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Establishing a System for CRM Data Entry and Management

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Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms exist to help you gather and organize data. CRMs let you automate much of that process, but you’ll always have to perform at least some tasks manually. That’s where a CRM data entry system comes in.

You’ll want to have a data entry and management system in place that governs how your team handles those tasks. But how do you establish a system for data entry and management?

That’s just what we’re here to explain. Keep reading for more info.

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What is a data entry and management system?

A data entry and management system is a process your company develops to regulate the way your team handles your customer data.

Why develop a data management system?

Creating a data management system is essential because, without one, your team could be confused about how to deal with your data, which could lead to mistakes and inconsistencies.

Establishing a system for data entry and management allows you to resolve those issues, determining who handles which data and what they do with it. This streamlines the whole data management process.

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Key components of a CRM data entry and management system

There are certain key components you should look for when creating your ideal CRM data entry and management system. These features promote data accuracy and allow you and your team to efficiently utilize and distribute your data. They include:

  • Contact management: Your system should make it easier to find and organize data for people, companies, and leads, including a record of interactions and a way to highlight crucial information for each.
  • Document management: Any important documents and files associated with a contact should be easily accessible, even if it requires an app integration to make things easier to manage.
  • Lead management: Your CRM data entry and management system must provide tools for managing leads, including customizable pipelines, pipeline stages, activities, and more.
  • Workflow automation: Opt for a system that gives you the ability to automate tasks and activities, such as automated data entry and contact record population through web forms.
  • Software integration: Expand your data entry and management capabilities by ensuring your CRM can integrate with the vital components of your business tech stack.
  • Data analytics and reporting: One of the most important elements of any data management system is the ability to draw custom reports and analyze the data effectively to help you understand customer behavior and make informed decisions.
  • Collaborative tools: Sharing data internally through your central CRM hub’s collaborative tools is essential to preserving data consistency and accuracy across your organization, resulting in improved customer experiences.

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3 tips for establishing a system for data entry and management

Now that we’ve covered what a data entry system is and why it’s useful, let’s talk about how to create one. Every business will go about it differently, so we can’t tell you exactly what your system should look like. That said, we can list a few steps you’ll want to include:

  1. Define roles and responsibilities
  2. Validate your data
  3. Perform data backups and testing

Read on for an overview of each one!

1. Define roles and responsibilities

The first step of creating your data entry system should be to delegate which team members will handle which duties. Who will enter the data? Who will manage that data once it’s on the platform?

Furthermore, you should clarify which tasks each person has. Multiple people may be managing your data, but who will manage it in what ways? Who will generate analytics reports? Who will work on cleaning and validating your data?

Finally, determine when each person should perform each task. How regularly should data be cleaned? What events should prompt someone to generate a report?

You can establish a very clear data management system by answering all these questions.

2. Validate your data

The last thing you want in your CRM is faulty data. Unfortunately, data can suffer from all kinds of issues, including:

  • Inaccuracies
  • Duplicate data
  • Inconsistencies
  • Varying formats

All of the above errors can cause problems for your data analysis. That’s why it’s important to perform data validation and cleaning.

Data cleaning is the process of going through your data and removing all the errors you find. Data validation is where, when importing data into your CRM, you verify that there aren’t still any issues.

Some data validation can be done automatically, but you may want team members to check everything to be sure. Either way, your CRM data entry system should account for some form of data validation to ensure your data is accurate.

3. Perform data backups and testing

Another essential item to include in your data management system is backups and tests.  This isn’t a one-time thing—you should do these tests and backups regularly.

The backups are relatively straightforward. You want to have all your data backed up for an obvious reason—you don’t want to lose all of it if something goes wrong with your CRM or database. When you back up your data, you create a replica stored in a secure location that your team can access if needed.

Here are a few tips for creating a data backup you can use in case of a data breach: 

  • Export your CRM data as a manual backup: One way to back up your CRM data is to export it from your system manually. You can then save the data in the cloud or on an external hard drive. 
  • Pick a CRM that creates data backups for you: Your CRM data should simplify data backups. Look for a CRM that performs continuous backups of your company data on multiple servers, so you know your data is in a secure location.

Testing, meanwhile, is meant to ensure that your CRM is working how it’s supposed to. You’ll want to regularly test the processes you’ve automated in the CRM to ensure they’re doing what they’re supposed to.

Nutshell is the ideal CRM for all your data entry and management needs

Are you looking for a CRM to streamline data management for your company? Nutshell is the perfect choice. Our CRM is intuitive, easily navigable, and designed for small businesses like yours.

If you choose Nutshell as your CRM, you’ll also receive free access to our top-of-the-line customer support with all plans.

To see what Nutshell can do for your business, just check out our 14-day free trial today!

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