Invoice and document processing, without the manual reading
Most small businesses have someone who spends part of every day opening attachments, reading them and deciding where they go. AI is now good at exactly this kind of reading, as long as a person still checks the cases it isn't sure about.
Sound familiar?
- Invoices, delivery notes or forms arrive by email and someone opens every one
- Information gets copied from PDFs into your accounts package, CRM or a spreadsheet
- Paperwork sits in a shared inbox until someone has time to deal with it
- Things get filed in the wrong folder, or not filed at all
What we build
- A process that picks up incoming documents from your inbox or a shared folder
- Extraction of the fields you actually use: supplier, amounts, dates, references
- Automatic filing and hand-off to the system the data needs to land in
- A review queue for anything the system isn't confident about, so nothing slips through
Where it fits
This is what the software industry calls intelligent document processing: AI reads a document the way a person would, picks out the fields that matter and passes them on. For most small businesses the first job is invoice automation. Supplier invoices arrive by email, get read and matched to the right supplier and job, then wait in your accounts package for approval.
The same approach works for delivery notes, purchase orders, timesheets, application forms and scanned paperwork. If you still receive paper, automated document scanning turns a scan or a phone photo into the same structured data. Either way, documents end up filed where they belong and the figures land in the system that needs them, without anyone keying them in.
What it can look like
A trade business receiving supplier invoices by email. Each invoice is read, matched to the right supplier and job, and queued for approval in the accounts package. The office manager reviews the exceptions instead of typing every line.
An illustrative scenario showing the shape of the work, not a specific client.
When it isn't an AI job
If your documents always come from the same handful of senders in the same layout, a simple template rule may do the job more cheaply than AI. We'll tell you if that's the case.
What it costs
We don't publish prices, because every job is different. Before any build you get a one-page cost check for your invoice and document processing: what it costs you now, what you'd save once your team is only checking the work, and what it would cost to run for the next 12 to 24 months, including if AI prices rise. If it doesn't pay back, we'll tell you not to build it.
How the cost check works →Questions we get asked
Can AI read our invoices accurately?
Usually, yes, for the fields that matter: supplier, dates, amounts, VAT and references. It isn't perfect, so we set a confidence level. Anything the system isn't sure about goes to a person to check rather than straight into your accounts.
Does it work with our accounts software?
We build around the tools you already use. Most small-business accounts packages accept data through a direct connection or an import. Where yours doesn't, we'll tell you before you commit to anything.
What about paper documents?
Paper can be scanned or photographed and processed in the same way. The cleaner the scan, the less checking it needs.
Is automated invoice processing worth it for a small business?
It depends on how many invoices you handle and how long they take to type in today. The cost check we do before any build answers that with your own numbers. If it doesn't pay back, we'll say so.
Talk to us about invoice and document processing.
Describe how it works today and what's frustrating about it. We'll come back with an honest view on whether it's worth automating, and how.