What is a Single Source of Truth (SSOT)?

A single source of truth means having all your data in one location.

Having this central location aims to reduce data silos, another industry buzzword, which refers to having data in different places.

In an ideal world, even if you’re using different tools to manage different processes, all your data will feed back to one place. For example, if you were using a separate email marketing tool, the data will sync with your CRM (Check out our other blog how to connect your CRM to 3rd Party software for more on this).

Let’s look at the example of your CEO asking for the latest report of how many members you have.

Many organisations might need to ask different teams to look at different systems to pull numbers. The biggest problem of having data in different systems is that it’s highly likely each of those systems will give you a different number. So how do you know which is most accurate?

Management is then making decisions based on data that’s already likely to be out of date by the time it’s compiled.

If you’ve got a single source of truth, management shouldn’t even need to ask anybody for the latest numbers. They should be able to go to their CRM/EMS directly. Typically, data is displayed as dashboards. Most associations and membership organisations choose these to display membership numbers, lapsed members, and renewals.

Cloud-based systems (remote servers on the internet) have given us the ability to access data anywhere. This means you can log in to your CRM/EMS anywhere and are no longer tied to desktops or servers.

By having a single source of truth:

• Decisions are made based on accurate data
• You save time pulling reports and gathering data from multiple sources
• Your team has a greater understanding of your data and key metrics
• You can use data to implement change and drive growth