Good OCR software: 7 frequently asked questions and answers

Automating your accounting is done with good OCR software. A solid OCR solution takes a lot of boring, repetitive work off your hands, leaving you more time for challenging tasks. That’s why you’re looking for a scanning and recognition solution that will save you time and work much more efficiently. But it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. The technical terms fly around your ears, making it no easy task to determine which OCR solution best suits your organization’s needs. Where do you find the answers you are looking for? To get you started, in this blog we list 7 frequently asked questions (and answers) regarding good OCR software!

1. What is OCR?

The abbreviation “OCR” stands for Optical Character Recognition. OCR software reads and recognizes the information on a PDF document and converts it to a fully digital file (XML or UBL). If it is an invoice, this file is used in your financial accounting system to create an entry.

Roughly speaking, you can divide OCR software into 3 categories:

Free OCR software: sounds enticing, but you won’t get much use out of it. Once the text is extracted from the document, you have to search for the document data yourself in the textual “mess. This task is as time-consuming and error-prone as overtyping.
Regular OCR software: saves time through the scanning and recognition process, but often requires manual template creation and maintenance. This is quite a lot of work, especially when you receive different types of documents.
Smart OCR software: works on the basis of freeform recognition, which means you don’t have to create templates. The software recognizes document data automatically and is self-learning, so recognition will only get even better over time.

2. What does good OCR software do for me?

Suppose a pdf invoice arrives in your invoice mailbox. Good OCR software reads these and recognizes the invoice data, and then the system creates a booking proposal. All you have to do is check this. If you work with a smart OCR solution, you will benefit from a high recognition rate as well as the knowledge of the user community. As a result, the vast majority of invoice dates are recognized correctly at once. And if for once the software does not recognize certain data immediately, you can indicate this with a simple mouse click. You only have to do that once – the self-learning system instantly remembers the correction for all subsequent times.

In short, there is no typing involved for you. Often you spend a maximum of only half a minute checking the invoice!

3. Why should I use OCR software?

Simple: you save an awful lot of time and work less error-prone. After all, by reducing repetitive, manual work, you no longer make typos.

If you use good OCR software, you have room to take on other, more challenging work. This will make your work more diverse and make you happier in work and life.

4. What can I expect from automatic recognition?

First of all, good OCR software takes many monotonous tasks off your hands: input work is a thing of the past and you get a more controlling role. In addition, the software must interface with your ERP package. A
link
ensures that the digital file is loaded into your financial accounting system after booking. As a result, you hardly notice that you are working with 2 different systems!

5. What is the future of OCR?

Organizations are increasingly moving toward
paperless working
. In the future, document recognition and processing will be entirely digital. As part of this,
digital invoice processing
most likely begin to fully integrate with ERP systems.

In addition, good OCR software will recognize not only purchase invoices, but all incoming documents. Consider service reports, work orders and hr documents.

6. Is OCR software right for our organization?

Good OCR software is not just for multinational companies. In fact, you can always gain from it, regardless of the size of your organization. After all, who doesn’t benefit from time savings, an efficiency boost and reduced error proneness?

The bottom line is that your investment in OCR software will pay off. You can, if you
the right variant
choose. If your organization is small and you don’t process that many purchase invoices on an annual basis, choose a basic model with low entry costs. That way you can be sure your investment will pay off.

7. What conditions does a reliable OCR software vendor meet?

A good, reliable supplier offers:

Smart OCR software
.
An OCR solution that interfaces excellently with your ERP system (tip: check for good partnerships with ERP vendors).
A variant that balances the costs and benefits for your organization so that the OCR software really benefits you.
Expertise in the industry you operate in, which means the vendor speaks your language.
A future-proof solution by developing our own software as well as by continuous development.
Experience and references (tip: ask for a reference visit or read customer case studies to find out how other organizations experience working with the OCR solution).
A consultant who thinks with you during the implementation phase about the best ways to save time, work more efficiently and save costs.