"If you can measure and quantify the cost to the business, you can raise the profile of data quality [so] you need to talk in business terms and not technology; then you are more likely to get engagement from senior management."

Duke also preached good governance of the people entering data, because "even if you get all the technology right, people could still screw it up".

"Unless you work in automated environment, people will be a factor [and] an ongoing process for monitoring data should also be in place," she said. "For example, we discovered that about 400 people who are male had Ms in their title and 450 women had Mr in their title."

Linking reference data and business rules in isolation won't help identify gaps in technical processes, because "it's not always IT processes causing problems, often it's the business processes", Duke said. "Ensure you understand the relationships between the data."