Scanning software with optical character recognition (OCR) and data extraction can help you make informed business decisions

If your business has a document management plan, you know why digitizing your records is a good idea. What you may not know is that those records can also be an integral part of your business strategy. Your invoices, contracts, and similar documents contain a wealth of valuable information. The right scanning software helps you extract that information and turn it into actionable insights. You can also expect faster workflows and more accurate data capture.

There are a few steps between storing physical paperwork and making data-driven decisions. First, you’ll need to choose the best scanning software for your business. That means learning about useful features, such as optical character recognition (OCR) and data extraction. From there, you can develop fast, efficient workflows that make full use of the captured information. Powerful scanning software puts organized, accurate data at your disposal. You can use that data to make informed decisions about the future of your business. Here’s how to find the right tools to get started.

Scanning software features to look for

Before you can mine your business records for insights, you need to digitize them. Choose scanning software with a rich feature set. There are dozens of scanning solutions on the market, each with its own pros and cons. As you do your research, remember that you’ll want the following document capture features:

Optical character recognition (OCR)

OCR is an absolute necessity if you plan to digitize physical paperwork. By default, scanners capture documents as image files. Scanning software with OCR features can identify and isolate text in those documents. That way, you can edit and index text from the file on your computer. With OCR, you can copy and paste text from scanned documents, just as you would from computer-created documents.

Another benefit is that scanning software can use OCR to distinguish different types of documents. If you scan an invoice, for example, OCR can identify the vendor and transaction amount fields. Then, your software can apply relevant metadata tags and route the file appropriately.

Intelligent data extraction

Recognizing and digitizing text with OCR is a good start. However, you’re not saving much time if you then have to copy and paste that text one file at a time. Scanning software with intelligent data extraction can save you — and the rest of your company — a lot of time and effort. Intelligent data extraction works hand-in-hand with OCR to recognize important fields in scanned documents. These might include names, addresses, phone numbers, dates, or dollar amounts. A good scanning program can copy, or “extract,” this information directly into database software. This way, you get accurate, quantitative data as soon as you scan a document.

Did You Know?:RICOH PaperStream Capture Pro software can recognize text with OCR and digitize information with intelligent data extraction features. Click here to learn more.

How scanning software can improve your business

Between OCR and intelligent data extraction, you can create a rich digital database by scanning your business records. Just having this information on hand isn’t enough to improve your operations, though. To make meaningful improvements in your company, your staff will have to be proactive with your document scanner, your scanning software, and your extracted data.

Efficient workflows

Without effective scanning software, data extraction is a long, complicated, error-prone manual process. Suppose you want to digitize old customer records, but don’t have a document scanner or specialized software. An employee needs to create a digital form from scratch, then type each record up, one at a time. If a record has a dozen different fields, each transcription could take a few minutes. They might have to manually copy and paste this information into a separate database program.

The process looks completely different with a high-quality scanner and feature-rich scanning software. A worker can load a batch of 50 to 500 or more sheets of paper into an automatic document feeder (ADF). The scanner captures dozens or hundreds of records every minute. Scanning software with OCR and intelligent data extraction features can identify text and automatically add it to a database. While this happens, the worker can focus on more interesting and demanding assignments. Good scanning software saves time and money while automating rote busywork.

Accurate data

No matter how talented your employees are, they’re only human. If they have to digitize dozens or hundreds of records in a single day, they will eventually make mistakes. If you’re lucky, a staff member will spot the error and need a few minutes to fix it. If you’re unlucky, you may not notice until weeks, or months later, if at all. By that time, the original document may be long gone.

Now think about scanners and scanning software. They don’t get tired or lose focus, whether they’ve digitized one record or one thousand. What you see on the physical page is what you’ll get in the digital capture. A good piece of scanning software can name and route every file correctly. Scanning hardware and software are much more consistent than their human counterparts. Plus, automated document processing frees employees to do the jobs they were hired for.

Valuable insights

Once you’ve successfully extracted data from your records it’s time to evaluate it. Think about how much valuable information your physical paperwork contains. Your invoices tell you how much you’ve spent. Your financial reports tell you how much you’ve earned. Your employment contracts tell you how many people you’ve hired and how long they’ve stayed. Your customer records tell you where your patrons live and what they buy. You may even have valuable demographic information, such as race, sex, and age.

With digitized data, you can analyze trends in your cash flow, recruiting efforts, customer base, and more. Since good scanning software can organize all this information in a database, you won’t need to pore through hundreds or thousands of different records to find it. Depending on your analysis, you may find ways to save money or streamline workflows. Having this information on hand allows you to make smart, data-driven decisions for your business.

Did You Know?The RICOH fi-8170 can scan 70 pages per minute and has an ADF that holds 100 sheets of paper at a time. The device uses powerful PaperStream software to recognize and extract text from scanned documents. Click here to learn more.

Our recommendation: PaperStream Capture Pro

The right scanning software can do so much more than just capture documents. It can also automate workflows, ensure data accuracy, and help you shape the future of your business. That’s why Ricoh created the PaperStream Capture Pro software. This powerful program can identify text with OCR and intelligently extract that information for database software. PaperStream Capture Pro can also recognize different types of scanned files, then tag them with relevant metadata and route them to specified folders.

The software is compatible with most RICOH fi-Series scanners, including the versatile RICOH fi-8170. This intuitive device can scan 70 pages per minute, which means you could digitize thousands of records every workday. Click here to learn more or shop the rest of our production scanner line.

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