Companies have been outsourcing data entry work almost as long as the global technological development has supported outsourcing. The outsourcing of data entry work requires a company to either mail hard copies of its data forms, or scan and email or fax, electronic images of them, to the outsource contractors who will complete the data entry job.

The data entry workers then input information into a database on a computer, and either store it on a magnetic medium for shipping or email it back to the sending company in encrypted form.

Because data entry jobs do not require and advanced degree of computer savvy, outsourcing data entry work is far less difficult than outsourcing more complex processes. Data entry work does not demand an ongoing communication between the outsourcing company and the data entry provider, and the outsourcing of data entry work to date entry firms in underdeveloped nations has for the most part been one of the big outsourcing success stories.



Freelance Data Entry Outsourcing

The Internet, of course, has played a huge part in the increase of data entry workers, in particular in poorer countries, who freelance their services. A simple Internet search will bring up dozens of sites shopping the services of data entry coders who work for what would be considered starvation wages in Europe or the US.

These data entry workers normally price their services according to both the sizes of the requested projects, and their own work histories. Outsourcing data entry work to these coders is usually a matter of posting the specifics of a job, and letting the various coders make bids on it. The going rate for data entry jobs can begin at less than $100, but there is no guarantee that the coder whose bid is accepted will actually complete the job as specified. While most of the reverse auction sites will return the money for an incomplete or substandard effort, the data entry still has not been finished, and business operations may fall behind until it is.