We are looking for ways to automate and/or streamline the manual data
entry needed when entering new data into our CRM system - what are the
recommended best practices for balancing the need for rapid data entry
that also maintains high data quality?  Specifically, our interest is
with entering data into SAP's CRM system (but I would like best
practice info. for any of the larger CRM providers).

---

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 06 Nov 2006 17:09 PST

wpi12...

This on demand webcast may satisfy your needs:

"Manually entering contact information into a CRM or SFA
 system is a tedious and distracting task to busy sales
 professionals. Focused on that month's quota and existing
 deals in the pipeline, crucial contact information is often
 entered inaccurately or not entered at all. That partial or
 missing contact could have contributed to a future sale or
 marketing effort - but, as is, the potential is wasted.

 Discover how contact capture technology eliminates lost
 leads and establishes a strong, complete understanding of
 your prospects from the start. By automatically recognizing
 and reading the contact information on printed business
 cards, in e-mail signatures or on Web pages, this technology
 eliminates manual data entry -- including line-by-line cut
 and paste."
http://www.bitpipe.com/detail/RES/1156347670_777.html

The webcast is available for free, but requires registration.

You can find other pertinent white papers on this page from
the IT Solution Journal website:
http://whitepapers.itsj.com/rlist/term/Data-Quality.html


There's a slew of contact capture software out there, such
as the programs listed on this page from qaarchive:
http://contact-capture.qarchive.org/

Included on that page is ContactGrabber 2.5.0 - $89 - which
specifies compatibility with SAP:

"Don't want to waste your time with typing addresses? Capture
 Contacts and Addresses into your addressbook with one click
 using ContactGrabber! ContactGrabber can handle international
 addresses too. Use ContactGrabber for saving leads & contacts
 with one mouseclick from e-mails, websites or other text
 documents. As target applications you can choose Outlook,
 Excel, salesForce, MS-CRM, FileMaker, vCard, vtiger, sugarCRM,
 Lotus Notes, SAP or Outlook Express. The software analyses the
 adresses and transfers the formatted data to your CRM systems.
 Don't waste your time with typing any more! Simply select a
 contact information block from any source (mail, website, or
 document) and call ContactGrabber. This tool extracts the
 contact information and adds it into corresponding fields of
 your CRM automatically. Easily build lead lists from websites
 and online directories."
http://contactgrabber.ibs-quadrat-gmbh.qarchive.org/

Here is ContactGrabber's publisher's website:
http://www.one-click-easy.de/contactgrabber_en.htm

Let me know if this satisfies your interests...

sublime1-ga

---

Clarification of Question by wpi12-ga on 11 Nov 2006 16:56 PST

Thank you - your answer(s) were helpful and thorough, so I am
satisfied with the work you did - thanks very much.

wpi12...

Thanks very much for confirming my response as a suitable
answer for your question(s). I wanted to be certain that
I'd understood and addressed your question correctly. I'll
repost it here for the sake of future readers.

-----------------------------------------------------------

This on demand webcast may satisfy your needs:

"Manually entering contact information into a CRM or SFA
 system is a tedious and distracting task to busy sales
 professionals. Focused on that month's quota and existing
 deals in the pipeline, crucial contact information is often
 entered inaccurately or not entered at all. That partial or
 missing contact could have contributed to a future sale or
 marketing effort - but, as is, the potential is wasted.

 Discover how contact capture technology eliminates lost
 leads and establishes a strong, complete understanding of
 your prospects from the start. By automatically recognizing
 and reading the contact information on printed business
 cards, in e-mail signatures or on Web pages, this technology
 eliminates manual data entry -- including line-by-line cut
 and paste."
http://www.bitpipe.com/detail/RES/1156347670_777.html

The webcast is available for free, but requires registration.

You can find other pertinent white papers on this page from
the IT Solution Journal website:
http://whitepapers.itsj.com/rlist/term/Data-Quality.html


There's a slew of contact capture software out there, such
as the programs listed on this page from qaarchive:
http://contact-capture.qarchive.org/

Included on that page is ContactGrabber 2.5.0 - $89 - which
specifies compatibility with SAP:

"Don't want to waste your time with typing addresses? Capture
 Contacts and Addresses into your addressbook with one click
 using ContactGrabber! ContactGrabber can handle international
 addresses too. Use ContactGrabber for saving leads & contacts
 with one mouseclick from e-mails, websites or other text
 documents. As target applications you can choose Outlook,
 Excel, salesForce, MS-CRM, FileMaker, vCard, vtiger, sugarCRM,
 Lotus Notes, SAP or Outlook Express. The software analyses the
 adresses and transfers the formatted data to your CRM systems.
 Don't waste your time with typing any more! Simply select a
 contact information block from any source (mail, website, or
 document) and call ContactGrabber. This tool extracts the
 contact information and adds it into corresponding fields of
 your CRM automatically. Easily build lead lists from websites
 and online directories."
http://contactgrabber.ibs-quadrat-gmbh.qarchive.org/

Here is ContactGrabber's publisher's website:
http://www.one-click-easy.de/contactgrabber_en.htm

sublime1-ga

-----------------------------------------------------------

Additional information may be found from an exploration of
the links resulting from the Google searches outlined below.

Searches done, via Google:

crm "data entry" "best practices"
://www.google.com/search?q=crm+%22data+entry%22+%22best+practices%22

Answer was thorough and informative - excellent!

wpi12...

Thanks very much for the 5 stars, the high praise, and the tip!

sublime1-ga