Start Smart With AI: Why Document Automation Is the Ideal First Step for Enterprises

Enterprises in the customs brokerage and freight forwarding industry operate in a world where accuracy and compliance are non-negotiable.

Third-party collaboration, audits and regulatory compliance are critical facets that require accurate documentation to drive efficiency and governance. Without systematic document automation procedures in place, you risk losing important data and threaten operational success.

Document automation provides an ideal entry point for organizations looking to leverage intelligent document processing (IDP) and artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline processes.

John Pennypacker, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Deep Cognition, advises that rather than investing in a large-scale AI transformation, companies can begin with business document automation, where AI can make a real difference.

“Don’t put AI on top of broken processes — get your house in order first,” Pennypacker said.

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

This “crawl, walk, run” approach ensures organizations can build confidence with AI before scaling its impact.

What Is Document Automation?

Document process automation, also known as document generation, document assembly, or Intelligent Document Processing, expedites the creation, management and distribution of documents at scale using advanced document automation workflow software.

Here’s a more in-depth explanation of what is document automation and how intelligent document processing works:

Business document automation software pulls data from various document types and populates it into predefined templates, which can include simple text blocks or more sophisticated elements such as tables, images and graphs.

Depending on the software, document automation capabilities may include:

• Document Capture: Scanning or importing physical or digital documents (e.g., PDFs, emails, scanned forms) into a system.
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR): Using AI-powered OCR technology to convert printed or handwritten text into machine-readable data.
• Data Extraction: Identifying and extracting specific information, such as names, dates, invoice numbers or totals, from structured and/or unstructured documents.
• Data Validation: Verifying the accuracy and consistency of the extracted data against predefined rules or external databases.
• Integration: Automatically transferring the processed data into other systems or databases (e.g., customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), spreadsheets).
• Document Automation Workflows: Designing and automating workflows that handle document-related tasks such as approvals and routing to appropriate departments.
• Document Generation: Automatically creating new documents (e.g., contracts, reports) by merging templates with extracted or imported data.
• Version Control and Audit: Tracking changes made to documents and ensuring compliance with regulatory or organizational standards.
• Search and Retrieval: Using search capabilities to quickly locate specific documents or data within the system. Advanced intelligent document processing solutions may include AI-powered search for better contextual understanding.
• Security and Access Control: Protecting sensitive information through encryption and permission settings. This ensures only authorized personnel can view, edit or share the documents.

Document process automation is a powerful tool for managing documents and gaining greater insights into the business. Enterprises that automate document processing can do more with the resources they already have without needing a complete organizational overhaul.

Now that you know the fundamentals of document process automation, let’s discuss the advantages of an automated records management system.

Why Start With Document Automation?

For many enterprises, document process automation offers a low-risk, high-reward entry point into automation.

Instead of trying to solve every business challenge at once, focusing on business document automation allows organizations to get quick wins without disrupting their core operations. This approach is particularly effective for enterprises that deal with large volumes of documents, such as commercial invoices, packing lists, or bills of lading.

5 Benefits of Automation: Maximizing Efficiency

Here are the notable advantages of an automated records management system:

1. Immediate Efficiency Gains

   Organizations that leverage intelligent document processing experience significant efficiency improvements. Instead of manually entering data, a document automation solution extracts the necessary information and inputs it into the system automatically. This frees up your employees to focus on higher-value work while reducing the risk of human error.

2. Improved Accuracy and Compliance

   Among the benefits of automation is reducing the risk of missing or incorrectly processed information, which is particularly important in industries with strict compliance requirements, like customs brokerage and freight forwarding. Document automation solutions integrate compliance rules into templates to ensure every document generated meets the industry standards.

3. Scalability and Flexibility

   Document automation workflow solutions are highly scalable, making it easier for enterprises to expand their automation efforts over time. Starting with one document type enables you to build confidence in the technology before gradually expanding to other document types or business processes. This approach allows you to get the most value out of document automation capabilities without taking on too much at once.

4. Cost Savings

   Enterprises that automate document processing reduce the need for additional administrative staff, cutting down on labor costs. Moreover, automated systems can handle document management more quickly and efficiently, helping you save time and money on routine tasks. With reduced manual labor and improved data accuracy, document process automation can directly impact your bottom line.

5. Improved Collaboration and Workflow

   Another advantage of automated records management systems is creating a seamless flow of information within the organization. Document automation enhances collaboration across departments by ensuring the right documents are routed to the appropriate teams. For example, invoices can be automatically forwarded to the finance department, while contracts can be sent to legal for review, all without manual intervention.

The Challenges of Manual Document Processing

While document creation might appear to be simple, the vast volume of document production at the enterprise level makes document management a progressively complex challenge.

For many enterprises, handling large volumes of paper-based or unstructured data manually often leads to errors and missed opportunities. 

Consider these statistics:

• 60% of service businesses are still paper-based.
• Major enterprises handle at least 40 different document categories and more than 200 document types in the course of their operations.
• 91% of data professionals say that data quality issues, including unreliable data and the lack of a document automation solution, hurt their operations and performance.

Every decision, from layout to content, involves time spent creating a document that could more efficiently be generated when you automate document processing.

The First Step in a Broader AI Strategy

Document automation isn’t just a step forward — it’s a smart starting point.

Automated document processing addresses immediate operational challenges and allows you to build a foundation for long-term AI integration. This fosters trust in AI solutions and prepares your organization for more complex implementations like predictive analytics or supply chain optimization.

However, Pennypacker advises implementing AI within clear rules and checks to keep things right down the fairway. 

“Document automation should begin with the 80-20 rule,” Pennypacker said.

“Start with longer documents first, then move to the long tail.”

When implemented strategically, this approach modernizes business processes and positions your organization to stay competitive in an increasingly digital world.

Schedule a demo with PaperEntry AI today to explore its intelligent document processing capabilities firsthand.

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