RPA Use Cases for PDF Data Extraction

Are your business processes keyboard intensive? The average person types 41 Words Per Minute (or 80K keystrokes per day), while the average software bot enters data at 400 WPM (or 800K keystrokes per day).  So why continue to rely on the antiquated keyboard (patented in 1714) as the primary input tool for your 21st-century business systems.  Let RPA calm the keyboards and modernize your processes, so your team can focus on what matters most.

In addition to the data entry efficiency and productivity gains Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can provide, software robots dramatically improve the quality of the data being captured. The average person makes three typing errors a minute, while RPA bots do not make data input errors (and can enter their data 7/24/365).

RPA software bots can capture data from almost any digital format, eliminating the need for manually extracting and keying data from computer-based content. The following automation use case from the commercial insurance sector highlights this capability well.

Use Case Legacy Process (hours)

An insurance customer seeking a commercial auto quote e-mails their agent a PDF fleet inventory report that lists the year, make, model, and VIN of all fleet vehicles (100+) requiring quotes. The service agent would then spend hours manually keying each car into the insurance quoting software.

Use Case Automated Process (minutes)

Utilizing RPA, the workflow above is re-engineered as follows:

  • A customer e-mails a PDF fleet inventory report to a quote request e-mail address.
  • A bot identifies the inbound e-mail and automatically extracts the customer and PDF fleet inventory data to an Excel spreadsheet and saves it to a processing directory.
  • A bot sees the new file arrive in the processing directory, creates a new pending master quote in the insurance software, and uploads all 100+ vehicles into the system.
  • The bot e-mails the service agent a link to the pending quote. The agent then reviews the completed quote and contacts the customer to discuss the requested pricing information.

As you can see, Robotic Process Automation RPA can rapidly assist in automating the manual entry of your current workflows using your current process, tools, and infrastructure. There is no need for expensive system modifications, complex EDI setup, or changing existing inbound document flows when utilizing RPA to automate. 

Contact us to learn more about how to automate your legacy keyboard-based processes so you, too, can turbocharge the productivity of your back office and upgrade the experience of your customers.