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Data entry automation: import, OCR or AI?
Short answer
Data entry automation moves information from a source into fields in a file or a system. A table needs an import, a photo of a document needs OCR, and free text whose fields must be interpreted needs AI. Before saving, the system checks for duplicates. At Syntalith the automation costs from €3,000 net, and at 2,000 documents a month of 3 minutes each it pays back in 1.1 months.
How we workDetails ↓
- 01Call30 minutes with an engineer, free
- 02PrototypeA working system on your process and data, free
- 03ImplementationTarget and fixed price in the contract; 50% at signing
- 04Acceptance50% once the agreed target is met
- net for the automation of one process, paid once
- from €3,000
- from signing the contract to acceptance
- 2–6 weeks
- free prototype on your cases
- €0
We belong to the OpenAI and Anthropic partner programmes and learn through their official courses. What this means ↓
Author: Syntalith · 3 min read
Statistics
Data entry and AI: statistics 2026
1.1 mo.
payback of a €3,000 automation at 2,000 documents a month: €3,490 of work today, €712 with checking and the model. Scenario.
−87%
According to Anthropic (2025), AI cuts the time of tasks on invoices, memos and other documents by an estimated 87%.
Source: Anthropic, Estimating AI productivity gains (2025) ↗
14–56%
According to Anthropic (2025), studies with a control group found smaller time savings, from 14% to 56%.
Source: Anthropic, Estimating AI productivity gains (2025) ↗
20.0%
According to Eurostat (2025), 20.0% of EU companies with at least 10 employees used AI.
Source: Eurostat, 20% of EU enterprises use AI technologies (2025) ↗
48.8%
According to Eurostat (2025), 48.8% of EU enterprises that considered AI but did not use it named concerns about data protection and privacy.
Figures checked: 22 October 2026
How an import differs from reading with AI
First check whether the source already gives you the data in a usable form. If a supplier sends a table with product numbers, there is no reason to start by reading a photo of that table.
| Input material | Solution | What to settle |
|---|---|---|
| CSV with fixed columns | import and field mapping | data types, required values, duplicates |
| A few recurring tables | rules for transforming and joining | a shared identifier, refreshing |
| A photo or a scanned document | OCR | legibility, layout, a check of the reading |
| A free-form message describing an order | AI extraction | meaning of the fields, unclear values, cases for a person |
OCR reads characters, but the text still has to be assigned to a field. The buyer's name and the seller's name can be equally legible, and swapping them is an assignment error. Power Query fetches and transforms data with recorded steps, so for tables it is a good place to start.
- The source of each value, the target field and the unit
- The product code stored as text, so leading zeros are not lost
- The same identifier with a different quantity is a correction for approval
- The same file delivered again does not create a second record
A partner sends a file with a request ID, a product code and a quantity, and the next day the same file under a different name. The system recognises whether it is a new request, a repeat delivery or a correction. The file name alone is not enough.
What data entry automation costs and when it pays back
- Today
- 2,000 documents × 3 min = 100 h (€3,490)
- With the system, a person checks the output in 20% of the time
- €698
- Model, 1 call per case, Claude Sonnet 5.5
- €14
- Cost of one case
- €1.75 today, €0.36 with the system
- Saving
- €2,778 a month
Payback of €3,000
1.1 months
The volume, the time and the checking share are the scenario's assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat. Model: 2,500 input tokens and 300 output tokens per call at Anthropic's rates, converted at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026.
The count covers the work around a case: searching, reading, writing and passing things on. What stays is the time to check the result, 20% of today's work in this scenario. Before the quote we measure both times on 20 to 100 cases the team has already handled, in a free test that takes 5 working days.
How to tell that the data reached the system
Keep preparing the values apart from the confirmed save. After a dropped connection, the operator knows whether the operation finished or needs checking before a retry. At acceptance, compare the number of incoming cases with the saved, held and skipped ones. The post about orders without an agent shows an example where a rule converts packs into units, and a one-off transfer of master records is covered by data checks before a migration.
CSV or an export from a system
import and mapping
configuration
Photos and PDFs with a fixed layout
OCR with a check of the reading
automation
Free-form messages and changing layouts
AI extraction with a check by a person
from €3,000
Where to start with data entry automation
Choose one data source and one result, for example a checked file ready for import. If the features of your current software are enough, the scope ends with configuration. We build this kind of system as part of our AI automations. For the free analysis, a description of one case from the last few weeks and the tools it went through is enough. You do not need to send confidential documents, and you get a written plan within 2 working days.
Worked example · Scenario
How we count the payback: reading data from documents
We run the same count for your documents in the free analysis.
€2,618
a month for copying 1,500 documents by hand
Payback: 1.4 mo.
3 minutes to copy the fields from a document and checking in 15% of the old time are our assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat, for companies with 10 or more employees. Model cost about €0.007 per document: OCR in our system cost €1.17 for 181 files, and a separate read about €0.0008, converted at the NBP rate of 21 October 2026 and the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026.
See the full calculation →
