As a business owner, you may find that several things tend to distract your attention from your core tasks. Every aspect of a business firm – back office work, development, or even employee recruiting – demands proper attention and intelligent effort to be successfully carried through. Along with your firm’s growth, data management can become increasingly complex as well as time consuming. Outsourcing data entry processes is a proven way to cut costs and increase profitability.
While services such as document conversion, photo manipulation and image processing can streamline the office workflow, saving time and lowering costs, it comes with a multitude of challenges such as:
The right choice of service provider: Hiring a good company is of course beneficial for mid- and small-sized businesses to save infrastructural and labor costs. However if you make the wrong choice of vendor, you most likely will not get the results you expect. Make sure that the chosen vendor is easily accessible and flexible enough to respond to your needs as well as the changing market. With the right outsourcing partner, you can focus better on core areas that need your attention such as product development, marketing and promotion, all of which directly impact revenue.
Quality and accuracy rate: Never compromise on quality when it comes to data management as it can affect all organizational processes. This applies for all industries.
A recent article in Aviation Pros focuses on the relevance of accurate data as a key element in the success of a maintenance organization’s quality management system (QMS). The author says, “Anyone involved in measuring and managing based on key performance indicators (KPIs) will undoubtedly tell you that timely and accurate data is an invaluable intangible asset”. Even quality control processes are dependent on quality assurance of data.
Regardless of the nature and size of your firm, the organization you partner with should be able to provide error-free solutions. Some vendors allocate less experienced personnel on projects of smaller clients to cut their own costs, which can affect quality and accuracy of output. Professional firms will maintain stringent QA programs and ensure that all output is checked thoroughly before delivery.
Cost considerations: Finding a service provider that can deliver affordable solutions that stay within their budget is a major challenge that most businesses face. One of the main aim of outsourcing is to cut costs.
Data security: It’s critical to choose a service provider that can ensure security for your data. Check for encryption measures, a safe physical environment, network security with firewalls updated on a regular basis, backup and disaster recovery, and more. In short, your data should be stored in secure facilities with state-of-the-art physical security and environmental control.
Timely services: Delay in delivery can impact your work flow. Before signing up for the services ensure that the outsourcing firm has skilled and experienced staff that can complete your project within the stipulated deadline.
According to a recent news report, a Grant Thornton survey found that while reducing costs is a primary consideration for outsourcing, many businesses also identify ‘intangibles’ such as reliability, trust and communication as key factors in making outsourcing relationships work. The report says that these factors may sometimes count even more that technical factors such as cost and specialist capabilities. So do your research thoroughly and choose a reliable provider for a successful outsourcing experience.
