The A&A Blog

AI Meets Document Management

Posted by A&A Office Systems on May 14, 2019

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a game-changer, and it has arrived in the document services sphere. Here we take a look at some fantastic innovations, and the changes we see unfolding right now.

Scanning, Reimagined

Scanners are integrating AI. Additionally, thanks to advances in Optical Character Recognition, the transformation of image to document is becoming accurate, automatic, and easy. And what’s really phenomenal is that with Machine Learning (ML), the more documents a machine scans, the nearer it gets to a human reader’s level of accuracy.

This is leading to many exciting developments. Consider just one example. You take a photo of a business card and zip the information instantly into your customer relationship manager (CRM). Or you take a photo of a document, notes, or presentation content, and have your image seamlessly transformed into a PDF you can edit. Done! Your document storage just went mobile.

Adobe Scan is a pocket-sized model of innovation in AI-based text recognition. Free to download, and ranked in the top 25 for business apps at the time of this writing, Adobe’s app can turn any photo into a document — by flattening out, cleaning up and sharpening scanned items, enabling their transformation into text. Then, it's back to the cloud to sort, store, and collaborate with the editable PDFs.

Legal Services, Enhanced

With AI, expect big improvements in contract and litigation management. This will include:

  • More effective sharing and collaboration,
  • Better management of real estate and other asset conveyances,
  • Fast document review with unprecedented accuracy, and
  • Consistent clause drafting in legal documents.

Firms can also use AI to design data-based budgets. AI can calculate costs based on similar projects and cases, finding outlier facts in the current case. Precision in quotes and budgeting can make for a more competitive company.

Litigation analytics can help guide a firm’s legal strategy. In the near future, expect lenders to insist that companies integrate analytics to assess costs and risks and make sound settlement decisions.

With new open-source and proprietary AI software offerings available, we can advise on how a specific business or process can best leverage some of the new technology. Much of the adoption process will be about integrating AI through features in devices, software and services. Getting familiar with the developments in AI-enabled software gives your business a competitive edge. “Law firms that do not use AI or analytics tools,” the American Bar Association asserts, will “scarcely be able to compete for new business.”

Document Management, Redesigned

As data accumulates, our stores of information become unmanageable. The staff is overwhelmed. Bottlenecks build up. Things fall through the cracks. What happened to the idea that technology would lighten our workloads?

AI is the solution. The more data available, the better Machine Learning works to extract it, analyze it in context, and apply it without demanding human guidance.

Yesterday’s systems had to follow one established pattern to process information. AI can uncover a multitude of patterns and change the way it processes data accordingly. Its capacity to handle complicated jobs such as review, analysis, collation and organization of documents means staff hours are saved, while efficiency and accuracy improves.

Machine Learning bolsters security, too. It detects deviations from people’s unique work patterns, and can alert humans to check for hacking or phishing attempts.

The smart system can avert unauthorized transfers or uses of any type of protected documentation. AI can sense and protect sensitive personal information to ensure document management is carried out in compliance with privacy laws and policies.

Asked and Answered

Cut a hefty portion of time-consuming research out of your company’s personnel hours. Retrieve sensitive information and analysis without involving staff at all, when your voice becomes your virtual assistant.

Simple questions like “Which employees qualify for the bonus this year?” can prompt a quick yet comprehensive examination of HR files and data. A request for “a 2-minute synopsis of the Jones case” give you a recital of facts and law based on an AI-driven examination of all the information you have so far.  

AI won't replace human-directed HR management or litigation strategy — but these new concepts will certainly enhance it, pinpointing key issues that an employee, team, or contractor might have overlooked on the first assessment. 

For Document Management, AI Is the Future

Indeed, it is already happening. Aware businesses are the ones most likely to succeed over the long term.

All businesses today must productively handle a variety of documents. They must assess legal agreements and terms of service without missing a beat in public relations. We’re here to help businesses adapt and thrive in the age of data by staying ahead of the curve in technological innovation.

Feel free to consult with us about your needs by calling 800.486.7426, or contacting us online at A&A.

Document Management, Document Scanning, Artificial Intelligence