Intelligent Document Processing: The Present and Future of Automated Information Management Q3 2021
AUTOMATION AND DATA SCIENCE AS A SERVICE
While digitization, OCR, and ICR can effectively extract information from documents as never before, enabling us to begin to manage the unstructured data problem, they still have their limitations. But they do provide the groundwork for additional tools that can together create a more complete document processing solution. By adding natural language processing capabilities, cognitive computing, and robotic process automation (RPA) – and improving the machine learning capabilities of an ICR system – a complete
can be fully processed, analyzed, transformed into usable data, and then integrated into downstream systems – all without human intervention. The benefits of IDP to businesses in all industries are almost limitless. An invoice received via the mailroom or an email can be validated, matched to a purchase order, reconciled, converted into a payment order, and even paid, with minimal human intervention. An insurance claim can be received, processed, entered into the system of record, checked for errors, and approved for payment, with software managing
Intelligent Document Processing enables companies to unlock far more data than they had available in the past. When that data is added to the many other sources from which companies are pulling information, the amount available can be truly staggering. When it reaches a measure greater than what can be processed within typical data management systems, we call it “Big Data.” The total amount of data created and consumed in 2020 was estimated at 64.2 zettabytes, with projections that this number would reach upwards of 180 zettabytes by 2025. 11
document processing, content classification, data extraction and validation, and intelligent routing
a majority of the work. In a public sector full of standardized forms and
system can be created. Today, we refer to the work of this comprehensive tool set as Intelligent Document Processing (IDP).
structured portals, transformational outcomes are truly possible. Wait times and processing
times can be dramatically reduced along with long-term costs, all while public satisfaction
With natural language processing and cognitive
is raised substantially. Identify almost any type of business in existence
computing, meaning and context can be gleaned from text. With RPA,
today and IDP will fit somewhere into a plan for how
1 zettabyte 1,000,000,000,000 gb 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes
information management, such as a transfer between systems, can be automated. And with improved machine learning, an IDP system can improve its accuracy over time and expand its useful reach into new areas, managing new media types. IDP systems take document management into the 21st century by leveraging the latest state-of-the-art technologies. As these systems continue to evolve, paper (and digital) documentation and other assets
to improve it.
IDP is still a fairly new technology class in a young industry, but it is growing fast. The global IDP market is currently about $0.8 billion in 2021, 9 but some estimates put its potential growth at as much as $12.45 billion by 2027. 10 A cursory glance at the trends combined with some modest assumptions about the evolution of these systems’ abilities suggests a very large future market by any estimation.
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