveraging Geocoding for Enhanced Services

To achieve this, I proposed an innovative approach of translating the address information of our customers into GPS coordinates through geocoding. By doing so, we can compare these coordinates with our business’s physical presence, significantly increasing the likelihood that customers will choose our services over those of less conveniently located competitors.

This data-driven approach also has additional benefits, including strategic planning insights. For example, by analyzing location data, we can identify areas where our target market does not reside, enabling us to avoid unnecessary infrastructure investments.

For example, where should we place a new branch or a new hospital, or where should we prioritise the rollout of our 5G network or fibre lines?

The Crucial Role of Data Quality in Location Intelligence

However, to make these informed decisions, it is imperative to enhance the quality of location data available to organizations. Ambiguity resulting from missing or inaccurate address data can make it challenging to accurately identify unique addresses and assign geocoded.

Most of us are familiar with Google Maps.

Google Maps identifies missing, or inaccurate information and prompts us to resolve the ambiguity. If, for example, we type “Smth Street, Johannesburg” into Google search it will ask if we meant “Smith Street”, or “Smit Street” and allow us to improve our search.

To automatically enhance our corporate address data, running into millions or tens of millions of address records we need to reduce this ambiguity in order to get reasonable results. We must correct obvious errors and, where possible, add missing information. In South Africa, we must select one variation of a place name to simplify matching to a suitable reference data set.

To overcome this challenge, organizations need to embark on a process I refer to as “Bridging the Gap.”

By automatically enhancing our corporate address data, even when dealing with millions or tens of millions of address records, we can reduce ambiguity and obtain meaningful results. This process involves correcting obvious errors and supplementing missing information. Additionally, standardizing on one variation of a place name within South Africa simplifies matching with a suitable reference data set.

Some of the complexities of improving South African address data quality were covered in my recent post.

Enabling Seamless Customer Experiences

The quality of location data directly impacts our ability to meet customers where they live. By prioritizing data integrity and implementing efficient geocoding techniques, businesses can elevate their customer experiences to new heights. Ensuring our customers can conveniently access our services enhances customer loyalty and boosts our competitive advantage.

Gain a deeper understanding of customer segmentation and why data quality is crucial for effective targeting in our case study.

Joining the Journey to Improved Data Quality

At Master Data Management, we understand the significance of data quality and its transformative impact on customer experiences. We are committed to providing state-of-the-art solutions to unlock the value of your enterprise information asset.

With our expertise in Data Quality, Data Governance, Big Data, and Master Data Management, we empower businesses to excel in today’s data-driven world.