Before
Documents arrive by email and get renamed, sorted and filed into the right folders by a person.
After
They land in the right place, named the right way, the moment they arrive.
Automation, AI where needed
Automate renaming, sorting and filing documents that arrive by email
Documents arrive by email and get renamed, sorted and filed into the right folders by a person. They land in the right place, named the right way, the moment they arrive.
In short
Documents arrive by email and someone renames, sorts and files each one by hand. We build an automation that watches the inbox, names each file to your convention and puts it in the right folder the moment it lands. Mostly plain automation; AI only for documents a person would have to read to classify, and we say which. Usually a single-task automation, $7,500 to $25,000. First deliverable running within 14 days.
Watch a simulated run of this job- Free evaluation
- Fixed quote before work begins
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed
- Small tasks welcome
What this costs you today
Documents arrive in a shared inbox all day. Someone opens each one, works out what it is and who it belongs to, renames it to match the convention, and drags it into the right folder. In the companies we meet this is a constant background task that nobody owns and everybody does.
Files get misnamed. Folders drift. Six months later nobody can find the document that was definitely filed.
Call a fully loaded employee $45,000 a year, as an illustration. Filing typically takes 5 to 10 hours a week across a team. Ten hours is a quarter of a person, spent dragging files.
- Typical time
- 10 hrs / week
- That is
- a quarter of a person
- At an illustrative $45,000 a year
- $11,250 / year
Typical figures, using $45,000 as an illustrative fully loaded cost. Your numbers go in the calculator below. If your version is a couple of hours a week, that still counts. Or open these figures in the calculator and change them.
How it works
- 1
Step 1
We look at a sample of real documents and sort them: filed by rule from sender, subject or file name, or filed by reading the contents.
- 2
Step 2
We write the naming convention and folder rules down, exactly as your team applies them.
- 3
Step 3
The automation watches the inbox and files by rule. Documents that need reading go through a classification step.
- 4
Step 4
Anything the classifier is unsure about goes to a person rather than into the wrong folder.
What CBIT builds instead
We build an automation that watches the inbox. When a document arrives, it reads the sender, the subject, the attachment name and, if needed, the contents. It renames the file to your convention and files it in the right folder. The person who sent it can get a confirmation.
Where the naming rules are clean, this is plain automation. Where they are not, and a person would have to read the document to know what it is, we use AI to classify it. We tell you which documents go down which path, and anything the classifier is unsure about goes to a person.
Plain automation handles most repetitive work. We use newer tools only where they clearly earn their place, and we tell you when we do. Here, classification is the one place they might.
What the team gets back is the inbox. Documents are where they should be before anyone has to look for them.
Plain automation or AI?
Mostly plain automation. If the sender, the subject or the file tells you where it goes, that is a rule. If a person has to open the document and read it to know, we use AI for that one step, and we tell you.
Automation vs. AI: which one your task needsOne example, names left out
Real work from real clients, with the names left out. What matters is the shape of the problem, and how often we see it.
Price band and timeline
- Usually
- Single-task automation
- Band
- $7,500–$25,000
- First deliverable running
- Within 14 days
This kind of project
Depends on the naming rules
When the sender, the subject or the file name tells you where a document goes, this is a small project. When someone has to open and read the document to know, we add a classification step, and that takes more building and more checking. We look at a sample of real documents before we recommend which.
- Small tasks and larger workflows are both welcome. We look at what needs to happen and give you a fixed quote before work begins. No hourly meter.
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed.
- Changes to outside systems (a portal redesign, a vendor's API change) may require separately quoted repair work. We tell you when that happens.
All prices and the guaranteeWhat business automation actually costs
Run your own numbers.
Set to the typical figures for this task. Change them to match your team, however small the number.
What this task costs you in time
Hours a week, times the people doing it, at whatever a person costs you. $45,000 a year is an illustration; set it to your own figure.
People doing this work
1
Hours each, per week
Half an hour counts. 40 is a full week.
10
Fully loaded cost per person, per year
Salary, benefits, taxes, overhead. $45,000 is an illustration; set it to yours.
$45,000
Time spent on this task
10 hrs / week
About 520 hours a year of a person's time.
- Labor value of that time
- $11,250 / year
- Your project price
- Fixed quote after a free evaluation
These figures show the value of time spent on the task, not a project quote or guaranteed cash savings. We will help estimate what can realistically be automated.
Questions about this task.
Does it work with our document system?
SharePoint, Google Drive, a network share, a practice or case management system: if it can receive files, the automation can file to it. Where the system offers a connection, we use it; where it only has screens, we work through your own login after reviewing the terms with you.
What if the same document could go two places?
The rules say which wins, and if they cannot decide, the document goes to a person with both options noted. We would rather ask than file wrong. In practice the rules settle within the first few weeks.
Is this AI?
Mostly not. When the sender, the subject or the file name tells you where a document goes, that is a rule. When a person has to open the document to know, we use AI to classify it, and we tell you which documents take that path. A sample of your real documents decides.
How is this priced?
Filing by clean rules is a single-task automation, $7,500 to $25,000, at the low end. Adding a classification step for documents that need reading moves it up, because it takes more building and more checking. The quote is fixed after the free evaluation.
How long until it is running?
The first document types are being filed automatically within 14 days of us having access to the inbox and the document system. Types that need classification follow once they are tested on real samples.
What about documents that arrive some other way?
Scans, uploads and portal downloads can feed the same automation. Email is the usual starting point; other sources are added as separate inputs to the same filing rules.
Tell us about the task your team keeps doing by hand.
Every morning, every Friday, or every time an order comes in. Small tasks and larger workflows are both welcome. The evaluation is free, and if we take it on, the first deliverable is running in your operation within 14 days, guaranteed.
Free evaluation. Fixed quote before work begins.
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Guide
Automation vs. AI: which one your task needs
A simple test you can run on your own task, and the places where each one earns its place.
Everything we automate, with what goes into each one.