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What is OCR? OCR Technology Image

What is Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology?

What is OCR? Optical character recognition technology (often shortened to OCR technology) converts scans and PDFs into machine-readable text in seconds.

Often referred to as OCR, optical character recognition, or optical character recognition software, it streamlines workflows by eliminating the need for manual data entry. 

Whether you use an OCR API for integration or seek leading optical character recognition companies for enterprise solutions, this OCR technology enables quick digitisation, seamless retrieval, and easier management of vital information.

The basics of OCR Technology

What is OCR used for?

OCR technology is used to convert different kinds of images containing written text (typed or printed) into machine-readable text data.

Instead of retyping a written text manually, you can convert all the required materials into a digital format within several minutes using a scanner (or a digital camera) and OCR software.

When is OCR used in procurement?

In procurement, OCR is mainly used to scan and digitise information from, for example, printed invoices, purchase order confirmations etc. That means it is used to capture documents and incorporate data into the downstream systems.

How Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology Works

Step 1: Pre-processing the document image
Step 2: Character Recognition
Step 3: Post-processing the document image

Main disadvantages of OCR Technology

Expensive

OCR systems often require costly software licenses, specialised scanning hardware, and significant upfront investment — not to mention ongoing training and support.

Low accuracy, mistakes are likely

OCR struggles with layout variations, poor-quality scans, and unstructured data. The result? Inconsistent accuracy, frequent errors, and unreliable outputs.

Labour-intensive to correct mistakes

When OCR gets it wrong, someone has to manually check, correct, and re-enter the data — creating bottlenecks and reducing the value of automation.

Not all documents can be processed

OCR performs best with clean, structured documents — but falls apart when faced with complexity, variation, or semi-structured formats. That means many documents still need to be handled manually.

Comparing OCR Software vs. Netfira’s Approach

Unlike standard OCR software, Netfira’s AI-powered platform avoids error-prone text recognition and expensive scanning setups. It automatically extracts, checks, and delivers highly accurate data from any document type with no need for manual correction. In short, our OCR alternative (Intelligent Document Processing) provides efficiency, scalability, and seamless integration that surpasses traditional OCR.

 

 OCR Netfira Platform
Costs The software is expensive, special scanning hardware needed, training, materials and staffing costs SaaS solution: Minimal investment costs
Accuracy Low accuracy, mistakes are likely Very high data accuracy, hardly any errors through AI
Correcting errors Labour-intensive AI is capable of learning and is becoming more and more precise, check and correct discrepancies easily
Scope of application Only works with specific formats No restrictions, AI can also work with structured and unstructured data

Top OCR Companies & Solutions

Some examples of businesses that provide OCR services include:

  • ABBYY
  • Kofax
  • Tesseract
  • Microsoft Azure Computer vision
  • Amazon Textract
  • Netfira

There are many players in the market offering specialised OCR solutions for digitising and processing documents. From well-known enterprise vendors to cutting-edge startups, offerings can include integrated OCR software, robust OCR APIs, and machine-learning/AI integrations for more accurate working. 

While these OCR companies excel at basic text extraction, Netfira offers a next-generation alternative, automating the entire data capture process to deliver precision beyond traditional OCR alone.

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