For years, “single source of truth” has been one of the most overused — and underdelivered — phrases in revenue operations. Every organization claims to have one. Very few actually do.
What’s changed is why it matters now more than ever.
Today’s revenue organizations are under pressure to scale faster, forecast more accurately, deploy AI responsibly, and make decisions in real time — all while managing increasingly complex go-to-market models. In this environment, fragmented data isn’t just inefficient. It’s a strategic risk.
According to IBM, poor data quality costs organizations an average of $12.9 million per year. At a macro level, bad data costs the U.S. economy an estimated $3.1 trillion annually. These aren’t IT issues. They’re business performance issues.
A single source of truth is no longer about reporting consistency. It’s about trust, agility, and maturity across the entire client journey.
Most revenue leaders don’t wake up thinking they have a data problem. They feel the symptoms instead:
These symptoms are more common than most executives admit. Research from Gartner shows that poor data quality is one of the primary reasons analytics initiatives fail — and organizations consistently overestimate the reliability of their own data.
Meanwhile, knowledge workers spend nearly 30% of their time searching for, reconciling, or correcting data, rather than using it to drive decisions.
These issues don’t stem from a lack of tools. They stem from disconnected planning — where systems, metrics, and assumptions operate independently instead of as one coherent model.
When each function interprets the business through its own lens, decision-making slows, confidence erodes, and execution suffers.
In the Voiant Connected Planning Maturity Model, organizations don’t mature by adding more dashboards or layering on advanced analytics. They mature by unifying how decisions are made.
At early stages, companies rely on manual extracts, spreadsheets, and static reports. As maturity increases, core systems — CRM, HRIS, ERP, FP&A — feed a shared planning model that becomes the plan of record.
At higher levels of maturity:
This progression only happens when there is a single, trusted source of truth powering every planning motion.
Without it, maturity stalls — no matter how sophisticated the tools appear on the surface.
This is why the Voiant client journey does not start with implementation. It starts with diagnosis and alignment.
Through a Sales Planning Modernization Assessment, organizations:
From there, the journey becomes intentional and sequenced:
At every stage, the single source of truth evolves — not as a static dataset, but as a living planning ecosystem.
The biggest misconception is treating a single source of truth as a system implementation.
In reality, it’s a capability developed over time, supported by:
Organizations that get this right don’t just plan better. They operate with confidence.
And confidence compounds.
Building a single source of truth is no longer about cleaning up data. It’s about unlocking maturity across the client journey — from foundational visibility to intelligent, predictive decision-making.
The question leaders should be asking isn’t:
“Do we have a single source of truth?”
It’s:
“Do we trust it enough to run the business on it?”
That answer defines where you are — and how far you can go.
A single source of truth starts with clarity — not technology.
Voiant’s Sales Planning Maturity Assessment helps revenue leaders identify gaps in data alignment, planning workflows, and forecast confidence — and provides a clear roadmap toward connected, trusted planning.
If you’re not sure you can run the business on your numbers, it’s time to find out.