Aberdeen has long illustrated the benefits of well-managed, trustworthy data, and the problems associated with poor data quality. As data volumes rapidly expand and data environments become more complex, what were once small nuisances evolve into massive, company-wide problems. Using research collected from December 2009 to December 2012, Aberdeen will examine the hidden financial penalties for lapsed information governance and untrustworthy data. In order to avoid these pitfalls and achieve better business efficiency and operational performance, top performing organizations have found it necessary to invest in tools such as data security, master data management, data quality, data lifecycle management and data integration.