What does it take to get good data at scale?

You've probably worked on enough deals, projects, and transactions to understand the importance of getting good data quickly from your counterparties. Perhaps you've heard the phrase, "Time kills deals." But how do you balance speed with quality - and how do you do this at scale across many deals?

In this article, we'll lay out a few tips and ideas based on our experience and the experience of Kobox users, all with the goal of better understanding how to reliably obtain information that enables good decisions.

To begin with, what is "good data"? When it comes to due diligence, good data is complete, accurate, consistent, thorough, and exhaustive enough to enable good decision making. Getting good data not only supports good decision making, but also allows you to look back on prior decisions with an eye to improving your organization's practices.

Getting good data is often no easy task. There are many variables at play - the size and complexity of the deal or project, the sophistication of your counterparty, and the availability of the data to begin with (a former colleague of mine once told me about receiving hand-written financial statements on notebook paper!).

Despite the vast spectrum of deal qualities and quirks, there are a few elements that are characteristic of all information requests. Getting these right will reliably create a better experience for your customers and enable better decisions by your team.

1. Clear, regular communication: Communication is first on this list for a reason! None of the other tips here will be very helpful without effective communication among all parties. Communicating well in the context of information gathering means regular (ideally automated) updates that are reliable, complete, timely, and accessible. All parties should know exactly what they need to do, what the status is of each item and the project overall, and be able to take appropriate action when needed.

2. Flexibility: Let your counterparty know from the start that what you ask for initially may lead to a follow-up request for additional information. While it's possible that your initial request would cover everything, it's likely something they submit to you would lead to a secondary information request. Setting this expectation from the start will help head-off confusion down the road.

3. Alignment: Remember that you are working together to get things done. Your mutual goal of completing the deal, and doing it well, will help propel the opportunity.

Use agreed-to deadlines, goals, and milestones to keep things moving forward. Establish this alignment before advancing. When either side has missed their deadline, have a healthy touch-base conversation. Depending on the complexity of the engagement and the sophistication of your counterparty, it may be helpful to stage your information requests in phases to keep things manageable for all involved.

4. Need-to-know basis: Nobody wants to share more information than they absolutely have to. For everything you request, understand why you need it. Be prepared to share that reasoning. Does it help you render a better decision or final work product? Does it meet a policy or compliance requirement? Is it relevant?

5. Specificity vs Generality: Not all requests are for a specific document (i.e. "last year's tax return"). Often it's necessary to make open-ended requests, especially when you do not know what will come back. Scope these requests to the extent that you can. For example, making an open-ended request like, "send me all your customer data" would likely not lead to good data. Can't you hear your customer respond, "All of it??"

But a more specified request, such as "send customer activity and demographic information across your top 10 customer segments for the prior three years," may be more successful. Of course it is up to you to strike the right balance here. Making precise requests will not only help your counterparty return exactly what you need, it will also help you convey a greater sense of expertise and control over your process.

Doing all of this on a single project can be difficult, but it's highly worthwhile. Doing these things at scale (not only on all of the projects you balance, but all those that are going on simultaneously across your organization) presents a major challenge and an even bigger opportunity.

Imagine how much faster business would move if you could get all the things you need quickly and completely? How much happier would your customers be if doing this was easy? This is why we built Kobox. Do you want to manage complete and effective information requests at scale? Reach out. Kobox can help you with all of this and more.

https://blog.koboxapp.com/what-does-it-take-to-get-good-data-at-scale/