The Upside of Bad Data

Maybe I should stop evangelizing. For years I've been telling clients to take data quality seriously and manage information like a corporate asset. Since Monday I'm thinking "maybe it's a good thing that companies have such a mess in their databases." Think about it, wouldn't it be nice if you couldn't get a speeding ticket, because the address data in the police database is corrupt?

Well, most of the time, it sure is beneficial to have correct, complete, and consistent data that is not duplicate, and so on. Not so today. When I checked into the Marriott Anaheim this week (I'm attending the IBM IOD event here), I was surprised to be treated with more respect, friendliness, benefits, and perks than in any other case when I checked into a hotel. Nothing to complain about, but why the sudden change? I live a large part of my life in hotels, and I have never seen that special treatment. The puzzle was solved quickly when the check-in clerk handed me a piece of fancy cardboard with a personalized welcome note from the Marriott Rewards program (some kinda frequent sleeper program). It had my name on it. It also said I was a Platinum Elite Member, which I'm not. And I was supposed to have (get this!) a balance of 1,912,602 points in my account. Almost two million points? No way. Now, was I going to tell the guy that I rather not have an upgrade to the best available room, a bottle of wine, fruits and nuts in my room, high floor with a nice view from my balcony, access to the concierge lounge with free breakfast, hors d'euvres, drinks, etc? Think again.
No idea where the hotel pulled that data about my account from. Honestly, I don't care either. Cheers!