Accurate data entry is an essential requirement to turn enterprise databases into critical business assets. While data entry is a repetitive administrative task, relying on your staff to handle it (on top of their regular responsibilities) or handing it to someone with no expertise in this area can greatly hamper the quality of your data. That is unacceptable in a time when every business relies on data to remain competitive and profitable in its respective niche.
Let’s discuss how you can outsource data entry services to overcome those challenges. We’ll also talk about five major industries where outsourcing data entry has brought about the most benefits.
Why Businesses Outsource Data Entry Jobs
The importance of data brought focus to its better processing and management. Assigning these responsibilities to regular staff can compromise their productivity and disturb management. The following reasons can explain a business’s needs that are fulfilled by outsourcing:
Cost-Effective
Outsourcing data entry saves you from several expenses that you would have to bear in the case of establishing an in-house department. It includes recruitment and staff training costs, buying and setting up software and other technology, security systems, and infrastructure. Moreover, the professional staff gives high-quality output that is a good return on your investment.
Access to Qualified Staff and Reliable Management
You can find an outsourcing company with experience in similar data entry operations to yours. Recruiting data entry experts with industry experience, on the other hand, is difficult. You will also be required to train and supervise these employees. Data entry outsourcing companies save you from this hassle, and you get access to a professional team and a management team to keep the process running.
Access to Professional Tools and Technology
Whether you want data entry operations to be managed with Salesforce, Quickbooks, Xero, or any other software, you need not worry about getting the technology. A good outsourcing partner will use the software and technology of your choice.
Productivity Improvement
As businesses outsource data entry, the quality of the database and the amount of data processed each day improves. Accurate data plays a crucial role in improving business operations, and it is possible with the help of trained professionals from outsourcing companies. They can also perform data standardization and formatting for smoother integration into business operations.
Ability to focus on core business
Hiring an outsourcing partner reduces the workload on regular staff. It helps employees focus on core competencies. Outsourcing is significant for improving the management of core operations.
Types of Data Operations That Can Be Outsourced
Although outsourcing data entry is quite common, it is just one part of the overall data management process. Various other data operations are essential to maintain data quality and keep up an accurate data supply for enterprises. Ideally, experienced data management service providers offer all these. But, as a business in need of these, you need to be sure of what they mean and which one applies to your immediate and long-term data needs.
Data Cleansing
It entails removing errors from data to refine it and filling in the missing information. It helps organize large volumes of data into an orderly and accurate database.
Data Processing
The collected data is modified and standardized into a ready-to-use format for future purposes. It involves filtering data, storing it, reporting, verifying, and analyzing it. Its purpose is to create a useful database from raw data.
Data Classification
To help make the data easily accessible, it is organized into different categories via the data classification process. The information stored in a particular data set is sorted into various headings.
Data Enrichment
Oftentimes, a database has partial or obsolete information. Data enrichment involves extracting relevant data from authorized sources and improving the existing database with updated and complete information.
Data Abstraction
Large enterprises have multidimensional databases. Managing accessibility for such systems can get difficult. Through data abstraction, the critical data points (for any given purpose) can be summarized into a small dataset and shared for the task at hand. This is effective for research and strategizing purposes.
Industries that Benefit from Data Entry outsourcing
The benefits of outsourcing have inspired many industries to adopt it. The trend is reciprocating across different sectors as businesses see their peers streamline management. The following businesses benefit the most from outsourcing their data entry tasks:
E-Commerce
Online retail has grown exponentially over the years, and it continues to expand at the same pace. The amount of data exchanged on these platforms is huge, and their upkeep is crucial for businesses. Online retailers have taken advantage of the benefits of outsourcing data entry services to manage data related to their eStore.It is one of the sectors that has extensively used outsourcing for various operations, which has helped reduce costs and management hassles. Data entry outsourcing companies perform tasks related to creating product descriptions, inventory management, buyer data management, and more to help in the seamless flow of operations.
Banking and Finance
This sector involves dealing with sensitive data and requires precision. Organizations in the finance sector outsource data entry to provide improved customer services and utilize detailed analysis. Specialized service providers take on tasks like payroll processing, streamlining loans, client input details, account updates, and more. Professional data entry service providers follow strict data protection norms that have enabled the banking sector to offer customers better digital services like mobile banking applications and net banking facilities.
Law
Legal practitioners and firms also come across large amounts of sensitive client data. Its digitization improves its services, helping it focus on nurturing client relationships and building trust. Data entry professionals manage tasks like reviewing and verifying information in legal documents and indexing and filing invoices. Law firms outsource data entry services to experts familiar with legal terminology. They help create verified and formatted client databases, which can be reviewed quickly whenever required. Outsourcing has worked as a catalyst in the growth of this sector.
Medical
Healthcare organizations produce huge amounts of data daily due to the information transactions that happen between facilities and patients. Medical practitioners and their staff find it hard to digitize and accurately manage this data. Any flaws in patient data processing can have a severe impact on treatment and insurance services. As a result, healthcare organizations have formed alliances with medical data entry outsourcing firms to eliminate errors in patient record digitization. It has helped improve their productivity and provide timely treatment, as well as the smooth functioning of insurance services.
Tourism
As digitization has helped expand the travel and tourism sectors, data entry outsourcing has streamlined the management of online services. From inputting customer application documents into the database to verifying IDs and creating itinerary information, all these tasks can be handed over to expert outsourcing companies. It has helped travel companies provide customers with information on the go; they no longer need to visit offices and research perfect destinations, accommodations, and travel. The hospitality and tourism industries outsource data entry services to save time and focus on providing more personalized services to travelers.
Conclusion
As data is a crucial commodity and helpful in successfully managing many business operations, there is no room for inaccuracy. This is why more industries are keen on forming long-term strategic partnerships with outsourcing companies. To fully achieve the goal of outsourcing data entry services, businesses should be cautious when selecting outsourcing partners.
Gracie Ben is a data analyst currently working at DataEntryIndia.in, a leading company providing data entry & mining services & other data-related solutions. For more than ten years, she has actively contributed to the growth of many enterprises & businesses (startups, SMEs, and big companies) by guiding them to utilize their data assets. Having a keen interest in data science, Gracie keeps herself up-to-date on all the latest data trends and technologies shaping the industry and transforming businesses. She has written over 1600 articles and informative blogs so far covering various topics, including data entry, data management, data mining, web research, and more.