A Closer Look at the Benefits of OCR Solutions

Originally posted on Nuance What’s Next Mar. 1, 2017

If your organization needs a better way to scan, convert and store high volumes of paper documents, learn how powerful OCR technology can help improve the process. And when you do, you’ll ensure that all files are searchable, editable and in a consistent format. All to save time and improve business processes.

Imagine having responsibility for the storage of tens of thousands of documents in a wide variety of formats — Word, Excel, TIF, PDF and many more. Additionally, these documents are embedded with images, tables and graphics and could be published in multiple languages, further adding to their complexity. Now imagine your responsibility isn’t just to store these documents, but to ensure they are easily accessible, searchable and editable for all of your organization’s employees, wherever they are located.

This scenario is not fictional; it’s real life for administrators working in financial services, insurance, healthcare and other industries that are driven by business-critical documents that must be protected, completely secured and compliant with even the most stringent requirements.

Converting and centralizing a handful of documents to a consistent format is one thing, but in many organizations like these, there are no less than tens of thousands of documents being served across the network at the same time, all of them requiring intensive security protection, precision accuracy and the right support to make sure they find their way into the correct workflows and repositories.

OCR Technology to the Rescue

An extremely effective solution for all of these challenges and goals is optical character recognition (OCR) technology. Specifically, powerful server-based OCR solutions that are designed for high-volume processing across large enterprise organizations and that can automate scanning and document-conversion processes on a 24/7 schedule. Moreover, these solutions work virtually unattended – a benefit that frees administrators and employees from time-consuming scanning and conversion tasks and enables them to focus on other valuable work.

The Benefits of Server-Based OCR Solutions Are Significant

Streamlined Processes & Improved Productivity

In organizations where employees are responsible for converting printed documents to searchable formats such as PDF to create records, OCR can make that capability available to them around the clock. It is even available in remote branches or to work-from-home employees over an intranet connection. And because OCR technology operates unattended, it ensures that employees remain productive as documents are converted automatically.

Business Accuracy

OCR technology is adept at handling a wide range of file types, ensuring accurate conversion of information that is critical to your business’ long-term success. Furthermore, OCR technology uses advanced layout retention technology and conversion to editable formats to accommodate and faithfully reproduce complexity within those documents, such as images, tables, graphics, and different languages for organizations operating globally.

Secure Processing

Administrators need to have confidence in the ability to maintain full control over the security and privacy standards that drive their business’ operations. OCR technology offers the flexibility to improve processing speed and workflows without sacrificing security requirements or challenging network privacy. Additionally, OCR helps organizations make their documents more contextually aware, which can be used to improve security and prevent the loss of confidential information.

The OCR Advantage

Good OCR technology is intuitive to employees who need to automate the process of converting documents and directing them where to go; no training required. The result is a robust and reliable document management system enriched with metadata to support indexing of searchable PDFs or conversion to editable formats like Microsoft Word and Excel as required.