Empowering, Not Replacing: How AI-Powered Data Entry Enhances Your Team’s Capabilities

Artificial intelligence (AI) now touches almost every industry, boosting convenience and efficiency. Still, many organizations in customs brokerage and freight forwarding worry about AI for data entry — especially the idea it might replace human workers.

Is AI data entry software replacing humans?

John Pennypacker, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Deep Cognition, settles the discourse, emphasizing that AI-assisted data entry elevates human roles instead of replacing them.

“AI is about job transformation and empowerment, not job elimination,” Pennypacker said.

“As technology advances, roles change or evolve, but human expertise remains essential.”

Through AI augmentation, employees can automatically extract and validate data from bills of lading and other trade documents with up to 99% accuracy. These enhanced capabilities reduce the manual workload and allow organizations to redirect their efforts to more strategic initiatives, such as analyzing data trends or innovating business processes.

Let’s define AI augmentation in detail and how using AI for data entry can drive efficiency in your organization.

What Is AI Augmentation?

AI augmentation refers to the assistive role automation software, like Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), plays in improving human decision-making.

Rather than removing humans from the picture, AI-Driven IDP tools rely on machine learning and deep learning to crunch through vast amounts of data at speeds and scales unattainable by human effort alone.

Pennypacker summarizes what is AI augmentation perfectly:

“The human is in charge, AI is the assist.”

AI handles the ‘what’ (i.e., What does the data show? What are patterns and predictions?) while humans decide the ‘why’ and ‘how’ (i.e., Why does the insight matter? How should we act on it?).

How AI-Powered Data Entry Improves Your Team’s Capabilities

From tracking the movement of goods to managing documents and ensuring compliance, businesses – especially those in customs brokerage, freight forwarding, and supply chain management – handle massive volumes of data daily. Traditionally, these processes relied heavily on manual data, a time-consuming and error-prone task that drains resources and limits productivity. 

Using AI for data entry transforms the way teams handle data, offering significant improvements in efficiency and accuracy:

1. Workforce Automation

   Manual data entry is often repetitive and tedious, which slows down critical operations. AI-powered workforce management automation eliminates these bottlenecks by automating document processing in a fraction of the time it takes a human.

   Data entry AI tools can swiftly analyze shipping documents and pull relevant data with little to no human intervention. This allows teams to process more documents faster while maintaining high levels of accuracy.

   “Use AI to create efficiency gains and become more impactful with the staff you have,” Pennypacker said.

   Through workforce automation, teams can effectively scale productivity without scaling costs.

2. Improving Data Accuracy

   Data entry mistakes can lead to delays and penalties. Unlike humans, workforce automation software doesn’t suffer from fatigue or distractions, which are common causes of data entry errors. By automating the extraction and validation of data, data entry AI tools ensure the information is consistently reliable.

   However, the role of humans remains essential in validating AI’s output. As Pennypacker explains,

   “It’s critical to implement AI within clear rules and checks, keeping things right down the fairway.”

   This ensures that while AI data entry software handles the heavy lifting, employees remain the final checkpoint for quality control and decision-making.

3. Empowering Employees To Focus on Strategic Tasks

   One of the most significant advantages of workforce management automation is its time savings. Workforce automation empowers employees to use their skills where they matter most. Rather than spending hours inputting shipment details into multiple systems, employees can focus on compliance management and other critical thinking-intensive work. This leads to higher job satisfaction and a greater sense of purpose.

4. Scalability Without Adding Headcount

   As your business grows, so does the demand for data processing. Traditionally, meeting this demand meant hiring more staff to handle increasing workloads. AI-powered workforce automation software changes this dynamic.

   Pennypacker describes this advantage clearly:

   “AI can be a growth vector for your company, driving productivity gains and reducing the need for additional headcount.”

   Automating data entry allows you to do more with your existing team and focus your resources on growth initiatives rather than constantly investing in additional resources to keep up with operational demands.

5. Streamlining Workflows

   AI-powered data entry doesn’t operate in isolation. It integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, improving how teams collaborate and share information. When data flows seamlessly from one system to another, you create a more connected work environment where teams can make informed decisions quickly.

The Future of AI and Automation in the Workforce

AI augmentation is not only reshaping how businesses operate, but it’s also redefining the roles of employees. However, even with data entry AI placed at the core, avoiding a “zero-human” mindset is vital. 

The future of AI and automation in the workforce is more about collaboration than replacement. Machine learning models and algorithms are only as good as the data they are trained on, and they require human oversight to ensure they remain accurate and compliant with regulations.

Additionally, as AI takes over routine tasks, it revolutionizes what’s possible in document automation and paves the way for new roles that require different skill sets. For instance, there is expected to be a growing demand for AI specialists and data scientists in industries where AI is integrated into workflows.

Employees also have the chance to engage in learning and development to adapt to technological advancements. Reskilling programs will be essential to ensure employees have the skills needed to collaborate effectively with data entry AI tools and take on more strategic roles.

Pennypacker suggests that companies should “find an internal innovation champion — someone who believes in AI and can be an advocate within the organization.”

Focus on how AI can be a catalyst for greater human potential. Fostering an environment where workforce management automation is embraced and understood allows organizations to empower employees to adapt and grow with the technology.

Overall, the future of AI and automation in the workforce is not about choosing between machines and humans but about building a symbiotic relationship where both thrive.

As powerful as it is, workforce automation software is just there to help. AI will continue to transform industries and change the nature of many roles, but human expertise will remain crucial to success.

Empower Your Teams With PaperEntry AI

Deep Cognition is revolutionizing data entry processes with PaperEntry AI — an intelligent document processing platform powered by generative AI. We’ve seen our clients in freight forwarding and customs brokerage gain the ability to automate customs invoice processes and achieve 90% time savings with 99% accuracy by adopting PaperEntry AI.

Get started and join this workforce management automation. Schedule a demo to see PaperEntry AI in action.

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