Companies across Britain are wasting thousands of pounds on duplicate mailing and IT records of customers, according to a new report.

In Making Sense of a Crowded Nation by global information services company Experian, it was found that 85 per cent of businesses in such sectors as banking services and IT are not removing any duplicated data from their files, such as addresses, names and associated details.

UK managing director of Experian QAS Stuart Johnston said that one in four businesses was still relying on manual methods to root out duplication, which he described as a "shocking statistic".

He continued: "Aside from the tough economic climate businesses are operating in, repeatedly mailing a customer with the same offer sends out a poor message about the company’s brand and its concerns about the environment."

Earlier this week, Experian QAS announced the release of new data validation software which combined QAS Pro and Retail Pro to improve data quality and increase productivity within a company already using its systems.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).