British Telecom is using cutting-edge data quality tools to ensure
its compliance with the Data Protection Act.
BT will use Avellino Discovery tools on many of its 700 electronic
systems, which contain billions of customer records, to comply with
the Data Protection Act, improve data quality and consolidate IT
systems.
Nigel Turner, manager of data quality at BT Computing Partners,
said: "Data quality is an ongoing process and Avellino is one of a
number of tools that we believe will make the process easier. It is
not just about technology - you need to have policies in place that
keep data of a high quality."
BT is one of the few companies to have a board member responsible
for data quality and systems. Turner told CW360.com that
organisations often undervalue data quality and compliance with
data protection legislation.
"At a recent conference on data protection we saw utility and
finance companies, along with big consultancies. We didn't see much
representation from the wider business community, and this is a bit
of a worry," Turner said.
Avellino has won contracts in recent months with BSkyB, RAC and
Royal Sun Alliance.
Rupert Battcock, an IT lawyer at Nabarro Nathanson, praised BT's
efforts. "Utility companies have had issues in the past as they've
expanded into other markets and there have been some enforcement
actions against them under the old Data Protection Act."
However, he warned that many businesses still misunderstand their
obligations under the Data Protection Act. There have been no
"high-profile" test cases of the new Data Protection Act, but
Battcock said companies that ignore the Act are leaving themselves
open to legal action.