Intelligent Document Processing (IDP): A 2026 Guide for Insurance

1. Introduction: The Evolution of Document Processing

In the high-stakes world of insurance underwriting, time is quite literally money. Every hour spent manually extracting data from submissions represents lost opportunities and delayed decisions. As we navigate 2025, the insurance industry faces unprecedented document processing challenges—and as the Deloitte 2026 Global Insurance Outlook confirms, AI-powered automation is now a strategic imperative:

The volume of submission documents has increased by over 40% in just the last three years. Underwriters are expected to assess more complex risks with the same or fewer resources. Meanwhile, customer expectations for rapid turnaround times continue to intensify.

Against this backdrop, manual data extraction has become an unsustainable bottleneck. Insurance carriers and MGAs that rely on traditional methods find themselves at a significant competitive disadvantage, with underwriters spending up to 60% of their time on low-value data entry rather than risk analysis.

Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) has emerged as the transformative solution to this challenge—not by replacing underwriters, but by augmenting their capabilities and freeing them to focus on what they do best: making informed risk decisions.

2. The Evolution of Data Extraction: From OCR to IDP to LLMs

OCR: The Foundation

Traditional Optical Character Recognition represented the first wave of automation for document processing. While revolutionary for its time, OCR merely digitized text without understanding it. This created several limitations:

• Required perfectly structured documents and fixed templates
• Could not adapt to varying document formats
• Struggled with handwriting, poor image quality, or complex layouts
• Lacked context awareness, leading to high error rates with similar-looking data

For insurance carriers processing diverse submission documents like ACORD forms, loss runs, and supplemental applications, basic OCR proved insufficient.

IDP: Adding Intelligence

The second wave introduced true intelligence to document processing. Gartner defines IDP as a solution that combines OCR with machine learning algorithms, enabling systems to:

• Identify document types automatically
• Extract specific data points based on patterns rather than fixed positions
• Handle semi-structured documents with varying layouts
• Learn from human corrections to improve over time

This represented a significant improvement, but still required considerable setup time and often struggled with highly unstructured documents or novel formats.

ML+LLM Hybrid Solutions: The Current Frontier

Today's leading solutions combine specialized machine learning models with large language models, creating a powerful synthesis that overcomes previous limitations:

• Understand document context and relationships between data points
• Process completely unstructured documents without templates
• Extract complex data including tables, paragraphs, and embedded information
• Learn continuously from underwriter feedback in real-time
• Provide explainable results that maintain human oversight

This evolution isn't merely incremental—it represents a fundamental shift in how insurance carriers can approach submission processing, enabling levels of efficiency previously unimaginable while maintaining essential human judgment.

 

 

3. The IDP Workflow Explained

Modern Intelligent Document Processing follows a sophisticated workflow designed to maximize both efficiency and accuracy:

Data Ingestion & Preprocessing

The process begins when documents enter the system through multiple channels:

• Email attachments
• Portal uploads
• API integrations with existing systems
• Direct scanner connections

These documents undergo preprocessing to enhance quality:

• Image enhancement and deskewing
• Noise reduction
• Format standardization
• Language detection

Document Classification

Next, AI automatically categorizes incoming documents:

• Identifies document types (ACORD forms, loss runs, financials, etc.)
• Tags documents by line of business
• Prioritizes documents based on business rules
• Routes documents to appropriate workflow stages

This classification happens in seconds, eliminating manual sorting and ensuring documents reach the right underwriters promptly.

Data Extraction

The core of IDP, this stage applies multiple AI technologies to extract relevant information:

• Deep learning models recognize patterns and layouts
• Natural language processing understands textual context
• Computer vision analyzes visual elements
• Large language models comprehend complex relationships between data points

The system doesn't just identify text—it understands what the text means within the context of insurance submissions.

Validation & Human-in-the-Loop

Rather than removing humans from the process, sophisticated IDP solutions like SortSpoke keep underwriters firmly in control:

• AI proposes extractions with confidence scores
• Underwriters review and validate critical data points
• System learns from corrections in real-time
• Continuous improvement reduces human intervention over time

This collaborative approach maintains compliance and accuracy while dramatically improving efficiency.

Integration with Business Systems

Finally, validated data flows seamlessly into downstream systems:

• Policy administration systems
• Underwriting platforms
• Rating engines
• CRM systems
• Data warehouses and analytics platforms

This integration eliminates redundant data entry and ensures consistency across the organization.

 

 

4. Key Benefits of IDP in Insurance

The strategic implementation of IDP delivers transformative benefits across the insurance value chain:

 

 

Accelerated Processing Times

Modern IDP solutions dramatically reduce document handling time:

• Submissions processed in minutes rather than hours
• 80% reduction in manual data entry
• 5X increase in submission throughput capacity
• Faster quote turnaround times

A mid-sized MGA implementing SortSpoke reduced their submission processing time from 45 minutes to just 8 minutes per submission, allowing them to respond to brokers the same day rather than in 48-72 hours.

Enhanced Accuracy

AI-powered extraction combined with human validation creates a powerful synergy:

• Near-perfect data accuracy (99.5%+)
• Elimination of transcription errors
• Consistency across different underwriters
• Flagging of potential data issues for human review

The cost of incorrect data extraction can be enormous—a single misplaced decimal in a liability limit or property value can lead to significant mis-pricing or inadequate coverage. IDP virtually eliminates these costly errors.

Scalability

Unlike manual processes, IDP capacity can flex with business needs:

• Handle submission surges without staffing increases
• Scale across multiple lines of business
• Process increasingly complex documents
• Expand to new document types without reconfiguration

One SortSpoke client was able to increase their submission intake by 40% during their busy renewal season without adding staff or compromising quality.

Improved Compliance

IDP creates structural advantages for compliance and audit:

• Complete audit trails of all extraction and validation
• Consistent application of underwriting guidelines
• Documented decision support
• Traceable data lineage for regulatory reporting

In an increasingly regulated environment, these compliance benefits alone can justify IDP investment.

The IDP market is experiencing rapid growth as insurers recognize these benefits. According to Grand View Research, the global intelligent document processing market is projected to grow at over 30% CAGR through 2030, driven largely by insurance and financial services adoption.

5. SortSpoke's Unique Approach to IDP

While many vendors offer document processing solutions, SortSpoke has pioneered an approach specifically designed for insurance underwriting:

 

 

Human-in-the-Loop AI

SortSpoke's philosophy centers on augmenting underwriters rather than replacing them:

• AI handles repetitive extraction, while underwriters focus on analysis
• Underwriters validate critical data points, maintaining control
• System continuously learns from underwriter feedback
• The feedback loop creates compounding efficiency gains

This collaborative approach results in both immediate productivity gains and long-term improvement that pure automation cannot match.

Template-Free Processing

Unlike traditional systems that require rigid templates, SortSpoke adapts to documents as they are:

• Handles varied layouts and formats without prebuilt templates
• Processes unstructured documents like narratives and reports
• Adapts to changing document formats without reconfiguration
• Manages incomplete or non-standard submissions effectively

This flexibility is crucial in insurance, where submission documents come from countless brokers and vary widely in format and quality.

Rapid Deployment

SortSpoke recognizes that lengthy implementation cycles destroy ROI:

• Up and running in days, not months
• Minimal IT resources required
• No complex integration projects
• Quick expansion to additional document types

Clients typically see positive ROI within the first month of deployment, rather than waiting a year or more for traditional enterprise solutions.

Explainable AI

SortSpoke's AI is never a black box:

• Every extracted data point is traceable to its source
• Confidence scores show reliability of each extraction
• Underwriters can always see the reasoning behind AI suggestions
• System learns explicitly from corrections rather than through obscure algorithms

This transparency is essential for regulated industries like insurance, where unexplainable AI decisions create compliance risks.

6. Real-World Applications in Insurance

IDP is transforming key insurance workflows across the policy lifecycle:

Claims Processing

IDP dramatically accelerates the claims lifecycle:

• Extracts claim details from FNOL forms, medical records, and supporting documents
• Detects potential fraud through anomaly analysis and pattern recognition
• Validates claims data against policy terms automatically
• Reduces processing time by up to 60%, enabling faster settlements

By automating document-heavy claims workflows, insurers improve customer satisfaction while reducing operational costs.

Customer Onboarding

IDP streamlines the new customer experience:

• Automates ID verification and address validation
• Extracts data from application forms without manual entry
• Validates information against third-party sources in real-time
• Reduces onboarding time from days to minutes

Faster onboarding means better first impressions and reduced drop-off rates during the application process.

Submission Triage

Effective IDP enables intelligent submission prioritization:

• Automatically identifies submission quality and completeness
• Highlights high-value opportunities based on extracted data
• Routes submissions to appropriate underwriting teams
• Flags submissions requiring additional information

This intelligent triage ensures that underwriting resources focus on the most promising opportunities.

Data Extraction from Complex Forms

Insurance documents present unique challenges that SortSpoke excels at handling:

• ACORD forms with their varying versions and structures
• Loss runs from dozens of different carriers and formats
• Schedule of values with hundreds or thousands of locations
• Supplemental applications unique to each line of business

The system extracts structured data even from these highly variable documents, creating consistent datasets for analysis. For a deeper dive into how automation transforms these workflows, see our guide to automated document processing.

 

 

Underwriting Support

Beyond basic extraction, modern IDP provides decision support:

• Identifies missing information or inconsistencies
• Highlights potential risks based on extracted data
• Compares submission data against similar risks
• Provides historical context for similar submissions

This support transforms underwriters from data processors to knowledge workers who can focus on risk assessment and relationship management.

7. Future Trends in IDP

The IDP landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with several emerging trends:

Integration with Generative AI

The next frontier combines extraction with synthesis:

• Automatic generation of submission summaries
• Risk narratives created from extracted data
• Policy comparisons and recommendations
• Contextual insights drawn from historical and market data

These capabilities further accelerate underwriting by providing not just data but actionable insights.

Multimodal Document Processing

Future systems will handle all data types seamlessly:

• Integration of text, images, and tabular data
• Analysis of photos, videos, and interactive content
• Processing of IoT data alongside traditional documents
• Creating unified risk profiles from diverse inputs

This comprehensive approach will provide a more complete picture of risks.

Agentic Process Automation

AI will increasingly take on proactive workflow roles:

• Automatically requesting missing information
• Suggesting appropriate coverage based on extracted risk data
• Identifying cross-selling opportunities from submission details
• Orchestrating complex multi-step workflows

These capabilities will further multiply underwriter productivity.

Enhanced Document Categorization

Classification will become increasingly sophisticated:

• Identifying document intent beyond basic categorization
• Recognizing document relationships and dependencies
• Understanding document context within transaction history
• Detecting anomalous or unusual document characteristics

This deeper understanding will enable more intelligent routing and processing.

8. Implementing IDP: Best Practices

Organizations seeking to implement IDP should follow these proven practices:

Assessing Needs

Begin with a thorough needs assessment:

• Audit current document workflows and bottlenecks
• Identify high-volume, repetitive extraction tasks
• Quantify current processing times and error rates
• Calculate the business impact of accelerated processing

This assessment establishes clear goals and ROI expectations.

Choosing the Right Partner

Not all IDP solutions are created equal:

• Prioritize solutions designed specifically for insurance
• Look for proven track records with similar organizations
• Evaluate the human-in-the-loop approach rather than black-box automation
• Consider deployment speed and time-to-value

The right partner understands insurance workflows and compliance requirements.

Pilot Programs

Start with focused pilots:

• Begin with a single document type or line of business
• Establish clear success metrics
• Include actual end-users in the evaluation
• Compare results against current processes

Successful pilots build confidence and organizational buy-in.

Training & Change Management

Technology is only half the equation:

• Provide underwriters with proper training and support
• Communicate how IDP augments rather than threatens their roles
• Celebrate early wins to build momentum
• Establish feedback loops for continuous improvement

Effective change management ensures enthusiastic adoption rather than resistance.

Frequently Asked Questions About IDP in Insurance

What is Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)?

Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) is technology that uses AI, Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and OCR to automatically extract and process data from insurance documents like claims forms, policies, ACORD forms, and loss runs. Unlike basic OCR, IDP understands document context and converts unstructured text into structured data for downstream systems.

How does IDP differ from traditional OCR?

Traditional OCR simply converts images of text into digital text—it recognizes characters but doesn't understand meaning. IDP goes further by using AI to understand document context, classify document types, extract specific data fields, validate information, and learn from corrections over time. This enables IDP to handle unstructured documents that would confuse basic OCR. Learn more about the evolution from OCR to IDP to LLMs.

What are the benefits of IDP for insurers?

Key benefits include:

• Efficiency: Reduces manual labor and processing times by up to 80% — calculate your potential ROI
• Accuracy: Minimizes human data entry errors (99.5%+ accuracy)
• Cost Reduction: Lowers operational expenses through automation
• Improved Customer Experience: Faster service and claim resolution
• Compliance: Ensures consistent data handling and complete audit trails

What types of insurance documents can IDP process?

Modern IDP solutions handle diverse document types including ACORD forms, loss runs, claims forms (like CMS-1500), policy documents, medical records, certificates of insurance, schedule of values (SOVs), financial statements, and customer correspondence—whether structured, semi-structured, or completely unstructured.

How long does it take to implement IDP?

Implementation timelines vary by vendor. Traditional enterprise solutions may take 6-12 months. Modern solutions like SortSpoke deploy in days to weeks, with minimal IT resources required. The key differentiator is whether the solution requires custom templates for each document type or can adapt to documents as-is. Book a demo to see how quickly you can get started.

9. Conclusion: Embracing the Future of Document Processing

As we navigate 2025, the insurance organizations pulling ahead are those that have liberated their underwriters from manual data extraction. By implementing intelligent document processing with a human-in-the-loop approach, these leaders are:

• Processing 5X more submissions with the same staff
• Responding to brokers in minutes rather than days
• Making better-informed risk decisions based on complete data
• Scaling operations without proportional cost increases

The competitive advantage is clear and widening. Organizations still relying on manual extraction or outdated OCR approaches find themselves increasingly unable to compete on either speed or quality.