Data privacy is an ever-growing concern for businesses, particularly for organizations handling sensitive information such as medical records, financial statements, and benefit claims. When unauthorized access to personal data could result in legal consequences and a damaged reputation, redaction helps organizations mitigate these risks and ensure that sensitive information remains secure.
See Redaction in Action
Living in a state of constant concern over the security of personal information doesn’t have to be your new reality. Redaction offers a host of benefits, and can be used across many business applications, especially when combined with the power of an intelligent document processing solution.
To see how Hyperscience handles redaction, watch our brief demo below. You’ll see firsthand how the redaction feature works, how it integrates with other Hyperscience features, and how it accurately redacts information on an actual document.
What is Redaction in Intelligent Document Processing?
Redaction is the process of removing or obscuring sensitive information from a document. Personal information such as names, addresses, social security numbers, or financial information is often redacted to protect individual privacy, as well as ensure compliance with regulations (think GDPR for the EU/UK, or HIPAA in the US).
When it comes to intelligent document processing (IDP), redaction is handled by artificial intelligence. Machine learning models are trained to recognize and redact information automatically, speeding up what has traditionally been a manual process.
A medical letter with personally identifiable information (PII) redacted.
Practical Applications for Redaction
There are many use cases for redaction within the scope of document processing, and all serve to make document processing less tedious and more efficient. Here are a few business cases where redaction is frequently used.
- Compliance: Organizations often need to redact sensitive information from documents to comply with regulations. Redaction ensures that no sensitive information is inadvertently disclosed.
- Public Records Requests: Government agencies are often required to redact sensitive information from documents before releasing them in response to public records requests. Using redaction tools during document processing can help government agencies scale this labor-intensive process to fulfill requests more quickly.
- Legal Discovery: Sensitive information may need to be redacted from documents that are produced during discovery. Redacting PII data protects sensitive information from entering the wrong hands, where in extreme cases, it could be used to cause harm.
- Human Resources: HR departments may need to redact sensitive information such as social security numbers, salary information, and medical information from employee files. Within IDP solutions, redaction can help automate this process while protecting employee privacy.
- Customer Service: Companies may receive documents containing sensitive information from customers, such as bank statements or medical records. Redaction can mask this information before it is shared with customer service representatives, protecting customer privacy.
With so many business processes involving sensitive data, redaction plays a critical role in safeguarding this information and protecting privacy in a wide range of business contexts. And as we’ll see in the next section, it offers many advantages to organizations as well.
How Does IDP Redaction Help Organizations?
In the context of intelligent document processing, redaction offers businesses severable valuable benefits. Chief among them are protecting personal information, improving efficiency, and strengthening customer relationships.
- Protect Sensitive Information: Redaction can be used to hide or remove sensitive information such as personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, or confidential business information from documents. This can help businesses comply with data protection regulations and avoid costly data breaches.
- Improve document processing efficiency: By automating the redaction process, organizations can improve the efficiency of their document processing workflows, reducing the need for manual intervention and enabling staff to focus on higher value tasks.
- Grow Customer Trust: By protecting sensitive information and maintaining privacy, businesses can build trust with their customers and clients. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and positive brand reputation.
The business value of using redaction in an intelligent document processing solution is clear, providing a significant return on investment in terms of improved data security, compliance, and efficiency.
To explore how an intelligent document processing solution can help your organization automate more effectively, watch one of our on-demand demos here. Still have questions? Contact us here—we’d love to help.
