Now more than ever, our ability to effectively leverage data has become critical to our ability to understand customers and deliver business results. And data from external providers has begun to take a larger role in helping drive those results. But, with data companies proliferating, and each one applying different standards to position their data as the “best”, how do you cut through the noise and find the third-party data provider that will best meet your needs?
To help you more effectively evaluate potential data providers, Mobilewalla has created an in-depth evaluation guide with top considerations and an annotated checklist so you can be confident in your decision. Read on for an overview, or download the complete guide on “How to Choose a Data Provider” now.
The first step is to assess each data provider’s core offering, whether or not it can address your business needs, and what it would take to integrate their solution into your current tech stack and processes. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Here are a few questions than can help determine whether a company is the right fit:
This information will help you identify how the data providers differ from one another, how readily they will be able to provide the support and data you need, and whether or not the solutions offered will be able to scale to support your efforts as your business grows and changes.
Once you’ve narrowed down your options, you may still be dealing with a large field of potential partners. It’s time to ask more technical questions to separate the high-quality data offerings from the run-of-the-mill. Here are some top-level ideas to get you started:
It’s also important to consider a provider’s level of data science and artificial intelligence expertise. When applied to data collection, data cleansing, and aggregation, AI methodologies can reveal greater insights and provide a more breadth and depth of data to use for decision making.
Even the highest quality data and insights won’t benefit you if they’re not delivered in a format that you can utilize. Before making the final decision, ask about delivery methods, integrations, and timelines to make sure the solution will be delivered on time and on budget.
We also recommend asking for a sample data set or a time-boxed proof of concept. These allow you to assess data quality and quantity before making a commitment.
Still have more questions? Contact a Mobilewalla expert to better understand the importance of the considerations we’ve mentioned here, and learn more about how high-quality data can drive growth for your brand, improve predictive modeling results, and much more.