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Machine learning bots enable immediate paperless workplaces Posted on : Apr 19 - 2019

Document digitization allows for the automatic extraction of data through rapid bot technology, as companies aim for a cost-effective, eco-friendly paperless workplace.

Enterprises are digitizing printed records in order to save physical space and money while increasing data mining opportunities and boosting compliance efforts. The goal is to get to a truly paperless workplace.

These businesses are removing unstructured paper records from their storage units and physical warehouses, digitizing the records and structuring the newly digital data for usability and easier electronic document management. Automated AI -- which aims to digitize paper records by scanning, sorting, structuring and labeling millions of records without human assistance -- is playing an important role in this process.

Print is out, machine learning is in

The use of machine learning bots and AI-powered paper digitization means that businesses can do more than simply scan and store files. They can create highly structured digital data that can itself feed machine learning algorithms that improve or inform business processes.

"Machine learning and other AI technologies in business operations go far beyond mere cost savings," said Ashok Pai, vice president and head of cognitive business operations at Tata Consultancy. "Superior business outcomes, business growth, agility, enriched customer experience are a direct impact of adopting cognitive technologies."

Ripcord Inc., a file digitization company based in Hayward, Calif., is one vendor whose tools assist enterprises in their digitization of paper records. The company uses machine learning bots to scan records, extract data, and send everything to the cloud before recycling the paper records. The ultimate goal of this process is to create data, since machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA) utilize company data to process transactions, manipulate data, trigger responses and communicate with other systems. Feeding these systems with high-quality, structured data is a top priority for many businesses.

How a paperless workplace can work

Paper records can complicate these processes by making some data inaccessible to bots, or requiring humans to do manual data entry, an error-prone process. Customers with existing RPA implementations or other data-powered applications need to acquire data that is stripped of personally identifiable information and potential inaccuracies or biases.

For Ripcord customers, after their paper records are digitized, they receive their content back in the form of machine-readable data. They can then upload their data to a third-party database or their own  platforms, such as Oracle or Salesforce. The records are searchable in the cloud. For some enterprises, the data goes directly into existing machine learning or AI platforms.

What enterprises do with the data can range from implementing algorithms to identify pain points, to creating an automated process, to augmenting human workers. Pai said that in order for paper digitization to deliver its maximum benefits, companies have to take a holistic view of their processes and identify which data – and how much – is necessary to affect change.

"AI has to learn from data and decisions," he said. "Do you have the right data history that can be leveraged? If not, are you willing to invest for the long run as AI learns? Which organization sub-units are best set up to consume resources on the cloud?" View More