As explained in this article, it is essential for companies and their realization of efficient and optimized document extraction to move away from traditional OCR, or even manual data entry, and toward the integration of intelligent, AI-based OCR (Optical Character Recognition). Because one thing seems clear: The extensive amount of unstructured documents and data for processing will only continue to increase in the future, and the processes will only become more complex. Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) takes forward what until now has only been subject to the finicky scrutiny of critical human eyes, and qualitative document processing could only be compensated for with considerable time resources and an intolerable number of employees. With IDP, the approach is completely different. A combination between OCR, AI, machine learning, and human in the loop, IDP combines potent individual parts into a powerful whole.
In large quantities and largely unstructured in nature – this is how documents are found across departments and industries in companies
IDP is responsible for ensuring that the sheer endless variation of unstructured documents finds its master after all. Let’s take a detailed look at the relevance of IDP for present and future companies, broken down into individual elements and into monetary and non-monetary benefits.
High relevance for companies thanks to more automated end-to-end and straight-through processes
The combination makes the difference
The impact of IDP on organizations is significant! Employees can turn their backs on manual and tedious work that took an enormous amount of focus and therefore huge effort to achieve outstanding quality. However, they remain an important sub-element of the overall IDP as human in the loop and human intelligence. Thanks to the intelligent, AI-based OCR linked to machine learning, which is subjected to a constant data feedback loop and thus improves itself, the human in the loop interventions are reduced to the minimum. If human validation is required, the points to be checked are clearly highlighted by the intelligent AI-based OCR for their verification. With IDP as a combination of intelligent automations, companies and their employees are greatly relieved in many ways, while essential optimizations are possible not only in individual business processes but in end-to-end automations.
IDP is a part of old (OCR), combined with new and innovative (intelligent, AI-based and machine learning), completed with human intelligence
The relevance of IDP broken down into the individual benefits
IDP thus relieves and optimizes companies and their business processes across both departments and industries. But enough of the laurels, let’s take a closer look at the individual monetary as well as non-monetary benefits:
- Faster process turnaround times in general and more straight-through processing (STP): With IDP’s intelligent and sophisticated approach, optimized processes are a reality, turnaround times are faster, and significantly higher straight-through processes are possible, even with highly complex content like charts
- Cost optimizations: With intelligent, AI-based, and machine learning-assisted OCR, each document becomes more cost-effective as the number of documents to be processed increases = only let those unstructured and semi-structured documents come in to the enterprise!
- Fast and simple scalability: Whether the company needs to process tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of documents, rapid scalability makes any spectrum feasible
- Transferable to other departments: Once successfully applied, the optimized automation processes can be transferred to other departments, for example, similar procedures can be used for security and compliance or for customer onboarding at banks
- Increased revenue: In the short term, IDP can achieve a rapid ROI, and in the medium and long term, increased revenues can be targeted
- Productivity increase and error minimization: IDP not only increases productivity in general, but also allows employees to focus on other value-added work in the company, such as customer service. The error rate, in general, is massively reduced due to the elimination of manual work.
IDP as a combination creates room for innovation
IDP opens up new possibilities
IDP manages to create an essential balance between intelligent automation and intelligent people. IDP thus opens up a whole new world of possibilities for companies of the present and future, with a view to further developments and improvements of the individual sub-elements, as well as to relevance as a whole.