What Is Invoice Data Capture?

Data is undeniably the most essential resource in the world today. And your efficiency as a business will be determined by how accurately you carry out the invoice data capture processes such as capture, analysis, and utilization of the data. For a business, data is important for various purposes, one of which is predicting the growth of the company. For instance, supplier invoices can determine the sales of your firm. Similarly, this data will help in devising the strategies to grow your business.

The Accounts Payable department of any business can make or break a deal. Delayed replies, late responses, impeded processing can hamper your ties with customers and suppliers. One of the most neglected yet essential parts of an account payable system is invoice data capture. Most companies rely on manual data capture or outsource it to any third party, where again it is done manually. 

Manual data capture and invoice processing are the biggest factors that can slow down your business. At the end of the day, we are all humans and bound to commit mistakes. But is it viable for a business to take the brunt of manual errors instead of switching to automation? Obviously, it is not. So, what’s the possible solution?

In this article, we will address the most important aspect of a business, i.e., Invoice data capture and how to use it for optimizing the regular business processes. By the end, you will be able to decide the method of faster invoice processing.

Let’s dive in.

What is Invoice Data Capture?

Invoice Data Capture is a minuscule yet the most critical part of the accounts payable process. It is the process of capturing the data from supplier invoices, validating the extracted information, and storing it. If we look into the traditional way of extracting data from invoices, it involves manual sorting of invoices, looking for a PO number, matching with the invoice number, jotting the data, and whatnot. This process is not as straightforward as it may seem. Plus, it takes hours to sort this data.

Not just that, when a process involves human intervention, it becomes more prone to errors, data loss, late work, missing deadlines, and the list goes on. All this chaos will eventually leave you behind in this fast-moving world. 

Methods of Invoice Data Capture

1. Manual keying

The basic and most time-consuming method of invoice data capture is manual data entry. Manual keying of data may seem cheap but costs much more in the long run. Moreover, it leaves open a large window for errors and mistakes.

2. OCR

Optical Character Recognition aka OCR is one of the most commonly used technologies for faster invoice data capture. It extracts characters, numbers, letters, and symbols from files of different formats like pdf, JPEG, tiff, png, etc. An OCR is an essential part of the invoice capturing software. It extracts data and produces unstructured raw data that needs to be arranged. However, it works far better than manual keying.

3. Intelligent invoice capture

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have revolutionized the face of invoice data capture. A combination of AI, machine learning, and OCR gives the most accurate and fast results. One such intelligent data capture solution is DocAcquire. It is not just a data scanning and extraction software, but it can sort the invoices and export data as excel spreadsheets and JSON for further processing.

4. Outsource

Many people outsource their invoice data capture process. In this method, the invoices are sent to a third-party system that sends the sorted data to the supplier. Mostly, this third-party system extracts the data manually. So, technically, it also involves the hassle of manual keying, the only difference is that it is not your headache anymore. 

Why do you need Invoice Data Capture software?

If you are tired of extracting data from tonnes of invoices every month, then invoice data capture software is a sure-shot solution for your business. Instead of spending time in each of the invoices individually, you can simply upload, bulk invoices at a time and extract all the necessary data. Intelligent invoice data capture software like DocAcquire can make this task even easier. All you need to do is specify the fields and line items you need to extract. Then, upload the invoice, and voila! The data will be extracted from multiple invoices in one go without creating or maintaining templates. DocAcquire,  has a built-in interactive verification workflow (Human in the loop) that permits you to verify the data before exporting it to any other application. Now, that’s what we call smart data extraction!

Is Invoice Data Capture Software Accurate?

Smart Invoice Capturing software like DocAcquire uses deep learning algorithms under the bonnet. So, it is a piece of cake for such software to extract data successfully from unstructured as well as structured invoices and later on export it in various forms like Excel, etc. The users simply have to upload the invoice into the system but behind the scenes, various complex algorithms run that help in extracting data accurately. So, compared to the traditional manual invoice data capture method this software is highly accurate, fast, and time-saving.

How DocAcquire can benefit your business?

Switching to invoice processing software can save up resources in terms of labor, time by manifolds. On average, you can process 20 times more invoices and save 25 hours of work by using DocAcquire that are wasted in manual invoice processing. So, you end up achieving huge cost savings in the long run.

2. Better strategy

Using invoice data capture software can increase transparency and visibility in your system. It becomes easier to track delays, errors, and mistakes. Hence, you will be able to budget and forecast your business in a much better way.

3. Improved accuracy

With less human involvement in the data extraction process, the chances of errors and issues are reduced significantly. Hence, it saves the time involved in tracking and fixing errors. So, your business processes can move more quickly and accurately.

4. Increased scalability

When your business processes are handled automatically, employees will spend more time in quality work rather than manual keying of data. This will eventually help your business grow.

If you are tired of old-school invoice processing methods and looking for ways to ace up your business then DocAcquire is the way to go. It will help in increasing the efficiency of the business, improve productivity, and save money. 

Do you find yourself processing invoices day in and day out? Are your employees constantly chasing paperwork? Do you find it hard to keep up with client deadlines? If you find scuffling with similar circumstances, then rest assured, we have a solution for all your problems. Your business needs the “Midas touch” of invoice processing software like DocAcquire. Such software can reduce the invoice processing time by 80%. 

How about giving DocAcquire a try? Just sign up for a free trial today!