Fortune 500 Company List

Data Quality: Fortune 500 Companies Underlying Issue

Bethlehem, PA (PRWEB) August 10, 2011

There are bigger issues for Fortune 500 companies to be concerned about than trying to rank themselves higher than Walmart, who has held the top position on the annual list for the last 2 years. There’s an ever growing concern about the quality of one’s data, whether it deals with inventory, catalogs or standard forms. More and more companies are beginning to realize they can cut costs and save time by having “quality” data, which is why ECCMA chose to host a 2 day summit about data quality solutions and the benefits to using ISO 8000.

ECCMA, the project leader for ISO 8000, is holding its 12th Annual Data Quality Solutions Summit at the Chateau Resort and Conference Center in Tannersville, Pennsylvania (also known as the Poconos) from October 25th through the 27th. The summit is focused on the practical implementation of ISO 8000 to improve the quality of data. Seasoned experts and newcomers from across all industries will meet at the summit to share challenges and opportunities in managing data quality.

The new standard, ISO 8000; defines the characteristics of quality as they are applied to data and identifies how the quality of data can be objectively measured. Unlike many published books on data quality, the standard represents the consensus of international experts who have been in this field for 20+ years.

By adopting this standard, Fortune 500 companies can reduce the amount of time locating an item, staffing individuals who spend countless hours figuring out why there are 5,000 Wind Turbines instead of 5,000 Steam Turbines in their inventory and now need to get that order out for more steam turbines and figure out what they’re going to do with all those wind turbines. The definition of quality in ISO 9000 is “meets stated requirements” therefore you can only make a claim to “quality data” if you can compare the data to a data requirement. Stating a data requirement is not complicated, every printed or electronic form is a statement of a requirement for data. Responding to requests for data happens on a daily basis, the problem with the quality of the data often starts with the clarity of the request for data.

Commenting on the need to be able to state a data requirement, Mr. Peter R. Benson the executive director of ECCMA stated: “ISO 8000 highlights the fact that data quality is not a technical issue but a practical business concern, if the data does not meet the business requirement then it is not quality data. Making all forms and all requests for data ISO 8000 compliant is the first step towards achieving quality data.

A Guide To Picking The Right B2B Telemarketing Company

Regardless of the nature of your business, a good B2B call center should give you a couple of people to work with like an account manager to make sure your campaign runs smoothly and on-time. He / She will be your main point-of-contact for the duration of your campaign. Included in your team should be a campaign specialist or a team leader who will directly supervise your team of callers and most of all, a quality assurance analyst to make sure all the calls will be monitored for quality and that the agents calling for your campaign follow the client (that's you) specifications. You have the option of providing the list of numbers to be called or for a small fee, a good B2B call center can provide you with a list that can be generated through their own dataminer, guaranteed "fresh" or updated.

A lot of clients commonly make the mistake in assuming that once you've chosen to retain the services of a telemarketing call center, appointments or sales are automatically guaranteed. Don't fall for that mindset cause you're only setting up yourself for guaranteed failure. There are certain factors that need to be taken into consideration. For example, in an appointment setting scenario, the main responsibility of the calling agent is to make sure that appointments are set according to the specifications that you initially agreed upon. If a good portion of your call list are Fortune 500 companies and the decision maker needed in order for that specific appointment to be qualified is a CEO, CFO, COO or any C-level executive for that matter, then don't expect that you'll be going to any appointments. The chances of getting a hold of decision makers of that level in a highly structured company are slim and none. You need to be realistic in this aspect. Remember, an appointment or any sale for that matter, is only as good as the specifications you'll be providing, so it's very important to work closely with your account manager during the first few weeks of operation until you've managed to iron out the kinks. A "fire-and-forget" attitude to running a campaign just isn't recommended.

Another thing you should be looking for in a good B2B call center are the accomplishments and awards they've received over the years. Having those in the trophy case or award case of any call center only means that your business will be in good hands. You could also ask for references from the call center you intend to work with just to make sure if they've worked with other industries similar to your business. Nothing beats a good reputation coming straight from the mouth of people they've worked with or currently working with. Although sometimes, it does happen that the B2B call center may not be at liberty to give out those references as some of their clients might have a confidentiality agreement. Don't take it personally.

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