The term “data processing” has been around a long time. But it doesn’t have quite the same meaning as before. It used to refer to punching holes in punch cards that were fed into room-sized computers. Plodding clerks at desks did boring, repetitive work that required care and precision but not much thought. In Row A, punch Hole 15. In Row B, punch Hole 123.
No more.
The data processing of the 21st century involves everything from finding data online and entering it into a database to purging old entries or whole files from a hard drive when they are no longer needed, to free up disk space and minimize clutter, to entering info about employees and their rates of pay, rates of taxes and Social Security.
(All of this needs revision every time someone new is hired, an employee gets a raise, tax rates change, or other factors alter the relevant numbers.) Data processing can include keeping and updating a subscriber list, or customer list, or list of prospects.
Data processing is also vital to inventory. If you are a merchandiser, whether wholesale or retail, the number of units you have on hand (or on order, or on backorder) of each item you sell is crucial information for you to do business properly. So is the breakdown by size, color, or other specifications of each of those units.
As well, if you are a manufacturer, you need to know the availability of components: which components you require, how many of each you have in stock, what their per-unit cost to you is, who the supplier is, who the backup supplier is, and so forth.
This all comes under the heading of data. And somebody has to see to it that the data is properly input, changed, audited when needed (such as through inventory), and otherwise updated.
Even billing and invoicing can be an aspect of data processing. Betcha you didn’t know that data processing encompassed so many aspects of your business! But now that you know, and now that you know how important good data processing is to your business, you know that you need the most careful, attentive data processors, who will do their job for the lowest expense to you.
And that’s data processing.
Tags: data processing