Data Entry Issues
The most common data entry problems occur during the actual data input process. Especially in instances of manual, human-based entries. Typo’s can cause short and long-term problems for your organization and lead to inaccurate records and misinformation. In addition, it is often a cumbersome task.
When employees misspell or mistype information into a field, it may not be recognized as an error instantly. Changing the place of the decimal point for instance, is a small error with potential serious consequences. The information might be transferred into a software system and can effect all other connected information. This can result in hight costs for businesses.
Human errors might happen due to tiredness, interruptions, perception of low value, required speed of data entry and available time may also negatively affect the data quality. No person makes these mistakes on purpose. Still, these errors can result in serious consequences for your company. Erroneous data takes time and resources to correct, and if its left uncorrected it can lead to lost profits and business opportunities.
High-cost
Inaccurate data entry can be an expensive mistake for businesses. The cost of correcting any errors with data management can be aggravating for any business as it can be time-consuming or very costly, to go through every source record or file to find the errors affecting reports.
According to Harvard Business Review: “The reason bad data costs so much is that decision makers, managers, knowledge workers, data scientists, and others must accommodate it in their everyday work. And doing so is both time-consuming and expensive. The data they need has plenty of errors, and in the face of a critical deadline, many individuals simply make corrections themselves to complete the task at hand. They don’t think to reach out to the data creator, explain their requirements, and help eliminate root causes.”
Solutions and how to ensure fewer Data Entry Errors
Data entry is an extremely important and critical task, as numerous useful insights are often drawn based on this data to make important business decisions.
Errors are inevitable, but you can minimize their occurrence by understanding why manual errors happens and learning ways to avoid them. Your company can efficiently reduce entry errors and enhance data integrity across your company. The constant development and availability of technology and easily accessible data sources, can and should reduce the need for manual entry. Investing in effective solutions that captures data and automate workflows can ensure improved data quality.
ways to avoid mistakes and make data entry faster and more efficient
- Train employees on the importance of data
- Create a good working environment
- Prioritize accuracy over speed
- Double-check the data entry
- Use software tools
- Enable automation
Read more here:
Bad Data Costs the U.S. $3 Trillion Per Year (English article)
Elendige data koster danske firmaer milliarder (Danish article)
