Advanced Extraction: 3 Capture Automation Tools to Fall in Love With

According to AIIM research, the number and types of incoming business documents that must be managed is accelerating, causing data capture to be a key challenge in organizations today. For 67% of survey respondents, half or more of their main processes involve connecting multi-channel inbound content to one managed process. From shipping information to employee demographics, finances and more, the data we collect on a daily basis is widespread and often lacks structure. Even with a basic scanning process in place, capturing and processing this data can cause tremendous strain on administrative staff.

Today, there are many capture tools built to streamline and simplify the extraction of data from paper, email or complex image-based formats like PDFs. Capture Automation software functions with the goal of transforming this trapped data into information that can be easily accessed, shared, processed and understood. Offering wide data capture services, Capture Automation is so much more than scanning. Here are three unique capture tools your company will fall in love with:

1. OCR Assisted Indexing
   
   Sometimes information is structured, and on other occasions, it is unstructured. Either way, this data needs to be entered into a business management system for accurate record keeping. If your organization is just getting acquainted with capture technology, a great place to start reducing manual data entry is through optical character recognition (OCR). A simple but powerful method, OCR assisted indexing eliminates manual keystrokes while increasing the accuracy of the information being captured. Via a simple point and click, the user is selecting only the essential data needed for proper indexing of the document. There is no longer a need to enter data via error-prone typing. In addition, full page OCR functionality automatically transforms image-based documents into text searchable formats. This includes PDF, PowerPoint and OpenDocument Text files, among others. As soon as these documents are scanned they are converted into smart, text searchable records, simplifying the indexing and retrieval processes. OCR assisted indexing is designed primarily for lower volume applications of typically less than 200 records per week.
2. Positional Based OCR ProcessingPositional Based OCR can have a huge impact on the efficiency of your capture processes by completely eliminating manual intervention. Positional OCR extracts information based on its location within a document. Enhancing capture accuracy, this method automatically captures document information by locating document data fields based on strategically placed markers. These marker zones automatically classify each document and adjust the orientation of the template by defining its attributes. The user simply creates a capture template to extract data from the same zonal area within common documents. By dictating the data structure, capture information is consistent, accurate and quickly indexed. Additional template-based OCR functionality includes the use of directional zones, which tell the system to look a certain direction for the data, and pattern matching OCR (i.e. (xxx) xxx-xxxx for phone number capture). Advanced data extraction solutions are best when working with higher document volumes that vary greatly in layout options.
3. Rapid Adapt Forms LearningManually processing unstructured documents that come in from a number of input channels (email, print, web forms) and contain various layouts is not only challenging, but it puts the precision of data at risk. This is where Capture Automation solutions take business efficiency to the next level. Rapid Adapt Forms Learning is an advanced extraction tool that delivers the ability to train technology to dynamically recognize, classify and pull information from your documents. With an easy to use template designer, data capture is customized for quick management of document processing. The user would simply define a document layout and the software will go to work with limitless data extraction capabilities. Saved in the template library, the system recognizes when a new document should be applied to an existing forms learning template, streamlining Capture Automation. Rapid Adapt Forms Learning is ideal for organizations who handle a large variety of new document types that lack any definable structure.

Document capture efficiency is not a one size fits all objective. But with the advanced extraction tools of Capture Automation software, the possibilities for data capture are limitless; regardless of the format or structure of your documents. At Square 9, we offer multiple solutions for transforming your documents into business intelligence. Who doesn’t love that? Contact us today to learn more about the extraction solutions your company will fall in love with.