Citizens want and deserve a straightforward, modern experience with state and local agencies.

One significant snag the public sector faces is a lack of efficient document and data processing, making it difficult to find critical information such as environmental health reports and marriage certificates in a timely fashion.

The federal government alone generates over nine billion hours of paperwork for the public.

Many government agencies are using outdated and labor intensive processes in all avenues of their work. Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) gives the public sector automated data processing, boosts employee productivity, and improves data security.

| Here are three ways the public sector is taking advantage of IDP right now.

Advantage 1: They’re streamlining records management

With paper processes and lack of digitization, finding a specific document or dataset can take weeks.60% of employees estimate they could save six or more hours a week if manual data entry processes were automated.IDP streamlines the digitization of physical records like health records, licenses, and case files by using artificial intelligence and machine learning to classify and structure important data points from them. With an automated indexing and categorization system agencies are able to establish a proper records management system. Not to mention, they aren’t having to spend significant taxpayer dollars renting physical storage spaces.

Advantage 2: They’re boosting employee productivity

IDP eliminates the need for manual search and retrieval in a document-centric workflow, which can lead to significant productivity gains for the team.

Imagine a social services agency that receives hundreds of weekly applications for housing assistance. Each application is several pages long and requires data to be entered manually into the agency’s case management system. This time-consuming process can take days or even weeks to complete, delaying the delivery of critical services to those in need.

With IDP, the agency can automatically index, capture, extract, and structure application data into its case management system. With more accurate and readily available information, case workers can quickly access the information they need to provide timely assistance to constituents.

Advantage 3: They’re improving data security and compliance

Data breaches within the public sector can cost an average of $2-$4 million, according to IBM research.

Not only is it expensive, but inaccurate data can lead to misinformed policy decisions and legal consequences. As data breaches continue to make headlines, data security, and compliance are a top priority for government agencies.

IDP can help get sensitive citizen data into protected systems quickly and make it available as needed. It ensures information is accurate upon intake and automatically redacts sensitive personal identity information (PII) content that shouldn’t be released publicly. Since the data will live in a secure system, there is a reduced risk that sensitive PII will be leaked and published without the agency’s consent.

Another aspect of security is the risk of continuing to manage paper records.

Take this case study for the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics (RVRS). They avoided a major disaster just weeks after eliminating their paper processes as a pipe burst in their vault, compromising hundreds of indexing books and birth and death records. Implementing IDP helps these government agencies adhere to industry best practices and avoid costly fines and legal action that may arise from non-compliance like Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS), and other Federal, State, and Local regulations.

Our IDP solution, AI-Powered Document Processing, can help government agencies with a multitude of paper and digital documents by streamlining data processing, boosting employee productivity, and improving data security and compliance.