While many companies think of data as a tool, it might be more accurate for private capital firms to think of it as a valuable asset. In your data—the names, facts, figures, and other details you have been gathering for years or even decades—are relationships waiting to be formed and deals waiting to be made. And, of course, revenue waiting to be collected! Plus, even a small amount of high-grade data can contribute to multiple wins over time. In that regard, having clean data in your private equity CRM isn’t just valuable, it’s priceless.
But your success in achieving your business goals is largely dependent on the quality of that data. If you allow it to get “dirty” or outdated, you decrease your ability to make deals and raise funds—and in doing so, you inadvertently give your competitors an advantage.
If, on the other hand, you ensure that your data is always “clean” and current, you give your firm a competitive edge. It may be a big advantage or a small one, but if your data quality contributes to a win, it was enough of an advantage and well worth the effort required to keep your records up-to-date.
Give Your Teams the Data They Need in your private equity cRM
In order to provide your teams with the high-quality data they need to work effectively, there are four best practices you should use as you pull data into a private equity CRM solution like Altvia:
- Only import essential data.
It’s tempting to have a “more is better” mindset regarding the data in your private equity CRM. However, the reality is that anything that doesn’t bring value to your team and your processes is simply a distraction. Forcing people to sift through huge volumes of data to find the most helpful entries is counterproductive since it only slows them down.
Ask yourself, “Will we actually use this data in the future?” before you import it. If the answer is, “Yes,” the follow-up question should be, “How?” If you are unsure, don’t import it.
- Use tools for mass uploads and updates.
The more time and effort you put into getting data into your private equity CRM and keeping it current, the more you diminish its overall value. Altvia integrates with the Force.com platform, which means you can use the Salesforce Data Import Wizard to get information into the CRMquickly and efficiently. All you have to do is drag a spreadsheet into the tool, do a quick review/edit of the mapping, and start the import process.
Similar processes are available for updating information. If you leverage them, people tasked with data management have more time to focus on other business-building initiatives. Plus, using these kinds of tools helps minimize the human error that is common with manual processes. One keystroke error in a critical piece of data can be very costly.
- Use validation and enforce data requirements.
The best way to ensure that the data in your private equity CRM is in the right format is to require that it be entered correctly on forms. By putting validation on form fields, you can prevent things like extra digits in phone numbers, alpha entries where numeric data is needed, etc.
Also, if a particular piece of information is required in order to make a record complete, ensure the form can’t be submitted without it. You don’t want to have an urgent need for information you thought you had, only to discover that you don’t and will have to scramble to obtain it.
- Delete duplicate data.
Both incorrect and duplicate data are problematic for PE firms that are trying to keep their data quality high. However, the latter can be a more subtle problem, since any of the duplicates viewed individually may look accurate.
Be sure to “deduplicate” the data in your private equity CRM regularly. Also, check any data sources you are importing so that duplicates don’t skew your numbers and adversely affect your predictions.
Improve and Maintain Data Quality
If you’ve never focused on data integrity—or have let a high-quality database degrade—it will surely take some time and effort to get it back to a place where it is delivering maximum value for your firm. The same is true if you still rely on information that is scattered throughout your organization in spreadsheets, emails, and even handwritten meeting notes.
But the work to populate and maintain an advanced data repository is a wise investment in one of your most valuable assets, and one that will pay big, ongoing dividends. That is, as long as you make data quality a top priority and commit resources to manage your information properly.
The good news is that once you get into a rhythm of reviewing the data in your private equity CRM and taking any necessary action (updating it, deleting it, etc.), it isn’t a very time-consuming process. An hour or so on a regular basis is certainly worth a greatly enhanced ability to close deals. And, if your team commits to entering and updating data correctly the first time, you’ll have to spend even less time keeping it clean, accurate, and up-to-date.
See how our private equity CRM can improve the efficiency of your data management and other business processes with a single source of truth built for private capital. Request a demo today or see how firms like yours use Altvia.
