Keep Data Purity Intact Using Automatic Data Cleansing

Alexander Pope once said, “To err is human…” However, that truism shouldn’t apply to your company’s data.

Making sure that your data doesn’t err means periodically cleaning up the data, both in terms of making sure that new data is formatted uniformly and updating old data. According to Chuck Schaeffer at CRMsearch,, every CRM user should have a data quality policy using standard procedures for data entry. These standards can be dependent on your requirements or you can simply follow the basic standards.

Manual data entry and data cleansing is a tedious process. Thankfully, automation can help.

At Agile CRM, we understand the seriousness of having clean data. So we have worked to find new ways to improve contact data and eliminate data decay. Having accurate contact data is very important, all the more if it is an email ID and a phone number. Especially for a sales agent, since every call he/she makes or receives is critical. Yet phone numbers can be tricky to handle, parse, route and display in CRM application if not uniformly formatted. To solve the tricky part and to improve the seamless functioning of telephony and CRM, Agile CRM enabled E.164 international phone formatting right in the CRM.

In a recent survey, The Bridge Group found that a sales rep makes 52 calls per day on average. This means that every phone call they make matters and should get through. Phone numbers that are not formatted in E.164 may work, but it depends on the device being used as well as the carrier from which the call originates. And a sales rep can’t leave this to chance.

Formatting international telephone numbers with E.164 is an important change. International telephone numbers start with a plus (+) sign, followed by country code, then followed by the full phone number. For example, phone number 567-1234 in area code 890 will be formatted as +18905671234. E.164 typically carries information about country code (CC), national destination code (NDC) and subscriber number (SN).

This type of data formatting set-up is not only useful but handy as well. To add to this, automatic formatting such as this can easily maintain data purity.. Automatic set-ups make it even easier to track and clean data on a timely basis. Most CRM experts recommend that quarterly data maintenance should be in place so keep the information up-to-date.

With Agile CRM, you get automated formatting and cleaning options where set-ups like E. 164 enabling, contact merging and more improves data storage. The purpose behind implementing the E.164 was to reduce wrong calling and enhance call reporting. With E.164 formatting, the agents need not be concerned about the format of phone number input. Agile CRM will take care of the processing of the number before routing it in and will provide correct reporting of the connected calls as well as the failed calls.

E.164 ensures that the phone numbers are properly formatted according to internationally acceptable guidelines so that routing of the call is not dependent on the hardware or software being used.

This change is live now and the phone numbers being routed are formatted with E.164 standard automatically. There is no effort/changes required from the agents.

Adding E.164 doesn’t completely eliminate the need for proper data maintenance. But it certainly makes the job easier.