How One Company Used AI to Manage the Deluge of Documents

Five lessons from an insurer’s journey towards a paperless office.

by

and

Ashok Shenoy

by

and

Ashok Shenoy

January 07, 2025

PM Images/Getty Images

Summary.

Since the 1960s, there has been a quest to find ways to address the tidal wave of paper deluging organizations. The latest technology that is being applied is AI. A case study — an effort at a healthcare insurer — provides five lessons not just applicable in projects aimed at reducing paper but also for other AI initiatives as well: 1) The goal should not be automation; it should be to get the work done in a cost-effective manner. 2) A successful application of AI may not mean lower employment. 3) AI can allow employees to focus on higher-value work. 4) The savings come from increases in scale made possible by higher productivity and quality. 5) Involving employees who have been performing the function in the AI project is essential.

In the 1930s, executives in the Bell system realized that the growing use of telephones would soon create such complicated network challenges that it would overwhelm the ability of mechanical switches to keep up. So they launched a drive to create transistors as a faster, far cheaper alternative.

Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at the Wharton School and the director of its Center for Human Resources. He is the author of several books, including Our Least Important Asset: Why the Relentless Focus on Finance and Accounting Is Bad for Business and Employees (Oxford University Press, 2023).
Valery Yakubovich is the executive director of the Mack Institute for Innovation Management and an adjunct professor of Management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. His research and teaching focus on the individual and organizational dynamics that drive innovation.
Braj Thakur is the senior director of portfolio strategy and commercialization for Ricoh USA, where he focuses on maximizing the potential of unstructured data for AI to produce business-transforming, actionable insights.
Ashok Shenoy is vice president of Ricoh USA’s Center of Excellence, which pioneers the development of digital technologies, such as cloud computing and AI, for Ricoh’s operations.

How One Company Used AI to Manage the Deluge of Documents

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