Intelligent Document Processing for Insurance

Insurance companies manage large amounts of documents every day. These documents come in different formats and often contain important information that is hard for computers to read or understand. Processing these documents by hand takes time, increases the chance of errors, and slows down the work of underwriters, claims teams, and operations.

Intelligent document processing uses artificial intelligence to help insurance companies automatically manage the flow of information from documents. It makes handling documents faster, more accurate, and more consistent.

What Is Intelligent Document Processing in Insurance?

Intelligent document processing refers to automation that uses artificial intelligence to extract, classify, and process information from insurance documents. Intelligent document processing can read both structured and unstructured data, such as typed forms, handwritten notes, emails, and scanned images.

Unlike basic optical character recognition (OCR), which only turns printed text into digital text, intelligent document processing understands the context and meaning of the words it reads. This means it can identify key details, separate different types of documents, and make decisions about what to do with the information.

Intelligent document processing systems in insurance handle many document types:

• Claims forms and supporting evidence
• Policy applications and endorsements
• Bordereaux
• Certificates of insurance
• Customer correspondence and emails
• Financial statements and invoices

The technology performs several key tasks using AI:

• Data extraction: Pulls names, dates, policy numbers, and loss details from documents
• Document validation: Checks accuracy of extracted information against business rules
• Intelligent routing: Sends documents and data to the right teams or systems automatically
• Exception handling: Flags missing items or unusual cases that need human review

Why Legacy Document Handling Creates Problems

Many insurance companies still use manual methods to handle documents. Staff spend hours typing information from paper forms, checking details by hand, and passing files between teams. This approach creates several problems that slow down operations:

• Time-intensive data entry: Staff spend many hours entering data from forms and emails into computer systems
• Human errors: Typing mistakes, skipped fields, or misreading information occur easily
• Inconsistent formatting: Documents arrive with different formats, making it harder to compare or combine data
• Processing delays: Manual review creates bottlenecks that slow down decision-making

Older systems for processing insurance documents often use rule-based software or basic OCR. These tools follow set instructions or look for specific words, but they struggle with forms that do not follow a standard template or include handwritten notes.

Legacy system limitations create additional challenges, such as:

• Rigid rules: Systems cannot easily adjust to new document layouts or types
• Poor accuracy with unstructured data: Emails, scanned letters, and varied formats lead to missed data and errors
• Limited scalability: Manual processes cannot handle growing document volumes efficiently

How Intelligent Document Processing Works

Intelligent document processing uses artificial intelligence to turn documents into organized, usable data. The process starts when a document arrives and continues until the information is ready for use. 

Document Classification and Data Extraction

Intelligent document processing systems collect documents from emails, scanned files, faxes, and web uploads. The system examines each document and determines what type it is, such as a claim form, submission, certificate, or SOV. This classification happens automatically, even when documents look different or come in various formats.

Once the system knows the document type, it identifies and extracts key pieces of information. These pieces might include policy numbers, dates of loss, names, or claim amounts. The extracted data is checked against rules or databases to verify that it is complete and accurate.

Workflow Integration and Continuous Learning

After extracting and validating the data, the system adds more information by linking it to other sources or applying business logic. For example, whether a claim is ready for review or if more information is required before moving forward.

The intelligent document processing system improves over time by learning from each document it processes. It uses machine learning to adjust its methods based on feedback from users and the results of past processing. This ongoing learning helps the system handle a wider range of documents and maintain accuracy as requirements change.

Core Insurance Documents Ideal for Automation

Insurance companies process many types of documents as part of their daily operations. Some documents are better suited to automated document processing insurance because they involve repeatable workflows and large volumes of information.

Claims Processing Documents

Claims forms report losses or incidents to an insurance company. The process often starts with a First Notice of Loss (FNOL), which is the initial report made by a policyholder. Supporting evidence includes photographs, repair estimates, police reports, medical records, and receipts.

Automation in this area manages the intake of these documents, extracts key information, and sorts or routes them for review or further action. The system can identify claim types, extract loss details, and flag cases that need immediate attention.

Submissions

Submissions include application forms, risk details, TIVs, and supporting documents. Underwriting teams are often inundated with submissions and don’t have the bandwidth to intake them manually.

Insurance document automation helps process, extract, and surface key information, removing the manual effort and saving underwriting teams hours per submission.

Financial and Administrative Documents

Financial documents such as invoices and statements track payments, premiums, and other cash flows. Bordereaux are detailed spreadsheets that list risks, premiums, and claims for groups of policies, often used in specialty or reinsurance markets.

Automation reads and extracts data from these financial documents, matches payments with policies, and updates the corresponding records. This reduces manual data entry and improves accuracy in financial operations.

Key Benefits for Insurance Operations

Intelligent document processing in insurance brings clear operational improvements that affect daily work for underwriters, claims teams, and operations.

Speed and Efficiency Gains

Automated document processing in insurance shortens the time it takes to work with documents. What once required hours or even days to process can now be completed in minutes. Systems can process documents end-to-end without human intervention, so they are prepared and usable in downstream processes faster.

Improved Accuracy and Reduced Errors

AI validation checks information from documents as it is extracted. This process improves data accuracy and flags exceptions or missing data for human review. Fewer errors mean less time spent on manual corrections, and fewer cases are sent back for reprocessing.

Key accuracy improvements include:

• Data validation: Cross-checking extracted information against existing records
• Completeness checks: Identifying missing required fields or documents
• Consistency verification: Ensuring data matches across related documents

Cost Reduction and Resource Optimization

Automation eliminates much of the manual work involved in managing documents. Fewer hours are required for data entry, sorting, and verification tasks. Staff time can be directed to reviewing complex cases or focusing on higher-value tasks.

The technology also strengthens compliance by creating detailed records of every action taken on a document. These audit trails help insurance companies show how regulations are followed and provide records for review if required.

Choosing an Insurance-Focused Intelligent Document Processing Solution

Selecting a partner for intelligent document processing insurance projects requires consideration of both technology and insurance domain knowledge. Vendors vary in their technical approach, insurance experience, and delivery models.

Evaluation Criteria

When evaluating intelligent document processing solutions for insurance, several factors determine suitability and effectiveness:

Technical capabilities to consider:

• Domain-specific models: Insurance-specific document recognition and data extraction
• Operational compatibility: Compatibility with existing systems and ease of integration with existing workflows and processes
• Scalability: Ability to handle growing document volumes and new business lines

Business factors include:

• Implementation speed: Time from pilot to production use
• Support quality: Ongoing maintenance, updates, and user assistance
• Industry experience: Familiarity with insurance regulations and workflows

Implementation Timeline and ROI Measurement

Typically, implementation follows a structured sequence starting with a pilot or proof-of-concept. A small sample of real insurance documents is processed to test the technology and measure baseline metrics.

Success is measured through metrics such as processing time reduction, accuracy improvement, and cost savings. These measurements provide an objective view of the return on investment.

With Brisc, customers can go live in as little as 24 hours and see measurable ROI within 30 days. That speed comes from frictionless onboarding (no integrations required), instant automation of manual tasks (submissions triaged in ~60 seconds, bordereaux reconciled with 97%+ accuracy), and immediate time savings for underwriting, claims and operations teams.

Drive Faster Decisions With Brisc 

Brisc is an agentic AI insurance platform designed to accelerate insurance operations, from intelligent document processing to surfacing real-time insights for better decision-making. Its suite of AI agents automate entire workflows—processing submissions in seconds, reconciling bordereaux with 97%+ accuracy, and triaging claims—enabling teams to work more efficiently and scale faster.

To learn more about Brisc’s capabilities, book a demo today.