There is a lot of data that an organization manages every day. It can be in the form of paper documents or in a digital format. Dealing with such enormous volume requires a lot of time, efforts, and money. It can all be quite unnecessary when there is a perfectly suitable alternative available in the market. As a substitute, one can outsource data entry services to a reliable vendor. They can hire any trustworthy firm that deals with product data entry as their core business. It can help you focus on achieving your primary goals and can reduce your burden significantly.
Table of Content
- Some Facts
- Key Advantages of Outsourcing Product Data Entry
- Major Risks of Outsourcing Online Data Entry Services
- Conclusion
There are several challenges that are part of implementing any new technology. One has to account for all the risk factors and proceed cautiously. There is always some gap between realising the full potential of new technological innovation and people’s perceptions. Considering the growing global competition, it is essential to bridge this distance to achieve genuine success.
In this post, we will discuss some disadvantages and advantages of outsourcing online data entry services. It will help you ease into the digital transformation and guide you in making a well-informed decision. Here you can learn about the risks and challenges that you need to overcome to adopt a new technology efficiently.
Read On!
Some Facts:
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- According to Statista, the online retail sales of physical goods in the United States amounts to 374.37 billion US dollars in 2019. They project it to reach close to 476.5 billion US dollars in 2024.
Image Source: Statista
- According to a study, inaccurate or missing data costs companies over $600 billion a year in the US alone.
- According to Gartner, nearly 60% of companies do not assess the cost of poor quality data. It leads to bad analysis, wrong decision making, and lower ROI.
Key Advantages of Outsourcing Product Data Entry
Technology has its own merits that can outweigh the demerits. It can make you more successful and guarantees a high return on investment(ROI). Ecommerce platforms are booming with new opportunities for businesses to grow and establish themselves online. It is difficult to grab a customer’s attention and make a sale. There is a lot to it.
Few firms have the infrastructure, professionals, or time to hire or do the backend task of product data entry. For this, many companies opt to outsource their major part of your operations to a trustworthy company. It is a standard procedure and everyone who wants to stay competitive follows it.
There are lots of benefits outsourcing your eCommerce product data entry services to a third-party service provider. Here is a list of few of them that will enable you to decide on letting someone else handle your burden.
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- Focus on Core Activities
Letting a data entry services company handle your work can be quite resource-efficient. It allows you to focus on your core operations and achieve your goals faster. This way you can spend more time delivering quality services to your customers and be more successful.
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- Cost-Effective Strategy
Most outsourcing firms work in a developing country. You can easily leverage the low cost of labour when you outsource to such companies. It can cut your overall charges by 40-50% compared to hiring local professional or third-party organizations. It makes the entire service much more affordable and cost-efficient.
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- Reduces Overhead Expenses
Outsourcing reduces the cost of buying new infrastructure, software or training professionals. It also reduces the cost of hiring new experts in product data entry services. Each comes with their own salaries, compensations, seasonal holidays and other expenses. It is better to outsource offline data entry to a third-party firm that has a pool of professionals proficient available round-the-clock.
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- Great Turnaround Time
When you outsource your product data entry to a reliable vendor, you get results in quick turnaround time. Most outsourcing firms work in developing countries that work when you sleep. You can leverage this time difference to get work delivery the next day.
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- Greater Flexibility
With outsourcing, you get a team of great hires who work only with your team. You choose your own team that accords with your needs and budget. You can make changes in your selection of team members any time in between the project.
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- Real-Time Accuracy
You get better results compared to hiring or training professionals in-house. When you outsource data entry services to a third-party service provider, you get high-quality outcomes. There are lesser mistakes and errors. The data entry professionals can even implement any changes and corrections in real-time.
- Enhances Productivity
When someone else handles your data entry process, you get a lot of time to improve your productivity. You can focus on attaining your company goals and create more profit. This increases the chances of getting more return on investment (ROI) and being successful.
Major Risks of Outsourcing Online Data Entry Services
There’s always a flip side to everything. Now that you know about the advantages, it is time to know about the challenges. You can start by reading here some of the most important risks in outsourcing product data entry to a third-party firm. You need to know all about both sides before you decide on outsourcing.
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- Loss of Control of Data
A company loses the chance to make any edits to the data while the outsourcing firm is working on it. All functions related to the data ceases till the data entry process is going on. It can cause some problems in the internal working of an organization and delay operations indefinitely.
Solution: Regardless of the different data types that you have, you need to have controlling access to it. The more sensitive is the data, the more restrictive should be access to it. As a general rule, access to data must be only on a need-to-know basis. You should allow only those with a specific need to access data.
You can start by creating an inventory of the data you have. Then, classify it according to the sensitivity and value of the data. After which you can enforce access rights to that data. This means defining what data is accessible, under what circumstances. It also means defining whether you allow someone to access, change, or delete the data and how they are going to protect it.
There needs to be a rational plan and policies on how each individual handles, validates, or protects your data. You must show clear guidelines on how anyone working within your company or outside can access the data and the level of classification.
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- Lack of Proper Communication
There is always a language barrier when outsourcing to a data entry services company in a remote location. There may be some misunderstanding of words or miscommunication in following orders. This can be quite troublesome and the primary reason western countries are cautious in outsourcing to developing countries.
Solution: you can choose a vendor that does not have this problem and has many native speakers. This way it will be easier to understand each other and continue communications effectively.
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- Data Security
This is one of the primary concerns of companies who outsource their work. Many organizations process critical customer data that needs protection from unauthorized access. There can be major legal or monetary implications if you lose data or it is accessed by any malicious party.
Solution: For this, you need a reliable partner that has stringent security protocols in place to prevent any data leakage. Make plenty of backups of your data and store it in your office or in a remote and secure data center.
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- Inconsistent Quality Output
There may be many risks in choosing a data entry services company. The manual data entry may take a lot of time and is prone to errors. This can cause poor outcomes that do not meet the quality standards of the company. It can be minor mistakes like typing errors, mismatched fields, spelling errors, etc.
Solution: Invest in a firm that has stringent quality protocols that they follow. They must comply with international standards and should meet your pre-defined specifications. Also, ask whether the third-party firm has the infrastructure, technology, and tools for automatic data entry.
- Insufficient Focus
You may be from a non-IT firm looking to hire specialists that can handle your data entry tasks. This may mean that a new firm will have to understand the terminology and process before getting to work with you. Few businesses may understand your line of work better than you. You may have to look for specialists in your field.
Solution: Go for a company that has decades of working with diverse industry verticals. They must have the experience and expertise working in your arena. Ask for a FREE DEMO on a sample of your work. This way you can access their capabilities and turnaround time.
These are just to make you aware of the drawbacks that can come with adopting new technology. You can always choose a vendor that does not have these issues. You can take it as a list of things that you should ask the vendor before outsourcing.
Conclusion
Lots of the time businesses are wary of adopting any new technology. One of the primary reasons being not being able to find the right partner that can truly deliver on all promises. In such a scenario, one needs an ideal partner who can guide you through the challenges and share the burden.
You may look for solutions online to find the right vendor. Here you can read about all the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing online data entry service from this post. It mentions the risks going forward with the new methodology. You can take it as a checklist of pointers to confirm while hiring any third-party firm to handle your business-critical data.
There is a lot of competition in the eCommerce market. One needs to implement outsourcing fast in order to stay ahead in the business. There are always some risks that are part of any fresh change. It’s up to you to manage those challenges efficiently and be more successful. For more information, you can contact us at info@suntecindia.com.
