Best Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) Solutions

This kind of document processing not only scans a document but also makes it intelligible, extracting the content, the layout, and even the images. Intelligent document processing is a form of intelligent process automation (IPA) that combines technologies such as natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to automate tasks in document processing.

IDP helps organizations that receive a high volume of unstructured and semi-structured data. Unstructured documents like sales orders, invoices, and such, usually cannot be processed using traditional automation software.

Intelligent document processing involves several steps:

1. Before processing: IDP solutions apply techniques to improve the quality of documents. These include noise reduction, binarization, and de-skewing.
2. Processing images: IDP uses computer vision technology to identify text, graphs, and pictures. Computer vision is a subfield of artificial intelligence that aims to help computers observe and understand image data.
3. Extracting and classifying data: At this stage, the IDP solution uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand and give context to human language. This means that after IDP extracts the text, NLP is used to classify and make sense of the documents. It categorizes the document’s components into text and images. For example, processing a loan application can include ID documents, tax forms, bank statements, etc. An IDP tool parses out these different components, categorizing them for the next stage. This is one of the key deliverables of an IDP tool - detecting important information and extracting it for processing. It does this by using libraries of pre-trained extraction models.
4. Data validation: IDP tools leverage pre-configured databases to validate the data they extract from documents. At this stage, problematic data is delivered to human agents for review.
5. Integration: The last stage of the IDP process involves integrating the data into the organization’s existing systems.

IDP helps organizations combine the data from paper documents with the massive amounts of digital data available. It provides organizations with visibility and a comprehensive evaluation of the data. IDP also facilitates end-to-end process automation. Since it can be integrated into any platform, it helps streamline processes. Additionally, this technology helps other AI analytics and machine learning processes, which require structured data to train and operate.

OCR (optical character recognition) is a technology that captures and converts an image into machine-readable text. This process is useful for digitizing documents. However, it doesn’t extract context from the content or interpret the data.

Here is where IDP comes in. IDP uses OCR technology to convert an image of the text into readable text. Next, it uses machine learning and deep learning to classify, interpret, and process the data. Additionally, the data can automatically integrate existing workflows for further processing.

IDP goes beyond OCR capabilities, processing a wide range of paper and digital documents, unstructured and structured data, handwritten text, etc. IDP recognizes and captures the content and extracts the context from the content.

As an example, processing a simple check requires several layers of processing:

• Recognizing the type of check and the bank that issued it.
• Capturing the digital text printed by the bank and the text handwritten by the user.
• Recognizing the amount in numbers and text.

Intelligent document processing identifies and extracts data from documents, processing it so it can be ready for analysis. Some benefits of intelligent document processing tools include:

• Increased efficiency: Manual document processing is prone to error, and costly in both human hours and paper. The automation feature of IDP reduces errors and reduces the cost and time involved in manual document processing.
  
• Improved compliance and security: IDP produces increased accuracy in document verification, enhancing compliance and management of sensitive documents. IDP takes the humans out of handling sensitive data in personally identifiable information documents. IDP can streamline the accuracy of regulatory reports.
• Better data quality: IDP provides organizations with easy, reliable, and accurate access to the data contained in unstructured documents like emails, texts, PDFs, and scanned documents. By verifying, analyzing, and processing the data, IDP improves the overall quality of the data for the organization.

Intelligent document processing converts unstructured data from documents into structured data. It classifies, extracts, and automates the processing of data from documents. There is an array of document processing solutions, offering a range of features. What should you focus on when trying to select an intelligent document processing tool?

1. Look for a solution that automates the extracting of unstructured/semi-structured data. The solution should eliminate manual processes such as data entry.
2. It should integrate with existing systems, including accounting and workflow processing.
3. The solution should be able to decipher scribbles, handwriting, and difficult content.
4. Some IDP solutions automate document creation by gathering data from distributed sources.
5. It should help digitize paper documents, streaming them into machine-readable formats that can be processed down the line.