Recognition To Improve Document Processing

According to a study conducted by the Aberdeen Group, 72% of received invoices are paper based, and it costs an average of $18.72 to process each one. This is an extraordinary amount of money to spend on a single invoice and businesses will soon see these figures adding up quickly over time. One of the ways business can reduce these processing figures is by employing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. OCR is helping businesses to save time and money by improve efficiency and reducing the amount of data entry required when processing documents such as invoices, faxes and emails.

So what is OCR? OCR can be defined as software which converts scanned images of printed or handwritten text into a form that can be recognised and easily processed. An OCR system enables you to extract important business data from a document, feed it directly into an electronic file, and then edit the file using a word processor or other software solution. OCR technology has made a huge impact on the way information is captured, stored, shared and edited. Prior to OCR, if someone wanted to turn a document into an electronic file, each page would have to be typed word for word.

With industry research showing that as much as 70% of all invoice processing costs is wrapped up in document handling and data entry processes, eliminating manual data entry from your organisation will drastically cut costs and improve business processes. Businesses can spend a lot of time, money and man power manually processing data and finding and retrieving lost or misplaced documents, but with an OCR system the stress of sorting through filing cabinets for hours on end will become a thing of the past. Instead businesses will quickly become accustomed to searching and retrieving a document within seconds, rather hours.

The benefits of utilising software like OCR go beyond time saving; there are all kinds of advantages, including:
• Reduced data entry costs
• Increased speed of data extraction
• Fewer errors in data, increasing data integrity
• Reduced processing times
• Easy and inexpensive to store and locate documents
• Digital copies can be saved in a wide range of available formats
• Multiple people can access the same document at the same time

Businesses can reduce the costs associated with filing, archiving and long term storage with a document management solution which includes OCR. You can also reduce the amount of paper and ink used to print documents. With 7.5% of documents being lost or misplaced, document management software, can provide additional security and user tracking to protect scanned documents.

With benefits like these, a business can improve efficiency within the workplace, allowing employees to concentrate on more strategic tasks; saving a lot of money in the process. OCR is a valuable piece of software which many businesses have benefited from and will continue to benefit from for years to come.

Documation is a leading provider of document-centric workflow and content management software. It delivers services and solutions to UK, European and global companies. By removing paper and manual processing from business operations, Documation help clients to reduce their costs, improve efficiency, maintain business control and maintain legal compliance.