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June 24, 2022
In recent years, IDP has managed to fill the void left by traditional OCR software by offering artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-driven solutions that are gaining popularity with every passing day.
The traditional Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology has left a lot to be desired to make it ideal for large-scale implementation. In recent years, IDP has emerged as a ground-breaking tech that has managed to bridge the gap in organization document processing challenges. IDPs offers artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) driven solutions that are gaining popularity with each passing day.
With IDP, you can convert, process, and validate documents into structured information in no time and with high levels of accuracy. Whether the documents are digital, printed, or handwritten, IDP offers the expertise to process them all.
Today, let us look at some of the Intelligent Document Processing benefits and tips to choose the right solution for your business.
But before that it is important to understand what IDP is? in its essence, therefore, read ahead…
An Intelligent Document Processing platform extracts and validates data from high volumes of documents. These documents can vary from structured to unstructured in nature. It is also one of the core USPs of an IDP platform considering traditional OCRs are incapable of it.
These platforms provide processed data in a structured manner and feed them to an online system making it useful for the organization. These online systems can be a downstream application (CMS, CRM, ERP…) or any cloud based infrastructure. In fact, the expedited information from an IDP platform can also be stored easily on a local database.
One of the primary Intelligent Document Processing benefits is the ability to automate the entire document processing workflows end-to-end. This is highly fruitful considering it minimizes manual intervention to an exponential degree and creates zero error. There are various types of IDP solutions available today that are explained in the next section.
IDP platforms use innovative AI-based technologies to solve data extraction and verification challenges at bulk. These applications can have different niches and purposes that lead to this variation resulting in different types of IDP platforms.
Here are some of the most common types of solutions/platforms available in the market:
Let’s understand them one-by-one:
Most organizations have simple requirements from the solutions that manage their document processing needs. However, there are some complex requirements that need an innovative approach and the power of AI, ML, NLP (Natural Language Processing), and other proprietary technologies.
Innovative IDP solution providers approach document processing with a keen eye on the future. They allow you to build processes and systems that are sustainable & efficient in nature. If innovation is your need i.e. constant modification and changing workflows then choosing an innovative partner would be ideal for you.
Some examples of leading Innovative IDP vendors include:
These OCR and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) solution providers integrate AI and ML based technologies into their legacy platforms to offer IDP solutions. Hence, the focus of these legacy platforms is not IDP but a gamut of automation services.
Many organizations opt for Legacy IDP solutions to either save costs or have a comprehensive tool for their automation needs. These solutions usually work well for organizations that have large volumes of easy-to-convert structured documents but fail to solve the problem of unstructured documents.
With legacy IDP platforms, it is important to assess if the solutions offered by the existing vendor meets your requirements. If your document processing challenges are not met, then you might want to consider moving to a different type of intelligent data processing tool, otherwise, these may be the best fit for you.
Some examples of leading Innovative IDP vendors include:
‘Niche’ is a specialized segment of the market. In the age of super-specialization, every product and service is available in generic as well as niche variants. For example, shirt manufacturers would make average-sized shirts in the past but now there are different fits for different body-types. In fact today, many of us are accustomed to using tailored products/services and IDP is no different.
There are many companies that offer intelligent document processing solutions targeted towards a specific market or a specific use case. If your organization has bespoke document processing requirements, then look for such niche IDP platforms.
Some examples of leading Niche IDP vendors include:
System Integration companies like Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG, etc. work towards integrating all the processes, applications, and softwares into a single consolidated environment.
In recent years, with an increase in demand for AI-driven OCR or IDP solutions, many system integrators have started offering IDP services as a part of the set of solutions they offer.
Some system integrators develop IDP solutions in-house while most others have an intelligent document processing partner. Most companies in the system integration space are large and responsible companies that endeavor to offer efficient solutions to organizations.
However, since IDP is only a part of the package, it might lack the specificity required by your documents. Ensure that you understand the features and benefits of intelligent document processing offered by such providers carefully.
Some examples of system integrators that provide IDP capabilities include:
These are not dedicated IDP vendors rather technologies that can help you develop your own IDP system. If you run an organization that has technical experts, then you can use these third party technology components such as computer vision, OCR, NLP etc., and develop IDP capabilities in-house.
These are not full fledged IDP solutions, however, organizations with fairly simple document processes may prefer to develop these capabilities internally using third party software. However, this process can be very time and cost consuming. It would require a dedicated team of IT professionals managing it at all times. Also besides spending a lot of time, resources, and cost in development an in depth know-how is essential too.
If you are an organization that requires quick and accurate implementation, choosing a dedicated IDP player would be recommended for you. It is because dedicated players have gained in depth knowledge and experience with several implementations in their basket.
Examples of third party technology providers include:
Before you start looking for an IDP solution, remember that it is much more than a modern version of an OCR. It is a tool driven by artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing (NLP) that can transform your business and boost the efficiency of processes.
Here is a three step approach for finding the best-suited type of IDP platform for your organization:
A platform that bears each of these attributes will be able to manage most of your document processing load.
Once you are able to identify the best IDP solution you need, select the best vendor based on the following four pillars:
The core capabilities of the solution offered by the vendor. While it is relatively simpler to measure the success of an IDP solution on the basis of accuracy, it is equally important to choose a solution that is able to effectively flag a document or field that it cannot read, and pass it for human intervention. This substantially reduces the load for the human quality check process, and allows humans to intervene only when it's required.
The vendor must have a technology ecosystem to allow you to realize the full potential of intelligent automation. A platform developed proprietarily would be an ideal candidate for future updates and independent support for fault mitigation.
The intelligent document processing market is booming but still is in its nascent stage. Hence looking for a vendor that offers great after sale support and technological knowledge transfer would be ideal.
The fourth pillar is the price and the amount of cost reduction it can bring on the table.. With IDP vendors, there are different pricing models available. The pricing models are as follows:
Note: Do you want to upgrade your document processing practices using IDP? Here is great news for you! We are offering our innovative IDP solution ‘VisionERA’ at $0. To learn all the details about the offer, click on the link here.
Before you start looking, ensure that you assess your organization’s document processing requirements thoroughly. The factors above can work as the guiding principles to help you narrow down the best IDP solution for your business. However, the final choice will always be subjective depending upon your requirements.
The future belongs to businesses and organizations that can leverage the best technologies available and integrate them into their operations for higher effectiveness and efficiency. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, NLP, etc. are here to make processes more efficient and error-free. However, it is also important to note that there is no magic when it comes to AI based automation platforms. Each of these are results of multiple great minds working meticulously together to deliver solutions that solve real-life problems. IDP is another figment of such game-changing technologies that is transforming the way we work.
Want to try out VisionERA IDP by yourself? Simply click on our Free trial link and upload your documents to see the magic.
To learn more about VisionERA and how it can help you accelerate your business, book a demo with our automation consultants today.