Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Optical character recognition (OCR) uses pattern recognition technology and intelligent software to “read” information as documents are scanned and converted into digital formats. OCR enables computer systems to interpret typed, handwritten, and printed text within paper documents, images, and PDFs.
Typical Use Cases
OCR systems typically are used to scan business documents such as invoices, bank statements, receipts, order forms, and loan applications. OCR systems can interpret lines of text and can be trained to recognize specific fields within a document and to extract data from those fields.
Utilizing machine learning tools, OCR systems can improve their accuracy over time.
Once a document has been converted into a machine-readable form, it can be:
- Searched, edited, and incorporated into a web page
- Routed as part of a workflow process
- Compressed it into a ZIP file to optimize storage space
- Mined for information
- Read aloud by a speech synthesizer
Business Applications for OCR:
- Account and Finance
- Invoice Processing
- Remittance Processing
- Mail Room Automation
- Claims Processing
- Mobile Capture
- New Account Opening/Customer Onboarding
- Mortgage Origination and Servicing