Data Capture, like any other process, is a necessary evil that just needs to be done. The reason it’s necessary is that it helps your company to better understand statistics, surveys, feedback forms and many other kinds of documents. The reason its evil is, if done by hand, data capture is extremely time-consuming and extremely tedious.
Data capturing involves identifying and capturing significant data or information from a document and converting it into digital format. The data can be captured or acquired from various sources. Data capture services use an optimum combination of human intervention and the latest technology. Data capture experts use manual data entry or automated methods like OCR to provide high-quality services.
Outsourcing companies process a variety of documents, such as :-
- Text-based documents, whether printed or handwritten such as memos, bills, surveys, reports, instruction manuals, business cards, product warranties or index cards.
- Numbers based documents such as financial statements, payroll records or time sheets.
- Forms such as surveys, questionnaires, application forms for credit cards, patient records, coupon redemption, medical and insurance claims, product registration, loans, subscriptions and shipping documents.
- Data can be captured from all types of handwritten documents.
- Image based documents such as photographs, graphs and charts, etc.
- Mixed format documents such as credit card statements and bank statements, etc.
Data is captured and documented from the sources discussed above and then converted into an electronic format. This process is known as electronic data capture. Various quality checks are applied throughout the process. The data is thoroughly checked for any junk characters or any other errors, which may have occurred due to automation.
Data capture services cover the following business areas:
– Capturing data from forms
– Capturing data from Microfilms, cards, magnetic tapes and photos
– Capturing data from birth records, municipal records and town records
– Capturing data from the web
– Receipts, vouchers and coupons
– Medical and Legal documents
– Cheque scanning and imaging
– Capturing and punching huge volumes of data from files of any format
Benefits of outsourcing to a reputed data capture company:
- Outsourcing firms are adept at handling bulk data capturing projects with proficiency and ease.
- With outsourcing, you save money, efforts, infrastructure as well as office equipment.
- Seasoned proficiency in various methods of capturing the data, such as manual data entry, OCR scanning, etc.
- If required, experts from outsourcing firms can also assemble and arrange information in the client specified format.
- Dedicated supervisors/project managers for regular communication and timely updates on the progress of the work.
- Outsourcing firms guarantee complete security and confidentiality of the information/data/files/ documents shared by you.
- They can deliver the information in any format like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Database, Adobe Portable Document Format and the captured and verified data is sent to the client via compact disks, email, or File Transfer Protocol.
- Most outsourcing firms also provide free trial samples to get you an insight into their quality, efficiency and time management, before you outsource them the complete project.
Data capture can be done at a good price and still done well whether by the use of professional industry software or by outsourcing, but make sure to do a little research on the company yourself, find out as much information as you can about the outsourcing and software, even visit them, but most importantly have some samples mocked up for you. A physical render of what you can expect is the best way to tell quality so you don’t get any nasty surprises.