Could AI help with your administration?

AI that learns and generates

AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is a specialist area in computer science that deals with the development of computer systems that can execute tasks that normally require human intelligence.

In this regard, we must distinguish between Machine Learning (ML) and Large Language Models (LLMs). ML involves training systems to make predictions based on data. For example, facial recognition or voice recognition. In turn, LLMs can understand and self-generate natural language, images, or sound. Familiar examples include ChatGPT, DALL-E, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot.

You can already use ML and LLM to speed up your administration.

Six ways AI can help with your administration

You might fantasise about leaving your administration entirely to AI, but that is not yet possible (unfortunately). It can, however, help you carry out certain tasks more efficiently:

1. Data input and processing

AI lets you automate data entry and processing to a large extent. For example, you can scan invoices and extract relevant information such as amounts, dates and supplier names automatically. So, as you won’t have to manually retype those data, you will save a lot of time and avoid human error. This is the form of AI we have built into Billit’s ‘Fast input’. You will read exactly how that works later in this article.

2. Accounting

You can also use AI to automate various accounting tasks. Examples include automatically classifying transactions, preparing financial statements, or generating tax returns. AI helps to make these processes more efficient, saving time for you and your accountant.

3. Workflow automation

AI can automate workflows by identifying and performing repetitive tasks, such as sending reminders for deadlines based on information in invoices or emails.

4. Cash flow forecasting

AI analyses historical data to assist you in predicting your future cash flow. This helps you improve financial planning and prepare for potential deficits or surpluses.

5. Fraud detection

AI can also help detect suspicious activity or transactions that may indicate fraud. This technology lets you recognise patterns that are hard to spot for you as a human. In this way, businesses will find it easier to prevent or minimise fraud.

6. Contract management

You can use AI to analyse contracts and extract essential information such as expiry dates, terms and conditions, and obligations. This facilitates more efficient contract management, and you reduce the risk of missing critical deadlines.

How Billit’s ‘Fast input’ uses AI

You will no doubt know that you can easily import documents such as images or PDFs via Billit’s ‘Fast input’. You can then process those documents automatically using Optical Character Recognition (OCR).This process involves extracting data such as amounts and dates, which are then copied to an e-invoice or other digital document.

This process uses Machine Learning. Our OCR is self-learning, meaning it becomes more accurate the more you use it.

This is how it works:

• Our software seeks to retrieve the data needed to create a structured invoice from each image or PDF imported into Fast input. This process involves saving the coordinates that indicate where the data are located on the document.
  
  
•  When a user corrects any of the detected fields, the OCR will also keep that information. Once the user has specified the new value, the software will search the document to save the coordinates of that too.
  
  
• Our software uses all the data stored in this way to better interpret new images or PDFs.

It is noteworthy that we built this system into Billit very early on, namely in 2014! As such, it is much older than the LLM applications that are so popular today. It is also great to know that all Billit users in fact help each other to make our OCR more accurate. Basically, you are doing a good deed every time you scan a new document with our software.

NB - Incidentally, did you notice that we also used AI to create the image at the top of this blog post? For now, we wrote the text ourselves, although we drew some inspiration from ChatGPT for that too.