Data Quality Industry: Problem Solvers or Enablers?

This morning I had the following Twitter conversation with Andy Bitterer of Gartner Research and ANALYSTerical, sparked by my previous post about

This morning I had the following Twitter conversation with Andy Bitterer of Gartner Research and ANALYSTerical, sparked by my previous post about Data Quality Magic, the one and only source of which I posited comes from the people involved:

What Say You?

Although Andy and I were just joking around, there is some truth beneath these tweets.  After all, according to Gartner research, “the market for data quality tools was worth approximately $727 million in software-related revenue as of the end of 2009, and is forecast to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% during the next five years.” 

So I thought I would open this up to a good-natured debate. 

Do you think the data quality industry (software vendors, consultants, analysts, and conferences) is working harder to solve the problem of poor data quality or perpetuate the profitability of its continued existence?

All perspectives on this debate are welcome without bias.  Therefore, please post a comment below.

(Please Note: Comments advertising your products and services (or bashing your competitors) will NOT be approved.)