Getty Images
7 advantages of OCR for data entry
OCR tools convert physical documents, like receipts and invoices, to machine-readable text. Advantages of this technology include improved enterprise search and customer service.
As organizations process and digitize thousands of paper documents every year, optical character recognition plays a central role in many digital strategies.
Before organizations had OCR tools, they often scanned paper documents and stored them as images. This approach benefited organizations, as it enabled corporate-wide document access, archival access and reduced physical storage requirements. Yet, it didn't let users extract or edit data within those documents. OCR, on the other hand, can convert image text into editable formats, add searchable layers to PDF files and extract external metadata.
Explore the advantages of OCR and discover how to implement the right digitization tools across an organization.
1. Improved content management
As OCR converts scanned files into machine-readable text documents, it lets content teams store and integrate those documents into content management systems. CMSes offer more efficient and user-friendly workflows than most paper-based processes and can improve access to, organization and categorization of documents.
2. Enhanced enterprise search
One of the biggest advantages of OCR is improved enterprise search. As OCR makes previously unsearchable documents full-text searchable, it increases accessibility for employees, partners and customers.
The tool can also extract external metadata fields, such as document type, author and date, which enhances enterprise search filters and helps users find content more easily.
3. Increased productivity
Organizations that don't use OCR can face productivity challenges, as employees spend significant portions of their days manually searching through PDF files and scanned documents, such as contracts and invoices. On the other hand, organizations that invest in OCR enable employees to quickly find documents and move on to the next task. Better productivity can directly improve an organization's bottom line.
Manual data entry can also make documents searchable, but it takes considerable time and often creates inaccuracies. OCR, while not perfect, eliminates human errors associated with manual input and saves time and labor costs.
Additionally, organizations can combine OCR with AI to automate processes that extract and use data from documents, such as invoice processing and client onboarding. This can speed up decision-making, because quick access to information can lead to more agile and informed business decisions.
4. Better customer service
OCR enables full-text search of scanned documents, so customer service reps can quickly retrieve information. This ability leads to faster and more efficient customer interactions and enhances the overall customer experience.
5. Improved scalability and flexibility
As content managers scale their OCR initiatives to meet current document flows, they can also design the initiative to manage larger-than-expected workflows. This practice supports enterprise growth.
Additionally, OCR's ability to extract external metadata helps organizations share information between multiple CMSes, databases and workflow management systems. This helps organizations ensure effective content management as they grow and adopt increasingly complex and integrated systems.
6. Access to AI tools
As AI continues to evolve, organizations will likely have an increasingly wide variety of web-based and on-premises AI tools that can understand their information, follow security requirements and offer the right information to employees and customers. OCR's ability to digitize text and make it machine readable helps organizations integrate their content with AI tools.
Although organizations often struggle to assign a dollar value to customer or employee satisfaction, content that's available when people need it, such as answering questions that people might not know how to ask, can create a wow-factor that retains key employees and customers.
7. Enhanced accuracy and content value
When organizations conduct digitization projects, they often use the organizational structure of their paper documents to create file names and metadata. This approach can make the transition period easier, as it offers a familiar framework. However, paper-based file systems typically contain more human errors and inconsistencies -- such as outdated metadata -- compared to digital systems, where automation tools enforce standardized processes and naming conventions.
Modern OCR tools enhance accuracy as they recognize text across thousands of document pages more effectively than human typists. OCR can then make that text available as full-text layers in PDF documents, in editable formats, as external metadata in CMSes or as input to enterprise search. This makes information more accessible and valuable.
Content managers can also configure OCR to convert unstructured data in paper documents into structured data in databases for analysis. This process can enable organizations to gain valuable insights from previously inaccessible text sources.
Key takeaways
Content managers who want to launch digitization projects should always consider OCR, because it can improve accessibility, accuracy and employee productivity.
The specific advantages of OCR can vary depending on an organization's needs. For instance, some organizations might focus on content management and enterprise search, whereas others might use OCR to enhance customer service. Regardless, OCR can help content managers achieve ROI on their digitization projects.
Jordan Jones is a writer versed in enterprise content management, component content management, web content management and video-on-demand technologies.
