Like a lot of things I’ve written about, I’ve written about this one before.
It’s important enough that I feel it needs mentioning again. And possibly a few more times after that.
If you’re using a system – for instance a fundraising CRM – and it’s not working, do you know what isn’t working?
- Is it the CRM?
- Is it your processes?
- Or is it the data?
I’ve heard “we need a new system” so often over the years that I now have to stop myself rolling out the same stock response:
“I’m sure it’s fine. It’s probably just your data. What does your proactive data management programme look like?”
Cue the stony silence.
Tumbleweed drifts gently across the Teams call. Someone shifts slightly, looks down, and then says:
“We don’t really do any data management.”
And with that one sentence, you usually have your answer. Because even if the CRM is outdated, or not quite right for the organisation, changing it won’t fix anything if the underlying issues are still there. In fact, it usually makes things worse. If you move messy, unmanaged data into a new system, you don’t solve the problem. You just give it a new home. And often, more places to hide.
There are lots of reasons data management gets ignored. Most of the time it comes down to one of three things:
- It’s seen as optional.
- It’s seen as an unnecessary overhead with no value.
- Or there isn’t the skill or capacity to do it properly.
Data degrades. Structures that made sense 10 years ago no longer support what you’re doing now. No one’s checked for goneaways or deceased records in years. The printer “does something” to make the data usable for mailing (no one is entirely sure what). And processes have grown so long and tangled that it’s impossible to tell what’s essential and what’s a workaround.
And somewhere in the corner, there’s a pile of returned mail that’s now big enough to have opinions.
I know I go on about data management. But ignoring it is what leads organisations down the path of thinking the system is the problem – right up until the point where things are so tangled that a new CRM feels like the only option. It rarely is.
Fix the foundations first. Then decide if the system is still the issue.
I’ve worked on everything from large one-off clean-ups to ongoing data management programmes, and built tools to make this kind of work quicker and far less painful. If you want to grab a tea and talk through what’s going on in your data, I’ve got some space over the next few months.
And if you know a team that’s quietly wrestling with this, an introduction is always appreciated.
And if you know a team that’s a bit stuck with their data – whether that’s processes, their CRM, or just getting things to work as they should – I’d really appreciate an introduction.
