The hidden tax on Maltese businesses:Manual document processing

Nick Camilleri, Managing Director, Avantech

Manual document processing is draining Maltese businesses of time and productivity. Nick Camilleri, Managing Director at Avantech, calls it a “hidden tax” companies can’t afford. With Scan2x, Avantech is helping businesses embrace AI-driven automation to cut costs, reduce errors, and stay competitive in Malta’s digital economy.

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When we think of business costs in Malta, the usual suspects are wages, rent, or energy bills. Yet there is another cost silently draining competitiveness: the tax of manual document processing. Across industries, employees spend countless hours typing invoice data, filing contracts, or sorting mail. It doesn’t appear on financial statements, but the productivity lost is enormous. For many businesses, this inefficiency is the hidden difference between agility and stagnation.

A silent drain on productivity

Manual processes are deceptively expensive. Accounts teams re-enter invoice line items that arrive in paper, PDF, or scan formats. Legal officers spend valuable time extracting dates and clauses from contracts. Mailrooms act as bottlenecks, with staff separating and forwarding physical or digital post by hand.

These tasks don’t just waste time. They increase the risk of errors, compliance issues, and missed opportunities. Meanwhile, skilled employees are tied up in paperwork instead of driving innovation, supporting clients, or closing deals. 

Why it matters for Malta

Malta’s ambition to be a digital innovation hub clashes with this analogue reality. Start-ups and SMEs already face challenges of scale; adding inefficient processes makes it even harder to compete. In regulated industries, compliance requirements add to the burden, often trapping talented staff in repetitive administrative tasks.

This inefficiency is a hidden tax Maltese businesses can no longer afford to pay.

The technology is here

The good news is that the solution already exists. Intelligent automation can now handle invoices, receipts, contracts, ID cards, and more — regardless of format.

With Scan2x, businesses can:

• Automatically classify paper and digital documents.

• Extract key data, including totals, dates, clauses, and signatures, without rigid templates.

• Integrate instantly with finance, CRM, or compliance systems.

• Maintain an audit trail for transparency and peace of mind.

With AI-driven recognition, even unseen document types and handwritten entries are processed seamlessly.

Time to rethink old habits

Why hasn’t every business embraced this? Often it comes down to culture: “We’ve always done it this way.” Yet, modern automation requires minimal configuration and delivers rapid returns. The real question is whether companies are willing to let inefficiency continue or if they will act now to unlock growth.

Manual document processing is not simply tedious. It is a hidden tax on Malta’s economy. Removing it is about more than saving time; it is about unleashing the potential of businesses and their people.

“At Avantech, we believe Maltese businesses deserve freedom from outdated manual processes. By embracing intelligent automation, companies can stop wasting talent on paperwork and start investing energy where it matters most — growth and innovation.” — Nick Camilleri, managing director, Avantech. 

This is also the conversation we’ll continue at Digital Transformation: The AI Effect on 26th November, where Malta’s IT leaders will explore how AI-driven automation can remove inefficiencies and unlock growth. Request your free demo of Scan2x today and see how much hidden tax your organisation could save.

See how much hidden tax your organisation could save. Visit us at www.scan2x.com to request your free demo and learn more.

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