iTech uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Read Time: 3 minutes
Data capture is one of the most laborious and ever-present business processes across industries. Every business will have to deal with data capture on some level, but enterprise businesses deal with a high volume of documents and will experience the most strain from the process. When you consider the high labor costs, slow and complicated storage and organizational procedures, lack of data centralization, and costly mistakes, data capture represents a significant obstacle for most businesses.
This is where automated data capture systems provide a significant opportunity for businesses looking to improve their bottom line by making their business processes more efficient. There are a number of different automation solutions, but in this article, we’ll be discussing the cream of the crop: AI and machine learning(ML)-powered automated data capture systems for enterprise organizations.
To demonstrate the value of these cutting-edge software tools, we will cover:
- What an automated data capture system is
- Automated data capture system use cases
- Benefits of automated data capture
- The best data capture automation deployment strategy
Let’s examine each to better understand how automated data capture systems can completely transform enterprise businesses.
What is an Automated Data Capture System?
Automated data capture systems are software tools that automate at least one of the following steps of the data capture process from scanned documents:
| Document Indexing | Making text in a document searchable or copy/pastable |
| Data Entry | Entering data from documents into a database |
| Data Organization | Organizing data into different sections of a database or across multiple databases and labeling / prioritizing it if necessary |
| Data Analysis | Creating reports or analytics based on stored data from documents |
These systems aim to reduce data workloads and make scanned documents more useful than simple stored images, thereby making enterprise businesses more efficient regarding time, money, and staff workload. Since each of these four steps requires a significant amount of time, money, and workload, the best data capture systems and providers offer automation of every single step.
Automated Data Capture System Use Cases
It is difficult to evaluate the value that a software solution brings to your business without knowing exactly how it will interact with your current operations. We have provided automated data capture for countless businesses across several industries and understand the most common value-adds that these solutions offer.
The following are the most common use cases for automated data capture systems in enterprise businesses:
| Document Digitization with Machine Learning-Paired OCR | ML-powered Optical character recognition (OCR) technology can read text from any document—typed or handwritten—and index its data as it is stored in a database. This means that scanned documents don’t just exist as readable images but as fully searchable documents that are easier to find in the database and capture data from. |
| Automatic Data Capture | After documents are indexed with OCR technology, automation software can learn how to identify a document’s type, the data fields it includes, and where to input that data. This allows data to be captured automatically and accurately. |
| Cloud Storage | Cloud storage eliminates the need for extensive physical storage assets like hard drives and servers, allowing enterprise businesses to simplify their IT infrastructure. It also makes stored data easier to access during weather emergencies that could cut power to local servers, with cellular data connection being perfectly capable of maintaining a connection to a remote cloud database. |
| AI-Automated Data Security | AI can improve and automate the security of captured data by providing automated alerts when data security procedures haven’t been followed. It can even perform some data security best practices automatically when data is stored by ensuring it is hidden behind the proper permissions. |
| Centralized Source of Truth | Enterprise businesses often suffer from disconnection between different departments. Automated data capture within a unified data capture platform allows for a single source of vital data that can be shared with departments on their own software tools with far better accuracy than manual entry, ensuring that all departments are operating on the same information. |
Benefits of Automated Data Capture
These data capture use cases are important because they offer material value to a business. Understanding that material value is the key to making decisions regarding how you want to implement data capture and what departments will benefit the most from it. As we have guided enterprise businesses in their business process automation journeys, they have provided us feedback on the tangible results of our services.
The following are the most commonly cited benefits of automated data capture for our clients:
| Near-Instant Data Capture | Since enterprise business documents store data automatically, data capture becomes remarkably fast. As documents are scanned, their data can be stored in the proper databases almost instantly without the need for a manual data entry clerk. This allows staff time to be spent on more big-picture, human-influenced tasks like auditing data and interacting with community members. |
| Exceptional Data Accuracy | ML-paired OCR is supremely accurate and provides ample time for existing data staff to focus on auditing since they aren’t as busy manually entering information. This means that data accuracy is far more consistent, especially for data that has to be stored across multiple department databases, and it is also far easier to audit. |
| Improved Data Security | AI-powered data security keeps staff more accountable regarding data protection best practices and provides real-time warnings about potential breaches. This helps enterprise businesses mitigate the risks of relying on every member of a large staff to remember exactly how to handle data for every document type they interface with. |
| More Accessible, Centralized Data | Cloud-based storage and automated document indexing make it easier to store and search for specific documents, including any data they contain. This makes it easier to internally store information across different department databases and allows leadership to search for and access any data from any department with a simple search. |
| Digitization of Handwritten/Older Documents | One of the more unique uses of cutting-edge ML OCR technology is its ability to extract data from handwritten documents and older documents with less intact text. While these docs will require a bit more auditing, modern ML-paired OCR does a far better job parsing through harder-to-read documents than any technology before it, allowing it to automate processes in ways that simply weren’t possible a decade ago. |
These benefits represent a lot of potential for enterprise businesses to improve their bottom line, reduce the workload of their current staff so that they have more energy to focus on higher-aptitude tasks, and reduce their exposure to liability regarding data security and costly misinputs of financial data.
Best Data Capture Automation Deployment Strategy
Automating data capture is a difficult process that requires complex technology, custom integrations, and extensive tech knowledge. As a result, it is best accomplished by outsourcing to a third party that not only provides the necessary technology but is also experienced in using it to capture and store sensitive data. This gives enterprise businesses access to a cost-effective data capture tool and a team that has built-in expertise on how to operate it all effectively.
Enterprise businesses deal with higher volumes of data, funds, and staff members that require a high standard of accuracy and security. As a result, they should seek out a partner that:
- Offers the most advanced data technology
- Provides support that aligns with their working hours regardless of where they operate
- Stores data in an easily auditable database with transparent operation
- Prioritizes data security
- Has experience working with enterprise-level businesses across multiple industries
iTech data offers all of these helpful features and more.
Automate Data Capture with iTech’s Advanced Technology
We at iTech pride ourselves on our cutting-edge machine learning OCR software, top-of-the-line onboarding experience, and ongoing support. We also offer 24/7 access to support personnel and senior account managers to maximize visibility and peace of mind, eliminating the “black box” approach to outsourcing.
To learn more about automated data capture systems, fill out the contact form below.
Subscribe to our blog for the latest industry trends
IDS Commander iTech2021
No Comments