Gartner Group
"Data quality issues have to be seen as a strategic problem and not as a technical problem. As such, the processes of managing data and software must be designed according to the needs of the users and analysts and not according to those of technical managers."
Attention to quality:
compuBase teams are organised in groups. One group coordinates the ranking for one country or a SET of countries with a similar culture. Our managers are all native speakers of the language of the country they cover. Their job is to ensure that the database is representative of the ICT economy in that country.
Our goal is to cover 85% of the IT business in a given country, i.e., the cumulative turnover of the companies ranked in our database must represent 85% of the country's total turnover in ICT.
To achieve this statistically, we have to cover between 50 and 60% of the ICT companies in each country. We aim to cover 65% of the head offices of companies with more than one person whose turnover is primarily ICT.
Training and organising teams:
85% of our data is collected by phone; the rest comes from self-profiling via Internet. However, we do not see compuBase as a huge telemarketing hub. Our role is to implement processes and methods and to ensure quality control. Just as a car is not built entirely by an auto manufacturer, not all the information in our databases is collected by compuBase. We use partners, both for simple updates and for collecting information in an area that is not within our field of expertise (e.g. financial information). However, in the final analysis, only compuBase is responsible for the quality of the information. That is, no file is included in our database until it has been validated by the quality manager for the country in question.
Managing industry dynamism:
Updating is a major factor in the cost of maintaining a database. Statistically, 70% of a company's information changes every year: 12-15% of companies disappear or merge, and 10-12% of companies move. In “stable" companies, personnel turnover is about 20-25%. As and indication, at the start of 2002 our base included more than 90,000 companies; of these, only 64,000 still exist today. In January 2006, for the same area, we had 100,000 companies, which means that from 2002-2006 we created 36,000 company profiles, including 26,000 just to replace the companies that had disappeared.
ICT is a fast-moving sector in which a company with a handful of employees can become a multinational in a few years, as big as an automotive manufacturer (Google vs. GM). The role of compuBase is to create methods to keep this data within our clients' reach.
Managing the information cycle:
Every type of information has a different shelf life. An IT company moves on average every three to five years, and a contact changes position or company every two to three years. A company's creation date remains the same, whereas the turnover has a life of one year. Likewise, in order to get an equivalent level of quality, the rate of updating for a large consulting company's profile will not be the same as for an independent consultant.
Our role is to optimise the production cycle so as to find the best balance between the update cost and the quality of the information. This role is important, since it enables us to offer content that has no equal on the market, in terms of both quality and depth, so that our clients' ROI remains worthwhile..
Optimising models:
It would be ideal if every company answered all the questions we put to them. The reality is that, for many reasons, this goal cannot be reached. In the case of turnover or turnover makeup, for example, the data can often no longer be complete, hence the use of models.
compuBase uses simulated models as part of our studies or for our ranking services. The only standardised, modelled data is the estimate of the company's turnover when this is not available. The source of this information is in this case clearly indicated to the client
"Data quality issues have to be seen as a strategic problem and not as a technical problem. As such, the processes of managing data and software must be designed according to the needs of the users and analysts and not according to those of technical managers."
Attention to quality:
compuBase teams are organised in groups. One group coordinates the ranking for one country or a SET of countries with a similar culture. Our managers are all native speakers of the language of the country they cover. Their job is to ensure that the database is representative of the ICT economy in that country.
Our goal is to cover 85% of the IT business in a given country, i.e., the cumulative turnover of the companies ranked in our database must represent 85% of the country's total turnover in ICT.
To achieve this statistically, we have to cover between 50 and 60% of the ICT companies in each country. We aim to cover 65% of the head offices of companies with more than one person whose turnover is primarily ICT.
Training and organising teams:
85% of our data is collected by phone; the rest comes from self-profiling via Internet. However, we do not see compuBase as a huge telemarketing hub. Our role is to implement processes and methods and to ensure quality control. Just as a car is not built entirely by an auto manufacturer, not all the information in our databases is collected by compuBase. We use partners, both for simple updates and for collecting information in an area that is not within our field of expertise (e.g. financial information). However, in the final analysis, only compuBase is responsible for the quality of the information. That is, no file is included in our database until it has been validated by the quality manager for the country in question.
Managing industry dynamism:
Updating is a major factor in the cost of maintaining a database. Statistically, 70% of a company's information changes every year: 12-15% of companies disappear or merge, and 10-12% of companies move. In “stable" companies, personnel turnover is about 20-25%. As and indication, at the start of 2002 our base included more than 90,000 companies; of these, only 64,000 still exist today. In January 2006, for the same area, we had 100,000 companies, which means that from 2002-2006 we created 36,000 company profiles, including 26,000 just to replace the companies that had disappeared.
ICT is a fast-moving sector in which a company with a handful of employees can become a multinational in a few years, as big as an automotive manufacturer (Google vs. GM). The role of compuBase is to create methods to keep this data within our clients' reach.
Managing the information cycle:
Every type of information has a different shelf life. An IT company moves on average every three to five years, and a contact changes position or company every two to three years. A company's creation date remains the same, whereas the turnover has a life of one year. Likewise, in order to get an equivalent level of quality, the rate of updating for a large consulting company's profile will not be the same as for an independent consultant.
Our role is to optimise the production cycle so as to find the best balance between the update cost and the quality of the information. This role is important, since it enables us to offer content that has no equal on the market, in terms of both quality and depth, so that our clients' ROI remains worthwhile..
Optimising models:
It would be ideal if every company answered all the questions we put to them. The reality is that, for many reasons, this goal cannot be reached. In the case of turnover or turnover makeup, for example, the data can often no longer be complete, hence the use of models.
compuBase uses simulated models as part of our studies or for our ranking services. The only standardised, modelled data is the estimate of the company's turnover when this is not available. The source of this information is in this case clearly indicated to the client