Improving Data Warehouse and Business Information Quality: Methods for Reducing Costs and Increasing Profits

CHAPTER 14

Epilogue: Reaping the Benefits of Quality Information

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

–CHINESE PROVERB

If you are reading this, you have either read through this book and are already benefiting from improved information quality, or you have been skimming the book to put it into perspective. I leave you with some thoughts.

You Get There by Beginning

There is no finish to a race not begun; but the real reward is not in “finishing,” but in improving and achieving results. The plain truth is, you will never finish. Even organizations reaching the highest stage of maturity cannot stop, because they become the “target.”

When the road looks tough, keep reminding yourself of the following:

Information quality is a journey, not a destination. While the task looks huge, and the challenges great, you will never reap the tremendous benefits without getting started. Do something; do anything! Sitting back in the complacency of the status quo will only allow the information quality crisis to get worse, costing more than if you start now.

Improvement does not just happen—someone must take the initiative. Every event or initiative that led to changing the course of history was started by someone who dared to challenge the status quo. Never before has it been more important to challenge the status quo of current information (mis)management practices in business and government. The waste that occurs as a result of nonquality information squanders valuable ...