Want to Use AI? Start with Clean Data
In senior living, the ultimate goal is to provide the best care and experience for residents. But behind the scenes, your business systems are only as powerful as the data that feeds them. If your systems are running on outdated, duplicated, or siloed data, it can undermine everything from financial reporting to resident care planning.
Let’s talk about why clean data matters and how data warehousing, data lakes, and cleanup strategies can set your organization up for long-term success.
What’s the Problem? Messy Data Is Holding You Back
Parasol Alliance has conducted over 120 tech assessments, and we’ve found the same core issue again and again: business systems are fragmented and under-optimized.
You might have great platforms in place but if they don’t talk to each other, or if the data is outdated, incomplete, or lives in spreadsheets, the entire system slows down. Your team ends up spending more time cleaning reports than using them, and opportunities for process automation and AI go unrealized.
Data Warehousing and Data Lakes: What’s the Difference?
To make sense of all your systems, many communities are turning to data warehousing and data lakes:
Data Warehouses are structured repositories that pull in cleaned, organized data from multiple systems. This allows leadership to run reports, analyze trends, and make strategic decisions using a single source of truth.
Data Lakes are more flexible. They store raw data (both structured and unstructured) in one place, allowing future access for AI, machine learning, or advanced analytics. Think of it as keeping everything (notes, spreadsheets, sensor data, emails) in one accessible reservoir.
But both tools are only as good as the data that flows into them.
Data Cleanup: The Hidden Power Move
Before jumping into fancy dashboards or AI-powered decision tools, your data needs a deep clean.
That means:
Removing duplicate entries (e.g., residents listed under multiple names)
Standardizing formats (e.g., date formats, naming conventions)
Mapping fields across platforms so they align
Eliminating legacy data that’s no longer relevant
We often see organizations trying to leap to innovation without having foundational data in place to support it.
Clean data isn’t just a tech initiative, it’s an operational one. It empowers your admissions team to move faster, your finance team to be more accurate, and your executive team to make decisions with confidence.
The Path Forward
Our recommendation? Start with a comprehensive Technology Assessment and Strategic Roadmap. We map out every business system you use, identify where your data lives, and create a 3-year roadmap to clean, connect, and optimize that data for your long-term goals.
Whether your community is just starting to digitize or you're well along your technology journey, remember: clean data is your most valuable asset. It’s the foundation for operational excellence, financial stability, and ultimately, better resident outcomes.
Ready to take the first step? Contact us to help you transform your data and your future.
