Data alignment starts with your people

The Forecast That Fell Apart

It was the final review before a major board presentation.

Operations, Product, and Commercial teams had each been asked to contribute to the upcoming 12-month forecast.

Slides were built. Charts were colourful.

But the moment the CEO scanned the forecasted revenue numbers, her brow furrowed.

“I’m confused… Product says we’ll hit £10M by Q4. Commercial has us closer to £8.2M. And Ops has £9.4M in their dashboard. Which one am I supposed to use?”

What followed was 30 minutes of spreadsheet archaeology.

Here’s what they discovered:

Operations excluded international sales due to data delays.
Product based forecasts on pipeline value, not confirmed deals.
Commercial filtered by a legacy account status no one else was aware of.

And even more troubling?

Each team had a different idea of what counted as “Active Customer”:

One used billing activity
One used login frequency
One used contract signature date

Each team had valid logic.

But without a single source of truth or shared definitions, the result was confusion, not clarity.

This is exactly why enterprise-wide data modelling, training, and consistent definitions are critical for decision-making.

Your teams don’t need more tools.

They need to be aligned : speaking the same data language, using the same logic, and working from the same model.

📉 You’re Not Alone : This Happens Everywhere

According to a Gartner report, companies lose an average of $12.9 million annually due to poor data quality.

A study by Experian found that:

91% of businesses suffer from common data errors like duplicates, outdated information, or inconsistent formats.
69% say inconsistent data across systems undermines their ability to deliver strategic initiatives.

And when it comes to metrics and KPIs: