6 Manual Data Entry Challenges Businesses Face and How You Can Overcome Them

According to one study, approximately 68% of individuals believed that business-at-the-speed-of-paper is an unacceptable way to do business. Also, 46% of people who responded to the study stated that removing paper from their operations was the biggest productivity improvement made for most business processes.

As more and more organizations are adopting the digitization of documents, they are seeing an array of benefits. This includes things like improving productivity, coordination, efficiency, and more. This is true for all types of tasks that are still handled manually. It does not matter if inbound documents are invoices, purchase orders, catalogs, feedback forms, or something else, when all businesses, including the Best CPQ Vendors digitize their manual tasks, they are seeing huge benefits.

While this is true, there are some businesses that are still hesitant to take this step. Keep reading to learn more about the biggest challenges of manual data entry and why digitization solves so many of these.

1. High Rate of Errors

The reason there are so many errors varies. It could be human error, improper training, or illegible handwritten forms. No matter the reason, the cost of this is significant. With digitization, much of this error is eliminated.

2. Slow Turnaround Time

A good speed for data entry of paper documents is between 10K and 15K keystrokes per hour. However, when data is captured from digital images, the speed is much faster, which results in higher levels of productivity for a company.

3. Unclear Formatting or Fields

Many operators run into missing values during their data entry processing. Having to assign blank values, default values, or meaningless substitutes can create discrepancies in the output achieved.

4. Quality Check

In data entry, there is something called the 1-10-100 rule. This means that it will cost $1 to verify the accuracy of data when it is entered, it costs $10 to correct or clean up data in the batch form, and it will cost $100 (or more) for every record if no actions are taken. This makes it clear that having a quality check is essential when it comes to manual data entry. With digitization, this is a step that is virtually eliminated.

5. Increase in Data Entry Volume

If an e-commerce store announces a big sale, it may require a lot of data entry from catalogs from their website to ensure the marketing initiative is successful. The same is true of other businesses that have an influx of new orders. Trying to manage this sudden increase in manual data entry work is going to put a lot of stress and pressure on the in-house data entry professionals. This may also lead to more errors.

6. Reduced Focus on Other Core Tasks

If manual data entry is not at the core of business activities, it may result in employees being diverted from handling other necessary tasks. This can have a detrimental effect on the entire organization and the strategic objectives may be minimized.

With modern technology, data capture is easier than ever before. With this type of digitization, it is possible to reduce all the issues mentioned above and have a business that runs more smoothly while reducing errors and increasing productivity. This makes it a win-win investment for virtually any business.

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