All you need to know about AI-driven data extraction solutions and process itself: why do you need it, the use cases and tools you might use.
From invoices and receipts to new employee CVs and legal contracts, PDFs are widely used across various departments in every company. However, in most cases, PDF is not the end point, it’s just a trigger that starts the whole new set of steps and conditions. And all these steps and conditions depend on data stored in a PDF. To act on this data you either need to check it out manually. Or use AI for data extraction.
Table of Contents
The benefits of using AI to extract data from PDF
Efficiency and Speed
Manually extracting data from PDFs is a tedious process. It involves reading through pages of information, identifying relevant data, and inputting it into the desired format. This manual process is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. AI-powered tools can automate this entire process, significantly reducing the time required to extract data. With AI, what once took hours or even days can now be done in minutes, allowing you to focus on more strategic tasks
Accuracy and Precision
Human error is an inevitable part of manual data extraction. Whether it’s missing crucial details, misinterpreting information, or simply making typographical errors, the risk of inaccuracies is high. AI algorithms, on the other hand, are designed to meticulously scan and extract data with a high degree of accuracy. They can identify patterns, understand context, and ensure that the extracted data is precise and reliable. This level of accuracy is particularly crucial in fields where even minor errors can have significant consequences, such as finance, healthcare, and legal sectors.
Handling Complex Documents
Not all PDFs are created equal. Some documents are straightforward, while others contain complex layouts with tables, graphs, images, and multiple columns. Extracting data from such intricate documents can be challenging. AI-powered tools excel in handling these complexities. They can analyze the structure of a PDF, differentiate between text and images, and accurately extract data from tables and other complex formats. This capability ensures that no important information is overlooked, regardless of the document’s complexity.
Scalability
As your business grows, so does the volume of data you need to process. Manually extracting data from an increasing number of PDFs is not sustainable, especially if your business experiences seasonal fluctuations. For example, one of our customers experienced a huge surge of invoices they needed to process in the summer, followed by a decline in the winter. The difference in the number of invoices to be processed can reach tens of thousands. This is where AI for PDF data extraction becomes irreplaceable. Without Zenphi’s AI-driven capabilities, this company would have to hire dozens of seasonal workers to process their PDF invoices, leading to higher expenses and more human-related errors. With Zenphi’s invoice processing, however, they manage to scale their operations from zero to thousands in seconds. Read more about it here.
Cost-Effectiveness
By automating the data extraction process, you can reduce labor costs associated with manual data entry. Read a case study on how one of our customers saved thousands of dollars by automating invoice processing with AI-powered data extraction.
Moreover, the increased accuracy and efficiency can lead to better decision-making and operational efficiencies, further contributing to cost savings. In essence, AI not only reduces the direct costs associated with data extraction but also enhances overall business productivity.
Data Security and Compliance
Many industries are subject to strict data security and compliance regulations. Manually handling sensitive data increases the risk of security breaches and non-compliance. AI-powered tools ensure higher standards of security and data loss prevention.
Use Cases for AI-Powered PDF Data Extraction
But what processes and departments can enjoy these benefits specifically? There are the most common use cases of using AI to extract data from PDF.
Finance Use Cases
Invoice Processing
Challenge: Manually extracting data from a high volume of invoices is time-consuming and prone to errors.
AI Solution: AI can automatically extract key information such as invoice numbers, dates, amounts, and vendor details, ensuring accuracy and speeding up the accounts payable process. See how you can do invoice processing automation using Zenphi.
Tax Document Processing
Challenge: Tax documents often contain a lot of detailed information that needs to be accurately extracted for compliance and reporting.
AI Solution: AI can parse through tax documents, extracting relevant data such as income, deductions, and credits, ensuring compliance and reducing the risk of errors.
Human Resources (HR) Use Cases
CV Screening
Challenge: Manually screening CVs is labor-intensive and subject to human bias.
AI Solution: AI can extract and analyze key information from resumes, such as skills, experience, and qualifications, enabling faster and more objective candidate screening. See how to use AI in the HR recruitment process with Zenphi.
New Employees Onboarding
Challenge: Onboarding new employees involves handling a significant amount of paperwork, including contracts, tax forms, and personal details.
AI Solution: AI can automate the extraction and organization of data from onboarding documents, ensuring a smooth and efficient process for new hires. This is how automated employees onboarding is handled seamlessly using Zenphi.
Legal Use Cases
Contract Analysis
Challenge: Reviewing and extracting key clauses from contracts manually is time-consuming.
AI Solution: AI can help to build an efficient legal document management system: quickly scan contracts and extract critical information such as terms, obligations, and deadlines, facilitating faster and more accurate contract management.
Litigation Support
Challenge: Managing and extracting data from large volumes of litigation documents is resource-intensive.
AI Solution: AI can assist in organizing and extracting critical information from litigation-related PDFs, aiding legal teams in building stronger cases and managing documents more effectively.
Tools you can use to leverage AI for data extraction from PDF
Nearly all IDP-related solutions include this feature as one of the most popular. We recommend reading our dedicated blog post on The Most Affordable Intelligent Document Processing Solutions to learn the details.
Zenphi also utilizes AI for PDF data extraction and routing as a part of its Intelligent Document processing solution. You can learn more about using this feature for specific processes here:
Feel free to contact us to learn more about Zenphi’s AI -driven features. Or create an account and start your free trial today to experience the benefits of it yourself.
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Ready to change your manual document processing into set-and-forget workflows? If you use Google Workspace in your business you can easily do it today! Reach out to Zenphi experts and let us help you tailor your document-centric workflows to achieve maximum efficiency and cut opertional costs.
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About The Author
Fernanda López Guerra, CS @Zenphi
Fernanda is an experienced Customer Success manager with over 9 years in Tech and B2B Saas. She has automated multiple operations for Zenphi customers in Education, Retail, Tech and other verticals.
