Data Extraction Explained: Tools, Techniques, and Best Practices
Nov 14, 2024
For a business, data management is one of the most important things to be a master of. However, a lot of companies don’t realize this and store data in unorganized ways. This results in company data being available in various formats such as Excel sheets, emails, PDFs, Word files, and whatnot.
This type of unorganized data is very difficult to work with as all the information is present in different forms. Therefore, there is a need to convert this information into a single type. This problem Is handled by a technique known as data extraction.
This article introduces this concept of extraction. It will also help you in understanding how to utilize this technique.
We said above that data needs to be in the same format. But why?
There are multiple reasons for that, but mainly, this is because if the data is in a similar format, it can be analyzed better. For instance, if you have to insert data in an analysis tool, you will have to enter different types of data separately.
Well-extracted and organized data won’t have this issue. So, by virtue of these evaluations, the process of extracting portions of a data set that are relevant to the analysis is called data extraction.
To add on to the importance of this process, it is important to note that the compound annual growth rate of the data extraction technology is 11.8% between 2020 and 2027.
Now that the theoretical portion is taken care of, let’s move towards the functional aspect of our topic. How to perform data extraction? There are different tools and techniques for that. Let’s begin by discussing them.
Before we talk about the tools, let us show you a short list of types of data extraction. To make it simple, here are some common sources of data extraction:
Knowing these would help you understand different types of tools. In this way, you will know what type of data extraction tool is best for your organization.
The previous section gives context to our coming discussion. The following list talks about tools that are good for extracting information from the above-mentioned.
Parseur is able to extract information from sources such as PDFs, documents, and emails. It is a document parsing utility that retrieves both unstructured and structured data from these sources and makes it ready for analysis.
One of the key features of this platform is its usability and beginner-friendliness. With just a few clicks, this application makes your data usable for entry into other tools (mostly analytical ones).
Additionally, with the integration of AI models, this tool makes the whole process significantly quick and accurate. Since the rise of AI is one of the top impacting aspects of the current data extraction market, Parseur is one of the best document and PDF data extraction tools.
A lot of companies, in this modern day and age, are heavily reliant on paper-based documents. Data in these types of documents is extremely hard to analyze because you either have to do it without software or input data manually into analytical tools.
Nanonets is an online tool that recognizes printed text, handwritten text, image text, and much more. This tool uses the latest OCR technologies to recognize text from images and convert it into machine-readable text.
In this way, you can extract information from hard copies and utilize this structured data. It is useful for old companies that are looking for digital transformation.
Octoparse is a highly credible web scraping tool that can be used with no prior coding knowledge. In other words, you can pull data from websites without having to perform complex coding processes.
So, this tool can be a good fit for you if your business is mostly related to the digital/online ecosystem. This way, you can analyze various websites that can help you in decision-making and predictive forecasting.
Docsumo is another software application that extracts data from documents such as invoices, receipts, forms, etc. Companies related to retail and logistics, accounting and finance, healthcare, insurance, etc., can benefit from this tool.
With the help of the latest AI algorithms, DocSumo can perform intelligent document processing. This retrieves information from documents and converts them into organized formats such as JSON and CSV. This allows for seamless integration with other systems. DocSumo is highly useful for streamlining workflows.
By now, you have a rough idea of what some of the data extraction tools have to offer. However, before you blindly jump into this process, let us show you the proper way to implement document data extraction.
The first step before integrating anything new into your workflow is to analyze how your own processes work. This way, you will have a better idea of where you are lacking and what you are doing well already. When you understand this, you will understand which source of data requires immediate extraction or organizing.
Choosing a tool comes after the first step is done. However, choosing a tool becomes pretty easy after you have a good idea of what your business needs. Here are some additional factors that you should consider while choosing a tool:
Keeping all these factors in mind, you can choose the best-fitting tool for your business.
Once the tool is chosen, implement it, but don’t go all in right from the beginning. First, have a test or beta phase where you see if things go as you expected. In case something unexpected happens, that makes it hard to integrate the tool into your work, and then you can stop using the tool and find a better fit.
In today’s fast-changing digital world, data extraction isn’t just about being efficient; it’s about exploring new opportunities for growth and innovation. As companies handle large and varied sets of data, effective data extraction not only keeps information organized but also gives them a competitive edge. It enables quick, informed decisions based on up-to-date insights. So, it is advisable that you start implementing data scraping as soon as possible.