Intelligent Document Processing, or IDP, is technology that reads, understands, and extracts information from business documents automatically. Think of it as a highly trained assistant who can open an invoice, find the vendor name, invoice number, line items, and total amount, then enter that data into your systems without anyone typing a single keystroke.
Traditional document processing required either manual data entry or rigid templates that broke whenever a document looked slightly different. IDP works more like a human reader.
It can handle invoices from hundreds of different vendors, purchase orders in various formats, contracts with different layouts, and even handwritten notes. The technology combines optical character recognition (which converts images of text into actual text) with AI that understands what the text means in context.
For finance teams, this matters because documents are everywhere. Invoices arrive as PDFs, email attachments, scanned papers, and even photographs. Each one contains critical data that needs to flow into your ERP, accounting system, or payment platform. Without IDP, someone has to manually review each document, find the relevant fields, and type them in. With IDP, that extraction happens in seconds with high accuracy.
The business impact is straightforward: faster processing, fewer errors, and staff freed up to handle exceptions rather than routine data entry. Companies using IDP often see invoice processing times drop from days to hours.
How is IDP different from regular OCR or scanning?
Basic OCR simply converts an image of text into digital text, like taking a photo of a page and making the words searchable. It does not understand what the text means.
IDP goes further by identifying what each piece of information represents. For example, when processing an invoice, IDP recognizes that "Net 30" refers to payment terms, "$4,500" is the total amount due, and "Acme Corp" is the vendor name. It understands the document's structure and purpose, not just the words on the page.
What types of documents can IDP handle?
IDP works with most common business documents: invoices, purchase orders, receipts, contracts, bank statements, shipping documents, tax forms, and insurance claims.
The technology handles PDFs, scanned images, photographs, and even documents with mixed formats like tables alongside paragraphs of text. More advanced systems can process handwritten notes, though accuracy varies depending on legibility.
How accurate is IDP compared to manual data entry?
Modern IDP systems typically achieve 85% to 95% accuracy on straightforward documents, with some reaching higher on standardized formats. Manual data entry by humans averages around 96% to 99% accuracy but takes significantly longer.
The key difference is what happens with errors. IDP systems flag low-confidence extractions for human review, so mistakes get caught before they cause problems. A hybrid approach, where IDP handles the bulk extraction and humans verify flagged items, often outperforms either method alone.
What happens when IDP encounters a document it cannot read?
When IDP hits a document with poor image quality, unusual formatting, or unfamiliar layouts, it does not guess. Instead, it flags the document for human review and indicates which fields it could not extract confidently. This prevents bad data from entering your systems.
Over time, as humans correct these exceptions, many IDP systems learn from the feedback and improve their accuracy on similar documents.
Zamp addresses this by routing uncertain extractions to a "Needs Attention" queue where your team can review and correct them. The activity log shows exactly what the system extracted and why it flagged specific fields, so reviewers have full context. You can also set confidence thresholds in the Knowledge Base to control how conservative or aggressive the system should be.
How long does it take to set up IDP for my documents?
Setup time depends on document complexity and variety. For standard invoices and receipts, many IDP solutions work out of the box with minimal configuration.
More specialized documents, like industry-specific forms or internal templates, may require a few weeks of training where you provide sample documents and validate the extractions. The good news is that once configured, the system handles new documents from new vendors automatically, as long as they follow general conventions.
Is IDP secure for sensitive financial documents?
Reputable IDP providers follow enterprise security standards, including encryption in transit and at rest, SOC 2 compliance, role-based access controls, and audit logging. Documents are processed in secure environments, and extracted data inherits the security posture of your connected systems.
For highly regulated industries, look for providers offering on-premises deployment or dedicated cloud instances. Always verify the provider's data retention and deletion policies before implementation.