5 ways outsourcing data entry can help your company

Outsourcing data entry has always been a go-to strategy for cutting costs for most companies. However, the recent changes in the market have put on the focus on the competitive advantage instead of the financial one. The goal of outsourcing data entry is to increase productivity, scalability and to further grow the business.

In house vs outsourced data entry

Some companies handle data entry in-house while others outsource the full process.  Although most people don't think of data entry as a complex task, it usually has a lot of requirements and needs a certain level of specialization. Companies that decide to keep data entry in-house have to invest in technology to keep up with their competitors. In addition, they need to allocate resources to training staff on technology and on the process.

In some cases, data entry, when handled in house, is performed by people as a secondary task. These people usually have other main activities, on which they need to be fully focused. In addition to their main duties, data entry can become overwhelming. Therefore, the staff would lose focus and their performance would be lower. On the other hand, the data entry task needs special attention. A single mistake can sometimes be very costly.

In contrast, if a company delegates the tasks to a dedicated department instead, there are higher employee costs involved. If you don't like the performance of an employee, it is not as easy to simply substitute them for another. By the time you substitute them, they will have already costed the company resources that could have otherwise been used for core activities. In addition, it might not always be easy to find the right employees within a small pool of candidates that is geographically restricted.

Outsourcing Data Entry benefits

A study conducted in 2018 by Deloitte found that companies are increasingly outsourcing as a way to enhance merger and acquisition efforts, with a significant upsurge of 22%  in two years. In addition, they are using outsourcing as a channel for innovation. 49% of companies are outsourcing service as they go towards innovation. This is more than twice as much as in the last two years.

What is pushing companies more towards outsourcing and what are the benefits of it?

1. Cost efficiency and productivity

While cutting costs is still a good reason to outsource data entry, it is no longer enough. Cutting costs and investing the savings for innovation, new markets, and new technologies related to the core business is the newest strategy. Moreover, cost optimisation can make companies more competitive by making them more agile and productive. Therefore, cutting costs is more of a means to a higher target.

Outsourcing data entry can cut employee costs, software and technology costs, recruitment and training costs, sick leave and holiday costs, staff management costs, etc. According to PayScale, a data entry operator earns on average £17,750 annually. Moreover, the cost of a data entry operator is around £21,100, without including Employers’ liability insurance, employee entitlements,  equipment needed for the job or any costs of running an RTI compliant PAYE payroll system. Now imagine these costs multiplied by the number of employees needed for handling high volumes of data entry. Outsourcing data entry helps companies allocate these costs to other projects instead.

2. Access to Technology

There are two ways outsourcing data entry can help your company have access to the latest, disruptive technology. We already covered the first one in the previous chapter: allocating savings from outsourcing to technology budget.

On the other side, when handling data entry projects, companies need to invest in the right technology to save time and lately, to make the process automatic. However, investing in technology for a non-core process seems like a waste of resources. Therefore, outsourcing data entry helps companies have access to the latest technology without needing to allocate an extra budget. Having access to the latest technology helps companies step up their game and be on top of their competition.

3. Qualitative service

As we already discussed, data entry can be a complex process. Sometimes, it is even a core process for some industries (e-commerce, machine learning, etc.). It is therefore very important to give the right attention to data entry. When you delegate data entry and data processing tasks to a dedicated group, the quality will be higher. Moreover, if you outsource to a specialized company, not only will they be fully focused but their expertise will add value to the process. For example, We Are Fiber also allocates a two-level Quality Assurance team to any Data Entry Project to ensure the highest quality.

Not only does outsourcing data processing to a BPO help maintain a high-quality rate, but it also helps your company provide a qualitative main service/ product. This happens because your staff will have more time and will focus more on core competencies. To add, time management is another advantage that comes from outsourcing data entry.

 4. Handle High Volumes

Most of the time, data entry work requires a large number of staff. As evident, large staff requires lots of resources. When dealing with high volumes productivity is at risk. Some tasks that require high volumes of data processing include building databases, mailing lists, image tagging, data extraction, data capture, etc. Outsourcing these tasks is more efficient than managing them in-house.

5. Scalability

Often, these time consuming and high volume tasks are only seasonal. Thus, two main problems arise: 1) the need to recruit and train a lot of staff in short notice; 2) the issue of laying off staff when there are no volumes. Companies don't have to deal with these issues if they outsource data entry. Outsourcing enables a company to scale up and down as needed, without any legal or recruitment hassle.

Data Entry BPOs

Data security and data protection, efficiency, and compliance with the regulations in place are the main concerns for companies that want to outsource data entry. The right BPO partner must be certified and have the right industry know-how. A trusted partner and a strategic synergy can help your company more than just by handling non-core processes. It can help your company expand, become more competitive and reach new markets and countries.

We Are Fiber

We Are Fiber has more than 13 years of experience in managing data entry and data processing tasks. As one of the most prominent pioneers of the outsourcing industry in the Eastern Europe region, We Are Fiber has helped more than 115 clients worldwide.

Contact us here if you'd like to hear more about how we were able to help companies like yours. We will also send you a report on data entry, including a We Are Fiber business case.

info@wearefiber.com

Phone (It) +39 02 42 10 11 22

Phone (Uk) +44 20 38 70 44 08