AI, Explained: What AI Means for Automated Document Processing

In today’s businesses, advances in technology are everywhere to be found — but document processing sometimes remains in the dark ages. All too often, businesses use optical character recognition (OCR), a template-based process that requires extensive supervision. Even worse, many of today’s businesses process documents manually.

For even the most technologically-savvy organizations, document processing continues to be a source of frustration and inefficiency. That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in. With the help of AI, extracting information from documents can be more efficient and accurate than ever. 

As AI becomes increasingly sophisticated, intelligent document processing (IDP) is becoming more commonplace.  Let’s take a look at how AI is used in IDP solutions to convert even handwritten data into organized, processed documents. 

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

According to Merriam-Webster, a definition of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is “the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior.” 

This doesn’t mean that AI is here to replace human intelligence — but rather, AI is used to mimic human intuition in order to perform tasks. Many AI services are able to assess performance data, and improve accuracy by “learning” over time. 

A process in Artificial Intelligence that improves over time based on data is called machine learning. But machine learning is only one subset of AI — many different services use AI as a broad term to describe the different ways in which previously-manual services can become automated. AI exists in a website that answers questions with a chatbot, as well as in a streaming service that analyzes user data to create the perfect TV show recommendation.

Although AI is a vague term, there are several more specific functions (like machine learning and deep learning) within the AI universe. In general, AI allows organizations to perform tasks that were previously too complicated for machines to perform, using data analytics and intelligent algorithms.

How AI Works in Modern Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)

There are certain aspects of document processing which make it an especially difficult discipline to automate.

Highly structured documents — like spreadsheets with uniform formatting — can be processed using traditional template-based OCR. But, in practice, even the most structured documents (from paychecks to invoices and more) have a certain level of variability. OCR requires a new template for each variation in formatting, no matter how minor. This can take time, drain morale, and use up valuable resources.

To avoid the strains of OCR templates, many organizations have given up on automated processing altogether — manual processing has remained popular for businesses treating highly unstructured documents. 

Rossum helps you to avoid manual processing altogether, with AI-based intelligent document processing (IDP). 

The Rossum platform uses machine learning — a specific subset of AI — to view and interpret data with over 98% accuracy. Even semi-structured and unstructured data can be digitized using Rossum’s AI-based workflows. Because Rossum uses AI to identify and extract data, no templates are required.  

Here’s how it works: first, Rossum’s IDP reads a document with computer vision, which allows Rossum to identify characters and shapes. Even with varying formats, computer vision can detect familiar letters, symbols, and shapes with an algorithm that improves over time. 

Later on, fuzzy logic and machine learning (specifically deep learning) allow you to further analyze and finalize your document processing.  

All of these services — from computer vision, to deep learning, and more — use AI algorithms to make important decisions. Not only is AI-based IDP more efficient than traditional OCR, but it’s more accurate than OCR or even manual document processing. 

The Benefits of Using AI in Modern IDP Solutions

With AI, document processing is more efficient and more accurate than ever. This can make a quick return on investment for businesses large and small. Compared to traditional template-based document processing, AI-based IDP allows you to drastically reduce the manual labor it takes to process documents.

With Rossum in the picture, you can process thousands of documents without making a single template. This helps to avoid employee burnout, to save time, and ultimately to save money. As the savings grow, your organization will quickly understand why so many businesses are turning to AI. 

Because Rossum uses IDP to identify different document formats, semi-structured and unstructured documents can be captured (and processed) automatically. This allows for end-to-end automation, so your employees can supervise document processing without constant manual adjustments. And with over 95% accuracy in the first month of usage, Rossum’s IDP isn’t just faster than traditional processing — it’s more accurate, too. 

Moving into the Future with Rossum

With AI-powered document processing, Rossum allows you to streamline your workflow, while improving accuracy. Because Rossum achieves up to 95% accuracy in the first month of deployment, you can quickly experience the ROI of your new application.

To learn more about AI-based document processing, read about how Rossum is helping to process invoices more effectively than ever. If you’re interested in trying out Rossum’s intelligent solution for yourself, our 14-day free trial offers cloud-based document processing with a signature AI-based approach. AI is the future of document processing, and Rossum is already there.