Fix Your Data Before You Buy Another AI Tool

Most stuck AI projects are not stuck on the model. They are stuck on the data.

The five hygiene rules

1. One source of truth per entity (customer, product, order, employee)
2. Stable, documented identifiers - no "Acme Pvt Ltd" vs "Acme Private Limited" sprawl
3. Timestamps on everything, in one timezone, stored as UTC
4. A consistent definition of "active customer", "open order", "qualified lead" - written down
5. Access controls separate from data location - RLS, not folder permissions

What to do this quarter

• Inventory your top 20 data sources
• Pick the 3 that 80% of decisions depend on
• Fix identifiers, timestamps and definitions in those 3 first

No AI investment compounds without this work. None.