Dematerialization is an essential step in digital transformation. Businesses benefit from reducing their reliance on paper and using digital media to share information, take notes, create invoices and more. OCR or Optical Character Recognition is a key technology that helps everyone scan documents.
OCR technology helps convert image content into text, making the scanning process easier and faster. The combination of OCR and artificial intelligence now automates paperless work and automates the scanning process.
What is OCR technology and how does it work?
Optical character recognition converts the text image into a readable and editable text format. Using an OCR reader, we can scan a document, which can be a receipt, invoice, report, etc., in image format. OCR technology has limitations, for example that it cannot convert text into an editable format. The image content will be converted into plain text data.
The OCR conversion process begins with image acquisition, where the scanner obtains an image and converts it into binary data. The scanner will classify light areas as image background and dark areas as text.
It will then clean up the image and remove any errors to improve reading. Cleaning techniques used include:
- Recovery
- Stain removal
- Removal of boxes
- Script recognition
Then, with one of the two applicable algorithms, Pattern matching, and Feature Matching, the image will get its penultimate shape and content. Pattern matching involves matching each character (called a glyph) with the glyphs in the store to regenerate the image in its digital version.
Role of OCR in document scanning
New technologies and systems have continued to emerge as we progress through digital transformation. Several technologies are required to move from an era where everything was printed on paper to an era where paperless operations will become normal.
OCR is one of the technologies that can eliminate the tedious process of manual data entry and scanning. Here is how OCRs help speed up the document scanning process:
- A built-in spell checker will flag all errors and doubts present in the image before converting it into a readable format. Different programs have different spell-checking systems and databases; choose the one that can facilitate quick error correction.
- The OCR program that scans the paper document will perform a full analysis.
- It can also check the spelling of each sentence using MS Word features. It will simultaneously add new and complex scientific terms to its dictionary for greater relevance.
Next, an OCR program has a built-in system for optimizing multimedia data and information. This can improve quality by optimizing media with higher clarity and viewability.
Typically, in an OCR program, black and white line images are in artistic mode and they are saved in GIF and PNG format. However, black and white photographs are saved in GIF or JPEG format, and color photographs are saved in JPEG format. Businesses need to implement OCR infrastructure to reap the benefits of this technology.
Benefits of OCR for document scanning
The OCR process allows businesses to digitize all documents related to their operations and services. With digitized documents, businesses can benefit from increased security, accessibility and accuracy.