How Adlib Turns Unstructured Data into Smart, Actionable Content

From Piles of PDFs to Data-Driven Goldmines

Let's set the scene. You’ve got a mountain of PDF files, invoices, contracts, scanned documents, and CAD drawings sitting in your ECM. Sure, they’re digitized, but they’re also just... there. They’re not doing anything. Just existing. Kind of like that random exercise bike you bought during quarantine that’s now a glorified clothes rack.

The problem? These documents are full of valuable information — names, dates, totals, signatures — but it’s all trapped inside unstructured formats.

Enter Adlib, the ultimate keysmith. Legacy ECMs just store and categorize files. With Adlib, you can go deeper. Adlib enables your ECM not just to store the content — but to understand, extract, and activate it. Suddenly, that pile of PDFs becomes a data-driven engine powering your workflows, compliance needs, and automation goals.

If your ECM is a digital filing cabinet, then Adlib is the assistant that opens every drawer, reads every page, and pulls out the information you actually need.

What is Unstructured Data (and Why Should You Care)?

Here’s a (not so) fun fact: 80% of enterprise data is (still) unstructured. And most of it lives in documents, emails, CAD drawings, and images. Unlike clean, orderly databases (which you can query with SQL), unstructured data doesn’t have a neat and tidy format. It’s messy. It’s chaotic. It’s human.

Examples of unstructured content you deal with every day:

• PDF contracts
• Claims forms
• Invoices from suppliers
• CAD files for engineeringdrawings
• Emails (yes, your inbox isunstructured chaos)

What’s the problem with all this? You can’t automate processes using data trapped in these formats. Most ECMs just store the file and call it a day. But what if you need the contract expiration date or the claim amount? You’d need someone to open the file, manually search for it, and type it into another system. Yikes.

Let Adlib do that for you. Adlib extracts, classifies, and converts your files. Suddenly, your documents aren’t just “files” — they’re data-rich, AI-ready, and ready to trigger automated workflows.

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How Adlib Unlocks the Potential of Your Unstructured Content

At its core, Adlib is a document automation and intelligence engine. While traditional ECMs "manage" content, Adlib transforms content. Here’s how it works:

1. Ingest Everything (PDFs, CAD files, Emails — You Name It!)

Adlib pulls in documents from multiple sources — ECMs, email inboxes, shared drives, and more. This could be a vendor invoice from your email, a CAD drawing uploaded by an engineer, or a claims form submitted online. If it’s unstructured, Adlib can handle it.

See how it works >>

2. Understand the Content (What's in the File?)

Most ECMs stop at “this is a PDF file,” but Adlib goes deeper. It reads the contents of the document and identifies what type of document it is (invoice, purchase order, CAD file, etc.). Using AI models and classification logic, Adlib understands context — not just file type — but content type.

3. Extract the Key Data (No More Manual Data Entry!)

Here’s the game-changer. Adlib can find and extract specific information (like invoice amounts, dates, and line items) from PDFs and other files. This means no more "copy-paste-from-PDF" workflows. This extracted data can be sent to other systems like MES, QMS, RIM, CRM, ERP, or AI models for further analysis.

See how it works >>

4. Convert It (Make It Usable!)

Sometimes, you don’t need just raw data — you need machine-readable files like PDF/A, JSON, or XML. Adlib converts all your unstructured data into formats that can be fed into other systems, like data lakes, AI models or RPA bots. And Adlib does it at scale. Think millions of documents in a day.

See how it works >>

5. Route It (Drive the Workflow)

Once Adlib extracts the data, it’s ready for action. Need to send that invoice to Accounts Payable for approval? Route it! Need that contract expiration date sent to a CRM to trigger a renewal? Done! Adlib pushes data into decision trees, workflow engines and RPA bots.

Here is how a state DOT did it. Read more >>

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Why This Matters: The Business Value of Actionable Content

So, you might be wondering, “Why should I care?”

Here’s why: Unstructured content is expensive.

• Your team spends hours manually entering data.
• You miss deadlines because critical info is buried in unread files.
• Compliance issues arise because you can't prove who touched what and when.

With Adlib, you flip the equation. Instead of you working for the content, the content works for you.

Here’s the transformation in a nutshell:

Real-World Use Case: Supplier Invoices (The Headache We All Know Too Well)

The Old Way (Without Adlib)

• Supplier emails an invoice.
• Your AP team opens it, prints it, and manually types the amounts into your ERP system.
• Sometimes they get it wrong, leading to errors and payment delays.

The New Way (With Adlib)

• Adlib reads the email and automatically identifies it as an invoice.
• It extracts the supplier name, invoice number, total amount, and payment date.
• This data is sent to your ERP system automatically, no manual entry required.
• Adlib archives the email body along with the invoice in your ECM for many years to come.

Outcome: You pay suppliers faster, avoid penalties, and your team gets their time back. Win-win-win.

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Industry Use Cases for Adlib’s Document Intelligence

Here’s how other industries use Adlib to turn documents into data:

Insurance: Extract claim details from unstructured PDFs and automatically trigger claims workflows. See more use cases >>

Banking: Convert mortgage applications into machine-readable formats for compliance and risk assessment. See more use cases >>

Life Sciences: Extract regulatory info from PDFs to support clinical trial submissions. See more use cases >>

Government: Automatically classify and extract data from FOIA requests. See more use cases >>

Manufacturing: Extract specs from CAD files for supplier and production workflows. See more use cases >>

Final Quip: Your Files Should Work Harder Than You Do

If your content is just "stored" and not "working," you’re missing the point of ECM 2.0. It’s like hiring a whole team of employees who sit in the break room all day. With Adlib, your documents actually do the work.

Here’s the difference:

• Your invoices process themselves.
• Your claims route themselves.
• Your compliance requirements? Handled automatically.

So the next time someone asks you, "What’s the big deal about ECM 2.0?" just tell them this:

"It’s the difference between 'file it and forget it' and 'file it and fix it automatically'."

Want to see how it works in action? Let’s chat.