Artificial intelligence has become an essential, multifaceted and flexible technology that has accelerated the evolution of the digital workplace - playing an integral role in automating manual and monotonous tasks. Specifically, AI is being leveraged to substantially reduce data entry where humans previously entered database information from invoices, contracts, forms and more.

As we enter the next phase of work - one increasingly digital and dispersed - AI adoption will only accelerate. Businesses must deeply understand how technology can increase efficiency, improve accuracy and enable their workforce to focus on more strategic and value-driven activities.

AUTOMATING, NOT REPLACING, WORK
There is a general misconception around technology 'coming for jobs', when in reality, AI enables automation designed to alleviate workloads and reduce the risk of human errors. At its core, automation uses machine processes to complete tasks with little to no human control, allowing human users to take time back in their busy day to focus on valuable tasks that require human intelligence, making better use of workers' time.

Implementing automation removes the need to waste human resources on manual, repetitive tasks. And this is a good thing: humans are flawed and mistakes happen for a multitude of reasons, resulting in data entry errors, productivity losses and costly mistakes needing to be reversed. With automation, businesses can improve the speed and accuracy of manual processes.

Automation has also played a significant role in accelerating processes for streamlined workflows across nearly all lines of business, which often leads to faster innovation. But, it's vital to emphasise that AI is automating work, not replacing it. From customer service representatives interacting with customers daily to strategic management focused on planning and company growth, humans are essential to businesses.

To create a more streamlined, digital workforce, automation will be a critical ingredient across the entire business ecosystem. And, if you don't, your competition will.

STREAMLINING DM
Document management systems are designed to ensure company documents are adequately controlled for compliance and process efficiency. However, these systems are limited by manually tagging documents, which can be tedious and frustrating for end-users. AI-based document management systems remove the burden of a disjointed and disconnected work experience, helping companies better manage all documents and streamline employee workflows.

Over the past few years, AI has allowed organisations to solve three critical business needs. First, AI helps quickly identify business-critical documents - like those with contractual obligations, confidential agreements or industry-regulated information - which dramatically improves file organisation while meeting compliance and regulatory standards automatically.

Secondly, AI helps extract the information you need thanks to the unstructured data they are inherently made up of. Data extraction for contracts, letters and agreements are time-consuming and error-prone. Lastly, AI helps find and manage documents, alleviating difficulties that cause 21.3% productivity loss amongst businesses, according to IDC.

AODocs recently conducted a survey to explore Google Workspace users (past and present) to see what document management challenges they experienced. 42% said the most common reason they couldn't find a document was because it was saved in the wrong folder or location and 36% said they couldn't remember the document's name.

JUST THE BEGINNING
Organisations must do a better job ensuring their workforce understands how technology is being used to run more productive and efficient operations, especially as our constructs of work rapidly evolve. With an increasing number of companies letting go of pre-pandemic workplace expectations and welcoming hybrid work models, this is just the beginning.

What we know is just how critical AI is to the digital workspaces success and streamlining document management. But it is only as successful as the processes in place. By welcoming AI into the workflow and digital workspace, organisations can significantly improve how their employees interact with one another, far and near.

More info: www.aodocs.com