Data enrichment

What is data enrichment?

Data enrichment is adding missing details, such as company size, industry or job title, to CRM records from internal or outside sources. IBM describes it as a technique for improving data quality and usability by supplementing datasets with additional information. Enrichment can run once to clean up a database, or continuously as new records arrive. Common fields include headcount, revenue band, locations, technology used and contact roles.

Why it matters to a revenue leader

Targeting, territory design and lead routing are only as good as the fields behind them. If half your accounts lack an industry or a site count, you cannot size a segment, build fair territories or tell which prospects look like your best customers. Enriched data also goes stale, since people change jobs and companies move or merge, so it needs regular refreshing. Check where outside data comes from and what terms govern its use, especially for personal contact details.

A facility services company wants to target property managers with more than 20 sites. Its CRM has 3,000 prospect accounts, but only 900 have a site count recorded. After enrichment fills the field for another 1,500 accounts, the team finds 260 prospects that fit the target profile, up from 70.