What Is Intelligent Document Processing?

10 January 2023

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AI-driven tools are creating an accessible avenue to an efficient, scalable business.

Digital document scanning can save businesses a lot of labor even in its most basic form, but intelligent document processing (IDP) takes things to an entirely new level. Capable of extracting and organizing data, IDP equips businesses with a vital productivity tool for creating scalable businesses. But given how diverse the use cases for IDP are, business leaders can be excused for having questions about the practical ins and outs of IDP and its applications.

To make things more digestible, let’s look at what IDP is, how it benefits businesses, and how a business can get started with IDP.

What is intelligent document processing?

Intelligent document processing is a practice that extracts relevant data from a scanned document and analyzes it, then applies that information to a specific task. For example, a bank can use intelligent document processing to decide whether or not to authorize a loan. Where it might take loan officers hours to build an applicant profile, IDP can make recommendations automatically based on data it pulls from client documentation, dramatically increasing the capability of a bank to make a speedy, informed decision. Other businesses that handle large volumes of data can adapt IDP for similar applications.

IDP isn’t infallible, but it features safeguards to protect businesses. Most IDP systems will spit potentially misread documents into a manual review queue. In the bank’s case, documents with a low confidence score could be sent to a loan officer as a precaution. In the ideal IDP workflow, there’s an equilibrium between the human and machine element, where machines reduce human error, and human intuition solves machine errors.

Finding an IDP provider

The intelligent document processing market is primarily made up of cloud services. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the most recognizable intelligent document processing vendors available. However, other tech juggernauts, like Microsoft, offer IDP services of their own. Businesses will need to consider the unique strengths and weaknesses of each service before choosing one. For instance, some IDP services can scan handwritten documents more accurately than others, which may mean nothing to your organization or be an absolute deal-breaker, depending on your needs.

Benefits of intelligent document processing

IDP is an efficiency tool first and foremost, but its applications don’t end there. Many IDP solutions are backed by AI and machine learning, which makes them improve over time. Additionally, IDP is a scalable solution, helping organizations stay profitable as they grow.

Scalability

Implementing IDP will allow organizations to keep lower headcounts overall. The cost savings derived from IDP software will leave organizations with more room to invest in other aspects of the business, which can create a virtuous growth cycle. For example, the average loan officer has a base salary of $190,086. By supplementing the department with IDP tools, a bank could potentially save hundreds of thousands of budget dollars a year.

AI and Machine Learning

IDP software is backed by AI and machine learning, so it’s constantly improving. Scans will become more accurate, as will the software’s ability to find relevant data patterns. Ultimately, IDP may one day be advanced enough that businesses can entirely transition employees out of document data analysis roles and into positions where human experience or input can’t be trumped by technology. By implementing IDP now, businesses are essentially making the transition happen at an accelerated pace.

Our recommendation: fi and SP Series Scanners

Those in the market for intelligent document processing tools have no shortage of options. At Fujitsu, we take great pride in having spent the last 85+ years researching, designing and developing some of the most advanced and powerful electronics in the world, including our professional grade fi and SP series of scanners.

Built to purpose for the most demanding document handling jobs, fi and SP Series scanners are capable of processing tens-of-thousands of pages per day at the highest levels of accuracy. Their intuitive integration capabilities with all existing work suites minimize time-to-value for businesses looking to invest in tools that will pay dividends for years to come.

Our line of production scanners is built to scale with your business’ needs, with a range of options for organizations of all sizes. No matter how you plan to apply IDP tools to your business plan, we have a solution that can help you implement a new strategy as easily as possible.