Randy Johnston and Brian Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA discuss the the emergence of AI-powered document management systems that can automatically extract data from invoices and forms, improve search capabilities, reduce manual data entry, and integrate directly with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. The hosts explain that next-generation document management is not simply an upgrade to existing systems, but a complete architectural redesign.
The Accounting Tech Lab is an ongoing series that explores the intersection of public accounting and technology.
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Transcript (Note: Some errors may appear due to automated transcription.)
SPEAKERS: Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Randy Johnston
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 00:00
Welcome to the Accounting Technology Lab, brought to you by CPA Practice Advisor, with your host Randy Johnston and Brian Tankersley.
Randy Johnston 00:09
Welcome to the Accounting Technology Lab. I’m Randy Johnston, with co-host Brian Tankersley, and we want you to be quite aware that next generation document management is breaking through, and this is a big deal. I’ve done document management for 30 plus years, and I want you to be prepared for what’s coming, and we’re going to try to summarize that in fairly short order for you, so you know, kind of the first major point is what has been changing and why our old filing systems are failing, because in effect we have a lot of manual naming conventions and misfilings, and we can’t really index the documents. The documents are often scanned in, and we don’t have the OCR turned on, and we’ve got folder structures. There’s all sorts of things that are a problem, and trying to access these systems from a mobile device is tough, and there’s lots of other problems. I could identify them, but think about why they don’t work, and what we know is getting is happening, not getting ready to happen. Is AI is being applied to these new document management workflow and portal systems, and in effect, the AI technology is able to extract data from the forms and invoices, so you don’t have to retype, and the search capability is better, and you don’t waste, you know, any valuable time on data entry, you know, for years you’ve heard us talk about, you know, if an accountant is keen data, you’ve got a broken process. So, there’s a lot of these products that have pretty intelligence rowdy. So, let’s kind of set it up a little bit further with you and define the modern DMS. Now, Brian, I know that you have had discussions this week on some of these new AI filing tools, and we know in another accounting technology lab we discussed the Deadpool, some of the products that are well in the past, and we have a bunch of document management systems that are getting ready to be in the past for many of you, for example, Filecam CS as a Thompson shop is one that’s a problem for you, because it’s got a deadline of december 31 of 27 but it won’t be the last
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 02:33
one, and I will say fundamentally, when we start looking at integrating workflow and document management and document intake and document output slash portal, you know, it’s that’s not a place where you can bolt in enough AI to make it work. It’s almost like you have to do a re architecting, because it’s very much, you know, in my mind it’s not like turning a car into a hybrid, it’s much more like comparing an electric car versus a gas car versus say a motorcycle, you know, we’re just, they’re different technologies, and you can’t really put enough AI in the legacy platforms to make them do what they need to do,
Randy Johnston 03:13
and you know, we’ve been watching this and participating in this for a long time, because with products like Docket or CCH document or Go File Room or Smart Vault, and I could keep naming products. We’ve seen a lot of great technology and a lot of great ideas, and even with Smart Vault’s introduction of the Smart to CCA agents inside Access document or Thompson Reuters inside Gofoul room. Picture what would happen if those legacy systems could leverage Teams and SharePoint, and you could co-edit. We know that Carbon has built their document management system in this style again. so CCHIS inside access document or Thompson Of a has absolutely built their system this way. Listio is building their system this way. Trust is building their system this way. See, all of these newer platforms that have caught the vision say, you know what? Not only can we lay all this over the top of Microsoft 365 we can lay it over the top of Google Workspace too, and so once they build this out, yes, it’s a different feature set in the Microsoft world than the Google world, but can you get the vision with me that we’ve got a new way of storing documents, and it’s kind of the old way where we had the major document storage from players like Google or Microsoft, but now we don’t have to worry about folder structures, naming conventions, and so forth. We just search for it and we find it. So, Brian, parting thoughts on this one.
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 15:51
Well, I think it’s, you know, I think it’s like we were talking about earlier. I think the thing that’s happening here realistically is that we have to really change out the power train underneath this car that is the document handling systems of the of the accounting firm and you know at the end of the day the problem is that is that we we can’t bolt enough supplemental things on you know imagine if you know imagine how frustrating it would be to you if when you wanted to start the when you want to start the air conditioner in your car, you had to get out and pull a handle, like you do on your lawnmower, to start an engine on it, or if you needed lights on, you had to go out and pull a handle to start a generator to generate the electricity for the lights on your car. Okay, the problem is we can’t integrate enough with these things, and so we’re having to do this, and honestly, the technology has got better, faster, cheaper, and we can use the same processors that we use on servers now to also gather all this extra information with the new software technologies that we have, so it’s a very exciting time, long way from doing this crap on paper with pencils,
Randy Johnston 16:58
it is, so Brian, one little final thought, and I don’t think I’ve ever said this to our listeners or to you. Most people don’t know that I lived across the alley from my grandparents, and my grandfather was a mechanic, and I used to repair Model Ts with him. So, when you were talking about getting out and crank, I’ve actually cranked a Model T to start it, and of course, his warning was it’s you got to watch it, because that crank can kick back and break your arm. It’s like, oh, okay, I get
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 17:30
it. That’s a bad day.
Randy Johnston 17:32
That’s a bad day, but see, many of us are still cranking Model T’s. That’s what a lot of our document management systems are. We’re making it work, and you know it was transportation, but you know we’re trying to get you into this modern.. well, what do you want there, Brian? A electric motorcycle to go fast? I don’t know, but you get the..
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 17:56
it’s.. it’s interesting times. It’s.. it’s a very exciting time in the profession, anyway. With that, we hope you all have a wonderful week, and we will be back with you next week with another Accounting Technology Lab episode.
Randy Johnston 18:09
Good day, all.
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 18:12
Thank you for sharing your time with us. We’ll be back next Saturday with a new episode of the Technology Lab from CPA Practice Advisor. Have a great week.
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