Optical character recognition technology, commonly referred to as OCR, is a powerful tool that’s exploding in popularity amongst many companies.
OCR is a “smart” digitized program that can extract text from digital photos, scanned images, or text from PDFs. Highly intelligent OCR technology is capable of even taking it a step further and inserting extracted text into editable file formats, such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word documents.
There are many organizational benefits of applying OCR technology in Toronto. We’ve highlighted what these benefits are, and how they can enable your business to be a cut above the rest.
How OCR Works
OCR technology in Toronto was developed to mimic how the human mind breaks down text, so the easiest way to understand how OCR technology works is through a direct comparison.
Although the precise mechanisms behind how our mind and eyes cooperate to comprehend text is unknown, there are generally three key components involved: integrity, purpose, and adaptability (IPA).
OCR systems will initially analyze the makeup of a document, and disassemble it into various elements, including paragraphs, images and charts. Any blocks of text will be further broken down into lines, individual words, and ultimately characters. Afterwords, the program will take its deconstructed characters and match them to its own bank of character images to rebuild its own version of the document. The individual characters that match will be transcribed to the new document. After repeating this process thousands of times and making several comparisons, the program will create a final translated document–which are usually spot on!
The Benefits of OCR Technology
Data Accuracy
OCR Technology in Toronto is designed to be extremely thorough throughout it’s analyzing, deciphering, and re-piercing processes. Considering that OCR technology makes thousands of comparisons before creating a final “translated” document, it usually results in extremely high accuracy levels. While humans can’t help but create typos, forget information, misfile or lose documents all together, OCR technology is designed to reduce these types of errors.
As a result, high-pressure industries like healthcare organizations rely on OCR technology to efficiently and accurately transfer documents to digital versions. Furthermore, OCR solutions can cut processing times by over 80%.
Cost Savings
There are a few forms of “cost savings” when it comes to OCR technology in Toronto, including time and cost savings.
Several processes that are traditionally completed through manual labour can be simplified or entirely eliminated by OCR technology. Some of these processes include printing, copying, maintaining and repairing office equipment and rewriting lost documents. OCR solutions are able to complete these tasks in a timely manner and free up working hours for employees to prioritize other work. The days of shuffling paper will be long gone!
OCR technology has the power to transform boxes of documents into neatly filed digital documents. This practice not only organizes important information, but it frees up precious office space! Organizations can save on costs by not having to purchase expensive filing systems and security for those systems.
Accessibility
By creating one database that’s efficient to navigate through, OCR solutions can maximize accessibility. Instead of having to come in to the office to work, employees can remotely access critical information from their mobile devices, including cell phones tablets and laptops!
For documents with restrictions, employers can simply password protect certain files so that only authorized users have access. Otherwise, many company-wide documents can easily be accessed without having to make multiple copies or having to track down the last person who had access to a document.
OCR technology can also make documents accessible to those that speak different languages. Many OCR program are able to not only digitally translate, but linguistically translate documents into different languages! For organizations with multiple locations globally, or just with different languages within a working space, OCR technology can quickly and accurately translate internal information.
By increasing accessibility, OCR technology holds the power to improve an organization’s productivity significantly.
Reduced Carbon Footprints
In recent years many organizations have shifted their processes to reduce emissions and carbon footprints. However, shifting processes doesn’t mean that businesses should have to sacrifice efficiency! Through OCR technology in Toronto, workplaces can avoid printing multiple documents do to errors or printer issues. Additionally, with combined vendor consolidation and OCR technology, many organizations will need less energy-guzzling machinery.
There are currently multiple industries using OCR technology to improve their services, including banking, legal, and healthcare organizations. OCR technology in Toronto can help businesses streamline processes, cut through the noise and increase organizational productivity across the board.
If you’re looking to ensure customer satisfaction, improve internal operations and ultimately take your organization to the next level, contact us today.
