For a few years now, there’s been an ongoing debate about the extent of globalization and whether national borders still matter. But, during a TED Talk titled “Actually, the world isn’t flat,” economist and global strategist Pankaj Ghemawat argues that both advocates and opponents of globalization have allowed rhetoric to obscure reality. Using data from a variety of surveys, he deftly illustrates that we aren’t nearly as globalized as some people would have us believe.

According to Ghemawat, recognizing this reality is essential. Only by seeing the pace and extent of globalization as it really exists can nations and businesses make accurate decisions about the best ways to move forward. Ultimately, reputable data moves us past polemic toward some semblance of the truth.

Sogolytics understands the importance of reliable data. For many years, survey tools have focused on simply collecting results, with administrators unable to determine the data’s validity and reliability. If you’re conducting surveys for business or research purposes, this can greatly undermine your efforts.

Sogolytics offers a number of features to ensure you have the highest quality data. You can prevent ballot box stuffing by providing each participant with a unique key to access the survey, while SSL allows you to encrypt all responses and keep your participants’ data secure. And Pre-Population pre-fills the survey with known information about your respondents so they can correct or update as necessary.

The world may not be flat, but it can get a little hot. And this is what makes reliable, accurate data more essential than ever.