The importance of data deduplication

One of the most common and challenging data quality problems that organisations face is the identification of duplicate records – ie the redundant representations of the same information within and across systems throughout the enterprise. Research indicates that up to 5% of the average database is made up of duplicate records. Finding these data duplicates can help you improve basic customer interactions and communications and also help manage risk.



Preventing the entry of duplicate records into your database in the first place is key to maintaining data quality. Deduplication can be done as a preventative measure at point of data capture, and also retrospectively to prevent duplicate records existing in or entering your database.



By realising the requirement to dedupe your records, you understand the importance of identifying survivor records. Creating a set of business rules to define duplicate records is a fundamental part of data management, as is actually appreciating the potential problems caused by having duplicate records in your database. Recognising the strategy and objectives of any deduplication programme will improve buy-in across your organisation, and ensure a culture that understands the fact that duplicates can and probably do exist in your database. Hopefully, the fact that you will need to approach this issue to have a better, more reflective view of the people you are targeting in your every day communications should become evident across your organisation as well.

By imparting data deduplication practices and by linking records, identifying existing duplicates and adding those preventative measures, you can realise the potential gained from moving towards a single customer view.



It’s important to understand that identifying and removing duplicate data is just as much about art and philosophy as it is about science and technology. Data matching or deduplication efforts will require to be set up with the understanding of the return of investment that could be achieved when doing so.



The financial benefits of having a single view of your data via deduplication efforts is obvious. Marketing costs are reduced from avoiding multiple mailings, better informed business decisions can be made when based on reliable and accurate data. PR and brand perception can be improved from avoiding these potential duplicate mailings, whilst some seek the mere environmentally advantageous benefits by reducing mailings sent multiple times.



It is also very important to realise the potential benefits that can be had on the back of data deduplication activities. Improved quality of information, business processes, and time and efficiency savings are just a few of the benefits of using this particular practice.



The author of this article is a part of a digital blogging team who work with brands like Experian. The content contained in this article is for information purposes only and should not be used to make any financial decisions.