Imagine a world in which data from documents is always structured and accessible whenever you need it – without the laborious process of searching through papers, scans, or complex files. In an era of growing regulatory and reporting requirements, this challenge is becoming increasingly pressing for organizations across various sectors.

New Requirements and Their Impact on Working with Data

Standards and regulations such as ESG, CSRD, NIS2, DORA, the AI Act, AML, and supply chain legislation are intensifying the need for transparency, reliability, and rapid access to key information. Yet much of this essential data remains "hidden" within a wide variety of documents – contracts, reports, invoices, policies, and correspondence.

Common Challenges Associated with Documents

Organizations are increasingly turning to automation to manage documents, leveraging OCR and workflow systems, as well as the first generation of Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) platforms. Despite these advances, several challenges persist:

• the risk of extraction errors,
• the complexity of defining rules for new document formats,
• the time-consuming need to verify the accuracy of results,
• limited flexibility as document diversity grows,
• difficulties in scaling automation across complex business processes.

How to Approach the Analysis of Complex Documents

Understanding Document Types

Documents can be categorized as:

• Structured (forms, invoices with a fixed format),
• Semi-structured (invoices, purchase orders with variable layouts),
• Unstructured (contracts, reports, emails – often the most valuable, yet the most difficult to process automatically).

Automated Classification and Data Extraction

AI-based methods enable the precise extraction of specific data points (numbers, amounts, dates, totals, names), as well as the ability to draw conclusions from this data, compare it (including semantically), and link related information. This holds true even when documents are stored in different formats (e.g., text files, spreadsheets, presentations, emails, scans, PDFs), have inconsistent layouts, or are lengthy and multilingual.

Human-in-the-Loop Model

Combining automated extraction with human oversight at points of low confidence helps maintain high standards of accuracy while saving time.

Ensuring Full Auditability

Every extracted piece of data should be traceable to its location within the document (file, page, line) – this is critical from the perspective of audits and regulatory compliance.

Integration with Existing Systems

Automatically extracted data should seamlessly feed into ERP, CRM, reporting, and compliance platforms, eliminating manual re-entry and errors.

Going Beyond Extraction – Building Document Intelligence

The true value emerges when the extracted data enables the identification of patterns and relationships across documents, supporting decision-making and risk management at the enterprise level.

Cognitive Documents Processing (CDP) – How PwC Supports Document Automation

In response to these challenges, PwC has developed the Cognitive Documents Processing (CDP) platform, marking the next step in the digitalization and automation of document handling.

What Is CDP?

CDP is an advanced platform that leverages artificial intelligence to support document classification, data extraction, results verification, anonymization, translation, and the creation of dedicated knowledge assistants on selected topics.

It operates on a human-in-the-loop model – meaning that high levels of automation are coupled with expert oversight, minimizing the risk of errors and AI "hallucinations."

Key Areas of Application

The platform delivers value in areas including:

reporting and compliance,

• ESG,
• NIS2,
• AML/KYC,
• finance,
• procurement management,
• audit,
• contract review,
• contract verification.

It is particularly useful in processes that begin with diverse sets of documents and culminate in structured, actionable data ready for analysis, decision-making, or oversight.

Key Features and Benefits

• Intuitive definition of extraction rules and rapid adaptation to new document types.
• Automated linking of data and documents, with human-assisted verification of results.
• Multiple deployment models: SaaS, on-premise, or managed service – tailored to client needs.
• Measurable results: over 95% accuracy in data extraction, approximately 95% reduction in processing time compared to manual work, and the ability to analyze even lengthy documents (e.g., 100 pages) in approximately 2 minutes.

Outlook and Significance

In a world of escalating regulatory requirements and ever-growing document volumes, market advantage will go to organizations that can efficiently transform the wealth of information contained in documents into structured and reliable data. CDP exemplifies the kind of tool that can significantly accelerate this transformation, freeing organizations to focus on acting upon ready, verified data – rather than on time-consuming searches and manual re-keying.

Practical Tips for Organizations Seeking to Improve Document Management

• Be prepared for the ongoing process of training and updating extraction models based on the specifics of your documents.
• Build hybrid automation processes with a human-in-the-loop model – this ensures the right balance between efficiency and quality.
• Ensure that automation tools are integrated with the existing systems and processes within your organization.
• Monitor accuracy, processing time, and the level of manual intervention to continuously measure and improve effectiveness.
• Pay close attention to security and compliance with regulations governing the processing of personal and business data.

Summary 

Effective document data management is no longer merely a matter of streamlining operations – it has become a prerequisite for meeting regulatory requirements and achieving competitive advantage. Approaches based on intelligent document processing, such as PwC's Cognitive Documents Processing, demonstrate that full automation can be successfully combined with quality and auditability in practice.

Organizations that invest in developing these capabilities and technologies will be better positioned to respond swiftly to market and regulatory changes, while also optimizing internal processes – from reporting and compliance to risk management.

Learn more here and get in touch:

Mariusz Wilarski
Senior Manager
Email: mariusz.wilarski@pwc.com

Łukasz Malicki
Manager
lukasz.malicki@pwc.com