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Experian insight for your agency
Accurate contact data helps government agencies increase constituent satisfaction and operational efficiency
In this information age, contact data is of particular importance to government agencies. However, this information is worthless if it is not accurate and complete. According to new Experian QAS® research, agencies find value in having accurate contact data, but errors are still prevalent throughout government databases. Some agencies may think this is just a standard operational challenge, but these errors can be cleaned up relatively quickly with the right tools.
Not only does contact data control a citizen’s tax rate and voting district, but contact data also dictates which services constituents may be entitled to, or whether law enforcement has the authority to issue a summons or a warrant if needed. Without an accurate way to reach citizens, government agencies are unable to supply necessary services. Further, agencies also incur wasted costs by trying to reach constituents based on inaccurate or incomplete information.
According to the new Experian QAS research, 84 percent of agencies said that they recognize data management as an essential issue and enforce it as such. In addition, 90 percent of agencies surveyed said that they have, or are currently working on, a contact data management strategy.
Despite the strong focus on data accuracy, there are still many errors within government databases. The most common errors reported in the survey were missing or incomplete data, outdated information, incorrect data and duplicate data. These issues may be occurring because of antiquated contact data management practices. Over time, information grows outdated because there are no processes in place to update data. Duplicate removal can be handled automatically with software tools, but duplicate data continues to pervade government databases.
With extensive lists of modernization tasks, it can be overwhelming for agencies to take on additional projects. However, cleaning up contact data can be simple if government agencies follow these steps:
- Understand your database
- Clean existing data
- Remove duplicate records
- Verify data during all capture processes
- Enhance and update data
Government agencies should work to incorporate data quality verification tools and practices into current modernization efforts. Ultimately, cleaning contact data will result in better constituent satisfaction and more efficient operations.
To learn more, download the Experian QAS white paper entitled Contact Data Quality Modernization for Government Agencies.