How a Modern Document Management System Enhances Efficiency, Security and Productivity

Handling huge volumes of data is a norm for any business in today’s digital landscape. Having the ability to manage and process the myriad of electronic files and digitally captured paper-based content is hence imperative for businesses to enhance efficiency and ensure operational success. To do so, many have embraced the adoption of a document management system (DMS), which can be used to capture, distribute, store, share, track and manage documents. The centralised storage also allows for streamlined search and retrieval of documents.

As with any technology, the capabilities of a DMS are being expanded thanks to the advent of AI and machine learning. Here's a look at the functions of an AI-powered DMS, and how it can help businesses take productivity up several notches.

Automating the classification of documents

Forget the manual workflow of sifting through and labelling documents. AI can automatically process the information in any document, be it a payroll record, contract, employee appraisal or invoice. While traditional OCR requires templates and rule-setting, AI-powered DMS eliminates the need for manual setup. It can adapt to new document layouts without much preprocessing as well. After identifying the nature of the documents, it will categorise them.  And once categorised, the solution will route it to the next step of processing or to the relevant department based on the user-defined workflow — for example, if the document is an invoice, it will send it to the finance personnel for processing.

Natural Language Processing allows for easy document retrieval

Buoyed by Natural Language Processing algorithms, which seek to understand and interpret human language, a DMS can now scan textual documents to recognise patterns and relationships. For example, it can identify a patient's personal details, medical conditions as well as prescriptions listed in a medical document, and then automatically index the information. This then allows medical personnel to easily retrieve necessary documents based on specific search keywords.

Automated data capturing and extraction

Many companies are bogged down by paperwork and document processing. Offering a suite of solutions, Canon’s offering is able to automate the capturing of structured documents such as surveys and claims forms, semi-structured files including invoices as well as unstructured documents such as contracts. The Accounts Payable Capture Solution, specifically, has the horsepower to capture the data of over 1,000 invoices per day. With no need to manually enter data anymore, businesses can limit the risk of human errors.

Enhancing access control

Finally, data security and privacy are two things that business cannot ignore. Data leaks can disrupt business operations, and even result in lawsuits. With hackers becoming increasingly sophisticated, there is a need to step up security measures to safeguard against data leaks.

Canon's document management administrators can set rules, grant or restrict access to confidential business information as well as define the permission of each user. What's more, a digital signature can be applied to ensure the authenticity, integrity and non-repudiation of electronic documents.

Discover more about the salient features of Canon’s advanced document management solutions. Click here and explore how they can supercharge workplace productivity and help secure important business assets.