Outsourcing Resolves Modern Data Entry Challenges

Data entry or simply the process of entering data into a computer is an in demand critical extensive task in industries such as healthcare, retail, eCommerce, banking, financial, real estate and many others that make use of quality data for their day to day operations.

With digitization, the data entry got streamlined, but the challenges associated with it still prevail. Issues in maintaining consistency, data errors, usage of wrong data entry models; the chances of glitches are umpteen. However, on deciding to outsource multitudes of data entry tasks, organizations can minimize the risk of fallacies.

This Ossisto blog is your quick introduction on how outsourcing is the best solution to overcome data-entry tensions.

A QUICK GLANCE AT DATA ENTRY CHALLENGES

• Lack of experts in the internal team, raising the error rate when it comes to manual data entry.
• Wrong data capture due to slow turnaround time.
• Quality control not taken on a serious note.
• Redundancy in data.
• Unattended data hygiene.
• Delayed decision on data-entry automation.
• Sudden spike in the quantity of data.
• Inappropriate adoption of software or other technologies.
• Unrealistic data entry goals.
• Nonexistent predefined data entry standards that befit a business.
• Absent data security policies.
• Not following best practices of data capture.
• Extreme and over dependency on modern data entry fads

An error-free data entry process is possible only through careful nurturing of agile data management practices and continuous data cleansing.

This is not often possible for businesses that still continues with manual data entry and have bulk data quantity to deal with.

Busy organizations often lack a holistic view and approach on how they value their data.

They don’t even realize the negative impact it would have in a long run.

When businesses embrace low-cost ways to data-entry; quality is always compromised.

Did you know that data entry jobs can be classified into more than 20 plus variations such as database data entry, logistics data entry, accounting data entry, etc.?

So, when an organization hires an internal data entry team, not every employee would be able to handle all of the variations. This is where outsourcing comes into the picture.

An outsourcing agency will have an extensive team.

BENEFITS OF DATA ENTRY OUTSOURCING

Get Productive: According to a relevant report published by Forbes, it is evident that 76% of data scientists find the tasks such as data preparation, a less enjoyable chore.

This is not the lone case with top data-entry professionals, even if it’s a simple data entry task, it calls for utmost concentration, fast typing speed, redundancy and it reportedly take a toll on employee productivity.

Interestingly, blogs on the internet with negative connotation on data entry, for instance ‘How death of data entry creates more meaningful work’ by Mang-Git NG has hundreds of shares. And what does it mean? It indicates that people around the globe are considering data-entry as a non-interesting, least-satisfactory chore.

A startup or a medium sized organization cannot afford to have its employees lose sight of its goals.  Obviously, there will always be important primary tasks compared with data entry. Data entry tasks can be outsourced to an agency of great reputation and in-house employees can concentrate on revenue generating primary tasks.

Well, a team of professionals at the outsourcing agency can act as an extended team performing accurate data entry independently and efficiently. Isn’t it’s a win-win situation?

Save Time: Working against the limitations of manual data entry to hours invested in training employees in new data entry technique; powerful and meaningful data processing tasks are extremely time-consuming, Outsourcing is one way to save time by assigning data entry tasks to experts outside an agency.

Relying on professionals from top outsourcing agencies such as India or Philippines would be a wise move. These countries have a large pool of skilled talent and the services will stay within a stipulated budget. Most agencies will have an extensive portfolio that helps business have deeper, meaningful data entry processes.

Go Cost Efficient: By outsourcing data entry tasks, businesses will be able to lower the expenditure. The saved up money and resources can be used for performing some other critical primary task.

Even if an organization is using its employee efficiency to the fullest, their requirement to function in a brick and mortar environment will be more than that of an outsourcing team. Moreover, there will be no training expenditure too.

Effective Data Cleansing: In organizational terminology, data cleansing is the process of fixing and removing incorrect, corrupted or duplicate data sets. This is crucial in managing an error free algorithm. Only an accurate data can be used in making improved business decisions and save the organization from reputation damage.

There are many steps involved in a successful data cleansing model. A few of them are; removing duplicate data, fixing errors in the data structures, missing data handling and checking for uniformity.

Well, data cleansing accelerate team efficiency, ensures the productivity surge and accelerate better revenue growth.

An in-house team indulged in data entry chores cannot be burdened with data cleansing tasks. So, why not outsource all of the tasks related to data entry to an outsourcing agency with right knowledge?

Remember, choosing a right outsourcing partner is important in gaining greater freedom from micromanaging an inexperienced team. The major aim of outsourcing data entry is to free up your internal team from tedious tasks such as data cleansing or data conversions.

Worthy Data Quality Plan: Data intensive businesses and industries should have a definite data quality framework developed by experts. Valuable insights from those working in agencies are an asset when it comes to improving data integrity and trustworthiness.

These experienced data entry specialists in an outsourcing agency may be working for multiple organizations and their understanding of the industry standards will be intense compared to the employees dedicatedly working for just one single organization. 

Well, when it comes to a great data quality plan, there are many questions to be asked. Here are the prominent ones.

• What is the biggest data quality challenge your organization is facing now?
• What is your business’s objective of creating a standard data quality plan?
• Is poor data quality impacting your organization’s operations?
• Does your business have a priority data quality task, such as deleting duplications or data transformation tasks?

Generally, the industry subject matter experts suggest that a data quality plan has 6 dimensions.

1. Accuracy
2. Completeness
3. Consistency
4. Timeliness
5. Validity
6. Uniqueness

Here again, a small and medium sized organization cannot afford to spend so much time on refining its data quality plan.

Chances are that most of such organizations go about data entry without regular quality check plans.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT OUTSOURCING COMPANY FOR YOUR DATA ENTRY REQUIREMENTS?

Outsourcing is a great idea. But then tread carefully along the safer paths. Just because an organization has a website doesn’t mean it’s trustworthy.

Pitfalls while choosing an agency can be avoided with the help of a little bit of research.

Here is a checklist:

• Look for versatility among the experts working for the outsourcing agency of your choice.
• Have a thorough look at the agency’s data entry portfolio.
• Check if the agency has prior experience working with a business similar to yours.
• Know the turnaround time. ‘Time is money’ in the outsourcing sector.
• Test the expertise on the technical know-how. Know that, modern data entry is more than using the plain excel sheet.
• Check the internet for comments and feedbacks.
• If the agency is in an offshore location, make sure to do more inquiry.
• Make sure that there is no language or communication barrier between the data entry team and your organization.
• There should be clarity in the entire process.
• Make ways for clear transitions and process integrations.
• Calculate the potential cost benefits and if it is way below the expectations, consider dropping the outsourcing plan and instead, hire an in-house data entry team.
• Ensure data safety. The team at the outsourcing agency will be handling login passwords and other privacy details.  Considering the fact that data is the most precious thing an organization has, mishandling should be avoided at any cost. Didn’t once a wise man say, “Torture the data, and it will confess to anything.” This quote of the British Economist Ronal Coase might prove to be fatal, if it is made practical by a false person.

THE CONCLUSION

Whether it is data capture, mining, conversion, extraction or cleansing; a good and reputable outsourcing agency can deliver faster results.

So, focus on challenging primary revenue generating tasks, while cumbersome data entry activities are outsourced to a methodical, reliable and well-accepted agency like Ossisto.

Know more>>> Outsource your blogging tasks and scale-up the content efforts

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