You may have heard about some of these incidents from your colleagues, or they actually have happened to you too:

“Lea deleted all the columns she doesn’t use. She forgot she’s not the only one to use the “installations” spreadsheet.”

“Andy spent his day updating the customer invoice spreadsheet, putting the wrong figures in the wrong row. You can’t blame him, it’s hard to see the row number when it’s the 78th column. And the worst thing is, you don’t know he has made those mistakes yet and only discover them 2 weeks later when the invoicing goes out to your clients.”

These examples seem exaggerated but they are real. They happen and much bigger organizations have made the same mistake.

• JPMorgan Chase lost more than $6 billion USD due to a copy-paste error
• US Federal National Mortgage Association had a $1.136 billion discrepancy due to a spreadsheet mistake.

How are you handling your data now? Are you in control? Or are you already foreseeing the nightmare when your team size doubles?

5 Reasons Why data quality is essential for your business’ growth

Having your data in order will help you avoid foolish, embarrassing errors. Furthermore, it will give you benefits that will elevate your business to the next level: 

Confidence

Having all your data in one place, in a systematic and structured manner gives you confidence that your data is correct. It is important that your whole team has the ability to access data from anywhere, on any device.

Compliance

If you work in a regulated industry where audit & safety papers are part of your daily business, you want your data to be safely stored in one place. This helps you to protect your business to avoid major disruptions (and stress) when there is an audit is coming.

Scalability

Having a good data structure allows you to scale more easily. When the number of users increases, naturally more data conflicts will arise. Not having a single reliable source of data, will slow down your business growth or even leave you unable to scale larger.

Reporting

Having the correct data at hand is the prerequisite for good decision-making. Your reporting system is the backbone of your business. 

Productivity

You and your team want to get the job done. Manually collecting hardcopy data from various people and reconsolidating them eats up your team’s time. It reduces efficiency and takes up valuable time that your team could better utilise for more important tasks. Automating data collection is a game-changer for any business looking to scale larger. 

5 tips for ensuring high-quality data in your field service business

1. Enforce data integrity: Ensure data is recorded exactly as intended. Upon retrieval, ensure the data is consistent and identical to when it was originally recorded.
   
2. A single source of truth: Having the data edited in a single place simplifies data management.
   
3. Reduce human error by allowing software to collect and organise your data. Eliminate costly mistakes.
   
4. Lose flexibility/add constraints: At Emvisage, we embrace flexibility, but to a certain extent. This might seem counterintuitive, but having fewer options often reduces mistakes. It also helps you make faster and clearer decisions. 
   
5. Use the correct tool for the job and use these tools correctly.

How Emvisage can help you get your data in shape

One of the main advantages of Emvisage Field Workflow Software is providing a strong structure. Having defined constraints helps your team put the right data in the right place. This way, Emvisage becomes the single source of truth for your field business.

Reduce the possibility of making mistakes by restricting fields to a specific set of options

You can give your team different functions, roles, and access. You can determine what they can see and edit. This helps in reducing confusion and accidental mistakes.

Emvisage also helps in tracking important data points. You’ll know when someone modified a particular field, which is handy especially when it comes to audits and accountability.

There’s no magic pill for gathering high-quality data. However, building a strong foundation and framework to guide your team is essential for any field service business.

Do you want to improve the way your team handles data? Schedule a free demo and we’ll show you how our field service software can help you transform your data into a powerful decision-making tool.