As any professional in the industry would know, managing unemployment insurance requires the efficient use, access, and application of data to ensure a smooth operation for their clients. Yet, many businesses still rely heavily on manual data entry processes, a cumbersome and outdated method that causes numerous challenges and setbacks.

Contrasting these processes are automated data entry solutions, which vastly improve an organization’s ability to input, extract, and manage data from physical and digital forms. With more intelligent processes applied to data entry, these solutions are preprogrammed to identify essential information, extract it, and store it safely at an expedited pace that drastically reduces the demand on workers.

While incorporating more complex and effective automation solutions might seem like a bit of an investment, sticking with manual data entry can quickly become far more costly. As you assess whether you’re ready to upgrade to new intelligent software, consider these five most common issues with manual data entry that negatively impact unemployment insurers.

Want to know how to build a future-proof AI strategy for your business? Check out this guide for planning for 2024 and beyond.

What is Data Entry?

Data entry is the process by which organizations transcribe, file, or otherwise enter information into a digital or analog system.

Data entry is a notoriously repetitive and time-consuming process often handled by entry or lower-level employees. Suppose a company doesn’t use automation to assist with the process. In that case, they must use manual entry instead — forcing them to take on additional time, resources, and monetary costs associated with extra work.

Why Unemployment Insurance Companies Should Avoid Manual Data Entry

 

1. Is manual data entry increasing your error rate?

Manual data entry is prone to a significantly higher error rate than automated systems. Humans are far more likely to commit errors like typos, transposed digits, and incorrect data interpretation – failures in entry that ultimately lead to misinformation in unemployment insurance records. The downstream effects of these high error rates lead to real-world impacts for these businesses, including:

Does weakened data accuracy affect compliance?

• When human input causes errors in data entry, this can lead to incorrect benefit calculations, potentially resulting in overpayments or underpayments that cost your business.
• Inaccurate data, particularly in unemployment insurance, may trigger compliance issues with regulatory organizations overseeing these vital programs.
• Errors in manual data entry caused by human input can result in incorrect benefit calculations, potentially costing your company more money.

How is manual data entry affecting your company’s resources?

• Suppose a data error issue were to arise. In that case, businesses are forced to divert resources to rectify those issues and address customer complaints — stealing away time from workers and impacting overall operational efficiency.
• Manual data entry also requires more physical resources beyond just employee time. More investment in manual entry, storage, and management tools rather than a centralized automated system increases long-term operational costs.
• Inaccurate data will undoubtedly demand reprocessing claims and even potential legal fees, triggering new costs that detract from a company’s bottom line.

What impact does manual data entry have on company reputation and customer trust?

• Once customers and regulators get wind of poor data accuracy, it will harm an organization’s reputation for reliability and professionalism in handling claims.
• The effect on existing businesses will also be affected due to the loss of trust among claimants and stakeholders seeing errors in benefits or delayed payments.
• Another byproduct of delayed payments from data entry issues is frustrations with customers themselves. This will tank your company’s reputation and make it harder to receive good reviews or gain new business.

2. Are your employers efficient when it comes to repetitive tasks?

Manual data entry is a notoriously monotonous and time-consuming process that involves repetitive tasks and meticulous attention to detail. Employees should be very efficient on routine responsibilities like data entry as long as they have the right automation tools at their disposal. 

Instead, they spend too many valuable hours inputting data, verifying information, and correcting errors — time that could be better spent on higher-level strategic tasks that add value to the business. This absorbing process instead spills over into these other issues:

How does poor resource allocation affect productivity?

• Thanks to the demand of data entry, less-available staff have much more limited capacity to handle spikes in claim volumes or respond to urgent inquiries.
• More manhours naturally translate to higher labor costs associated with manual data entry compared to much more efficient automated systems.

How is your customer satisfaction involved in company strategy?

• Unemployment insurance is a crucial financial service to its customers, which means customer satisfaction is tied directly to long-term strategy. If manual data entry generates repeated issues with delivering results, that strategy will be much less successful.
• With employee attention needed on manual data entry, the extended processing times for claims lead to frustration among claimants expecting timely benefits.
• Longer wait times for claims and service requests hurts customer satisfaction ratings and feedback.

Does manual data entry allow your company to grow and expand?

• By forcing staff to focus on more mundane, less impactful work, businesses will miss opportunities for growth and expansion due to these operational inefficiencies.
• A time-consumed workforce will also have difficulty meeting service level agreements (SLAs) and performance metrics set by regulatory authorities or stakeholders, making it harder for you to scale and bring on more new business.
• Other companies in the unemployment insurance space that are already employing automation in their data entry will be able to scale much more efficiently and quickly, with manual data entry dragging you behind your competitors.

How Plextera Makes Data Automation Simplie

Plextera specializes in providing robust data automation solutions tailored for unemployment insurance businesses. Combining the application of technologies like OCR, IDP, and other AI tools, Plextera simplifies data management and processing complexities. Our comprehensive suite of tools is designed to streamline manual data entry processes prevalent in unemployment insurance, thus enhancing efficiency and reducing operational costs.

• Plextera prioritizes data security including authentication and encryption to safeguard sensitive information within unemployment insurance records.
• Plextera boasts a simple but flexible back-end solution that lets businesses adapt quickly to changing regulations while facilitating the rapid deployment of new solutions.

Overall, Plextera solutions eliminate manual approaches to UI document processing by empowering your staff with capture and automation to deliver quality, accurate data in a matter of minutes.

Taking Control of Your Unemployment Insurance Business

Unemployment insurance businesses are creating unnecessary roadblocks to their own success if they continue to rely on manual data entry. But by adopting automated data entry systems, businesses can improve accuracy and streamline operations to optimize unemployment insurance processing.

By investing in platforms like Plextera and empowering employees with efficient tools, unemployment insurance businesses can transform the way they manage and apply data for more effective outcomes and better satisfaction with customers.

Avoid the Pitfalls of Manual Entry or Unemployment Insurance:

• Unemployment insurance businesses rely on data entry to store, manage, and track essential information about claimants and payments.
• Relying on manual data entry over superior automated solutions increases the rate of error and costs to businesses while demanding more employee time.
• Intelligent solutions from Plextera unleash unemployment insurance businesses’ ability to accurately and efficiently conduct data entry to improve accuracy in payments.

Reach out today to request a demo of Plextera and see what this solution can do for your business and its data.