Advantages and Disadvantages of doing Data Entry versus OCR

Want a digital format of the hard copy of any document? OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology can be the right option. Changes are taking place in the field of Data Entry service with the improvement of modern technology. Apparently, you may think OCR service as a substitute of data entry service, however, OCR services come with both advantages and disadvantages.

Overview of OCR

Optical Character Recognition is a modern technology for digital replication. OCR technology comes with software, hardware and an additional circuit in the computer to execute conversion process. OCR software can not only read the fonts but also recognize line breaks in a document. The process of OCR is quite simple and easy to manage. The entire process of converting hard copy of a document into electronic document may take only a few seconds.

Advantages of OCR

If you are looking for only converting any document into editable digital format then there is nothing better than OCR services. Optical Character Recognition process saves the time and effort of developing a digital replica of any document. No need to type characters manually on a digital file. Just place the hard copy of the document inside a scanner and get the digital format of that document with the help of OCR software.

With OCR process you can convert a document in several electronic formats like – Microsoft Word, Excel, HTML, PDF, Text or Rich Text formats.

Documents, which are converted through OCR process, are editable and allow the user to modify the content. Compared to manual data entry service the cost of OCR service is quite less for developing electronic replica of any document. OCR service proved better than data entry service for the organizations, which are engaged in developing electronic copy of printed books.

Disadvantages of OCR Service

There are several disadvantages of OCR service regarding the cost as well as the process of recognizing the characters. Initially, the cost of developing replica through OCR process may seem lucrative but if you consider the cost of entire OCR system life cycle, the cost will be much higher than data entry service. Correcting OCR errors counts more cost than preparing a digital format of the document.

High accuracy OCR software can read more than 400 characters/second, approximately, and generates less number of OCR errors compared to any ordinary OCR software. Therefore, if you are looking for OCR process you have to maintain a separate workstation for correcting OCR errors.

OCR software is not efficient in recognizing the handwriting and the fonts, which are quite similar to handwriting. In such cases manual typing plays better role than OCR process.

How efficient is Data Entry Service than OCR?

Compared to ordinary OCR process, conversion life cycle cost is less in data entry service and it provides complete flexibility to data entry operators preparing digital documents from multiple formats like hard copy or audio files. Consider the service of medical transcription where you need to prepare digital documents from audio files. OCR cannot prepare digital document by scanning any audio files. In such services, data entry can prove better than OCR.

It has been found that for services like mailing list conversion or data extraction from the Internet, manual data entry services are still widely accepted across the industry. Data entry service comes with several levels – staring from inserting raw data in a document to an error free document. OCR is efficient during the initial level of data entry service but cannot be a substitute of data entry service. However, the selection of a right service (Data Entry or OCR) depends on requirements of the job.

A Guide to Find Lucrative Data Entry Jobs

Just like any other home based business, data entry jobs can be very lucrative and profitable if the work is done with persistence, determination and motivation. Online data entry jobs have been on the rise since the year 2001 due to the huge amount of information handled every day creating a need for data entry people. If the data entry process is not resorted to by companies or corporate houses there will be loads and loads of paperwork, which is considered to be non productive. It may also lead to loss of information, data and in turn revenue in the process. When data entry of the information is done, it preserves all the necessary information of the businesses and can help in the smooth flow of business processes towards profit.

There is a great potential for data entry jobs and the chances of making data entry jobs profitable is also very high. Many companies worldwide outsource data entry jobs. Some people even earn $1000 – $3000 as an additional income. To attain this level of earning, it is good to know what is required to become a good data entry personnel and the knowledge to source profitable data entry jobs. Data entry jobs provide a win-win situation for both the data entry person and the company which is outsourcing the job. The person can work as a freelancer and earn good money while working at the leisure of the home and the company can concentrate on more strategic issues than doing data entry jobs in-house. They also save a lot of time, money and energy due to outsourcing of the data entry to people working from home.

To make data entry jobs profitable, the person who is doing the job from home can adopt the following strategy. The person has to go through the available data entry jobs which can be done from home, then can narrow down the ones which can be profitable from 1 to 3 such kind of programs. From the narrowed down choices, he can choose the one with a money back guarantee program. The reputation of the company who is giving data entry jobs is very important.

Getting organized in work is also a step towards profit making. While working from home, the work area needs to be very comfortable to work. The monitor should be fully visible and there should not be any clutter in the work place as it will distreat the person distract from the work he is doing. When a person works on the job he should be feel inviting and comfortable to make profits.

The mail box folders have to be organized in such a way that any information can be got at any time without having to search relentlessly. Since, data entry job involve managing data and information, it has to be in a very organized manner. This will show the person as well structured and organized. The company providing data entry jobs will prefer only such people and give them more and more work, in turn making the data entry job a profitable one.

The Data Entry Clickbank Product Category

When you get started on Clickbank, any guide to success in this marketplace will tell you to quickly get product out there. The good thing about the process of introducing product to Clickbank is that they make it easy. There are tens of thousands of digital products on Clickbank so to be able to get your product noticed, the categorization system they have in place is important and you will be glad its there.

Of course, you probably don’t pick a category and just like that have product ready to put out there. Unless you are brokering other people's product, there is a niche which is your skill and the product you will offer to the world through Clickbank. Because Clickbank deals with all forms of digital products, you would expect every legal category to be represented. But if your product falls under the umbrella of an "data entry product", you will find no category to fit it. That is because Clickbank eliminated it which makes this the largest internet marketplace in the world, not a good place for you to market your product.

While we don’t have a publicized reason why Clickbank doesn’t support the data entry category anymore but we know that the product line historically had a very high rate of people asking for refunds. This means one of two things. Either a lot of people were putting scam products or shoddy merchandise out on the Clickbank market and it was getting returned by unhappy customers or this category was one most prone to Clickbank "shoplifting" which is easy to pull off when downloading a digital product from a service that offers an iron clan return policy as Clickbank does.

It seems that part of the problem is not so much that data entry products themselves are scams but that they offer a false expectation. When a program is advertised as a way to "get rich" just doing data entry and the software will give you the tools to do that, this can lead to an expectation by the customer that its just that easy. But then when the real road to prosperity is far more than just data entry but includes an ability to do affiliate level marketing on the internet to get those riches, that is discouraging to people so they want, and get, a refund from Chickbank.

By definition data entry is just that. It is typing known data into a form to build content. A typical data entry job offered freelance on the internet involves something like visiting 1000 web sites and filling out a form about the web site owners or working with an online data entry format to help the owner's bulk up a database. Data entry is actually a fairly old job in the world of data processing but it is not as prevalent now that data can be captured digitally and the need for human data entry is less common.

Marketing a data entry product on Clickbank or anywhere might involve creating a product name and marketing text that gives the wrong impression. Your program might be a very good program to help the buyer get his or her feet down in the field of affiliate marketing but there will be some need to go through a learning curve and the path to revenue flow will be filled with a lot of trial and error. But this is not to say that the data entry programs you have to offer are not solid products of real value to the customer.

The fault lies with those who have gone before you on Clickbank and advertised deceptively causing such a high refund rate. Now Clickbank is "snake bit" and has closed the product category entirely. And that is a real shame.