Outsource your data entry services and avoid these five common problems

Data plays a critical role in modern E-commerce enterprises. Vast volumes of information are generated from transactions, customers, and within the business itself. This valuable data has to be stored, analysed, and presented in various ways to make it useful to the business.

In most cases, data digitisation begins with manually inputting the information into E-commerce tools such as websites, ERP systems, spreadsheets, and data analytics systems. However, data entry is a daunting task for most businesses. Here are five common data entry mistakes that not only make data entry frustrating but risky as well.

1. Inputting errors

The most common error in data entry is inputting incorrect data values. An input error can be a mistype, spelling mistake, or wrong interpretation of information. Input errors usually result from carelessness or failing to spot small but important details like commas, decimal points, unique symbols, and digits.

2. Incorrect formatting

Complex sets of data are usually stored and presented using intricate and delicate formats. You might find data formats that feature several fields, columns and rows for specific variables. Entering values into the wrong field or in the wrong sequence creates a rippling effect that may render the entire data set unusable.

3. Omissions

Omissions are another costly mistake in data entry. An employee can easily omit particular details of an entry or even entire records. In critical data sets, a single omission can cause inconsistencies in the data, leading to wildly inaccurate results.

4. Duplicate entries

Just like omissions, duplicates also cause inconsistencies and inaccuracies in data records. Even when presented with vastly unique data entries, it’s quite common for workers to enter multiple duplicates.

5. Poor turnaround

Your staff may not be adequately trained in data entry or familiar with data entry resources. As a result, the data entry process may be painfully slow, besides being riddled with errors. Data availability in most businesses has to meet strict deadlines. Your employees may not be well-prepared and experienced enough to work fast while maintaining data correctness and integrity.

Consider outsourcing

Today, more and more businesses are outsourcing mundane and repetitive tasks to professionals who are better suited to handle them. Outsourcing your E-commerce data entry eliminates the risk of errors and ensures a quick turnaround time. It also costs a lot less than an in-house data entry department.

Data integrity, which is guaranteed by professional data entry services, is a big part of data security. Businesses demand high levels of data security and privacy when handling business information. With that in mind, businesses cannot afford to compromise on data safety.

4 crucial steps for successful data conversion

Data conversion is one of the most crucial steps after data entry, and requires precision and efficient management. A single error can result in loss of quality data, creating a stumbling block for your business. Outsourcing your data entry services to professionals is your best bet to prevent any of these setbacks from occurring. But just because you have experts doing your data conversion does not mean that you should take a step back. You can adopt the following measures to ease the conversion process and ensure you get the full benefits from your service providers.

Detailed planning

Before outsourcing your work, first determine your data conversion requirements. Create a checklist for necessities such as the kind of data that needs to be converted and if the data requires partial or full conversion. Choose the formats needed in the conversion process as well as the period for completion. It is also crucial to estimate the cost that you are willing to spend for the entire process.

Involve all stakeholders

Engagement from all relevant stakeholders is critical in any data digitisation process. Inform the management and employees about any plans regarding the conversion process. Such a step ensures that your conversion experts get all relevant data from the stakeholders. Proper communication eliminates confusion between the parties involved while ensuring that your data conversion process runs effectively.

Identify any potential risks

Data conversion often involves complex systems with potential risks to failure. With this in mind, have your outsourcing company identify any risks that are likely to develop. It will enable you to define multiple ways to mitigate any problem that arises. You can also perform a controlled rehearsal for high-risk projects to test the conversion process.

Have a back-up plan

You can never go wrong with a back-up plan. Ensure that your outsourcing company has a systems back-up in the event of any unforeseen circumstances.

These steps will not only allow you to have a smooth data conversion process but will also come in handy while outsourcing data entry services. Get in touch with us for a professional consultation on your data conversion needs and free trials.

Why your business should mine data

Data mining is an essential process that companies should consider applying as a strategy, especially in getting ahead of competitors in terms of market share and profitability. It involves an elaborate data collection process aimed at unearthing hidden information from different databases that can later be used in analytics. How then can data mining benefit your business?

Mining data is an efficient technique of identifying and monitoring consumer patterns and behaviour. Gathering relevant information is crucial in determining changes in the market and the latest trends. An analysis of such data can then be used to set favourable market prices and recommend suitable strategy changes. Therefore, data mining can help your business to conduct extensive consumer research and product analysis. With the application of appropriate mathematical algorithms, your business might be on its way to achieving data-driven outcomes for informed decision-making.

One of the aspects of data mining that makes it attractive for application in your business is its ability to minimise or eliminate errors. Applying it carefully and meticulously will ensure accurate and fast decisions that will positively influence your business operations. The impact of data mining on your business can be felt in departmental goals, market, or even in the performance of workers.

Data mining helps your business acquire vital information at reduced or lesser costs compared to traditional research methods. It is cheaper to mine data for research purposes since it does not require the tedious and prolonged engagement of respondents, as is the case in traditional research. Data mining acquires information from existing warehouses or databases, which makes it less costly, fast, and unbiased.

You can also improve your marketing strategies through data mining. Since the technique is efficient in the analysis of population segments, the insight can be used to guide your business in selecting the most appropriate means of interacting with customers. Whether print, digital, or direct advertising, determining the optimality of an adopted channel can be safely determined through data mining.

Apart from consumer targeting, data mining is also widely applied in marketing budget allocation. This is achieved by analysing past spending and the resulting impact it had on sales. Generally, data mining is an efficient and effective analytics tool that your business cannot ignore. Data mining tools will enable you to synthesise and gain insight from huge volumes of data for different applications depending on a defined target.