Ways to Make Data Entry Easier and Faster

Data entry is a necessary evil for most businesses, but there’s little doubt that it’s a necessity. Digitized information is a huge boon for practically any company, but getting that information digitized can be a real hassle.

Before you can use lead information to coordinate your sales team or apply the big data behind your customers to chart the major metrics of your business, you need to enter that data into your system.

That’s a drain on the staff who works for you who are performing monotonous work rather than playing to their specializations. Then you have to worry about the risk of data error. Without the right information, artificial intelligence and machine learning can’t provide you with actionable data, and it could lead you to make some critical mistakes. Here’s what you can do to streamline the process and avoid data entry errors.

Making Use of Macros

While a graphical interface that allows you to combine mice with keyboards has made things much easier, there’s still something to be said for the sort of shortcuts that can speed up the data entry process.

Known as macros in Windows, these shortcuts allow you to accomplish complex tasks with a simple combination of keystrokes. Learning how to make the most of existing macros and create new macros keyed to the specific needs of your company is critical for anyone who makes use of data entry in any meaningful manner. This list can help you learn the fundamentals of macros in Excel.

Relying on Prime Sources

The more times data sets have been copied, the higher the risk that there’s an error. That’s why it’s important to go to the prime source as much as possible rather than relying on legacy sources.

Often, this can be done by making use of existing cloud-based platforms like Salesforce, but sometimes the data you need to copy isn’t already digitized.

In cases like these, you may want to invest in optical character recognition tools. These can translate typed or written content and accurately convert it into digital figures.

Making a Schedule

Efficient data entry is all about organization. If you approach an entry project in short spurts when you happen to find the time, you’re more prone to making errors and having redundancies, and having to stop and start means that you’ll lose a lot of critical time in the process.

If data entry is an important part of your process, consider scheduling specified blocks of time to completing your tasks. Also make sure to delegate responsibilities accordingly so that you don’t have to worry about miscommunications when multiple staff members are dealing with the same blocks of data.

Taking Advantage of Custom Lists

There’s a reason that Excel is still the leading platform when it comes to data entry. Microsoft has spent years polishing their platform, and there are a number of built-in tools that professionals can use to make data entry easier.

One of the best ways to do this is to use custom lists. By using lists, you have the option to automatically populate a column by just typing in the first few letters. This is a great time saver if you repeatedly fill in blocks of hourly, weekly, or monthly time, but it can be applied creatively in a number of different ways.