OCR : what is it?

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a software by which any text in an image is transformed into an editable file.

When you scan a document, you are taking a picture of it. This results in an image in JPEG, TIFF, or PDF format. The text, which is therefore found on the document, is static. It cannot be changed since it is not strictly considered text but an image.

With the OCR system, it is possible to extract alphanumeric characters from an image and have a word processing document such as a Word or an Excel table.

How does it work?

OCR is a complex task that can be summarized as a simple process. Indeed, the program analyzes the structure of your document and divides the page into several distinct elements: images, tables, text, numbers, etc. It defines the lines first in words and then in characters. The system then recognizes each character and converts it to ASCII (American Standard Code for the Interchange of Information) text. In some cases, OCR can identify different types of fonts, characters, and handwriting.

OCR technology is helpful for automatically reading documents such as identity cards, certificates, and forms. Many companies are using it today. This system can “read” the content, extract structured data, and reprocess it for different purposes, such as validity checks. OCR is a real-time saver that avoids hours of unnecessary paperwork.

What are the benefits of OCR for my business?

OCR helps streamline processes and makes a document usable.

This process also allows you to validate that a document submitted by a user is the correct document from the right individual. Please search for a word within a document and automatically reprocess it into another document (such as a contract). In addition, you can integrate data extracted from the document into another program (accountant, CRM, ERP, GED, etc.).

The benefits of OCR in the onboarding process

OCR is one of the numerous features of CheckHub. Our users can easily set up validation rules based on the extracted data from a document. Thanks to this, CheckHub automatically checks if a document submitted by a customer is correct. If not, the system will notify the individual immediately and ask for another document. It also allows one to check the quality of documents’ pictures taken via a smartphone. All extracted data can also be used to prefill new documents such as forms, making it easier for your customers to fill them in in a second step.