An interview with Giorgio: the evolution of document management
Document Management has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last few decades, evolving from early structured systems to the integration of advanced search engines and hardware innovations.
Giorgio, an industry expert and CEO of Technology & Cognition Lab, guides us through this journey, exploring the impact of pioneering platforms like Documentum, the challenges of document retrieval, and the role of hardware in making all this possible.
The birth of document systems: Documentum and the first innovations
In the 1990s, the introduction of platforms like Documentum revolutionized document management. These Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems offered a structured approach to storing, tracking, and managing large volumes of documents.
“With Documentum, companies were able to centralize document management in so-called Silos. It was the first step towards transforming documents into easily accessible business resources,” explains Giorgio.
Distinctive features of Documentum:
- Versioning and traceability: Complete change history for compliance and audits.
- Automated workflows: Integrated approval processes that improved productivity.
- Advanced security: Granular access control.
- Integration with other systems: Links to enterprise software and design tools.
Documentum found application in highly regulated sectors such as pharmaceuticals, energy, and finance. However, its capabilities were particularly crucial in complex contexts like the aerospace sector. Boeing, for example, used the platform to manage millions of technical documents and safety certifications, demonstrating how essential centralized and structured management was in such a complex document context.
The role of hardware: from copy automation to digitization
Hardware has played a fundamental role in transforming document management, starting with photocopiers up to widely distributed productive scanners.
Photocopiers: the first automation tool in document management
Photocopiers represented a groundbreaking revolution in document management before the advent of computing. Introduced on a large scale in the 1960s, these machines made it possible to quickly duplicate large quantities of documents, eliminating the need to copy texts manually or with a mimeograph.
“Photocopiers democratized access to document duplication. In business and public contexts, they reduced working times, simplifying bureaucratic and administrative operations,” observes Giorgio.
Laser printing, fax, and multifunction: distribution accessible to all
With technological progress, document management moved beyond simple duplication. Laser printing, introduced in the 1980s, offered superior quality and printing speeds never seen before. This development made it possible to produce documents and their multiplication, transforming business communication.
At the same time, fax revolutionized document distribution, allowing for the first time to send copies remotely almost instantly. Giorgio explains:
“The fax was the first bridge between paper and digital, a symbol of the speed with which information could be shared even between remote locations.”
The advent of multifunction devices with productive scanners, occurring alongside the internet, combining printing, scanning, fax, and copy in a single device, further enhanced document management.
- Widespread distribution: Multifunction devices, now present in every office, allowed all employees access to advanced tools for producing and modifying documents.
- Simple digitization: Integrated scanners made it possible to transform paper documents into digital files, facilitating archiving, distribution, and sharing via the internet.
- Rapid multiplication: Copy and print functionalities eliminated barriers, allowing for large-scale document access with minimal effort.
“This phase marked the beginning of true document productivity,” concludes Giorgio. “It was no longer just about creating or duplicating documents, but about modifying, archiving, and distributing them in all respects.”
The challenge of search: the first step towards artificial intelligence
With the increase in document volumes, thanks to these hardware tools such as laser printers, multifunction devices, and faxes, the problem was no longer just storing but also finding relevant information quickly. This led to the development of increasingly sophisticated search technologies, culminating in the adoption of the first elements of artificial intelligence.
Google and the PageRank model:
- Google introduced a revolutionary model, based on relevance and connections between content.
Giorgio observes:
“Google has shown that finding the right information quickly can transform the way we work.”
Autonomy and semantic intelligence:
- Autonomy, founded by Mike Lynch recently unfortunately in the spotlight of European news, marked a turning point in document search, moving from keyword analysis to understanding the meaning of content. This model paved the way for conceptual search and the first use of primitive neural networks to interpret documents.
Giorgio explains:
“Autonomy was the first significant attempt to use a primitive neural network to process and interpret documents. This semantic model allowed understanding logical relationships and context, a monumental change for information management.”
Elasticsearch and modern flexibility:
- Elasticsearch made search scalable and customizable, allowing for the efficient and speedy management of large corporate archives.
Giorgio adds:
“Elasticsearch brought search to a level accessible to all companies, with a power previously reserved for a few tailor-made solutions.”
The future: the AI-driven vision
Modern document management is not just the result of advanced hardware and search engines. Platforms like AIDA represent a generational leap, combining the best of the past with artificial intelligence.
The main innovations of AIDA
- IDP (Intelligent Document Processing):
- AIDA shifts the focus beyond simple indexing and search via optical character recognition (OCR), entering the field of IDP to process and understand documents intelligently.
- It’s not just about digitizing texts, but about extracting structured information and contextualizing it in business processes. For example:
- Semantic understanding: AIDA can distinguish between an invoice, a contract, or a purchase order, adapting the processing flow to the type of document.
- Automatic classification: Identifies and organizes documents based on content, without the need for complex manual configurations.
- Advanced extraction: Recognizes and captures specific data (such as amounts, dates, or signatures), regardless of the document layout.
- This technology finds application in numerous sectors, such as finance, insurance, healthcare, and legal, where the processing of large volumes of documents is a daily necessity.
- Document relationships:
- Thanks to the accuracy guaranteed by IDP, AIDA is capable of creating connections between seemingly unrelated documents, using Knowledge Graphs.
- This means that, for example, an invoice can be automatically linked to the associated contract, related credit notes, and payments made.
- This approach allows companies to obtain a comprehensive view of information and make decisions based on a broader understanding of their data.
- Data analysis and visualization:
- AIDA not only manages documents but transforms the data contained and extracted directly from documents into strategic insights for the company.
- Thanks to interactive dashboards, it is possible to view metrics based on the information extracted, such as:
- Total due revenue for documents processed during a specific period, automatically calculated from the data contained in invoices and orders.
- Contract signing times, with an analysis of the number of products or services included in specific timelines, to monitor the effectiveness of the sales or approval cycle.
- Most frequent medical history statistics that a clinical center must consider in planning its activities, useful for identifying trends and improving operational efficiency.
- This capability transforms documents from mere stored files into active tools of Business Intelligence, essential for making informed decisions.
- Predictive search and proactive automation (Road Map):
- In the future of AIDA, predictive search and proactive automation represent two complementary elements that will further transform document management.
- Predictive search will use machine learning algorithms to analyze historical data and user behaviors, anticipating specific needs.
- For example, AIDA might automatically suggest useful documents during the review of a contract, such as connected invoices or previous correspondences, reducing the time the activity requires.
- Proactive automation will go further, integrating this predictive capability into business processes:
- Activating automatic workflows based on recurring scenarios.
- Generating pre-configured notifications or actions based on processed documents.
- Sending reminders for important deadlines or requesting specific interventions in real-time.
Giorgio comments:
“With predictive search and proactive automation, AIDA will not just be a support tool, but a true digital assistant that anticipates needs, proposes solutions, and acts on behalf of the user, simplifying complex processes.”
Giorgio explains:
“At its core remains an analytical ability that allows us to leverage the potential of documents as a direct source of strategic data, making business planning based on real and timely information.”
Giorgio explains:
“Knowledge Graphs make AIDA not just a search tool, but a tool of intelligent navigation. It doesn’t just find documents; it places them in context, creating a logical map of relationships between the data contained in the documents themselves.”
Giorgio emphasizes:
“IDP enables us to transform complex documents into usable data, automating processes that previously required human intervention and drastically improving efficiency.”
Contextualizing AI: a new era for organizational action
Looking to the future, the challenge will be how to help AI be ever more precise in its responses. This can happen through an increasingly advanced contextualization of the information it works on, to give answers or perform tasks.
With tools like AIDA, artificial intelligence will become an even more powerful and intuitive assistant, capable of anticipating user needs, reducing errors, and simplifying complex processes. This represents not just the future of document management, but a new era for organizational action.
