You probably already automate parts of your document capture with Optical Character Recognition (OCR). But the fact is, you’re also missing out on money and valuable resources. Good news: it’s never been easier to replace your mediocre data capture solution with a powerful Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) solution driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In this article, we answer 6 pressing questions around AI OCR for your automated document processing needs. To help your organization process all business documents automatically, efficiently and cost effectively in 2023 (and beyond).
Reduce both time-to-solution and operating costs by > 80%!
Contents
- What is the difference between template-based OCR and AI-based OCR?
- A- Template-based Optical Character Recognition
- B- Optical Character Recognition based on Artificial Intelligence
- Why is traditional OCR more expensive than AI OCR?
- A- Skilled employees are expensive
- B- Slow processes are expensive
- Why is using AI OCR more secure than not using it?
- A- Manual data entry is prone to errors
- B- Data is sent to the wrong people
- Why AI OCR is good for the planet?
- A- Less paper
- B- Dissolve the paper archive
- Which is the best Intelligent Document Processing solution?
- A- Future-oriented technology thanks to Document Swarm Learning
- B- GDPR compliant cloud platform
- C- One solution for all your document types
- D- No configuration, no setup
- E- No-code platform for ease of use
- F- Software vendors integrate Parashift into their own software
- Why should you switch to AI OCR now for 2023?
- Upgrade your organization for 2023 with Intelligent Document Processing
1. What is the difference between template-based OCR and AI-based OCR?
An already integrated Optical Character Recognition based on templates only helps your document processing to a limited extent. But what exactly are the limitations of this solution and how does it compare with AI-based solutions?
A- Template-based Optical Character Recognition
While template-based OCR can help capture a document that is always consistent, this solution is severely limited:
Depending on templates and rules: Each field (e.g., a date) on a document that you want to extract requires configuration. If the document structure differs from the template, expensive configurations are required.
No flexibility: If a document varies even slightly, traditional OCR is incapable of reading the data correctly.
B- Optical Character Recognition based on Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI)-based Optical Character Recognition, or AI OCR, is the strong brother back from the future (or something like that) of template-based OCR. This technology is now often known as Intelligent Document Processing (IDP). When you integrate this powerful solution into your business environment, some of the things that change are:
- You automatically capture unstructured data and convert it into structured data.
- Your company achieves significantly improved straight-through processing (STP).
- You can strengthen relationships with vendors and customers by meeting payment deadlines and enabling faster turnaround times.
2. Why is traditional OCR more expensive than AI OCR?
How can traditional OCR be more expensive than OCR software based on artificial intelligence?! Even if this statement seems impossible at first sight, let me explain it briefly:
A- Skilled employees are expensive
A weak data capture solution gives you weak data. This means that your employees have to correct data. And they have to do it manually. This means you need more staff, which quickly becomes very expensive. You also use your highly skilled employees for repetitive and tedious work. Something you want to avoid at all costs – both from the company’s and the employees’ point of view.
B- Slow processes are expensive
Another effect of manual interventions by your employees that you should not underestimate is the slow processes that result. With every single interaction in document processing, the process becomes slower and therefore more expensive.
These factors ultimately make legacy OCR more expensive than AI OCR.
3. Why is using AI OCR more secure than not using it?
Not only will your business processes suffer (OCR accuracy) if you don’t use AI OCR software for your document processing, but so will your security standards:
A- Manual data entry is prone to errors
Every time your employees manually enter data or match it with documents such as purchase orders, the risk of errors increases. Even minor lapses in concentration can quickly cause immense damage, right down to the accounts payable department.
B- Data is sent to the wrong people
Data protection, data security and compliance is a key issue for every modern company. You cannot afford for data to get to the wrong people. If you don’t use an Intelligent Document Processing solution, there is always a risk that employees will send data to the wrong people.
4. Why AI OCR is good for the planet?
When it comes to sustainability, ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) is at the top of the corporate agenda. Integrating an IDP solution is not only ideal for your document processes, but also has a positive impact on the planet:
A- Less paper
IDP helps you get rid of paper documents once and for all. On one hand, that’s great for the environment. On the other hand, it also improves your company’s overall financial performance.
B- Dissolve the paper archive
With IDP, you automatically capture the unstructured data from the paper documents and digitize everything in the form of structured data. And that’ s it for the paper document. Little by little, you can thus dissolve your physical and expensive archives.
The timing for making the move to cloud-based AI OCR has never been better.
5. Which is the best Intelligent Document Processing solution?
IDP solutions do not yet exist in abundance. However, more and more are emerging every month. How are you supposed to decide on the right solution for your company?
Well, some IDP vendors promise best-in-class performance, but can’t deliver it in reality and with the complexity of business documents. Certain capabilities are absolutely necessary for a high-performance solution (for example, the capacity to capture unstructured data), while others are a huge competitive advantage (for example, Document Swarm Learning, more on that in a moment).
Parashift is the best Intelligent Document Processing solution on the market because:
A- Future-oriented technology thanks to Document Swarm Learning
The foundation of Parashift’s powerful IDP is its proprietary Document Swarm Learning technology. The unique approach of this technology enables global AI training across all customers and across billions of data points. Progress is made continuously through all documents processed in the cloud and shared immediately with all clients on the network. This opens up the possibility of cost and effort sharing with all users of the platform. Other capabilities made possible thanks to Document Swarm Learning:
- Highest recognition rates even for completely unknown documents.
- Performance continuously improves by the use of all customers and during regular operation.
- More training data generates better and new use cases.
B- GDPR compliant cloud platform
Clients worldwide use Parashift for their most sensitive documents. EU GDPR and data security are therefore two of Parashift’s most important characteristics. The modern cloud infrastructure is fully GDPR compliant. ISO27001 and HIPAA compliant data centers make the platform a secure provider for your document extraction needs. No matter where in the world your business is located or what industry you operate in. You can find more information regarding security and compliance here.
C- One solution for all your document types
Parashift AI OCR is your software for everything related to text recognition from all documents. It’s not only great for automatically processing your invoices, but hundreds of other documents from all industries. This means you can cover all your document capture needs with a single solution.
D- No configuration, no setup
Parashift is all about out-of-the-box functionalities. Standard document types require no setup or configuration, but are ready to use right from day 1. This significantly shortens time-to-value and ensures a fast ROI.
E- No-code platform for ease of use
Do you need individual document types? Using the modern user interface of the no-code platform, you can either create document types from scratch or modify them based on standard document types. This means that you can configure standard data points such as sender and recipient or document date via drag & drop to create a new, individual document type. This allows you to customize documents as needed with just a few clicks and without IT knowledge.
F- Software vendors integrate Parashift into their own software
If you are a software vendor, don’t waste your resources on hard-to-solve OCR problems. Leave that to Parashift, which takes care of the data extraction problem exclusively. You benefit fully from this: you simply integrate the versatile Parashift Cloud OCR API into your own software. Learn here how integrating the Parashift IDP can help you accelerate enterprise digitization and further differentiate yourself from the competition.
6. Why should you switch to AI OCR now for 2023?
The perfect time to integrate powerful AI OCR is now, because the technology is an essential building block in digitization. This technology enables your organization or your clients to achieve breakthroughs in digital transformation by using IDP in combination with business applications, workflows, and document management systems.
Additional benefits with IDP in 2023:
- Automate complex processes with complex, unstructured data.
- Reduce operational costs and regain operational fitness.
- Automate small- as well as high-volume document types.
- Regain agility.
- Strengthen your customer relationships with faster response times.
- Maintain security standards and compliance thanks to the GDPR-compliant platform.
7. Upgrade your organization for 2023 with Intelligent Document Processing
As you can see, the benefits of using powerful IDP for automated document processing for your business in 2023 and beyond are extensive. But it’s best to see the capabilities of the Intelligent Document Processing solution first-hand.
Want to see Parashift IDP in action?
