Leveraging Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) To Optimize Your Business Workflow

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Are you a business leader who’s tired of dealing with endless paperwork and growing piles of forms? Paper-based processes can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and costly. But there are technologies that are revolutionizing business workflows: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). With OCR, your documents are quickly scanned and key data captured to eliminate manual data entry, streamline document processing and facilitate digital workflows.

Integrating OCR into your business workflow enables you to quickly capture, process, and store documents, whether paper-based or digital. Instead of manually entering data from forms, OCR can automatically identify and extract the text from each document for easy retrieval.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss how integrating OCR into your workflow could be the key to fully optimizing your business operations.

Understanding OCR and RPA Technologies

As digital technology continues to evolve, businesses are turning to automation solutions to help streamline their processes. One such technology that has gained significant attention in recent years is Optical Character Recognition. OCR plays a vital role in automating document management processing by scanning and converting it into digital data that can be easily edited and managed.

This technology has revolutionized the way businesses handle their paper documents, allowing for faster processing and improved accuracy with the transition to digital files.

However, OCR alone is not enough to achieve maximum efficiency. That’s where RPA, or Robotic Process Automation, comes into play. By integrating RPA with OCR technology, businesses can automate the entire document processing workflow, from document capture to data extraction and processing. Together, these technologies offer a powerful solution for businesses looking to streamline their operations and reduce errors from manual labor.

Traditional OCR vs. OCR Embedded into RPA

OCR technology has come a long way since its inception, and now it is evolving to integrate into robotic process automation (RPA). The traditional OCR approach can be time-consuming and produce errors, forcing users to manually correct the system. However, OCR embedded into RPA offers increased accuracy and faster processing times.

The benefits of this integrated approach are clear. Automation becomes more effective and requires less human oversight, freeing up time and resources for other critical business functions. OCR integrated into RPA is the future of these technologies and a promising advancement in the field of automation.

How OCR and RPA Work Together

OCR and RPA technologies complement each other perfectly to streamline and automate digital document processing. OCR technology is designed to read and interpret characters in scanned documents. RPA automates tasks that traditionally require human decision-making, such as processing invoices, claims, or contracts.

By combining these technologies, businesses can dramatically reduce manual labor while increasing accuracy and efficiency. RPA can enhance OCR technology by automatically routing scanned documents to the right department, verifying the data entered by OCR, and updating databases in real time.

This means that manual data correction and verification will no longer be necessary, allowing your team to focus on higher-value activities that require human expertise.

Read more: The Legal Implications of Outdated Processes: How Paper-Based Workflows Can Lead to Compliance Risks.

The Self-Learning Advantage of IDC

IDC, or Intelligent Data Capture, is a powerful solution that combines the strengths of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to create an advanced data extraction system tailored for modern businesses. By integrating surrounding programming and additional automation, RPA enhances the OCR data lifting engine, making it faster, more precise, and continuously smarter as it learns from its mistakes.

IDC, as the name suggests, elevates the document management process by offering a truly “intelligent” solution that adapts to your unique business needs. Don’t let your business lag behind in the era of digital transformation; take advantage of the powerful capabilities of Intelligent Data Capture and redefine your document processing workflows.

Now is the time to experience the benefits of IDC for your business. Streamline your operations, minimize errors, and unlock valuable time for your team to focus on what truly matters: driving growth and success. Embrace the future of document management by implementing Intelligent Data Capture in your business workflow. Reach out to our experts today and let us help you transform the way you manage documents and data, maximizing productivity, and ensuring long-term success.

Automated Data Capture Types and Examples

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If your company is looking to modernize business processes with automation, then it is important to have an understanding of the different types of automated data captures that exist and how they can be put to use to benefit your business. 

Employing automated data capture technology is significantly faster than traditional manual data entry and paper processes. That handwritten document and snail-mailed check are becoming business practices of the past as we step into the modern digitized age.

HR and AP departments are among the top two teams to benefit, but automated data software trickles down to a more positive onboarding experience for new hires and extends benefits across all departments for a more cohesive work environment.

Even if your knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and automated data capture is limited, we’ve provided an outline of some of the most effective automated data software and systems that will increase productivity and efficiency while reducing costs. 

Scanning

Scanning is the most basic form of automated data capture and it is the one that you are likely the most familiar with. If your company still operates with a paper-based system, then converting your paper documents into digital documents through scanning software will be the easiest approach to document management if you want to start small.

The scanning process begins when you place a paper document onto a printer or other device with scanning hardware. The software then captures an image of the paper document and converts it to an electronic document so that you can save it as a digital file on your desktop or in a network folder. 

This manual data capture process is most commonly used by HR in the onboarding process when new hire IDs and forms need to be processed and filed, but many companies also scan invoices in the Accounts Payable department. Once an invoice is scanned and saved into a digital space, it can be transported for approval via email which speeds up the invoicing process and cuts down on paper costs. 

If your company has a smaller volume of invoices and onboarding forms, then scanning automatic data capture is a great place to start to cut costs and take advantage of modern technology. However, if your company is larger and has significant room for growth in your AP KPIs, then you might want to look at more effective data capture systems below.

Barcoding

Barcoding invoices in batches is another form of automated data collection that can streamline your AP department’s invoicing process. The average person knows what a barcode is, we see them all the time in grocery stores and clothing shops, and they work in a very similar way on the B2B side. 

Barcodes are coded with key data elements like the vendor name, address, ID number, and more. These barcodes are placed on invoices so that they can be scanned with automated data capture software for a more accurate data transfer. Barcoding removes a lot of room for human error by eliminating manual data entry.

This hybrid system is a good step for businesses to take when they are looking for more automated data capture methods that will save time and money. Still, it is important to note that barcoding still requires a significant amount of paper and manual labor to scan the barcodes. The automatic data capture process that you chose depends on the size of your company and its goals but scanning and barcoding are still great first steps.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Optical character recognition, or OCR, is a groundbreaking automated data collection software that extracts necessary data on documents for processing. When used in invoice processing, OCR automatically collects data like the invoice number, vendor name, line totals, address, and copies it into the software for smoother and more accurate processing. 

While it may take a staff member a larger block of time to manually input invoice data into a system, OCR software like AP automation will capture and copy data in seconds. Staff members can be free from repetitive tasks that are error-prone and instead focus their talents on more necessary productivity and business goals.

OCR technology has allowed for advancements used in healthcare, government, education, and finance organizations and so many more. Processes are faster and more accurate with automated data collection that can be “taught” and developed to classify, copy, and secure a high volume and variety of documents.

Intelligent Character Recognition, or ICR, is another automated data capture software that falls under the umbrella of OCR. ICR uses capture automation to convert handwritten forms and documents into electronic text. This automation solution is very beneficial and cost-effective in your efforts to digitize company documents.

Read more about OCR: Leveraging Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) To Optimize Your Business Workflow

Intelligent Data Capture (IDC)

Intelligent Data Capture, or IDC, is the most effective data capture system and software because it does everything that OCR can do, while also employing workflow automation. IDC removes almost every step of manual processing once the software learns your company’s document processing system. Intelligent and accelerated processing speeds leave staff with simple tasks like clicking “approve” while everything else from inputting to classifying to validating and verifying is done for you with workflow automation and automated data collection software and tools.

IDC can also handle a larger number of documents, forms, or invoices than OCR. The technology can even automatically share data with staff members who need to give a stamp of approval which speeds up business processes and cuts the cost of paper, postage, labor, and other common costs.

IDC also allows for different tools, features, and settings that can be optimized for your organization’s unique needs. For example, the automated processing software can be set to only capture key data like vendor ID number and line total and disregard irrelevant data with document templates. 

IDC and AP Automation

Intelligent Data Capture technology is used in AP automation to speed up invoice processing and eliminate human errors in data entry that can cause faulty or duplicate payments. AP automation software integrates smoothly with your current systems for an easy transition and it creates a more productive invoice processing workflow. 

AP automation fixes the invoice approval process by filtering out duplicate invoices and preventing overpayments with intelligent document recognition that compares an invoice to a PO automatically. AP automation with IDC also offers increased visibility across the AP department with easy ways to search for documents on one platform by key data.

In today’s digital age, there will continue to be more reasons to automate B2B payments and take advantage of automated data software and tools. The future of accounts payable and so many other business procedures will soon look back at the use of paper and manual processes and laugh at how much money and time was wasted.

As advances continue in modern digital technology that is built for our benefit, don’t let your company get left behind in a pile of paper documents, physical checks, and snail-mail. Choosing an automation solution will save the planet, your pockets, and your sanity!

For more information on how to integrate IDC and AP Automation into your business processes, Contact Us today.

4 Reasons to Automate B2B Payments

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” is more than a Charles Dickens quote when it comes to antiquated, manual accounts payable processing. The difference between manual processes, such as invoice and document encoding, and automation is truly a tale of two cities. One city is a grim reminder of an inefficient past; the other, a token of advancement for your business’s future. Let’s take a look at how automation solutions can transform productivity for your AP team’s B2B payments.

The Traditional Payment Process

It’s important to have a full understanding of the traditional payment process before we can take a look at how to modernize your B2B bill payments. The traditional paper payment process is not only a significantly longer billing cycle, but it is also much more costly.

When companies operate on a paper process for B2B payments, snail mail delays the arrival of the initial invoice. It can be a matter of days and even weeks before a business receives the invoice because of weather and mail carrier delays. When the mail finally arrives, additional delays add up with the mere mounting of bills and envelopes that pile up in the payable department.

When the staff member is finally able to dedicate their attention to the said invoice, it comes time to manually process the bill and post it to the correct account. This is where entry errors come in that can later come back to bite your company in extra costs. If the amount entered is incorrect due to common human error, then you can risk faulty payments and need to restart the process.

After invoices are posted, the physical bill is shipped over to the approver in the clearing house department where it may sit on a desk until the approver can dedicate their full attention to reviewing the bill for invoice approval and make arrangements for payment with the vendor.

Once arrangements are made between the vendor and the approver, a paper check is cut and snail-mailed to the vendor while they wait again for days or even weeks. When the physical check reaches the vendor, more time goes by as they take the time to sign the paper check and deposit it or cash it once they get a chance to visit the bank or deposit it online through a banking app. This check usually takes about two to three days to go through and then the vendor and the payee must reconcile their bank accounts and update their books.

Say Goodbye to Paper Payments

If this paper payment process seems long and slow, that’s because it is. It’s time to say goodbye to these traditional processes and modernize your accounts payable with automation. No one wants to wait this long to be paid and this invoice processing system allows too much room for human error.

The gig economy is booming right now and industry professionals will simply do business with someone else if they find that your payment process is taking too long. Digital payments are simply the preferred payment type of the 21st century.

Paper check payments and cash payments are becoming extinct as businesses find the automated payment experience to be much faster and cheaper. It’s time to jump ship on your entire paper payment processing system and hop on board with modern technology in payable automation.

B2B Payment Automation in Action

Automated B2B payments trim your invoicing process down to four easy steps. First, the electronic invoice is sent via email to the staff member in charge of accounts payable.

The staff member enters the invoice into the automated clearing house that reviews the document by quickly making sure that the invoice isn’t a duplicate and confirming that all the necessary information is present for coding. This removes the tricky risk of human error or faulty payments, and it keeps all your payments data in one place.

Once the payment is coded for approval it is automatically sent to the staff member that must approve the invoice where they can swiftly press approve. This triggers the automatic digital wire transfer of payment to the vendor.

This entire payment process takes only two to three days in comparison to the weeks that paper processing requires. Payment innovation with digital payments simply makes business transactions faster, easier, and more secure. Business owners on both sides are pleased with this B2B payments solution because faster turnaround time means more room for business productivity in other areas and who doesn’t want that?

Four Benefits of B2B AP automation

Now let’s take a look at the four benefits of B2B AP automation:

Cost Reduction Electronic payments through AP automation offer payment discounts that reduce the cost per invoice which saves your business money.

Gone are the days of costly invoice processing fees with postage costs, faulty payments, and late fees. Automation software offers discounts and cashback on early payments that make your payable process more cost-effective.

Cost-saving benefits of adopting B2B automation include:

  • More flexibility in the amount of time it takes your company to pay suppliers 
  • Less money and resources are needed to correct errors made through manual entry 
  • Increased visibility over invoices
  1. Improved Productivity

Cloud automation allows payable teams to work individually or together, no matter where they are or what device they use. Other productivity benefits are:

  • Faster payment approvals
  • Secure storage of financial data
  • Financial insight through workflow data

Related: AP Automation Explained

  1. Eliminate Manual Data Entry

Let’s face it, manual data entry is likely one of the least desirable tasks your AP team handles. Automating this mundane task with intelligent data capture, or IDC, could expedite your invoice process. Modern AP automation utilizes state-of-the-art technology called Intelligent Data Capture (IDC) to lift key data off of inbound AP invoices faster and more accurately.

IDC is growing in its automation capabilities and can eliminate the need to manually enter valuable data from valuable documents such as remittances, purchase orders, and bills of lading. B2B payments processing is faster and more accurate when you let the software digitally input data.

Related: Understanding Intelligent Data Capture 

  1. Enhanced Fraud Protection

It is common for businesses to fall victim to ransomware and phishing attacks as a result of the manual, and often paper-based, processes of capturing, approving, and paying invoices. Adopting an automation process can decrease the risk of fraud exposure and offer more secure business transactions by:

Even with an automated process, your AP team must be risk aware by verifying changes in vendor payment locations, confirming fund transfer requests before processing payments, and reviewing double sender information to keep your company’s financial data safe and secure. 

 

What is Intelligent Data Capture?

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A complete automation solution is more than just a single piece of software. By evaluating your organization’s needs and current processes, you can identify gaps and determine the best solutions to fill them. 

To best understand how software solutions can benefit your organization, it’s important to gain insight into how they work. Intelligent Data Capture is a crucial part of a successful automation strategy and can help take your existing document management solution to the next level. 

What is Intelligent Data Capture and how does it work?

In technical terms, Intelligent Data Capture (IDC) is the automated process of identifying and extracting critical information from incoming paper and electronic documents without manual intervention. 

In layman’s terms, IDC eliminates manual data entry by using technology. By investing in Intelligent Data Capture, your organization can save time, money, and resources by no longer having to manually extract data from your documents and organize it. 

Mosaic utilizes our partner DocStar’s Intelligent Data Capture tool to help enhance our customers’ current document processes. The way their IDC works is that once a solution is configured, it “learns” the common document types you use and builds a knowledge database of these document types. 

What this means is that IDC can classify the type of document you input (for example a purchase order versus an invoice), then extract the key information from that document, validate it, and then input that data into your database, enterprise resource planning software, or another business system of your choice. This process is different than traditional Optical Character Recognition because it goes above and beyond simply identifying the data, it also extracts and inputs it based on your needs. 

Intelligent Data Capture is extremely accurate while still being simple to set up and configure. Rather than spending additional time on configuration, IDC’s unique self-learning abilities mean that you can simply submit a single sample of the common document types you use. This means you can begin utilizing your solution sooner while still having the benefits of a sophisticated solution. Because Intelligent Data Capture “teaches” itself, it’s flexible enough to grow and adjust alongside your organization’s needs.

The most notable features of IDC include invoice recognition and data lifting, forms processing, automated document classification (separates various document types automatically), and exports to just about any accounting or line of business application.

Other, less advanced, intelligent data capture solutions had lower accuracy rates and required a substantial investment in set-up and configuration. Today’s solutions, on the other hand, are easy to configure and intelligent enough to learn and adapt for maximum accuracy and flexibility.

The steps in IDC’s process look like:

  • Input
  • Classify
  • Capture
  • Validate
  • Verify
  • Submit

These steps, when done manually, can take significant time and resources, but with Intelligent Data Capture, it can be simplified and streamlined.  

How can IDC benefit your organization?

At its core, Intelligent Data Capture is designed to eliminate manual data entry from every paper document you may have. This includes any form, invoice, remittance, purchase order, or any other type of document you come across in order to complete your daily tasks. By doing this, you can significantly reduce your headcount and give your employees more valuable tasks to focus on rather than spend hours and hours completing manual data entry. Through IDC your organization can double or triple the output of staff members processing inbound forms, without making them work harder.

Plain and simple, why pay an employee to do something that can be done through automation?

Intelligent Data Capture also increases accuracy significantly. When people extract data, human errors are bound to happen. Whether that be an employee misreading something, or mistyping data, the consequences can be significant. With IDC, that risk diminishes to close to zero. 

Since this process is so much more efficient, your organization can also benefit from early payment discounts and avoid any late payment fees. 

How to implement Intelligent Data Capture

Mosaic has experience in deploying DocStar IDC for organizations of all sizes, and we’d be glad to help your business save time and money by eliminating manual data entry. Give us a call at 1-800-387-7859 to learn more about how we can help.  

 

Understanding the Legality of Scanned Documents

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Many organizations who are considering a document management solution aren’t entirely sure if the documents they scan and store in their ECM are going to be legally admissible or compliant. Oftentimes, rather than seek out a more effective storage solution, they let piles of paperwork build up by holding on to documents longer than necessary.

Typically physically storing important records in filing cabinets or closets puts them more at risk for being stolen, destroyed, or lost than digital record keeping.

But before moving all your records into digital storage, it’s important to understand the legalities of the process. What are the rules of records management, and most importantly, are scanned documents legally accepted?

What are the laws?

In the United States, there are two laws that clearly establish if digitally scanned documents managed on an ECM are admissible in court:

1. The Uniform Photographic Copies of Business and Public Records as Evidence Act (UPA) (US 1128‐0020‐00) ‐ Enacted by almost all states, it specifies that reproductions of records have the same legal significance as the original and may be used in place of the original for all purposes including evidence.

What does this mean? In short, it means that copies, microfilm, and other reproductions, documents are the same as physical documents and are just as legally valid.

2. The Uniform Rules of Evidence (US 128‐0060‐00 to 0170‐00) ‐ the other major uniform law, “The Uniform Rules of Evidence“, has been adopted by the United States federal courts and 34 states. The Rules of Evidence allow a duplicate to be admissible in evidence “to the same extent as an original” and defines a duplicate as a counterpart produced by any technique “which accurately reproduces the original.”

What does this mean? It means that as long as your digital duplicates are the same as the original (which with the proper processes and procedures they would be), you can utilize them in U.S. Federal Courts and the majority of state courts.

Both laws state that duplicate records may be admitted into evidence if they accurately reproduce the original. Because document imaging technology is a duplication technology similar to physical reproduction methods such as photocopies, microfilm, and facsimile, digitally stored documents fit within these regulations.

What classifies as a reproduction?

The most widely‐used reproduction techniques, including photocopy, microfilm, facsimile, and document imaging all exhibit the same characteristics:

Image Capture

A photographic, scanning, or another process that identifies and captures the image of the original document.

Image Manipulation

A photographic, electronic, photostatic, or another process that transforms the captured image into a format for storing and reproducing the image.

Visible Reproduction

A photographic, photostatic, printing, or another process that converts the manipulated image into visible form. A document imaging system, for example, utilizes an electronic scanner for image recognition, computer software, memory and optical disk storage for image manipulation, and graphic terminals and laser printers to make the image visible.

A document imaging system is similar to other reproduction technologies, it utilizes an electronic scanner for image recognition; computer software, memory and optical disk storage for image manipulation, and graphic terminals and laser printers to make the image visible.

As long as it’s correctly done, courts have upheld that imaging and scanning are just as legally binding as paper documents.

Regardless of how you store your documents, audit trails are recommended in order to prove that a transaction was properly processed by the organization. With an audit trail, you can instantly know every time an electronic document has been viewed or manipulated. They help ensure document integrity and prove that the image is a true representation of the original ‐ reducing exposure to risk. Mosaic’s solutions allow for the easy creation of audit trails and

In Conclusion

In the United States, records made from a document imaging system will be admissible in evidence to the same extent as the original record, as long as the document imaging records accurately reproduce the original. If that standard has been met, an organization can feel secure in destroying the original records and relying on digital records as evidence.

Similarly, records required by government agencies can be maintained in document imaging systems. Whenever the government agency requests information, the organization would prepare duplicates from the document imaging system. The government agency may require that original records be kept or that your document imaging system meet certain standards.

Government agencies in the United States may also use document imaging systems to manage and retrieve information. Original short‐term paper records could be destroyed after the images have accurately been preserved in a document imaging system. Since document imaging records are not archival, long‐term (retention over 10 years) or permanent records must generally be maintained in either paper or archival microfilm form. It is not expected that state and federal archives will permit the destruction of long‐term paper records after scanning into a document imaging system, even when document imaging are certified for archival purposes.