Regardless of bull or bear markets, most businesses aim to be as efficient as possible, as efficiency directly affects profitability. Business operations that do not generate revenue are prime targets for outsourcing, since many functions can be done less expensively by near shore or offshore companies that specialize in those services. Data entry is a great case in point.
Industries that Rely on Data Entry Service Companies
Some of the industries that are well known for outsourcing to third-party data
entry services include healthcare, insurance, and legal--industries that, perhaps not coincidentally, are well-recognized as being consistently profitable.
Data Entry Workforce Shrinking but Need for Service Is Not
The overall number of US workers employed in providing data
entry services is projected to decline by almost 35% by 2016. So, does this mean that there will be less information to process? Hardly! In fact, some industries are forecasted to add workers, and the segment projected to add the most new data entry clerks, is, no surprise, business support services (data
entry service companies).
Data Entry Technology Drives Efficiency
The software and hardware that drive the data
entry services business continues to become more sophisticated, more specialized, and at the same time, more foolproof. What this means in practical terms for those in businesses other than data entry is that they can reduce costs by outsourcing data entry to service companies with specialized tools to deal with almost any kind of data.
How Data Entry Services Save Clients Money
Advertising agencies, promotion fulfillment companies, call centers, direct mailers, and many other types of businesses can benefit from data
entry services that use specialized software to validate addresses, ZIP Codes, postal encoding, and phone numbers and perform other data hygiene functions. Once the information is standardized, it can be imported into applications used by the client company including databases, accounting, and customer relationship management. The savings is manifold. Data is entered only once by an outside provider who must meet service level agreements for speed and accuracy. This eliminates redundant data
entry within the client company and reduces labor costs, mistakes, wasted postage, and downgraded customer service.
Segments that Can Benefit Most from Data Entry
Of the more than 400,000 data processing workers in the US, more than 30% are employed in education and government. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these segments are expected to shed data entry workers over the next eight years. It seems unlikely that either segment will actually have less processing to be done. Perhaps technology advancements will cover the gap between the reduction in the number of workers and the work to be done, or perhaps some of this work will shift to data entry service companies. Other industries that are projected to add data entry workers include pharmaceutical, transportation, general merchandise, electronics, and wireless. Companies in any of these segments will do well to consider data
entry services.
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