Unstructured Data Processing – Blog Sample 2

Making Unstructured Data Work for You

From countless emails to inconsistently formatted capital calls, making sense of this tsunami of unstructured data is how financial institutions stay competitive today. Today, 80% of financial enterprise data is unstructured, and the volume of unstructured data continues to grow at an astonishing 61% annually (1). Between the inherent variability of documents and formats and the high manual review costs, extracting valuable insights buried in unstructured data is tedious and resource-intensive.

Financial organizations deal with massive volumes of reports, statements, and forms that don’t fit neatly into databases. Teams often resort to manual data entry, ad-hoc OCR tools, or RPA to extract information from these documents. Relying on manual review drains time, increases the risk of errors, and slows teams down and while traditional OCR software can convert images to text it struggles with complex financial tables or varied document layouts. Likewise, standard RPA (Robotic Process Automation) scripts can automate simple, rule-based tasks but falter when facing unstructured content and require constant upkeep for new document formats. The consequences of these challenges are significant for decision-makers: delayed reports impeding timely investment decisions, compliance risks from inaccurate data, high labour costs for data processing, and inability to scale operations without linear increases in headcount.  

AI is revolutionizing how financial firms manage unstructured data by automating extraction, interpretation, and classification—delivering far greater speed and accuracy than manual methods. Unlike static rules or rigid templates, AI adapts to messy formats and learns from context, freeing teams to focus on higher-value work. According to a 2023 survey of 100 discretionary portfolio managers and analysts, 96% now use alternative data to inform their strategies, underscoring a critical trend: firms that can quickly extract insights from unstructured information gain a decisive edge over the competition.

This is where Visual Alpha comes in.

Visual Alpha’s Unstructured Data Processing service delivers a step-change in efficiency—processing documents 10× faster, achieving 99% extraction accuracy, and cutting operational costs by up to 90% compared to manual or semi-automated workflows. In a field where timing is everything, speed and accuracy together translate directly into faster, more confident decisions.

Visual Alpha’s Unstructured Data Processing Solution for Finance

Visual Alpha’s platform is a specialized unstructured data processing service tailored for financial data of funds, companies, and other institutions. It leverages advanced machine learning and natural language processing to automate the extraction, cleansing, and transformation of data from PDFs and other documents. What sets Visual Alpha apart is its finance-focused intelligence and robust capabilities out-of-the-box:

• Adaptable to Custom Layouts: Financial documents come in all shapes and layouts, from quarterly fund statements to multi-section insurance forms. Visual Alpha can interpret complex, custom document layouts without extensive template building. Unlike generic OCR that fails on unseen formats, Visual Alpha dynamically learns the structure, parsing nested tables, charts, and text in context (e.g., identifying financial tables vs narrative sections)​ with minimal configuration required to handle new document types.
• Multi-Language Support: In today’s global financial world, documents may be in English, Japanese, French, etc. Generic OCR tools often have limited language support (or require separate models per language), but Visual Alpha’s AI was built with multilingual capability​. Visual Alpha supports content in multiple languages out-of-the-box, ensuring you can process documents from international branches or investments seamlessly.
• Built-in Reconciliation and Validation: Visual Alpha doesn’t just extract data – it understands it. The platform can reconcile figures and validate totals and subtotals automatically as it processes a document. For example, if a balance sheet’s assets don’t equal liabilities + equity, the system flags it. This built-in financial logic ensures data consistency and catches errors early. Visual Alpha delivers reliable data quality ready for decision-making.
• Advanced Calculation Logic: RPA tools might handle basic math with custom scripting, but generic solutions cannot easily execute custom financial calculations found in reports. Beyond reading static numbers, Visual Alpha can handle calculation logic embedded in documents. It understands formulas and can perform calculations or roll-ups as needed – for instance, computing quarter-over-quarter changes, or aggregating portfolio exposures across a fund. Visual Alpha does this all automatically, which is invaluable for tasks like performance reporting and risk analysis.
• Fund & Company Data Management: Visual Alpha comes with an integrated data management framework for fund and company data. Extracted data isn’t just dumped into a spreadsheet – it is organized into a structured database or data lake, tied to the specific fund or company it belongs to. In contrast, generic tools lack this domain-specific data model​. Visual Alpha is specialized for managing fund and corporate financial data, serving as a one-stop shop for all your data management needs.
• Integration-Friendly (API and Custom Integration): Visual Alpha was designed to slot into your existing workflow. It provides easy export of all data to Excel and offers robust APIs for integration with your upstream and downstream systems​

 Whether feeding a data warehouse, a portfolio management system, or visualization dashboards, Visual Alpha can connect with minimal effort. While generic OCR or AI tools often operate in isolation (and RPA might require extra modules for integration), Visual Alpha supports custom integrations via enhancements and support from its development team​. This ensures that as your needs grow – say connecting to a new CRM or reporting tool – Visual Alpha can accommodate it.

In short, Visual Alpha combines OCR, AI, and deep financial expertise into one seamless platform. With minimal pre-training or setup, it automatically processes complex, unstructured documents—turning vast volumes of chaotic data into clear, actionable insights. Visual Alpha empowers financial teams to move faster, reduce errors, and scale operations with confidence.