5 Data Entry Hacks to Increase Speed and Efficiency

This is an update to the earlier blog, “5 Simple Data Entry Hacks”

A business runs on various processes. Many of these are outsourced, and they contribute to the efficient running of the organization. A data entry company offers such a service that’s part of the essential but non-core tasks of a business.

You Don’t Want to Get Data Entry Wrong

With all the latest technologies dominating business functioning, data entry has also gone through various transformations. The days of manual data entry are long gone. It’s all digitization and automation now, but there still is the human element involved. The presence of the human element raises the possibility of errors creeping in. We’ve seen such errors causing serious trouble. On the 31st of January, 2009 a data entry error as part of Google’s internal functioning caused most websites to be blocked for over an hour. Back in 1872, a misspelled comma led to the US government losing revenue worth $1 million.

Data entry errors can have significant consequences, leading to misinformation, data inconsistencies, and subsequent issues in analysis or decision-making processes. Data entry hacks, let that be keyboard shortcuts, text expansion tools, or automation features, play a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency and productivity of data entry tasks.

Why Try Data Entry Hacks?

Following tried and tested data entry hacks can bring the following benefits–

• Increased Speed: Data entry hacks help accelerate the data input process. By reducing manual keystrokes and repetitive tasks, data entry can be completed at a faster pace, allowing for more efficient utilization of time and resources.
• Improved Accuracy: Data entry hacks like data validation and review processes help minimize errors and enhance data accuracy, ensuring reliable and high-quality data.
• Consistency and Standardization: By adhering to predefined formats, ranges, or criteria, data entry hacks help maintain uniformity across entries, making data analysis and interpretation easier and more reliable.
• Streamlined Workflow: It can streamline the overall data entry workflow, eliminating redundant tasks and reducing the time required to input and process data.
• Minimized Repetition: It also helps reduce repetitive tasks by utilizing automation features like AutoFill and AutoComplete. This not only saves time but also minimizes the potential for errors that can occur due to manual repetition.
• Adaptability and Continuous Improvement: Data entry hacks are adaptable to various software applications and can be customized based on specific requirements. Additionally, by staying updated with new technologies and techniques, professionals can continuously improve their data entry skills and explore innovative ways to enhance efficiency.

5 Effective Data Entry Hacks to Try

Hacks or techniques have developed to make data entry more streamlined and productive, to contribute to increased efficiency and eventually higher earnings for your business. Let’s consider some of these hacks:

Using Two Screens

A second screen for data entry can actually improve how you connect with the internet. That increases the speed of your work. Currently, internet bandwidth is fixed at 40 to 60 words. That can be improved with a second screen. With one screen you can have the main document on it, and the document to which the data is transferred is on the other screen. This arrangement makes changing windows or tabs easier.

Snippet Tools to Avoid Manual Typing of Repetitive Words

Snippet tools are helpful for saving time. Usually, in data entry, you could be writing the same words or phrases multiple times. What snippet tools do is remember text snippets and enter them in the document when you type in a specific character combination.

Clipboard Tool to Minimize Manual Copy-Paste

Data entry involves a great deal of copying and pasting. This repeated task costs a lot of effort. If you’re using Google’s Chrome browser, you can get a clipboard tool added to it. The clipboard tool provides further memory for more strings than just a single character string that the ctrl-c and ctrl-v commands can accommodate at a time. That helps you copy multiple entries and paste them in your Excel file rather than copying every single entry and pasting it. The Chrome browser provides a lot of clipboard extensions.

Automation through Enterprise Software and Advanced Bots

Repetitive actions are not only boring but also cause fatigue – a recipe for errors. The solution is automation. Enterprise software helps speed up workflows and enhance productivity. Advanced bots can not only help in repetitive tasks, but also company research. They can help save a great deal of time.

Devoting Time & Effort for Proofreading

Always proofread. This is something you’d have heard time and time again, but it’s just so important because getting it wrong even in terms of minute mistakes can cause damage worth millions of dollars. There are two ways you can handle this. First, plan your time to set apart a period for proofreading at intervals between entering the data. Secondly, you can also avoid mistakes in the first place by taking a break from the writing or entry at regular intervals. That reduces fatigue and the chances of errors.

You can also carry out various levels of error checking. You can first look for grammatical errors, then you can do the next round of checks where you detect punctuation errors, and the round after that can be devoted to spelling errors. Common errors can be automatically detected by data entry tools though. The bottom-line is, no amount of time you spend on proofreading ever goes to waste. It can only improve perfection.

Data entry hacks are important as they enhance speed, accuracy, consistency, and overall productivity in data entry tasks. By implementing these hacks, organizations can optimize their data entry processes, improve data quality, and derive valuable insights from the collected data. Outsourced data entry services provided by experienced providers make use of these hacks plus advanced technology to help their client companies focus on their core competencies. That frees yourself and your staff to concentrate on what your business does best, thereby streamlining its operations, cutting costs and resource wastage significantly, and offering better service to customers.