CIO poll results reveal hyperautomation priorities and use cases

In a recent webinar co-hosted by CIO.com and Ephesoft, “Why Elite CIOs Automate: It’s Time to Transform Handprint into Usable Data,” the panelists discussed how best-in-class CIOs and digital transformation experts are not only automating content capture successfully but getting excellent data extraction results on handprint and machine print documents and forms.

Hyperautomation was a trending topic as it relates to handwriting and handprint data. Gartner defines it: “Hyperautomation refers to an approach in which organizations rapidly identify, vet and automate as many approved business and IT processes as possible through a disciplined approach. Hyperautomation involves the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, tools or platforms. These are inclusive of, but not limited to, AI, machine learning, event-driven software architecture, robotic process automation (RPA), integration platform as a service (iPaaS), packaged software and other types of decision, and process and/or task automation tools.”

Throughout the webinar, the audience was involved in answering poll questions as it related to the topic. Here’s what we learned:

Question #1: Which would you rate as the most important technology for your organization in the hyperautomation stack?

The majority of respondents, 42.9%, picked RPA systems as their primary focus for hyperautomation tools. Process mining and process discovery, at 28.6%, was the second most important technology, followed by both analytics and content ingestion at 14.3% for third and fourth most important.

RPA also ranks high on the list in Gartner’s 2021 research report, “Competitive Landscape: Hyperautomation Service Providers.” However, content ingestion was assessed as the number one technology to make hyperautomation efforts successful. Content ingestion is the first step in almost any digital transformation initiative. RPA won’t get you far if you don’t have structured data to work with. The two solutions work hand-in-hand: once the data is in a structured format, through Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) for example, it can then be used to feed RPA, ERP, workflow or any other line of business solution. Therefore, while content ingestion is just one part in the overall hyperautomation ecosystem, it is essential to start the project.

Circling back to the topic of capturing handwritten data, the ability to capture cursive and handprint will improve the overall data integrity and quality by adding a larger dataset that previously was difficult to include. This innovation will improve a company’s hyperautomation stack.

The CIO.com poll results could lead us to the conclusion that while there is a need for handwriting capture and extraction technology, it is overlooked or seen as part of other hyperautomation solutions, even though this is not always the case. Another possibility for the results could be that repetitive tasks that could easily eliminate data entry, such as invoice processing, can be perceived as having a greater impact in the organization when using RPA tools. However, the necessity to feed data into RPA is still required, reinforcing the need for content ingestion or IDP solutions. Finally, another hypothesis is that until recently, with Ephesoft’s breakthrough AI-powered, cursive handwriting solution, it was common knowledge that handwriting capture and extraction technology yielded mediocre results. Therefore, handwritten content ingestion was considered a lower priority as it was thought not to be very effective.

Question #2: What types of handwritten documents are most common in your organization?

The resounding majority of respondents – 77.8% – said that external consumer or constituent application forms were most common, followed by internal employee use forms and correspondence or mailroom, each reporting 11.1.%.

Ephesoft customers (outside of this poll) have confirmed that handwritten customer onboarding forms and processing are common. In the financial industry for example, applications, contracts with signatures, deposit slips, mortgage or loan documents and other financial documents often require handprint, signatures and checkboxes. With recent technology advancements, capturing this type of information can now be automated accurately.

“We’ve gotten enthusiastic feedback from our customers and partners about how excited they are to take advantage of usable handprint conversion technology with actionable accuracy rates,” said Brandyn Campbell, Business Development Director at Ephesoft who participated on the panel.

Question #3: If you have a document data capture solution already in place, does it extract handwritten data accurately?

Where handprint is concerned, not a single person in the session reported that they had a reliable, working capture solution. 73% of respondents either answered rarely (46%) or some of the time (27%) did their existing systems work, while the rest did not have an existing capture system capable of extracting data from handwritten documents. This has been a challenge in many industries and the government for decades.

With the latest release of Ephesoft Transact, poor accuracy rates will no longer be a problem for organizations worldwide. Technology has advanced and users are showing accuracy rates of up to 88% for cursive handwriting capture and extraction.

Key Takeaways:

  • Automation and hyperautomation are priorities for IT leaders. To do this successfully, you need the right type of data in a structured format, to feed those systems using an intelligent document processing solution.
  • The largest use case for capturing handwritten data is for customer onboarding. This will ultimately improve the customer experience, faster response times, accurate information and customer loyalty.
  • Ephesoft Transact recently launched its high-performance intelligent document processing and data capture functionality that can yield up to 88% accuracy for cursive handwriting.

Interested in a demo? Click here.

Resources

  • Register for a live webinar “The Future of Capture: Breakthrough Extraction Accuracy in Cursive Handwriting & Invoice Processing” on August 18, 2021 at 9 am PT/ 12 noon ET.
  • Watch webinar replay “Why Elite CIOs Automate: It’s Time to Transform Handprint into Usable Data”
  • Press Release on Ephesoft Transact and Cursive Handwriting Recognition
  • Watch a short demo video