Digital accounting provider Taxfix made tax returns more efficient using robust document scanning
Taxfix – Tax Advice
A multi-national start-up company, located in Berlin and Madrid that offers a mobile application for completing tax returns
Industry
Tax & Accounting
Company size
200+ employees
Availability
iOS and Android
Development platform
React Native
Use case
Service application
Product
Goal
Taxfix wants to offer its users an intuitive digital tool to process tax returns efficiently. This goal requires the digital transmission of documents of high quality. Finding scanning functions that create flawless results is essential here.
Challenge
Submitting photos of the required documents does not provide the necessary quality to perform text recognition in the back-end successfully. To enable error-free processing by OCR programs, Taxfix needs a first-class document scanning solution integrated directly into their mobile app.
Solution
With the Scanbot SDK, the Taxfix team was able to integrate reliable scanning capabilities into their mobile app, thereby speeding up back-end processing, reducing costs, and improving usability.
Key Results
Shorter turnaround times
Frictionless back-end OCR processing
Reduced operational costs
Using the Cropping and Automatic page detection built by Scanbot, we save a tremendous amount of development time and have a great user experience.
The goal: Simplified tax returns for Taxfix’ users through implementing a customizable UI and an automatic cropping functionality
German Start-Up App “Taxfix” aims to offer users a convenient and straightforward way to get their tax returns done within a few minutes, giving them an easy-to-use tool that helps them get back the amount of money they are entitled to receive. This digital approach requires flawless technical assistance through a custom UI and auto-cropping.
To support companies such as “Taxfix” to reach their goals, Scanbot offers an easy-to-implement Scanner SDK with various functionalities that can be adjusted to a company’s specific needs. In this case, high-quality scans through excellent document detection, guiding the user to the perfect scanning position were absolutely necessary to replace the previously used expensive and inefficient Deep Learning Model.
With the smooth implementation of the Scanbot Scanner SDK, “Taxfix” was able to save a lot of time regarding app development and to create an enhanced user experience. Processing documents on the user’s device simplified complex backend structures and therefore lowered the costs significantly.
Users tend to prefer easy online solutions when it comes to tax returns
According to Elster, the number of German tax reports submitted online is constantly increasing. In 2017, 22.1 Million documents were submitted electronically; in 2019 the number rose to 23.8. Since interest in handling tax reports online grew, various applications dealing with this matter have been released.
Increasing the usability of a mobile application is an essential factor when adjusting digital workflows. Most users prefer an app with easy-to-use functions and a smooth workflow that does not cause any trouble. Today, customers don’t want to spend their free time on complicated processes within mobile apps, and they demand efficient digital solutions that fulfill their needs within a few minutes.
Taxfix’ workflow before implementing the Scanner Scanner SDK
This process was prone to mistakes since pictures were often too blurry or contained different background documents, interfering with the Deep Learning cropping algorithm. Additionally, Deep Learning was essential in this case, even though it is expensive regarding computing costs and required runtime. On top of that, improvements assigned to the algorithm also meant changes to the Deep Learning model, consuming additional amounts of time the “Taxfix” developers needed to dedicate to this workflow.
Scanbot’s solution
To streamline the customer experience, a Scanner SDK with an integrated user guidance feature was crucial. With the Scanbot SDK, Taxfix could take one of the final steps towards an error-free process of scanning documents and extracting text. Snapping a high-quality picture became possible with Scanbot’s intelligent document detection. It includes a guiding system that leads the customer into the perfect scanning position and, therefore, increases the resulting scan’s quality. This guarantees faster results regarding tax returns and finally leads to happier users.
The workflow after implementing the Scanbot SDK
By implementing the Scanbot Scanner SDK, Taxfix was able to:
Save a tremendous amount of development time
Increase user satisfaction
Simplify complex backend structures
Lower costs
Scanbot’s mission and vision
Originally, Scanbot wanted to scan everything: from simple barcodes to freight bills, medical certificates, and invoices – and now it can! There are endless ways this can make things easier for businesses and their customers. Our easy-to-integrate software simplifies workflows in document management, customer onboarding, sales, or HR.
Now, Scanbot applies machine learning to understand each individual document type. This opens up new usage scenarios, such as automated document workflows, and creates even more opportunities to connect and work with data in real-time.Besides, Scanbot highly values the security of its users’ sensitive data.
The Scanbot SDK works exclusively with on-device intelligence, which keeps documents safe from any external or man-in-the-middle attacks. No data is ever stored on Scanbot’s servers or any third-party servers, satisfying the highest data protection standards.
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