Current Best Practices in Data Entry, Organization and Cleansing
More and more companies are popping up that specialize in data entry, data organization and data cleansing. People are now able to outsource their data entry to trained professionals, leaving them with staff that can stay on task and data that is accurately and rapidly entered. Here are some things to look for when choosing to outsource your data entry, organization and cleansing.
Data Entry
If your company generates a lot of data, and you have not factored data entry into your employee tasks, outsourcing your data entry work is a sensible option. Data management companies have a roster of professional staff trained expressly in entering data swiftly and accurately. The turnaround time for your data entry job can be as rapid as you require, especially if you go with a company that has a large staff team and can devote several employees to one job at a time.
Rather than having to train employees on the specifics of entering the data, and possibly losing valuable employee time to the task, outsourcing your data entry provides you with an instant team of people to enter your data. Outsourcing also works well if your data is not confidential or overly sensitive. Outsourcing also – without fail – delivers the work in the most time-efficient way.
Data Organization
Data organization is a key step in any data management system. While outsourcing data entry and data management work is becoming more and more popular, it is worth considering whether or not an external company can really organize your data in your preferred way. In this case, it might be better to have your own staff do a preliminary organization of the data. If your data is simple and obvious enough to organize, there are programs you can run your data through that will organize it for you.
If it is a matter of too much data and not a lot of time to organize it, outsourcing remains a viable option. Outsourcing will get you the quickest turnaround and often more cheaply too. With data organization, it might be worth outsourcing for the first round of organizing, only to then have your own staff continue with the finer details in the next round of organizing.
The practice of organizing data is really is the best practice here, and it is important not to overlook this step.
Data Cleansing
While there are tools out there that include programs a company can run that will scrub their data, the most effective method of data cleansing is to have trained staff do the job. When it comes to data cleansing, this work might be best done in-house, depending upon the nature of your company’s data. If it is confidential information, or information that is going to be used for research, it is vital that the data be cleaned well. Outsourcing data cleansing works well if you are already in relationship with the company you outsource to. This means the company you are working with has intimate knowledge of your company, your mission and mandate, and will clean your data accordingly.
It is up to you to know the nature of your data cleansing job, and to determine whether to use a software program to do the job, hire your own personnel, or outsource to a data cleansing specialist.
Best practices in all three of these realms of data management make up a combination of outsourcing to data management professionals, and working with the in-depth knowledge of your own company personnel. Tools and companies abound to help you here; what is essential is your ability to know your data, know your staff and create a relationship with the company you to whom choose to outsource your data management.
– Data Czar @ DEO
