Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot tech topic that gets hotter every day, in sectors from Finance to Medical. In the world of digital document management AI and machine learning (ML) enable people and organisations to work faster, smarter and more accurately.
Automatically Route Document Data Captured From Any Source
Document Manager has the capability through AI and ML to capture and analyse data from multiple sources, in any format, and route documents and data more accurately than ever before. A ML function means that the system can also be taught to achieve the very highest levels of process efficiency.
Digital document management coupled with AI generates ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ benefits. People experience greater job satisfaction when freed from monotonous, resource-draining admin tasks to focus on higher value work, and organisations enjoy automated workflows with few or no errors, that are optimised for productivity and compliance.
Accelerated Digital Transformation with Assured Outcomes
There’s no doubt that the pandemic accelerated the pace of culture change in business. Organisations were forced to adapt and we saw HR teams urgently called upon to support employers, senior managers and staff.
According to a McKinsey Global Survey, companies accelerated the digitisation of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years. Document Logistix worked faster than ever during the pandemic to enhance the digital processes of customers and to implement digital document management from scratch for new customers.
Organisations that had been considering digital transformation for several years, quickly pressed the ‘go’ button. Beyond the measurable commercial benefits of increased productivity and cost reduction, companies sought business resilience and a new agility to facilitate remote management control and flexible working among dispersed teams.
New Post-Pandemic Expectations About Faster Project Times
During Covid lockdowns, Document Logistix completed complex digitisation projects in approximately a quarter of the time. A typical time expected for projects involving heavy data migration (over 1 million documents) would be 3–4 months, which we were able to reduce to less than 1 month. We were very quickly able to put in place processes that enable managers to view entire workflows and make it possible for staff to collaborate on projects and tasks, regardless of location.
Other notable projects in the insurance and housing sectors that historically would have taken 2 years were completed in 6 months, even though they involved the migration of 40 million customer records, and had to accommodate operational variations across several departments.
Embed Best Practice Across Digital Company Workflows
An additional key benefit of digital workflows is that organisations can embed policies and best practice to ensure that data and documents are routed securely within and across all departments, from back office finance and HR, to front office procurement and customer service. Digital workflows enable the tracking of who has read a policy and followed a practice, and can generate reports on who hasn’t.
We saw many HR departments, in particular, transform their workflow practices. In recent years, HR teams have faced the challenge of managing data across an increasing number of document types, each with a its own prescribed date for retention and deletion. Manual processes previously drained resources and, following GDPR, introduced risks of data breaches. Digital workflows enable the tracking of ever-increasing numbers of document types and report on whether employee folders contain all the documents they should? For example, Right to Work documentation.
Centralised Storage and Automated Data Retention
Our centralised data management hub automatically retains and purges data according to its type: such as contracts, health and safety logs, holiday entitlement, and payment and pension information. As with any data in our system, automated alerts are sent when a threshold is reached. So, no task is overlooked, be it a payment, scheduled maintenance, or an essential order. In addition, to reinforce GDPR compliance, redaction (data masking) and encryption ensure that no one’s data privacy is breached accidentally. Centralised data management also facilitates reporting on documentation and data gaps.
Artificial Intelligence Does the Heavy Lifting
A digital mailroom speeds up the process of indexing and assigning documents to the correct location, whether that be a folder, a department, a job function, a person or global dissemination. Documents can arrive in the virtual mailroom in any electronic format: email, PDF, Word, Excel, HTML, image or video. Or the provenance of a document could be paper, in which case it can be scanned individually or as part of a rapid batch-scan directly to the mailroom, and subsequently routed and distributed according to the document’s type, or any other classification.
Document Manager automatically categorises documents based on their profile and characteristics, and assigns them accurately to the next stage in the workflow. A document can be classified based on its content or layout and the respective metadata captured such as customer ID, invoice number, name, date or car registration. Invoices, complaints, insurance records, vehicle fleet documents, proofs of delivery … all appear instantly at their next pre-defined destination for storage or processing.
Train Your Documents to Behave
Additional machine learning capabilities employing AI enable Document Manager users to make incremental improvements to the document management system and, by extension, their business operations. Users can train the system to look for specific document types, or to identify content traits such as logos, to ensure that documents are distributed and assigned accurately. Operators require no technical knowledge, and they can progressively train the system to eliminate ambiguities and achieve the highest levels of recognition and assignment accuracy.
No Technical Assistance Needed: Self-Sufficiency
Traditional capture systems typically require technical consultants to set-up multiple rules and code routines to capture data from documents. Document Manager is different; its functions make the user’s life easier by bringing together Computer Vision, ML, Natural Language Processing and AI approaches into one process. Users train the system through a simple web-based interface about what types of document are received and what data is required from them.
In the background, the system builds capture models based on user samples, which are then applied to incoming documents for automated classification and data capture. The documents can then either be verified and/or stored or matched to your workflow processes.
Culture and Technology Amalgamated
The pandemic brought people issues to the fore and discussions around wellbeing and culture have become as important as discussions about company finances. One of our customers in the Food Manufacturing sector described their new digital capabilities as “a godsend” that enables teams around the country to work cohesively. Since Covid restrictions have been lifted, many customers have adopted hybrid work practices based on the evidence of improved staff morale and productivity, which is facilitated by management’s dashboard view of critical operations.
Business Resilience, Integration and Real-Time Intelligence
If there’s one lesson that we have learned from two turbulent years, it’s that change happens fast. An innovative business that embraces digital processes is more resilient and better prepared for change. Document Logistix plays its part by providing advanced solutions and resources to help you focus on what matters. That includes helping you to invest in the necessary tools to be secure, connected and optimally efficient by introducing AI to your organisation’s infrastructure.
Introducing AI speeds up business intelligence as it can detect patterns in very large data sets much faster than people can, which supports every aspect of business, from informed hiring to sales analysis. One of the most reassuring aspects of a digital workflow is the real-time availability of business-critical reports, such as task completion, procurement, production, queries and complaints, cash flow, user activity and audit trails.
Talk To Us
Minerva has been providing IT services and solutions for over 35 years. We have a team of knowledgeable and experienced individuals ready to help you with all your IT needs. To find out more about Document Logistix, Business Intelligence or any other of our products or services, just give us a call on 01707 607100 or leave us an enquiry, and we will get back to you.