Death by Data: How much data is too much?

Jenna Trott

5 min read | OCTOBER 14, 2022

Agent-and-Broker-Experience

Spooky season is here, that means getting frightened by ghosts, goblins and things that go bump in the night. But in reality, there’s really not much that’s scarier than a system flooded with too much data. Why? It can wreak havoc on your business, slow down productivity and even cost you scores of money in errors resulting from inaccurate reporting. And with connected devices projecting to be more than three times the global population by 2023, it’s now easier than ever to collect information. So, how much data is too much data? Here are four signs your business may be collecting too much!

1. Your Business Productivity Has Gone Down

Having too much data can affect your business’s productivity in almost every department, but particularly so for those working in sales. A large percentage of a salesperson’s job is researching a prospecting customer or client which relies on having the right information readily available. However, when a business has too much data, searching for the most useful information can easily turn a task that should take a few minutes into one that takes hours. In a 2018 study that surveyed 1,000 full-time employees from the US about their experience with data manipulation, 49% of employees had difficulty locating documents, 41% found it time consuming to find necessary data on sales, and on average, employees spent 1.8 hours per day searching for and gathering information. And for data analysts? It’s even worse! Forrester research finds that nearly one-third of data analysts waste more than 40% of their work day vetting data before it can be used for strategic decision-making.This creates a significant problem for employees, where trying to pull out the most valuable data is like throwing a net into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and hoping to pull out a fish.

2. Key Decision Making Has Slowed

Your data should tell a story. Picture this: your friend is telling you a story but there’s too many details, names of places, people, things that they did, clothes they were wearing, and statements people said. By the end of it, you’re not actually sure what the story was about. This is what happens when your system is housing far more information than is truly needed; following one piece of data to the next and the next until you’re not really sure what it is you were looking for or why in the first place. Having too much information can cloud judgment, leading to a lack of confidence in decision making, slower response times, and ultimately – missed opportunities. Tracking accurate customer behaviors, interests and trends is essential, if you’re using too much, you run the risk of ineffective data leading to ineffective business strategies.

3. You’re Making Unexpected Expenses

As a result of lower productivity, poor decision making, and system failures due to the inability to house so much data, businesses tend to compensate by spending more money to fix these issues. And the financial implications of too much bad data? According to a survey conducted by Gartner, it can cost the average organization around $15 million per year in losses. Bad data equals bad business; it really is that simple.

4. Data Security Is Compromised

When your business has gotten to a point where there is so much data it’s become unmanageable, it poses a serious threat for confidentiality concerns. This is particularly true for businesses that deal with highly sensitive data, like financial service institutions. In this case, getting the data wrong can cost more than money, it can cost you your entire reputation and ultimately your business. Clients and customers want to work with businesses they trust, and if your consistently getting it wrong, the effects can be irreversible. One positive review goes unnoticed, but one bad one spreads faster than wildfire.

Research conducted by IDC estimates that the volume of data created over the next three years will amount to more than all the data created over the past 30 years. You shouldn’t be collecting data just because you can.

Clean Up Your Data with Salesforce

If you’re drowning in data, it might be time to consider Salesforce’s CRM Analytics solution. There are so many amazing features and capabilities that CRM Analytics can provide for your org, but here are some of the core ones:

Salesforce Powered

CRM Analytics is 100% native to Salesforce, thus your data can be interwoven into every decision taken on the Salesforce instance without disrupting your workflow.

Advanced AI

Before CRM Analytics was called Tableau CRM, it was actually Einstein Analytics…so naturally it possesses superior AI capabilities. More than just an algorithm, CRM Analytics’ AI is driven by practical applications so you can uncover not only the “why” behind your data, but also how to improve business performance to better reach your goals.

Data Management

Easily prep and clean data with clicks not code so that you’re sure the information you’re seeing is the information you can trust.

Total Flexibility

Explore and play with your data. From where it comes from, to where it lives, who gets access to it and how it’s visualized, CRM Analytics can be tailored to your specific needs.

Collaborate

Work better, together. Generate new ideas and opportunities around data to propel your business forward. Sharing insights across channels is not only secure but scalable.

Looking to get started with Salesforce but not sure where to start? Let’s talk! Access Global Group is your premier Salesforce Consulting Services & Managed Services experts. With over 15 years in the industry, Access Global Group has become Summit-Level partners with 5-star ratings on G2 and the Salesforce AppExchange. AGG has over 250 Salesforce certifications and have successfully completed 500 Salesforce integrations and over 1,500 Salesforce projects throughout five different countries.

Get the latest Salesforce news

Subscribe to get the latest Salesforce blogs, guides, industry reports, events, and all things Salesforce related!

FREE Salesforce Assessment!

To demonstrate confidence in our ability as Salesforce Partners, we’re offering you the a FREE Salesforce Organizational Assessment.
 
Schedule Today!

 

Salesforce
PLATINUM
PARTNER

Salesforce
APPEXCHANGE
star-blue-Acsgbl

G2
USER REVIEWS
star-blue-Acsgbl

Services
N
Implementation
N
Optimization
N
Integration
N
Managed Services
N
AI & Data
APPEXCHANGE PRODUCTS
N
Access Commissions
Customized commission plans to best suit organizational goals
N
Access QuickBooks
The seamless connection between Salesforce and QuickBooks
N
Access Docs
Premier document generation tool for streamlining work processes
N
Access Payments
Complete control over processing payments in Salesforce

Industries

N
Banking
N
Insurance
N
Mortgage & Lending
N
Wealth Management
N
Public Sector
PRODUCT EXPERTISE
Financial Services Cloud
Sales Cloud
Marketing Cloud
Experience Cloud
Data Cloud
Service Cloud
Tableau
Lightning
Einstein AI
Mulesoft
Pardot
Commerce Cloud

Resources

N
Blog
N
Customer Stories
N
Datasheets
N
Demos
N
Webinars

Company

N
About Us
N
Access Global Group is your go-to for Salesforce solutions

Careers We're Hiring!

We’re hiring, check out our opening roles