Analogue to digital, instantly
Optical character recognition (OCR) software is a key weapon in the document process automation arsenal – it quickly converts scanned documents into readable, searchable, editable text, for the most useful type of document digitisation.
The best technologies can interpret printed, handwritten and typed analogue data into digital text, quickly. This opens up opportunities for automation, and efficiencies previously only in the realm of science fiction. With ID scanning, the process of identifying and registering people becomes almost instant, while there are a variety of applications for which the scanning of identifying numbers or text speeds up the process – from discount voucher codes to asset tags or serial numbers.
Checks and measures for improved processes
Image comparison technology can take any two images (whether photographs or drawings), and identify the differences between them – even slight modifications, such as the thickness of the lines drawn. This tool can be a particularly useful in a wide range of applications, such as when plans or blueprints are going through an iterative process of development, to inspect product for conformity during the manufacturing process, or when QA engineers are testing a UI before a digital product’s go-live.
Virtual housekeeping: an opportunity to save money
One of the biggest benefits of automation is to strip out the time and effort taken to perform simple, repetitive tasks. Document cleansing certainly comes under this heading – it would take a human being a lot of time, and no small measure of concentration, to review the digital documents saved in a particular folder, and delete any duplicates or unwanted drafts.
The time and effort expended in such a task are disproportionate to the benefit – to individual or departmental objectives, at least – so often this task does not get tackled, even on the smallest scale. However, there may be significant financial benefits when it comes to keeping your organisation’s virtual house in order, because the amount of server storage required has a direct impact on how much you’re paying for it.
To review the options for automating time-consuming elements of your organisation’s document-related workflow, and find out how much time and money you could save, speak to one of our expert advisers.