Five Key Advantages of IDP Solutions for SMEs
SMEs face numerous challenges in today’s competitive business landscape. Time constraints, tight budgets, and limited resources can hinder growth and efficiency. Fortunately, SMEs now have a powerful tool to streamline their operations: Intelligent Document Processing (IDP). Typically powered by AI, IDP automates the extraction of valuable information from various document types.
So, how does this help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? Below, we cover the advantages of IDP solutions for SMEs, exploring how they can use automatic data extraction software to save time, reduce costs, and maximise productivity.
1. Save Valuable Time
Time is a valuable resource for SMEs in any industry. Businesses must utilise effective time management strategies and advanced technologies to enhance efficiency. Implementing IDP solutions is an easy way to achieve this.
IDP eliminates many manual tasks, allowing SMEs to get more from their staff. In a tight labour market, such as that being experienced currently in many countries, SMEs want to get as much done with their current headcount as possible. IDP enables SMEs to accomplish more in less time, maximising their daily efficiency and productivity.
How Businesses are Saving Time
The time-saving advantages of IDP can apply to businesses in various industries, from accounting and administration to construction. For example, accountants often spend considerable time on data entry. IDP solutions can automate this process, freeing up valuable time for accountants to focus on higher-value tasks. Similarly, an admin employee in a small company may spend half their day on accounts, customer orders, and other data entry. With IDP, employees can complete these tasks a fraction of the time, freeing them up to concentrate on other crucial responsibilities.
Business travel is another use case where we can see these time-saving benefits. Travel expenses are an integral part of business operations across various industries. To claim these expenses, companies typically require their employees to provide receipts and invoices as proof of costs incurred. Traditionally, this meant manually collecting, entering data from, and submitting these documents, leading to significant administrative burdens, including on higher-level employees who typically travel the most but at the same time are most time poor to undertake data-entry tasks. However, with IDP, the process becomes seamless. Employees can capture a photo of their receipts & invoices, and the IDP system automatically extracts relevant data and sends it to the company’s systems, eliminating the need for manual input.
2. No Need for New Hires
IDP solutions can enable large enterprises to save millions of dollars through the automation of large numbers of workers, reducing the salary costs associated with these workers. While SMEs don’t strive to make cost reductions of this scale, they can still see significant savings by implementing IDP in their operations.
SMEs can use IDP to maximise the output of their existing workforce, reducing the need for additional hires. There is no need for workforce reduction to save costs; SMEs can keep the employees they trust and maximise productivity with fewer resources. This is particularly beneficial in today’s tight labour market, where it is increasingly challenging to hire new people. Less reliance on new hires saves costs and reduces the burden of recruitment, training, and onboarding new staff, as existing staff can work on other tasks with their traditional data entry tasks being automated.
3. Gain a Competitive Advantage
SMEs can leverage the cost savings of IDP to gain a competitive advantage. With fewer costs associated with manual document handling, businesses can allocate resources to new initiatives and strategic projects. Businesses can also pass on cost reductions to customers by offering lower product or service prices. Lower prices could help undercut competitors and attract more customers.
IDP can also empower SMEs to compete against companies with more substantial resources. Through IDP, they can deliver faster turnaround times, better accuracy, and enhanced operational efficiency, ultimately giving them a competitive edge in their industry. Additionally, with more time at their disposal, SME owners can redirect their focus and energies towards strategic initiatives, growth-oriented projects, and nurturing client relationships. By shifting their attention from administrative duties to value-added endeavours, they can drive innovation, explore new business opportunities, and position their companies for long-term success.
4. Ensure Accuracy and Compliance
Without proper systems for managing and handling documents, SMEs may experience inefficiencies and risk losing critical information. IDP helps create more structured processes for document handling, ensuring that no records go missing and costs are properly recouped.
In industries like accounting, for example, accurate cost recouping and documentation management are critical. An accounting firm missing costs or losing documents can significantly impact the business. IDP helps to ensure these documents are handled correctly, minimising errors and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
5. Better Work-Life Balance for SME Owners
Many SMEs have limited or no administrative staff, so business owners must take on tedious admin tasks themselves. However, their busy schedules may force them to work on these tasks after regular business hours. For example, if a builder spends their entire workday on-site, they may have to catch up on hours of paperwork in the evening. Such little downtime could take a toll on their work-life balance.
The time-saving nature of IDP eliminates the inconvenience of paperwork. SME owners could cut down the time doing manual tasks from hours to just 20 minutes, providing more time to relax in the evenings. This enhanced equilibrium between work and personal life could increase job satisfaction for SME owners.
Reap the Benefits of IDP with Xtracta
Intelligent Document Processing is changing how SMEs operate. Whether you own a small building company or a medium-sized accounting firm, leveraging IDP could be your business’s solution to succeed.
Powered by AI with full OCR support, Xtracta provides innovative digital document extraction that you can integrate into virtually any application software. Xtracta’s IDP solution is already pre-integrated with many software products that serve a range of SME use cases and industry needs. Reap the advantages of IDP today – talk to an Xtracta expert about how our partners can service your business.
If you’d like to learn more about Xtracta’s specialised approach to document processing and discover the benefits of our bank statement extraction capability, get in touch with the team today.
