Your Data Isn't the Problem (Your Processes Are)

"We can't do AI until we fix our data." I hear this every week, and it's usually wrong. Yes, data quality matters. But I've seen companies with messy data build game-changing AI solutions, and companies with perfect data warehouses accomplish nothing.

The real issue isn't your data—it's your processes. AI fails when you try to automate broken workflows. Garbage in, garbage out applies to processes more than data. Fix how work flows through your organization first, then worry about data perfection.

Here's a radical idea: Start your AI project with whatever data you have right now. Build something simple that works 70% of the time. Use it to identify what data actually matters. Then improve incrementally. Perfect data is the enemy of good-enough solutions that deliver value today.