What Is OCR?

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition, a technology used to convert data from physical documents into digital data that can be utilized.

For example, when your company has hundreds of invoices or customer records in physical or image form, OCR can read the text within those documents and transform it into digital data that can be searched, stored, and processed directly by a system.

As its full name suggests, Optical Character Recognition works by recognizing each character contained in a document or image. This recognition is performed by detecting the characteristics of each letter.

Why Is OCR Needed?

By using OCR, you can save time digitizing documents without having to do it manually. You can also reduce the risk of human error that may occur during manual digitization.

Using only a camera and an application, OCR can read and recognize text from an image, helping businesses to:

• Digitize physical documents.
• Automate the process of entering data into systems.
• Support data management, making data searching and analysis more efficient.

Processes that once took a significant amount of time can now be completed quickly, accurately, and at scale.

When Do You Need OCR?

OCR is not only useful for large-scale operations, but can also be considered when you begin facing the following situations:

• Your Company Still Enters Data Manually
  If your team is still inputting information from physical documents into systems, OCR can help reduce this repetitive work.
• Document Volume Continues to Increase
  As the number of documents that must be manually entered grows, the risk of human error also increases.
• Data Needs to Be Analyzed Faster
  When you still rely on manual methods to find and analyze data, OCR can optimize these tasks so you can focus on decision-making.