Discover how document management systems and intelligent document processing (IDP) work together to automate document-heavy workflows, eliminate manual tasks, and boost efficiency.
In digitally driven work environments, there’s a tool for everything. The right tool (and features) streamline information management, eliminate manual tasks, reduce errors, and speed up decision-making, while the wrong one can stall productivity.
The unchecked growth of apps and tools over the past decade has plateaued, as organizations now prioritize efficiency and return on investment. Businesses dealing with high document volumes, such as finance, legal, insurance, and HR, need to work faster and more accurately, with less friction, and they need tools that can prove their value in this effort.
Document management systems (DMSs) and intelligent document processing (IDP) solutions both handle documents, but they are used for different aspects of the document lifecycle. Many companies think a DMS alone will automate document processing, but without IDP capabilities, you’re still relying on manual tagging, data entry, and workflows. This leads to bottlenecks, mistakes, and inefficiencies. And, IDP alone without the organization and storage of a DMS doesn’t allow you to easily locate documents or secure them with permissions and audit trails.
A DMS and IDP in tandem are instrumental in creating efficient, automated document workflows, freeing up your team’s time for more impactful work. Here’s how.
You already have documents in your organization—now you need to keep them safe, searchable, and easily managed within and across departments. Think of document management systems as digital information hubs and business process engines.
DMSs store, organize, manage, and retrieve documents securely and efficiently across their lifecycle.
The core features of a DMS include:
IDP extracts and processes data from unstructured or semi-structured documents using AI, ML (machine learning), and OCR (optical character recognition) technologies. Think of IDP as a super admin tool that identifies, cleans, organizes, and prepares your documents for action.
By turning unstructured and structured data within documents into organized and actionable business information, these technologies boost the activities of a DMS.
IDP:
Let’s say you receive documents, such as scanned PDFs or emails, and need to automate the reading, sorting, and data entry process. IDP is the digital assistant that helps you make sense of and file your paperwork.
Later, when you need to retrieve documents or start a workflow, everything is tagged and in the right place, so your system (DMS) can take immediate action.
Modern DMSs have come a long way, and many, like DocuXplorer, are pre-built with OCR and other technologies to ease or even eliminate the need for manual document processing.
A DMS with integrated IDP tools lets you automate critical, yet repetitive document tasks. Steps like tagging, routing for approvals, finding documents, and running audits previously took hours or days of effort and drained employees of valuable time that could be spent elsewhere. Now, with a DMS that leverages IDP, teams can do more work in less time with greater accuracy.
Let’s look at a real-world example of these systems in action:
In essence, IDP handles the input → DMS handles the management.
So when should you use a DMS, and when do you need intelligent document processing solutions? For storage and governance, a DMS works. But most organizations rely on processes to keep their business running. Using both DMS and IDP in tandem is the best approach to not only keep these processes running but also optimize them.
DMS and IDP serve distinct but complementary roles in document workflows. IDP handles intake and data extraction, while a DMS facilitates long-term management and governance.
Together, they help you achieve automated document processing, from capture to compliance. The future of document management is integrated, and what does that mean for your team? Less time spent on tedious document tasks, more accurate and efficient workflows, and the ability to leverage your team’s full potential.
DocuXplorer’s IDP features—AI OCR, AI Capture, and AI Insights—along with other automation tools (email assistant and print driver), let you ingest structured and unstructured information, capture the key data within them, tag and file them where they should go, find what you need instantly, and make more informed business decisions.
Turning paperwork into actionable intelligence has never been easier. Now with a secure, compliant, intuitive DMS like DocuXplorer, you can make your document management smarter and do more with less.
