IT Hygiene First: Why AI Can’t Fix Bad Data
Everyone’s wanting to get a piece of the AI pie, and for good reason.
Businesses diving into AI are seeing real benefits like improved customer service, automated workflows, and streamlined repetitive tasks. For small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), it can be a game-changer.
But there’s something not enough people are talking about: your IT hygiene.
Because, despite what it seems, AI isn’t magic. It gets its smarts from the data you feed it. And if that data is a big, messy, inconsistent heap? Your intelligent systems won’t be so smart after all.
Let’s break down how this works – and what you can do to fix it.
What Is Dirty Data?
Open your phone and scroll through your contacts. See any duplicates? Old numbers? Maybe a few names you don’t even recognize?
That’s dirty data.
In business terms, dirty data refers to any data that’s inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, or inconsistent. And it’s seen everywhere. In fact, according to ZoomInfo 94% of businesses suspect that their data is inaccurate.
Without proper IT hygiene, this dirty data could show up in your prospect list, active customer records, inventory or billing systems, employee or vendor information, and more.
Many small to medium-sized businesses treat bad data as just a nuisance – something you work around. But once you introduce AI into the mix, that “nuisance” becomes a serious liability.
What Happens When AI Meets Messy Data
AI lives and dies by the data it consumes. At its core, AI reads from a dataset and produces an output – whether that’s a response, recommendation, prediction, or action.
When the data is clean, the results are helpful.
When it’s not? You get flawed insights, wasted automation, or worse – costly compliance mistakes.
Think of it like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with a bunch of missing or warped pieces. You’ll never get the full picture – and what you do get will be misleading.
Here’s what that looks like in a real business setting:
- Misrouted emails – because your CRM has outdated or duplicated records.
- Poor customer targeting – if your “active customer” list is really 40% dead leads.
- Wasted automation – AI automated the wrong tasks or applies rules based on bad assumptions.
- Compliance mistakes – pulling from sensitive or miscategorized data can land you in hot water.
How Does Data Get So Dirty?
For most SMBs, dirty data piles up over time as a result of poor IT hygiene.
It might start with a small human error – say an employee enters variations of one contact: Matt Shepard, Matthew C. Sheppard, Matt B. Shepard. Now you’ve got duplicates, inconsistencies, and confusion.
Other common causes are:
- No shared naming or formatting rules.
- Systems that don’t sync or talk to each other.
- Old files and backups no one’s reviewed in years.
Large enterprises typically have dedicated data quality teams. SMBs don’t. That makes it much easier for data messes to pile up unnoticed – until something breaks.
What’s IT Hygiene Got to Do With It?
Everything.
Good IT hygiene is all about keeping your systems, data, and user access clean, current, and secure. It’s the foundation that makes AI actually work.
AI can do a lot, but if your underlying systems are disorganized, outdated, or poorly secured, you’ll be wasting its potential.
When your data is high quality, your AI tools can finally deliver the goods.
So, How Do You Improve Your IT Hygiene?
You don’t need to be a data scientist to start making improvements to your IT hygiene. Here are a few practical steps you can take to clean up your systems and prep for AI integration:
1. Validate Data Entries
Go through your key datasets – yes, all of them – and confirm everything is accurate, consistent, and complete. Even a single error or misspelled entry can throw off your AI tools, especially in predictive analytics or customer-facing systems.
2. Remove Duplicate Records
Duplicate data confuses your systems and inflates metrics. If you use tools like Excel, filters, and formatting can help you find and remove these entries. There are also data cleansing tools available – but always check with your IT team before purchasing new software.
3. Update Outdated Data
See anything old, irrelevant, or tied to long-gone customers? Now’s the time to update or delete it. Stale data not only skews analytics but also cuts your systems and slows down performance.
4. Standardize Data Format
Decide on a format for things like names, address, and dates – and stick to it. Creating a shared standard for how data is entered and stored minimizes mistakes and makes automation easier.
Or You Can Hire an MSP
While you can take the DIY route, cleaning up and maintaining your IT hygiene is time-consuming and can quickly become overwhelming. Instead of cleaning house by yourself, consider partnering with a managed service provider (MSP).
MSPs (like The 20 MSP) are your behind-the-scenes powerhouse – the backstage crew that makes your AI performers run without a hitch. While you focus on growth, customers, and strategy, your MSP handles your IT hygiene so your systems are clean, current, connected, and AI-ready.
Here’s how MSPs help you stay clean and competitive:
Expert Consultation
Implementing AI is a great idea, but you’re going to need a game plan going in. An MSP will help you make sure your systems are ready for the long haul. Having an MSP at your back means having someone who knows exactly how AI works and can help answer any and all questions when it comes to getting ready for these powerful tools.
Structured Workflows
While you can build workflows in-house, an expert IT partner can help you refine and implement them. That way, data isn’t just collected, but stored correctly. Whether it’s customer info, internal documentation, or ticketing systems, your workflows are designed to be uniform, audible, and easy to scale.
Simply put: a structured workflow = a happy AI.
Regular Updates & Maintenance
While having the correct data is important, making sure your surrounding systems are compatible, secure, and functioning is just as important – your AI won’t work if your systems are busted.
That’s why MSPs stay on top of critical updates, patches, all while making sure your systems are compatible with the AI tools you intend to use.
Scheduled Data Audits
Even with structured workflows, updates, and compatibility verifications, mistakes will happen. And if you aren’t checking for those mistakes, your AI might start misbehaving.
With 24/7 monitoring tools, an MSP can easily schedule data audits to confirm that everything is working as it should be and correct any issues or inconsistencies before they balloon into a larger problem.
24/7/365 troubleshooting
What happens if your AI systems break down in the middle of the night – or worse, on a holiday weekend?
You breathe a sigh of relief. Because with a 24/7/365 MSP in your corner, you’ve got someone already handling it. With real-time monitoring and around-the-clock technicians, you get peace of mind knowing your systems are protected, even when you’re off the clock.
You Don’t Need to be a Tech Expert – But Knowing One Doesn’t Hurt
When AI is working, it’s easy and intuitive to use. But the trick is getting it there – and keeping it there.
Partnering with a trusted MSP goes beyond setup; it means keeping your IT hygiene clean, optimized, and future-proof so your AI can do its thing.
And like any major tech shift, adopting AI comes with a learning curve. It takes time, planning, and the right support. So don’t go it alone – reach out today.
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About The 20 MSP
As a leading provider of managed IT services, The 20 MSP serves thousands of businesses nationwide, providing each one with white-glove service, secure and streamlined IT infrastructure, and 24/7/365 support. We believe in building lasting relationships with clients founded on trust, communication, and the delivery of high-value services for a fair and predictable price. Our clients’ success is our success, and we are committed to helping each and every organization we serve leverage technology to secure a competitive advantage and achieve new growth.
