Unstructured data

Unstructured data is information that doesn't fit into neat rows and columns, like emails, chat messages, photos, PDFs, voice notes, and customer reviews. Most of what a small business knows lives here. Until recently it was hard to use, but AI is good at reading it. We work with a five-person online homewares store that typed about 60 supplier invoices a month into Xero. An AI helper (the industry calls it an agent) now reads each invoice from the inbox and drafts the bill in Xero, and the bookkeeper checks and approves them in one sitting a week. Overseas invoices in other currencies are still done by hand, because the AI helper doesn't get those right yet. Unstructured data turns useful once AI pulls the key details into a structured list.