The real question is “Should we switch or is this case a case of fixing what ain’t broken?”

I believe there are (at least) seven good reasons for using electronic data capture instead of paper. Some are more important than others, depending on the type of event, the audience and the type of data you are collecting.

1) Better Security
This is important! Data captured at events can include names, addresses, e-mails, bank account information and social security numbers. Consider the legal and public relations risks of misplacing or losing this information as the paper containing the data follows its processing route. Read my blog on this subject. A trustworthy partner can provide this service for you, storing the encrypted information on a locked down data capture device. This means that even if someone could access the data, it would not be decipherable. The data remains secure while it wings its way over a wireless network and to your end client’s customer relationship management (CRM) system.

2) Improved Accuracy
The accuracy of what information on paper depends on two things: the willingness of a consumer to provide the correct data, and the ability of the data entry person to read and understand answers provided. Electronic data capture uses software intelligence to improve accuracy by auto-populating city, state and country based on zip or postal code to prevent entering information that conflicts with answers to a previous question, and so on. Features such as spellchecking ensure open answers make sense, and that only one response is selected if that is what is desired. Software can also apply logic to ensure answers conform to a format that improves accuracy, for example, e-mail address format, date and age (where a minimum age is required).

3) More Complete
Some forms are confusing to consumers and, consequently, are abandoned.  An incomplete survey is often as useless as no survey. Intelligent electronic surveys can show the user only the questions that make sense and can insist on complete answers to some or all questions before allowing the user to continue.

4) Fewer Risks
Paper surveys are mobile by nature. They travel from the hands of those completing them, to event staff who collect and store them, put them in envelopes and ship them out. Sometimes they go home with the event staff at night. This kind of data collection is a challenge to track and enumerate. Missing surveys might represent a security breach if they contain personally identifiable information. You may have promised security in exchange for information. If a survey is not completely legible, you may not be able to uphold this kind of a promise. At the very best, this damages your brand. In the event of a contest or sweepstake, it may even result in a legal liability.  Properly completed electronic surveys ensure every record is captured on a secure device, tagged and delivered to a database with a full audit trail throughout.

5) Fast Processing
Before you can act on survey data, you must be able to access it. This usually means keying in or scanning a paper form. It can take weeks to deliver paper forms to a processing centre and enter information into a database. In contrast, an electronic system makes every survey record available to you within seconds of information being entered on a device. You can follow up with the survey taker before they have even left your display. Acting quickly improves your chance of success.

6) Editing Capability
It is almost inevitable that after you have designed a survey, printed it and shipped it, that “somebody” decides a last-minute change is essential. This not only takes time, but costs money – rush fees, for example. Worse, sometimes it becomes apparent only when people start using the form that some of the questions are unclear or confusing. Making changes at this point might be impossible. With the right electronic survey partner, changes to surveys are expected and welcomed. People rarely react exactly as we expect. Making changes to an electronic survey on location is often as easy as a few key strokes.

7) Storage Capacity
One of the worst possible scenarios for an event marketer is running out of paper forms and losing potential leads. It can be trying to spend time running from location to location ensuring there are enough paper form supplies. Electronic data capture maintains an almost infinite “paper” supply. Each device can store thousands of surveys securely and then co-ordinate their delivery to a data entry facility. With the right partner, your electronic surveys are seamlessly delivered to your client or to your servers using wireless networks and freeing up your event staff.

When all is said and done, except in a very few cases, I truly believe electronic data capture is the way to go but I also acknowledge it has its downsides. I’ll blog about those shortly.

I truly believe that it won’t be long until using paper to capture personal information will be forbidden, first by financial institutions, and later by all credible organizations. Here’s why…

In Dec 2008, paper forms belonging to an Oklahoma business that handles home loans were found strewn along a fence line not far from the company’s headquarters. These documents included some customers’ account numbers, bank and personal account holder info, wire transfer numbers and much more. Yes it was an accident, simple human error but it continues to cause huge PR problems for the company, and it is certain that the loss of customer confidence will have a financial impact for a long time to come.

It’s not a big stretch to imagine how paper lead forms used at events to capture consumer contact and other info might also be misplaced. Given the type of data most of us collect at events, the loss of the leads would be the least of your worries!

Consider for a moment how many different people handle your paper leads and how it’s impossible for you to know for sure that none of have gone missing. Replacing paper data capture with electronic data capture minimizes the probability that this could happen to you, effectively eliminating the hundreds or thousands of pieces of paper containing personal consumer information – papers that must be gathered up and transported to a data entry location.

But moving to capture data electronically is not the final answer.

Also in December 2008, Hewlett Packard reported that a laptop computer was stolen from an HP employee. It contained personal information about some of the company’s employees, including their names and social security numbers. The computer was protected with a username and password.

Not good enough! If you are using electronic devices to capture personal information about consumers make sure the vendor has secured the devices. They should at the very least encrypt all consumer data stored on the device so that even if the device is stolen, nobody will be able to “see” any personal information stored there.

Lastly, the data captured on those devices has to get from the devices to you, and it’s journey can be fraught with opportunities for data to go amiss. In the ideal world, nobody should be able to get the data off the units, it should only be sent (encrypted) over a network (wireless or wired) and the system should ensure that it can only be delivered to one destination.

You might think that once the data is off the devices and at your service provider that all is well, but the need for diligence continues. In September of 2008, mortgage firm Countrywide experienced a security breach. A former employee was arrested and charged with stealing sensitive personal information from Countrywide’s computer files and selling it to mortgage brokers to be used as sales leads. The FBI stated that as many as 2 million people may have been affected! Ensuring that your Data Capture vendor has rigorous system and process security measures in place is critical to your protection.

In summary, replacing paper data capture with electronic data capture can significantly minimize the risk of consumer information being lost or stolen but it is imperative that you pick the right data capture vendor to work with. The right vendor is someone who has a clearly articulated Data Security Plan that addresses physical, system and process security measures to protect your data, someone who has an audit process in place who can track each piece of data collected to prove that they all reached their intended destination, and someone who has a defined Information LifeCycle Management Plan to ensure that all your data is managed corrected and deleted when you want it to be.

Unfortunately horror stories of breaches are all too common, see www.nymity.com for just a few examples. Most companies take action far too late – better to act now to prevent a problem than to have to react if you vendor partner simply didn’t know how to protect a very important asset for you.