What is OCR technology?
OCR technology is key to facilitating tasks and saving time in many areas, starting with the digitization of documents.
In addition, it solves the deficiencies of the scanned documents. After all, why do we want to scan documents if we cannot edit them or search for specific data?
But what does this technology mean?
OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition , OCR technology is capable of extracting printed text in images and documents, and converting it to digital format (of course, editable) .
Specifically, the extracted data is processed, making it manageable and allowing us to make: corrections, copy and paste, content search, etc.
In a matter of seconds, OCR technologies streamline tasks that manually would require hours and some precision to type (and transcribe correctly).
⚠️⚠️⚠️ By the way…
We speak of “technologies” because there is no standard. There are as many technologies as individual or companies developing OCR, hence their accuracy and performance vary from one to another.
If you want to know more about our OCR technology, contact us here .
This is how OCR technology works
OCR technologies are based on optical character recognition, that is, they are capable of recognizing letters, numbers, symbols, etc. in various types of media and formats.
In order to capture and extract information, prior work is required: the system has to internalize the data in advance. For this reason, it is necessary to carry out a system training during which the characters that the technology will recognize are stored .
Once this exercise of learning and accumulating characters in a database has been carried out, the system is capable of analyzing documents and images, pixel by pixel and finding characters, numbers, symbols, etc. that match the ones the system has stored.
Like the technologies of facial recognition, OCR makes a match between new and existing data. That is, it searches for matches with the information it has to be able to extract and read documents.
What is it used for? Uses and industries
OCR technology is linked to digitization and its uses are as broad as data that can be transformed into digital format, starting with barcodes, invoices, delivery notes, etc.
Some of the most common uses are:
- Digitization of documentation and books
- Identification of information
- Filling of forms in solutions during digital onboarding processes
- Real-time translations
- License plates, signage, barcodes, etc. reading
In terms of industries and sectors, it can be said that OCR has a place in the majority. Especially if companies pre-date the internet age, as that means they have a lot of documentation to digitize.
However, it is key the use and potential of OCR in public administration. The amount of files and documentation still unclassified and digitized throughout the world is not quantifiable. And also due to the transition to the online transactions and operations.
The legal sector, the insurance sector and the banking sector are also large consumers of OCR technology. And although they eliminate manual and repetitive tasks every day, these are still sectors made up of largely paper-based companies.
The healthcare industry, the food industry and tourism also benefit greatly from OCR software technology, as it allows them to store records and streamline controls that, performed manually, involve a lot of human resources.
Benefits of the optical character recognition system
There is no doubt that OCR technology stands out because solves the tedious task of having to transcribe documents, in addition to its speed and simplicity (actually, the user doesn’t have to do anything).
Let’s review the reasons why companies should rely on this technology:
- Removes the need to manually transcribe documents
- Information processing is instantaneous
- Makes documents editable and accessible through search. Also, OCR documents are more accessible to people with hearing or visual impairments. Although it is not a tool as such, combined with others, it allows synthesizing data in the form of braille or audio
- Eliminates costs associated with physical storage
- Reduces errors and is accurate
OCR for Alice Onboarding
OCR technologies stand out for their flexibility, which allows us to integrate them with other solutions, such as identity verification (identity verification solutions are made up of different technologies).
At Alice, we have developed our own OCR technology to extract the information from the identity documents of the users to be verified.
Currently, an identity verification involves validating sensitive information remotely (name, nationality, etc.) and automatically and instantly.
Our OCR automatically extracts all this data so that the end user does not have to waste time filling in the necessary forms.
We improve identity verification processes by automating the manual work involved in completing registration requests, this allows us to:
- Accelerate the verification processes of our clients
- Guarantee an identity extraction of the data regardless of its format, size, etc.
- Improve the accuracy of our service (we have 100% control over any development)
- Save resources, both human and material (the physical space required by physical files is reduced)
If you want to know more about our OCR technology: