Basware Evolves SmartPDF, Now Captures Invoice Data Automatically via Artificial Intelligence

Basware (Nasdaq: BAS1V) has launched SmartPDF AI, the latest evolution of its SmartPDF service, which automates the conversion of machine-readable PDFs to e-invoices above 97% accuracy, requiring extremely minimal manual effort. Unlike optical character recognition (OCR) technology that relies on capturing data from images, SmartPDF AI is trained using data automatically extracted from historical invoices via a state-of-the art machine learning (ML) model.

“With our longstanding history in the e-invoicing space and our automatic extraction capability, we had a very large dataset to train the new AI models, allowing us to confidently achieve the targeted field level accuracy of 97%,” commented Sami Nikula, Director Network Solutions, Basware. “Once applied to a customer’s historical invoices, the AI learns and improves even more each time, but again, with very little human interaction required, saving the accounts payable team a tremendous amount of time. In fact, we already have a global enterprise customer live at our targeted accuracy and quality levels, and no action was required by the customer. Another customer will enter the pilot phase soon. With these early results, we feel confident that the technology is now customer-ready.”

Because SmartPDF AI removes invoice data-mapping from the process, it requires zero setup, manual validation or configuration, and offers multi-language support. Whether a new supplier sends an invoice for the first time or an existing supplier changes invoice formats, the self-learning system automatically adjusts. It is designed to ask as few questions as possible and once answered, the artificial intelligence (AI) learns immediately, never asking the same question again. Plus, the AI takes into consideration not just the text, but also features, such as fonts, lines, logos, etc., allowing it to recognize the patterns better and ultimately improve accuracy.

The benefits of converting from machine readable PDF invoices to e-invoices are wide-reaching. The information remains in an electronic format at all times, eliminating data extraction errors, meaning less paper, less manual handling, better data accuracy and faster invoice processing time. And with SmartPDF AI, all without manual effort.