In today’s business world, it is more important than ever to make sure that your company is operating as efficiently as possible. That’s where intelligent document processing comes in. IDP is a process that uses machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence to read and understand documents. This allows businesses to automate tedious and time-consuming tasks, such as data entry, transcription, and analysis.

IDP can help your company focus on what matters, rather than wasting time on manual tasks that can be automated. If you’re looking for a way to improve efficiency and optimize your workflow, then IDP may be the solution for you!

Intelligent Document Processing

Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), which may also be called Intelligent Document Automation (IDA) is a type of technology that allows businesses and organizations to automatically digitize unstructured data coming from different documentation sources. These document sources can include word processing files, PDFs, digitized document images, inline forms, and many more.

IDP uses advanced technologies, including natural language processing, AI, machine learning, and workflow automation. These technologies work together to act like human worker who identifies, contextualizes, and processes these documents.

AI is used to convert unstructured data into actionable data. Then machine learning is used (along with some human help) to verify that the data are accurate. The entire process of data extraction is therefore faster and more accurate.

The Necessity of Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)

Plenty of companies usually have to work with an astonishingly high volume of paperwork and documents that require processing. This is often true even for medium-sized or small companies. The sheer volume of this paperwork generally requires too many hours of tedious work, so that the information from the data sources is accurately transcribed. This can lead to production bottlenecks and plenty of uncompleted tasks.

With Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), the entire process is faster and less prone to errors. These advantages benefit companies in terms of time, money, and resources. The company can then automate these tedious, time-consuming manual tasks so that the employees can focus more on other tasks.

IDP and OCR

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition, and it involves converting an image of text (such as a jpeg of a document) into machine-readable text. Some might think that this is synonymous with IDP, but that’s not exactly the case.

OCR is fine when the only goal is to digitize the document, but it does have some notable drawbacks. For one, OCR is only about digitization. And the document must be based on a specific template.

In other words, formatting the document must be done according to approved rules, or else OCR cannot process that document. And after the physical document is digitized, OCR still doesn’t make the data obtained searchable. It cannot extract context. It cannot interpret the data. For these tasks, humans are still needed, so OCR still takes quite a lot of time and attention.

In contrast, IDP uses OCR, but only as part of its document processing process. IDP basically can do a lot more than what OCR can do on its own. IDP uses advanced AI and machine learning to mimic cognitive skills. IDP can it just capture and digitize documents correctly, but also classify the document and extract all the relevant data. IDP then automatically distributes that data to the correct workflows, as needed.

IDP Solutions are a Combination of Different Technologies

Basically, an IDP solution combines different technologies working together, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel to do the job that the IDP is supposed to do.

Some of the technologies you might find in IDP include:

• Optical character recognition (OCR)
• Machine learning (ML)
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Computer vision
• Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)
• Repository for document storage, which can be ECM, ERP, LOS, CRM, RPA, iPaaS, or any other similar app

Accuracy of IDP Data Validation

Data validation is about making sure that the IDP extracts accurate data and that it doesn’t lose any needed information. The accuracy of the IDP data validation might depend on which company created the IDP solution, however. But the best IDP solutions can extract actionable data from any source, any format, and any document. And the accuracy can reach up to 99.9%.

IDP Data Extraction from Unstructured Content

This is doable since this is an OCR limitation that doesn’t apply to the other technologies that IDP uses. IDP can recognize and extract data from unstructured, semi-structured, and complex documents, and even extract the context of the document from its content.

IDP and Handwritten Text

What about actual hard copy forms where information has been written by hand? IDP is capable of processing mixed documents that mix digital and handwritten text. IDP can still process handwritten text, with still-acceptable accuracy rates.

IDP is so powerful that it can reasonably identify cursive writing, Some IDP solutions have reached 88% accuracy with even cursive handwritten text. This is because IDP uses AI and machine learning to establish a continuously growing database of rules to help with recognizing and digitizing even handwritten cursive notes.

Yes, it’s powerful enough to even deal with a doctor’s typical handwriting.

IDP Scalability

IDP is scalable, as it can process as many documents as necessary. Since the program basically learns on its own, it becomes more accurate and more efficient the longer you use a particular IDP solution. The machine learning component gathers more and more information that refines the process as time goes on.

IDP Security

Can IDP be trusted with sensitive documents? Yes, because strictly speaking, the IDP solution isn’t about storing or securing the information at all. Its main focus is document processing. In itself, IDP doesn’t store or secure the information.

IDP in the Cloud

IDP can be used as part of an organization’s cloud-based system, and it can also be used in a hybrid cloud setting.

The Bottom Line

IDP can help companies save time and money by automating the tedious and time-consuming task of document processing. IDP uses OCR, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and computer vision to accurately extract data from documents so that it can be automatically distributed to the correct workflows.

IDP is scalable and secure and can be used in a cloud-based or hybrid cloud setting.