6 Benefits of Using OCR in Your Workplace
In this advanced era of technology, almost every work in the business world has become paperless. But there are still companies/organizations that rely on paper documents that are unreadable by computers. The document can be scanned copies or handwritten notes. And dealing with hard-form notes can lead to decreased productivity among employees.
The implementation of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can streamline this process by converting paperwork into text files. In this article, we are going to take a look at how OCR technology can help employees to increase their productivity in the workplace.
What is Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology?
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology that is used to convert text digitally from physical documents, such as scanned images and documents, into editable and searchable data. It is a type of technology that uses special software to recognize printed or handwritten characters in images and convert them into machine-readable text. OCR technology is particularly useful for digitizing large volumes of paper documents and making them accessible for search and use.
6 Benefits of Using OCR in Your Workplace
OCR technology has many benefits when it comes to increasing workplace productivity. Some of the major ones are discussed below:
1. Increased Accuracy:
One of the most common problems that companies face is human-errors in data. There is always a risk that your employee may misread some piece of data that will damage the reputation of the company. According to Raymond Panko,
“The likelihood of at least one error in a human-processed database is almost close to 100%”
But technologies like OCR do not make any mistakes. This technology will perform text extraction with maximum accuracy. Additionally, it is faster, and more accurate as compared to humans.
As a word of caution, the accuracy of OCR technology is reliant on the tool/software you choose. For example, a particular tool could have a shaky algorithm due to which it could provide inaccurate results. On the other hand, some tools could have a rock-solid functionality with no room for errors. A good example of the latter category is Image to Text. You can see how it works in the image below:
Source: https://www.imagetotext.info/
So, when your employees get accurate instructions and answers to their questions, then increased productivity is guaranteed.
2. Improved Productivity
Productivity is a crucial metric that all companies are concerned with. And productivity can be significantly increased by using OCR. Let us explain how.
As we mentioned above, OCR performs text extraction better than humans. Due to its fast speed, it doesn’t require breaks or experience lapses in concentration.
For example, with OCR taking care of your text extraction process, your employee can focus on other tasks.
Moreover, OCR technology helps to store data into databases, and operational workflows can be redefined. This will allow your workforce to get more things done in less time.
3. Low Cost
By reducing storage costs, companies save when they digitize their documents and other data. However, they will still need some paper and other office supplies, but the overall volume of consumable items that are used throughout the year will be greatly reduced.
OCR technology reduces overall costs inmultiple ways.
For example, rendering data in a machine-encoded format eliminates the need of spending money on printing machines, paper storage space, and shipping. Instead, OCR will allow your workforce to work on data that is purely in digital form.
4. Data Security
Paper-based documents are always at risk of loss or get damage. Whether the documents are destroyed or stolen, the critical information in them is purged forever. This potential risk can be handled with a digital solution (OCR). OCR technologyallows companies to digitize their records and crucial data.
Additionally, by storing crucial data on cloud servers, companies can prevent the risk of unauthorized access to paper files.
5. Time Saving
One of the key benefits of implementing OCR technology at your workplace is time-saving. Instead of filling out forms and sheets manually, your employees can take the help of OCR to make their data entry work quicker. A typical document containing about 300 to 500 words would take approximately 10 minutes for a person to manually copy. On the other hand, OCR can do this task in about 10 seconds.
According to Levvel LLC, using OCR technology can reduce the time spent on physical paperwork by 75%.
6. Improved Customer Experience
To understand this point better, let’s take the example of a retail store that has to process customer orders day in day out.
Without implementing OCR technology, the company will waste its staff’s time and energy on manually extracting order details. On the other hand, with OCR technology implemented, the company would quickly and efficiently process those order details. leaving their sales staff available to deal with customers and solve their issues.
In addition, OCR technology can also provide excellent data accessibility by allowing companies store and retrieve data efficiently. This will greatly reduce the time that a customer spends waiting for the information when reporting an inquiry.
Final Words
OCR is a powerful technology that can be used to increase workplace productivity and automate tedious manual processes. OCR can reduce the amount of time spent on manual data entry and document processing, allowing employees to focus on higher-value tasks. Additionally, OCR can be used to improve accuracy, security, and report generation. By leveraging the power of OCR, companies can increase workplace productivity and improve efficiency.
