Businesses have never had access to more data.
CRM platforms are packed with thousands of records. Dashboards track every possible metric. AI tools promise faster insights, better targeting and smarter decisions. And yet campaigns still underperform. Sales teams still waste time. Technology still fails to deliver the returns businesses were promised.
According to Steve Forsdick, Business Development Director at Market Location, the problem often isn’t the technology at all.
It’s the data feeding it.
Speaking during an Interactive Live Session at Elite Business Live 2026, Forsdick challenged the obsession with building ever larger databases and argued that poor quality information has become a hidden commercial liability for modern businesses. “Data is either quietly powering your business or it’s silently sabotaging it.”
For business leaders investing heavily in automation, CRM systems and artificial intelligence, that warning should land hard.
Because better technology cannot compensate for bad information.
You don’t need more data. You need better data
The B2B data market has exploded.
Businesses can buy lists, enrich databases, scrape information, automate prospecting and access enormous pools of potential customers faster than ever before.
But Forsdick argued that volume has become a distraction. “You don’t have too much data. You just don’t have good enough data.”
The issue is compounded by how quickly B2B information becomes outdated. Forsdick estimated that B2B data can decay at around 35% a year as employees change jobs, companies close, responsibilities move and contact details become obsolete.
That means a database containing tens of thousands of records can deteriorate dramatically within just 12 months, and every incorrect record carries a cost.
Salespeople call numbers that no longer connect.
Marketing emails bounce.
Operations teams spend time fixing records instead of improving performance.
Forecasts are built on contacts and opportunities that may no longer exist. The database still looks impressive; its commercial value, however, is another matter entirely.
Bad data makes good technology look bad
This problem becomes even more important in the age of AI.
Businesses are investing heavily in technology designed to analyse data, identify opportunities and automate decisions.
But those systems can only work with the information they receive. As Forsdick put it:
“That really expensive bit of tech that you’ve bought… is failing because the data you’re putting into it is garbage.”
The danger is that when results disappoint, businesses often blame the technology.
They abandon the CRM.
Question the AI investment.
Switch systems.
Buy another platform.
Yet the underlying data problem remains untouched. It is the oldest technology lesson imaginable: garbage in, garbage out.
AI hasn’t changed that. If anything, it has amplified it!
The best businesses won’t have the biggest databases
One of the strongest predictions from the session was also one of the simplest.
Forsdick believes the businesses succeeding in 2026 will not necessarily own the biggest databases.
They will own the best databases.
- Better quality.
- More relevant.
- More accurate.
- More trusted.
That quality creates commercial advantages far beyond marketing. Accurate data allows businesses to forecast revenue more effectively because sales pipelines are based on real prospects rather than outdated contacts.
Teams waste less time.
Campaigns become more targeted.
Technology delivers more reliable insights.
And employees become less frustrated by continually working around bad information.
Forsdick encouraged businesses to stop treating data management as an administrative task. “It’s not an admin task. It is infrastructure.” That reframing matters.
Once data becomes part of the business infrastructure, its quality becomes a leadership issue rather than something left solely to operations or marketing.
Trust requires verification
So what does trusted data actually look like?
Forsdick described trust as a methodology rather than a marketing claim. At its core is verification.
- Where did the information come from?
- When was it last checked?
- Is the contact still relevant?
- Is the organisation still trading?
- Has the data been collected and managed in a compliant way?
Those questions become especially important when purchasing third-party information.
Market Location uses what Forsdick described as “assisted intelligence”, combining technology with human verification rather than relying purely on automation. Humans gather and verify information. Technology helps accelerate the process, then humans check the technology’s work.
It’s a useful model for businesses increasingly tempted to automate everything. Sometimes efficiency comes from technology.
Accuracy still requires judgement.
Compliance should be a competitive advantage
Data governance inevitably brings GDPR and PECR into the conversation.
But Forsdick encouraged businesses to stop treating compliance purely as an obstacle.
“Don’t see GDPR and PECR as obstacles. They are your competitive edge.”
His argument is that businesses that operate under stronger compliance standards will naturally build better processes.
Customers are treated more respectfully.
Records are managed more carefully.
Communication becomes more relevant.
Trust improves.
One practical piece of advice was particularly simple: put yourself in the recipient’s position.
- Would you want to receive the message you are sending?
- Would you expect a company to have your details?
- Does the communication feel relevant?
Treat every record as though it represents you personally, Forsdick suggested, and many data decisions become far easier.
What happens when clean data meets human intelligence
Perhaps the clearest evidence came from a case study involving an insurance broker. The company had approximately 20,000 records in one department, but the CRM had not been managed consistently.
When Market Location analysed the database, around 30% of the data was immediately found to be unusable.
Some records lacked addresses.
Others had the wrong contacts.
Some businesses had stopped trading altogether.
After cleansing and enriching the data, Market Location built a database of around 19,000 relevant prospects.
Human telephone verification was then used to identify key information, including insurance renewal dates, decision-makers, and existing policies.
The results were significant. The campaign generated 4,800 leads. Of those, 1,800 became sales-qualified leads. And within the first three months, 200 had converted into customers.
The lesson wasn’t that automation doesn’t work. Quite the opposite.
Technology performed better because the information feeding it was stronger.
Five questions every business should ask about its data
Forsdick ended the session with a practical challenge for anyone buying or sourcing B2B data.
Before signing a contract, ask:
- Is the data verified or simply aggregated?
- How recently was it checked?
- Has it been collected in a UK-compliant way?
- Is the information linked to the outcomes you actually need?
- What support is available if the data proves inaccurate or something goes wrong?
Those questions may seem basic.
That is precisely why they matter.
Too often, businesses buy data based on volume and price rather than provenance and quality.
Better data creates better business
The conversation around data has become increasingly dominated by AI.
But Forsdick’s session offered a useful reminder that artificial intelligence is only as intelligent as the information underneath it.
A larger database does not automatically create more opportunities.
More contacts do not automatically create more sales.
And more automation does not automatically create better decisions.
- Accuracy matters.
- Relevance matters.
- Verification matters.
- Trust matters.
For businesses chasing growth, the temptation will always be to collect more.
But in 2026, the smartest organisations may be the ones brave enough to stop asking “How much data do we have?”
And start asking a far more valuable question: “How much of it can we actually trust?”
