A New Era of Productivity with Smart Fields and Smart Chat

Use natural language to get the data you need, no coding required. Smart Fields and Smart Chat — two powerful Laserfiche AI capabilities — are available on Laserfiche Cloud.

Smart Fields revolutionizes document processing by using natural language descriptions to intelligently extract information, regardless of the document’s source or format. Smart Fields can be reused across diverse document types, enabling creative, custom solutions that can scale effectively, all while minimizing maintenance and setup costs. You can now apply Smart Fields to your most frequently used document types including:
  • Financial Services: Streamline the processing of purchase orders and invoices by automatically capturing line-item details and multi-value fields such as amounts, dates and vendors.
  • Human Resources: Simplify onboarding and support employee development by extracting key information like employee IDs, job titles and hire dates from employment contracts or performance reviews.
  • Information Technology: Enhance security management and accelerate incident response by automatically recording change logs and access permissions.
  • Legal: Improve contract management by identifying contract types, calculating expiration dates and automatically scheduling contract renegotiation reminders.

Smart Chat fundamentally changes how our customers interact with their documents. Information and insights can now be delivered directly through conversation using Smart Chat’s intuitive interface that delivers instant, tailored responses to user queries. By using natural language, you can ask questions about documents and receive concise answers, complete with reference links.

Smart Chat empowers Laserfiche users to engage in fruitful conversations about their documents, opening up possibilities across various industries:
  • Education: Enhance access to specific student records, faculty information and administrative documents.
  • Financial Services: Improve risk mitigation through the analysis of regulatory documents and internal policies.
  • Government: Optimize the retrieval of crucial information within public records or legal documents.
  • Healthcare: Facilitate more personalized health information and support.
  • Manufacturing: Quickly locate essential details regarding suppliers, parts or logistical data.

Smart Chat can also access all Laserfiche support documentation, allowing admins and users to receive support without having to leave their current workspace. 

We invite you to experience a heightened level of efficiency and insight in how you work with your documents. If you are a self-hosted customer, Smart Fields is available with a Laserfiche 12 Subscription license. If you’re interested in learning more and booking a demo, visit laserfiche.com/ai

Overview of Laserfiche Records Management

Overview of Laserfiche Records Management

White Paper: Connect the Dots and Unlock the Power of Data in Insurance

The Intelligent Document Processing Playbook

According to CIO Dive, employees can spend up to eight hours a day finding data. In addition to losing work hours, issues with locating data can lead to errors in business operations and a poor experience for customers.

In this playbook, you’ll discover specific areas where intelligent document processing (IDP) can help your organization address these kinds of business challenges, giving back time to your employees to do high-value work.

What Is Intelligent Document Processing?

IDP is the process of extracting data from an image or document and formatting it in a way to be used in a process or system.

With AI, organizations can extract data through a simple, prompt-based approach — asking to retrieve data such as invoice numbers, contract signatories or a student’s GPA across thousands of documents.

In other words, with IDP, you’re using software to read something for you and get the key points, so you can use the data to inform a business decision or automate a process. If you leave this kind of task to human workers, there can be delays (most computers work faster than people) or errors (even the most detail-oriented humans make mistakes).

Intelligent Document Processing Speeds Up Departments

When it’s easier to access, organize and process your documents and data, departments benefit. Read on to learn how IDP can be a boon for teams throughout your organization.

Finance & Accounting

Using IDP can help your Finance or Accounting department maintain the speed and accuracy it needs to be an effective steward of finances.
  • Process invoices effectively
    • Automate data extraction to make content searchable (by vendor name, date, etc.).
    • Speed up payment cycles by automatically routing invoices for review, approval and signature.
  • Match purchase orders fast
    • Use automation to match PO data, requiring only a simple approval to move forward.
  • Expedite expense reports
    • Get employees reimbursed on a faster timeline with digital forms and automated form routing to stakeholders.

Human Resources

IDP enables your HR department to spend more time on its employees and less time reviewing and processing forms.
  • Onboard employees faster
    • Make it easy for employees to fill out their paperwork online and for employers to approve it with automated document routing.
  • Streamline benefits enrollment
    • Gather employee benefits preferences with ease using online forms, and ensure this information is kept safe using records management tools.

Read Our eBook To Learn More

Want to learn more about the benefits of implementing IDP at your organization? Download our full eBook, “The Intelligent Document Processing Playbook” here.

The K-12 Leaders Forum

The K-12 Leaders Forum

eBook: The Intelligent Document Processing Playbook

Laserfiche Platinum Certification

Validate your power user knowledge and skills on the Laserfiche Suite. This Certification is relevant to anyone configuring and troubleshooting robust Laserfiche systems, including Laserfiche administrators and solution providers who provide large-scale solutions and users who want to improve their Laserfiche knowledge and gain advanced skills.

Content Management is Critical for Web Accessibility

Addressing A Priority for Higher Education

A recent Chronicle of Higher Education article highlights a major challenge for colleges and universities. They must update millions of web pages and digital assets to meet new accessibility rules. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has updated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These changes set clear rules for web content. Public colleges and universities must now act to make their digital platforms accessible to everyone.

As the Chronicle states, “Colleges must update existing digital content, including course materials, to meet these standards. They must also follow these standards for any new content they create or use.”

Many schools use a decentralized system for content creation. Websites, learning platforms, and marketing teams all produce content separately. Now, they must change their approach. Schools need to shift from fixing issues when they arise to making content accessible from the start.

Understanding the Challenge

Colleges and universities create a vast amount of digital content. Many struggle to track:
  • The number of web pages they have.
  • Who creates and manages content.
  • How accessible their content is for people with disabilities.

The new rules require a structured approach. Schools must improve content management, workflows, and compliance tracking. This is a big change for institutions that have operated without central control.

Steps to Improve Web Accessibility with Content Management

To meet these requirements, colleges and universities should use better document, content, and process management systems. Here’s a simple plan to get started:

1. Centralize Accessibility Resources in Managed Repository
  • Audit Documentation: Store accessibility guidelines, reports, and WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards in one place.
  • Version Control: Keep track of content updates to avoid confusion.
  • Training Hub: Provide tutorials and best practices to help faculty and staff create accessible content.

2. Automate Workflows
  • Task Management: Assign and track responsibilities for reviewing and updating digital content.
  • Approval Process: Ensure all new content meets accessibility standards before publishing.

3. Improve Collaboration and Tracking
  • Real-Time Monitoring: Use collaboration tools to track progress on accessibility work.
  • Team Coordination: Connect content creators, web developers, designers, and accessibility experts.
  • User Feedback: Gather input from students, faculty, and staff with disabilities to find and fix accessibility issues.
  • Issue Tracking: Create a system for reporting and solving accessibility problems.

4. Monitor Compliance
  • Audit Trails: Keep records of content edits to show compliance.
  • Reporting Tools: Generate reports to track progress and identify areas needing improvement.

5. Integrate with Existing Systems
  • CMS Integration: Make sure accessibility tools work with the school’s content management system (CMS).
  • IT Compatibility: Connect new tools with existing IT systems to simplify management.

6. Make Accessibility Easy for Everyone
  • User-Friendly Tools: Choose simple, intuitive tools so faculty, staff, and students can easily follow accessibility guidelines.

The Future of Accessibility in Higher Education

The DOJ’s new rules are a turning point. Schools must see accessibility as more than a legal requirement. It is an essential part of creating an inclusive learning environment. By improving content management, automating workflows, and encouraging teamwork, colleges and universities can:
  • Reduce the risk of legal issues.
  • Improve digital experiences for everyone.
  • Create an inclusive space for students, faculty, and staff.

This challenge is also an opportunity. Schools that act now will build a strong, accessible digital system for the future and improve engagement for all.

Accessibility is not just a rule—it is a responsibility. By focusing on inclusive design and content management, colleges and universities can lead the way in providing equal access to education in the digital age.

How Laserfiche Can Help

Laserfiche provides a comprehensive solution for colleges and universities tackling web accessibility challenges. With powerful document management, workflow automation, and compliance tracking, Laserfiche helps institutions:
  • Centralize and manage digital content efficiently.
  • Automate workflows to ensure accessibility compliance.
  • Improve collaboration across departments.
  • Maintain clear audit trails for accountability.

By leveraging Laserfiche, institutions can transform their approach to digital accessibility, ensuring compliance while creating a more inclusive and equitable learning environment.

Get started today and build a stronger, more accessible digital experience with Laserfiche.

Download our eBook: Guide to Creating a Fully Integrated Digital Campus

Implementing Integrations Across Your Systems

How Financial Services Firms Can Address DORA Requirements

In the past two decades, nearly one-fifth of reported cyber incidents have affected the global financial sector, causing $12 billion in direct losses to financial firms. The European Union has taken decisive action to bring these figures down, focusing efforts on greater data transparency and imposing stringent regulations for the financial services sector. With the Digital Operational Resilience Act, or DORA, businesses are now legally obligated to prioritise transparency. However, many organisations may not have the systems or processes in place to address this new regulation, or don’t know where to start.

Let’s dive into what this regulation means for the financial sector, how to overcome hurdles to provide higher levels of transparency and delve into the solution to support compliance – record management and digitisation.

What is DORA? And why should I care?

In short, DORA is an EU regulation that requires businesses to effectively manage ICT third-party risks and provide regulators with a log of cyber incidents.

The regulation is specific to the financial services sector and aims to strengthen the IT security of entities such as banks, insurance companies, and investment firms to ensure that the financial sector in Europe can stay resilient in the event of a severe operational disruption. Due to the amount of sensitive and confidential data financial organizations hold on their systems, the ramifications of a data breach are severe. This regulation serves as an extra layer of protection for customers and businesses alike.

What does DORA mean for financial businesses?

Under DORA regulation, businesses need to be able to:
  • Monitor third-party risk providers
  • Effectively share information and intelligence on cyber threats
  • Report major IT-related incidents to authorities
  • Ensure contractual provisions for third-party risk providers

With organisations built on a foundation of customer and corporate trust, failure to meet this new regulation could cause damage to reputation as well as the risk of fines. Disorganised data and siloed records put institutions at operational and regulatory risk when the next audit comes around, and the only way to meet DORA demands is to provide full transparency.

What roadblocks to compliance do financial organisations need to look out for in their current setup? Record-handling presents a significant reporting and compliance challenge for businesses under DORA. Meeting these new standards means overcoming the following hurdles:

Reliance on legacy processes and systems: Many businesses are still using single-point solutions dedicated to specific tasks, meaning that data is often siloed, dispersed across a myriad of different systems. True digitisation means not only digitising information, but making storage and processes simpler, centralised, and transparent – and this is the only way to help support regulation.

Long and complicated data retrieval: Retrieving up-to-date and consistent information across systems is a challenge, resulting in wasted time and data inaccuracies.

Balancing data security and accessibility: Every customer account includes a substantial amount of sensitive data and information. Many institutions struggle to optimise compliance costs and address regulations while maintaining a level of data accessibility and security.

Manual processes for staff: Although digitised data has, for the most part, replaced paper documentation, old disorganisation habits have transferred to the digital realm. Often, employees must manually manage large volumes of data – a complex and tedious task that can bog down staff and take away time that could be dedicated to more value-add activities.

How can financial businesses overcome these obstacles and achieve true transparency?

The answer is a fully-connected, digitalised, and centralised document management system.

Organisations need to ensure that all relevant information across business-critical systems can be accessed from a secure location. Easy search and retrieval of updated and accurate content is key. By integrating this single source of truth with, CRM, ERP, and tax planning and compliance systems, financial data can be synchronised for enhanced accuracy and consistency. Resulting reports and documentation are critical to DORA compliance. Organisations can also manage sensitive data and eliminate gaps and siloes in legacy infrastructure, improving security efforts and reducing risk of future cyber-attacks.

Record management systems can also prove vital to simplifying compliance processes with features such as:
  • Audit trails
  • Version control
  • Tagging
  • Document history
  • System activity

Additionally, teams can easily set up a view-only repository for tax authorities and DORA regulators to process audits or compliance checks. Without these technologies, back-office employees must deal with the manual collection, retention and disposal of customer data to address the regulation. 

With greater data transparency and effective digitization of back-office processes, institutions can address emerging compliance requirements as and when they occur. This level of flexibility is the only way that organizations will be able to achieve total transparency in the long term, and observe DORA’s regulatory requirements.

Address DORA requirements with Laserfiche’s robust records management tools.