Are you interested in finding out more about data entry outsourcing?
In most cases, data entry is a time-consuming and specialized task that needs to be assigned to professionals with the required expertise.
Nevertheless, hiring a full-time employee solely to take care of the data entry process can sometimes be too expensive for startups or small-to-medium sized companies. The truth is, even large companies might occasionally be forced to outsource some of their additional data entry work.
What is the best way to do this?
I will highlight the three key advantages of outsourcing the data entry process in this comprehensive guide to data entry outsourcing.
Throughout this article, we will also cover 5 things that you should consider when choosing your service provider and how to manage them effectively. Last but not least, we will show you three excellent data entry companies that can help you get started right away.
Do you know what Data Entry Outsourcing is?
The term outsourcing data entry refers to the hiring of external help to handle the data entry tasks of your business.
It is possible to do data entry jobs in a variety of ways, such as:
- Transcription of a handwritten document
- Entry of claims data
- Entering product data into a database
- Back-office accounting involves the filling in of MS Excel spreadsheets
- Data entry for surveys
- An introduction to raw data conversion and data input
- Providers of document management services
- Data entry for images
- Data entry for invoices
- An offline data entry service, such as the processing of forms, is also available
What are the benefits of outsourcing the data entry process?
In the majority of cases, the main objective of outsourcing data entry is to save a great deal of money and time.
You will be able to focus on core business functions like marketing, finance, and operations since the tasks will be handled by a third-party.
The question is, how is it usually done?
There are two ways in which you can go about outsourcing data entry work:
Outsourcing that takes place within your own country (on-site or off-site) is known as onshore outsourcing. In spite of the fact that it can be an expensive business process, it is easier to communicate and collaborate with your outsourcing partner.
Outsourcing is the process of hiring a foreign entity such as India or the Philippines to perform your data entry work for you. There is usually a lot of money saved by doing this, but there may be some issues with collaboration.
Here are three important benefits of outsourcing the data entry process
Data entry outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular across a wide range of different industries. Companies of all sizes are looking for ways to outsource data entry services, whether it’s accounting or healthcare.
The following are three main reasons why this is the case:
- Cost Savings
It is generally true that outsourcing a data entry task to a service provider reduces your costs significantly.
To be able to do this, you do not have to spend a large amount of resources on hiring and training an employee.
It is not necessary for you to invest in any data entry software.
As a result, you will be able to save all the operational costs associated with hiring someone like allowances and insurance.
The other great advantage of outsourcing data entry work is that you can hire an offshore service and you can enjoy additional cost savings as a result.
Hiring data entry professionals from Romania, for example, is far less expensive than hiring a professional from the US because those professionals come at a lower cost.
However, what about the quality of the work?
As long as you outsource to a service provider with a great track record, you will not have a problem with that. You will receive high quality service since they employ professionals with many years of training and experience.
- Better Accuracy
Data entry professionals are skilled at their job because that’s what they’re trained to do.
As a result, their work is much less likely to be error prone.
Since the outsourced staff brings their own professional experience and tools to the table, it is very likely that they will provide time-efficient and accurate data entry – particularly when compared to an inexperienced in-house crew.
- Increased Business Focus and Productivity
It is likely that you and your entire organization are pretty busy attending to your core competencies.
As an example, a market research company could be focusing on data mining and data processing, while a real estate business might be focusing on identifying outstanding properties.
There is no sense in assigning data entry work to any of those employees since it will take time away from their specialties and would cause them to work longer hours.
Ultimately, this can lead to the loss of productivity, which can have an adverse affect on the overall efficiency of your organization.
With outsourcing, these headaches are taken care of so your employees can focus on what they do best!
There are five things you should consider before outsourcing data entry
That was quite an impressive list of benefits, weren’t they?
There are a lot of outsourcing partners to choose from, but do not choose one immediately!
Let’s take a look at the following five factors to consider when choosing the right data entry company:
- Determine whether there is a potential cost-benefit analysis to be conducted
It is important that you get your maths right before you make any hiring decisions.
Data entry outsourcing services can give you a great deal of benefit to your bottom line, but you must know exactly how much it can do for you.
Ideally, you would need to calculate how much it would cost you to hire your own employees to perform the job in-house.
The data that you have gathered can then be used as a guide to choosing data entry professionals once you have it. There is no point in hiring an agency or professional which would cost you more than if you did it yourself.
- Verify the security measures of the service provider
When dealing with sensitive client data or company information, security is always a top priority. When sharing data with an external entity, such as an outsourcing provider, this is especially important.
It is important to understand the security measures offered by the data entry service provider.
Generally, these measures must meet industry standards.
In the healthcare industry, for example, you would be subject to serious legal ramifications if your information pipelines were not HIPAA compliant.
If you’re in the financial sector, you can expose yourself to lawsuits if your client data isn’t handled securely.
As a result, no matter what industry you’re in, whether it’s e-commerce or accounting, make sure the company you’re hiring follows updated data security protocols.
- Assess Your Needs
You should clearly map out your business needs before hiring a data entry specialist company.
How come?
Businesses often have unique needs (specific requirements) that go beyond just normal data entry. For example:
- Capture of data
- The mining of data
- Conversion of data
- Extraction of data
For example, if you need some advanced analysis and processing of your data, you might want to look for a company that can accommodate your flexible data entry needs.
It is also common practice to look for a company that provides 24×7 customer support. By doing so, things can be resolved quickly in case there are any unforeseen problems.
You must also ensure that the service provider is using the latest technology and software in order to perform the data entry task. As a result, you will receive a higher quality service for a lower cost, as opposed to buying the software yourself.
- The turnaround time for the order
When your organization has a lot of data entry tasks to be performed, then it’s important to look into your service provider’s turnaround times. The importance of this is especially high if you work in a time-critical industry like healthcare.
Ensure that your data entry operator has the necessary resources such as skilled professionals and modern technology to deal with the workload.
Some industries also have a requirement for a dedicated emergency line as part of their emergency service. The term refers to on-demand data entry services that have very short turnaround times. Please inform the outsourcing firm of this requirement as soon as possible before working with them, in case your business requires such facilities.
- Reputation
You definitely want to work with data entry experts since you are outsourcing a critical business function.
This is extremely important for sensitive industries like medicine and insurance claims processing – not just because of security concerns, but also because human error cannot be tolerated.
Research the outsourcing company that you are planning to work with thoroughly.
Ensure the service provider is financially stable since you don’t want to hire someone who cannot afford the necessary resources for the project.
You should also check their client testimonials to get a sense of the quality of service and the satisfaction of their clients.
Outsourcing Data Entry: How to Manage It
Even though outsourcing is very useful, it can present a variety of management and collaboration challenges – especially when done remotely.
If you have the right tools, you can easily overcome this problem.
You should have three kinds of software at your disposal if you are planning to outsource data entry:
- Collaboration and communication tools
Communication is important, isn’t it?
A miscommunication can lead to errors in your data.
You can’t just rely on emails for all your communication needs, though. The use of email for task-related discussions is very limited. With emails, it isn’t possible to quote a set of data and have a comment thread for further discussion.
You will need team collaboration tools in order to do that.
Listed below are three of the most important business communication tools that you must have in your toolbox:
Slack and other instant messaging tools are ideal for having organized channels of communication and file sharing that are task-relevant.
Make use of video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams to hold important virtual meetings with your team and hired professionals. Moreover, you can also share your screen for detailed explanations.
Cloud storage and document collaboration tools like Google Drive and Google Sheets are very useful. With a secure platform, you will not only be able to store your data, but you will also be able to collaborate on your documents in real-time by allowing comments and edits on the datasheets in real-time.
- Tools for tracking productivity
Would you like to make sure your data entry experts are only charging you for the productive hours they spent on your work?
The following are some of the ways in which a time tracker can help you:
- Analyzing the performance of the hired data entry experts with detailed, comprehensive reports of their performance.
- Tracking productivity across work apps through integrations of various platforms with apps like Trello and ClickUp, for example.
- The best way to ensure that your data entry professionals are actively working during their working hours is to hire them.
- We will help you analyze where your data entry professionals spend the majority of their time.
- Automate the generation of invoices based on detailed time reports.
- Using a functional Android app, it is possible to track time remotely.
- Tools for managing projects
In order to streamline your business operations, you may find it challenging – especially if you are working with data entry experts who provide outsourced service.
The data entry project must have a good integration with the general workplace of your project in order to be successful. It would be nice to be able to ensure that your entire business is running smoothly with no hiccups in productivity.
In order to do this, you will need to ensure that:
- The way in which you assign tasks is well organized.
- Keep track of the work they are doing by keeping an eye on their status.
- It appears that you have mapped out a systematic workflow for them to follow.
- In order to take care of all these things and more, you will need a good project management tool.
You can also perform advanced management functions such as prioritizing tasks, mapping out dependencies, and tracking the overall progress of your entire organization.
If you want to start using a project management tool, all you have to do is choose one from the numerous options available out there, such as Jira, Trello, ClickUp, and more.
Bringing it all to a close
In addition to saving your internal data entry team from doing tedious, repetitive tasks, data entry outsourcing also gives you a more time-efficient and accurate data entry process.
It is, however, important to remember to outsource carefully to ensure a secure and accurate data entry service.
If you follow the steps outlined above, and use the tools listed below, you will not have any trouble saving tons of time and money by outsourcing your data entry activities.