A couple weeks ago, I was in a meeting and someone said something that really resonated with me, “Our data has grown somewhat organically”.

I love that statement, because it’s true of every organization regardless of size. Data really is organic. Not in the chemical sense, nor the the marketing sense (as in the "organic" section of your local grocery store), but in how it behaves. Data usually starts small, but it grows. It doesn't just grow in volume, but in scope, and in different directions. Data is like a tree in your yard. If it is taken care of, it will be healthy and strong. But it can also grow in ways that are not useful, like a hedge taking over a sidewalk, or a large branch of your favourite tree that threatens your house whenever the wind blows.

I received an email the other day. It was carefully crafted, and was obviously intended to sound like it was written especially to me. It lost me, however, in the first two words: "Dear Tannis00". Dirty Data lost the sale.

When it comes right down to it, data is an asset. It has value just like a chair or a desk. If you caught an employee sawing off the corner of his desk because he kept bumping into it, you would be upset. Cutting corners with Data is no different.