Data is growing by leaps and bounds in various formats such as text, images, graphics, audio, and video. The unstructured information contained in general business documents such as contracts, marketing material, emails, or instant messages is vital to companies. This information has to be converted into data that can be read and processed by a computer for further processing and storage. Companies that provide data entry services use advanced technologies and stringent quality control measures to convert existing information into clean, clear and accurate data.
With data at the crux of every business, data quality and management is as important as having data. Digitization lays the foundation for data analytics, which is vital to leverage data in a proper way. Manual data entry can stall digitization efforts. In a data-driven world, automating data entry is essential to embrace digital processes.
What is Automated Data Capture?
Automated data capture involves using technology to identify and extract critical information from incoming paper and electronic documents. It eliminates manual intervention. Unstructured data is converted into structured format using Robotic Process Automation (RPA), automated data capture using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), cognitive intelligence and other high-end strategies and technology tools to leverage machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), bots and advanced analytics. Data automation is empowering customers, and improving resource planning and management, sales, marketing, and more across various industries, from manufacturing, real estate, logistics, education, and transportation to retail, healthcare, and more. Automating the capture of information is improving productivity, revenues, and customer satisfaction.
Direct and Indirect Benefits of Automating Data Entry
There are many reasons why businesses should automate data capture:
- Better management of information: Companies are constantly striving to optimize processes and do more with less. Automation allows them to manage information better, increasing the amount and quality of work they do. For example, with automation, they can better meet customer demand including more complex needs, and transform the customer experience, which will increase brand loyalty and have a positive impact on productivity and sales.
- Can improve accuracy and reduce errors: Manual data entry and processes come with a high risk of errors. And errors are costly to fix in terms of both time and money. Moreover, bad data can lead to wrong decisions, missed revenue opportunities and even law suits. Automated software provides consistent, accurate results that can drive business success.
- Eliminates tedious, time-consuming manual processes: For successful business automation, companies need to focus on identifying processes that are repetitive and mundane and automating them. Manual data entry is a slow, time-consuming process. Even with 80 words per minute, completing a 500 word document would take over 6 minutes. Complex data that requires evaluation before entry, would delay the process further. When the volume of data entry is high, slow turnaround time is unacceptable. Data automation tools capture details from structured, unstructured, or semi-structured data swiftly. OCR can convert typed documents, PDF files, images, or scanned documents into accurate, searchable, editable digital documents.
- Frees up employees to focus on high-value work: When data entry is automated, it automate and streamline business processes across the enterprise, freeing up humans to focus on strategic processes. When knowledge workers focus on high-value work, it makes them valuable to the organization. Document digitization increases productivity and efficiency and increases revenue per employee.
- Enhances agility of business operations: Automating data entry increases corporate agility to leverage data-driven insights. Organizations can take quick decisions based on accurate information. For example, they can quickly respond to market changes and new customer demands, which will go a long way in helping them to stay competitive in a fast-moving world and improve their bottom line.
- Enhances the customer experience: Automating data capture accelerates business operations and ultimately improves the customer experience. It allows important information to be extracted from complex, highly unstructured business documents. For example, loan, line of credit and mortgage applications do store information in structured systems, but a large volume of data presents in unstructured formats such as titles, appraisals, bills of sale, emails, and other documents. Automated tools can extract the relevant information from these sources, which will speed the approval process and increase customer satisfaction.
Likewise, combining data capture and robotic process automation (RPA), companies can extract the pertinent data from a variety of contract sources and convert it into structured data, which can utilized by applications and web services. Automated data capture can streamline the process from contract negotiation to signature.
4 Popular Data Capture Methods
Businesses can choose from different data capture methods based on their needs:
- OCR: This technology converts convert physical documents such as typed documents, images, PDF files, or scanned documents into searchable, editable machine-readable text or digital documents. It is ideal for businesses handling sensitive information such as medical claims, patient information, and legal and historic documents.
- Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR): An advanced form of OCR, IDR comes with 3 capabilities that convert unstructured information into structured data: it automatically classifies paper and electronic documents into different types, extracts important information from the documents, automatically release or export data and images to a business process, allowing users to take action quickly. IDR case uses include medical forms, patient records, loan applications, mailrooms, legal, logistics, and accounting.
- Bar Code/QR Recognition: Bar codes can be applied to documents, webpages or almost any object for various purposes. Bar code scanning facilitates rapid, accurate data entry. The bar code scanner reads the data with a laser, then enters the data automatically as it is read, entering the information very quickly and automatically.
- Artificial Intelligence: AI has revolutionized data capture, data extraction, processing, validation, and analysis. AI machine learning and deep learning can extract data from every data input and use the inputs to enhance business analytics.
Companies offering data entry services use these high-tech technologies to help businesses harness the power of vast volumes of data and use it to improve their operations, enhance customer satisfaction, boost employee productivity and revenue.
