The Critical Role of Data Freshness in Business Decision-Making in 2024

Ever been in a meeting where the numbers just didn't add up? You're not alone. Studies show that up to 66% of business professionals use outdated or inaccurate data. When the stats don't match, it can lead to confusion, wasted time, and poor decisions.

In fact, research reveals that businesses lose an estimated 30% of revenue each year due to poor data quality. That's a significant hit to the bottom line. So, ensuring data freshness isn't just about staying current; it's about protecting profits and driving success.

Here at OWOX, making data-informed decisions is a way of life. We use data to both measure and inform all of our actions. 

It is integrated into our DNA. That is why Ievgen unpacks what data freshness is and how suitable data freshness can help your organization make faster and more informed decisions. You can either watch the video above or read the extended article below.

In this article, we'll break down how having fresh data impacts decision-making, customer satisfaction, efficiency, forecasting, and time to market. We'll also discuss what factors affect data freshness and share 7 easy-to-understand metrics to measure it.

Data freshness means how new and helpful information is at this moment. In other words, it's about how long ago the data was collected compared to today.

If you're tracking website traffic, fresh data would show you real-time visitor numbers, while stale data might be from last week, making it less useful for making immediate decisions. That's why monitoring data quality is important to ensure that the information remains accurate and up-to-date over time.

Here are some compelling reasons for keeping data fresh:

Immediate insights from fresh data empower decision-makers with the most relevant information, giving them a competitive edge over companies that might be working with outdated data.

With fresh data, companies can see what products are selling well in each store as sales happen. If a product suddenly becomes popular, they can quickly restock it to meet demand and avoid running out. This helps them make more money and keep customers happy.

Speaking about customers, fresh data lets businesses personalize their offerings, making customers feel understood and valued. For instance, if you've recently browsed for running shoes on a retail website, the system can use that information in real time to suggest similar products or related accessories during your next visit.

This tailored approach not only saves customers' time by presenting relevant options upfront but also improves their shopping experience by demonstrating that the retailer understands their preferences.

Fresh data keeps operations running smoothly. Imagine you're managing a warehouse. With fresh data, you can see what products are moving quickly and what inventory levels are like. This helps you see if you have enough stock to meet demand without overstocking, which can tie up resources and lead to waste.

It also helps you spot any issues, like delays in shipments or bottlenecks in the distribution process, so you can address them quickly and keep everything running.

Predictive forecasting and trend insights are critical for businesses to stay ahead of the curve. With fresh data, companies can analyze market trends and predict future demands more accurately.

A retailer can use sales data to anticipate which products will be in high demand during certain seasons or events.

Thus, businesses can adapt faster to changing market conditions and customer preferences.

With up-to-date information, companies make decisions and launch their offerings more quickly. If they see a new trend emerging, they can adjust their plans right away without waiting for old data.

This agility lets them stay ahead of the competition and take advantage of opportunities sooner.

Keeping products and services at high quality is important. Data quality helps with this by giving accurate information for testing and monitoring quality during production and delivery. If there's a problem, a company can use real-time data to fix it quickly.

Fresh data is also important for planning. By looking at what's happening in the market right now, companies can make better decisions about what to do next. A store can use fresh data to see what customers want and change their products or promotions to match.

The freshness of data depends on a few things. Here's a quick look:

Data directly from customers is typically the freshest because it's firsthand information provided by the people using the products or services. This can include:

• customer feedback
• online surveys
• purchase history
• website interactions
• social media engagement
• customer support interactions

How often data is collected affects its freshness. It's important to remember that different employees might need data at different frequencies. Some might need updates all the time, while others can work with less frequent updates. Adjusting the collection frequency to fit everyone's needs ensures that everyone has the information they need when they need it.

However, it's not just about collecting data; you also need to blend, merge, and organize it for reporting. This step is essential for making decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information. Only by properly handling and preparing the data can organizations make sure they're ready to make smart choices and succeed in a changing environment.

Consider these factors when collecting and using data to base your decisions on the most current and relevant information.

Knowing how to measure data freshness is required if you want to keep information accurate and relevant, as well as overcome common data quality issues.

Let's look at 7 key ways to measure data freshness effectively:

• Choose how often to collect. Figure out how often different people need data and collect it accordingly, balancing speed with efficiency.
• Use automation. Set up systems to collect data automatically at regular intervals.
• Keep an eye on patterns. Watch for changes in data patterns over time to spot trends and adjust collection frequency as needed.

• Check data processing. Look at how efficiently data is processed to reduce delays and get fresh data faster.
• Use faster methods. Try processing data in parallel or compressing it to speed things up and get fresh data sooner.
• Review system performance. Regularly check how well data processing systems are working to find and fix any slowdowns.

• Use events to trigger data. Set up systems that react in real-time when certain conditions are met, ensuring data stays fresh.
• Integrate live data. Use tools that bring data together from different sources immediately, so you always have the latest information.
• Keep an eye on pipeline health. Monitor real-time data pipelines to catch and fix any problems quickly.

• Define what's relevant. Decide what makes data useful based on how fresh and accurate it is and how it fits your goals.
• Control data quality. Build checks into data systems to catch and fix any issues before data gets stale.
• Check data sources. Regularly review where data comes from to make sure it's still useful and reliable.

• Set freshness targets. Decide how fresh data needs to be based on what you use it for, so you know when it's not fresh enough.
• Watch data age. Keep track of how old data is to see if it's still fresh enough for what you need.
• Predict future needs. Use past data trends to plan and make sure you're collecting data at the right times.

• Monitor data. Use tools to watch data freshness in real time and catch any issues as soon as they come up.
• Get alerts. Set up alerts to let you know right away if data isn't fresh enough or if there's a problem.
• Review regularly. Look over your systems often to make sure they're still working well and update them as needed.

• Understand your industry. Learn about what makes your industry unique and how that affects what fresh data looks like for you.
• Talk to experts. Get input from people who know your industry well to make sure you're measuring data freshness in the right way.
• Stay up to date. Keep an eye on any rules or standards that affect how fresh your data needs to be and make sure you're following them.

Companies often face challenges when dealing with data, leading to common problems such as outdated information in reports, discrepancies in metrics during meetings, and uncertainty in decision-making due to stale data.

⚠️ Problem: Data, like campaign stats in Facebook Ads and Google Ads typically changes after a few days. This can lead to problems in reports and analysis if not updated quickly.

✅ Solution: Automated Data Collection with OWOX BI Pipelines. This tool automatically checks and refreshes data for past periods, ensuring that reports are always up-to-date and accurate.

⚠️ Problem: Reports become useless if not updated frequently due to varying update times from different data sources, which can also increase costs if updated more frequently.

✅ Solution: Use OWOX BI Transformations dependency triggers to update reports exactly when data arrives and ready to be prepared for reporting and not overspend budgets and resources on data processing.

⚠️ Problem: Manually exporting reports to Google Sheets (that’s the most common tool to “play around” with reports) takes too much time and doesn't ensure reports stay up-to-date.

✅ Solution: Automate reports data export from Google BigQuery to Google Sheets using OWOX BI BigQuery Reports Extension, ensuring reports are regularly updated without manual effort.

⚠️ Problem: Managers often need the latest data before meetings but can't access corporate data in tools like Google BigQuery directly (either due to tech complexity, or to internal access policies).

✅ Solution: With OWOX BI, managers can access real-time reports on time through a corporate service account, ensuring they're prepared for meetings with the latest information.

It's worth mentioning that stale data issues can have different reasons, but with OWOX BI, we effectively tackle these challenges. More details on these solutions will be discussed in future articles.

In the past, companies often ensured data freshness through manual processes, periodic updates, and limited data sources. However, these methods are becoming outdated in modern business due to the increasing volume, variety, and velocity of data.

As companies strive to stay competitive, they require more efficient and automated approaches to ensure data freshness. Let's take a look at the 6 methods to maintain data freshness.

• Use automation for data extraction to save time.
• Check data regularly after extraction to catch any errors.
• Make sure data is accurate and reliable during the loading process.

• Standardize data formats across sources for consistency to prepare it for marketing analysis.
• Cleanse data by removing duplicates and errors.
• Transform data quickly to reduce delays.

• Set regular intervals or dependency triggers for data refresh based on need.
• Automate scheduling to save time and ensure consistency.
• Monitor performance to spot and fix any issues.

• Use streaming data for instant updates.
• Capture gradual changes in data sources quickly.

• Use alerts to notify of any freshness issues.
• Keep an eye on key freshness metrics.
• Audit data processes regularly to find areas for improvement.

• Make sure the data strategy aligns with business goals.
• Focus on keeping critical data sources fresh.
• Stay flexible to adapt to changing needs and technology.

Today, the use of fresh data has changed a lot compared to a decade ago. With the explosion of data and the need for instant insights, businesses in various sectors are now relying on real-time data to make better decisions and stay ahead. Let's see how fresh data is making a difference in key industries today.

Previously, online stores updated information in batches, leading to delays in inventory management and customer insights. Now, with fresh data, they can manage inventory, offer personalized recommendations, and adjust prices dynamically. This helps them improve operations, enhance customer experiences, and boost sales.

Companies can access real-time transaction data, monitor market trends instantly, and make better investment decisions. This helps them offer better services, detect fraud faster, and manage risks more effectively.

Healthcare providers can quickly see patient information, track medical histories, and spot health risks early. This means better care, smoother operations, and progress in medical research.

Instead of sticking to old user profiles and regular ads, social networks can now give personalized content, targeted ads, and instant engagement stats. This makes user experiences more exciting and helps them stay ahead in digital advertising.

As data management gets more complicated and the need for quick insights grows, marketers spend a lot of time manually updating data. But this can waste resources and lead to mistakes. Without automated checks, analysts might add wrong data, messing up marketing results.

OWOX BI offers user-friendly solutions to ensure data freshness across various stages. Users can schedule processes for automatic updates and get access to accurate data at any time of the day. Whether it's tracking market trends, monitoring customer behavior, or optimizing operations, OWOX BI provides the tools needed to keep data fresh and relevant.