If you provide a data quality service then establishing a competitive advantage is becoming increasingly important as new entrants appear in the market.

So what additional benefits can your business provide that will tip the scales in your favour and help you place ahead of the competition?

In this feature, the first in an ongoing series, we share some simple, low-cost and easy to implement solutions that have been proven to benefit end-customer organisations and create a competitive edge.

5 Simple Techniques To Differentiate Your Data Quality Service

Provide free data quality materials accessible to end-customers

So you're going head to head with another data quality service provider for the same project.

You're neck and neck with your competitor, similar day rates, same technology provision, same high quality consultants - how does the end-customer make the decision to select you?

How about providing them with lifetime access to your very own data quality Wiki knowledge management centre featuring essential resources that your clients can draw upon.

MIKE2.0 and omCollab provide a great example of how you can provide this to clients at an incredibly low cost whilst.

Provided you reference their efforts and add your own tutorials and content you can make an instant differentiation and tip the odds in your favour.

If you go down this route, remember to pay it forward and give back to the MIKE2.0 community for the greater good.

Read all about MIKE2.0 and omCollab here...

How about providing the client staff with access to an in-house online training facility?

The manager responsible for making the purchase decision is more likely to go for the service provider who can demonstrate they are committed to improving awareness and skills in their organisation.

It also makes the buying manager appear proactive to their seniors, tipping the emotional scales in your favour.

This doesn't need to be expensive or complex, you could utilise products like Articulate that will pay for themselves in no time or you can even use free web publishing tools like Wordpress complete with your own branding and membership area to create a professional education solution for free.

Tools like Basecamp (see below) can also double up as online training centres for a ridiculously low cost.

Use an online project portal for simplifying and improving project delivery

Data quality projects can be complex and create a huge amount of artifacts, issues, tasks, risks and project metadata.

A simple way to leave a lasting impression with your client is to use one of the new breed of online project management tools that can help you coordinate every aspect of the project.

Some great examples are:

• Basecamp
• @Task
• Huddle
• Coghead

These solutions can significantly benefit the end customer by coordinating all aspects of the project and providing complete visibility of progress.

In a recent project we used Basecamp to coordinate 50+ consultants, developers and analysts, all working across 5 timezones in total harmony. The end result was an ecstatic sponsor who simply could not envisage how the project could have been delivered without such a solution.

We'll  be running tutorials on all of these in the coming weeks to show you how to brand them and make them more data quality centric but for now here is a great tutorial on how to use Coghead to differentiate your proposition:

Creating a data quality management repository in Coghead...

Offer more flexibility in the way you license products

Working practices are changing in the world of data quality.

The business community are finally getting in on the action and are beginning to take control and ownership for the quality of their data and I believe service providers and vendors need to react and offer far more flexible licensing for projects.

Gone are the days of a flat fee that can inhibit take-up across the organisation.

Service providers and vendors need to adapt by customising licenses to the function of the individual instead of adopting a restrictive flat fee.

Flat fees are a historical throwback to the IT-centric, power-user approach to data quality services and need to be scrapped.

Increase the flexibility of your licensing approach and this will create a significant value-add.

Provide a regular and informal management support group

Support your existing or prospective customer organisations by offering a regular drop-in facility where they can come along and discuss some of the challenges they are facing.

This could be informal and almost like a self-help group, inviting other organisations to come along and share their experiences.

By offering community support and ongoing advice irrespective of whether an organisation is currently under a contract you're more likely to convince the organisation into building a relationship with your team.

You could also create private forums on your own web site where members can discuss their challenges with peers and specialists.

Go niche

Are you a jack of all trades or a master of one?

There appears to be a trend amongst data quality technology vendors to focus on specific niche areas and tune their products capability accordingly.

Follow suit and focus on one particular market or niche.

You can add more value if your data quality skills and resouces are experienced in a specific area compared to generalists with a background across many disciplines.

Some may argue that data quality is generic, indeed it is but you will be judged on your usefulness as an individual or organisation. If you speak the language of a niche sector you are far more likely to convince an organisation that you can hit the ground running, decipher their business and rapidly address their data quality challenges.

What techniques do you use to differentiate your business? When selecting a service provider, what does your organisation look for?

Why not share your thoughts below.