The digitalization of business means that more and more documents are handled electronically. This of course requires their entry into the appropriate system, which usually involves scanning.
This is facilitated by OCR, or optical text recognition technology. What exactly is it? What is the use of OCR? The answers to these and other questions can be found in this article.
What is OCR and what is it used for?
OCR technology is a solution that many companies use. However, not everyone still knows what exactly it is, as evidenced by the popularity of searching the Internet for the phrase: OCR what to.
Therefore, it is worth being aware that optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology that automatically recognizes characters in graphic files, printed files, as well as in handwritten documents.
As a result, it significantly facilitates their scanning and digitization, thus streamlining office activities in the company.
What is OCR software used for? Well, in short, it allows you to convert a scanned image into text that will be recognizable to the computer.
As a result, it will be possible to edit it exactly on the same principles as if it were a document prepared on a computer.
Optical recognition of documents therefore facilitates their digitization, and the accuracy of reading scanned files can be increased by using ready-made forms and templates, or special types of writing.
Where can OCR be used?
The OCR program is a solution that works in all companies that handle many documents by entering them into computer systems. As a result, this technology is used in many different industries, as exemplified by the insurance, banking, and energy sectors.
OCR software can easily be considered irreplaceable in those companies that have implemented electronic document circulation (EOD). It allows for even faster entry of documents into the system, while maintaining the highest possible quality.
Importantly, the use of OCR facilitates the work of not only the people responsible for scanning documents, but also the employees responsible for their handling.
Data from invoices can automatically be found in the system, which speeds up the work of the entire accounting department.
In addition, OCR technology is perfect for archiving, because entering documents read by a computer into the archive significantly facilitates their later search (e.g. specific entries in the content).
Using OCR tools in practice
Analysts estimate that in the coming years, even decades, the desire to implement OCR tools in companies will continue to grow. The latest software is characterized by an efficiency of 97-99% at the page level.
These applications are able to identify not only text, but also mathematical or chemical formulas. Optical text recognition technology is used in many industries and at various levels of the organization.
With the help of the OCR-supported PDF program such as SwifDoo PDF, you can automate your PDF workflow. This issue is especially relevant for companies that work with a huge amount of paper documents. Employees can gain time for more productive and profitable tasks.
AI enables streamlining the process of document flow in the company and invoice processing. This allows to minimize the risk of lost documents, human errors or delays in payments.
Any contracts, agreements, invoices and forms can be converted into an editable text file. Users of the SwifDoo PDF also gain the option of easy, intelligent PDF document search and accounting and financial information.
The PDF program also works as a smooth PDF converter, which supports convert PDF to DWG, PDF to Word, PDF to HTML, among many others.
Benefits of OCR in the company
The growing popularity of the OCR system is the result of the numerous advantages of this technology.
Among them, the following should be mentioned:
Time savings, because the OCR program significantly speeds up the scanning of documents or entering data from paper into the computer. The increase in efficiency translates into reduced costs and the release of employees’ time;
The ability to edit the scanned image, because the OCR system allows you to work on the scanned document in exactly the same way as if it was prepared on a computer;
High quality of read data, thanks to which the use of OCR allows to reduce the number of errors occurring when entering data into computer systems. Importantly, OCR technology also recognizes written characters, which allows to digitize also handwritten documents;
Variety of applications, because the OCR program can be used not only when entering invoices, but also any paper documentation.
Summary
In conclusion, it should be stated that optical character recognition is a technology that significantly facilitates document scanning and their handling in digital form.
The OCR program allows for reading scanned images in the form of computer text, which can be freely edited or automatically sent to other systems. As a result, it works perfectly as a system supporting electronic document circulation in a company.
