7 OCR Case Studies Changing The Game Across Industries

Do you have stacks of paper documents piling up in your office? Now picture automatically scanning all these documents. It would be even more efficient to instantly transform them into editable, searchable digital versions. That is exactly what Optical Character Recognition does.

OCR is a cutting-edge technology that converts images of text into machine-readable data. It works both with printed papers and handwritten notes. This technology is speeding up operations by eradicating the need for manual data entry. It reduces errors, and speeds up processes across various industries.

Adobe Acrobat software is a great example of OCR in action. Businesses all over the world use its OCR function to turn scanned pages into editable and searchable PDFs. Solutions like Adobe allow information in contracts and other papers to be retrieved more easily. OCR makes processes simpler and reduces paper clutter. Let’s see some real examples of how companies are leveraging OCR to get ahead.

OCR in Retail: Next-Level Loyalty Programs

A big shopping mall introduced a revolutionary loyalty program. It rewards customers for scanning their shopping receipts. The system itself recognizes key information like store names, receipt numbers, dates, amounts, etc.

OCR eliminated manual data entry usage. The applications allowed for quick processing of up to 5,000 receipts per day. Implementation of OCR improved client satisfaction and operational effectiveness at an impressive 90% rate.

Healthcare Industry: Automation of Prescription Processing

A large eyewear chain had a common dilemma – writing out handwritten eyeglass prescriptions manually. It was both extremely time-consuming and error-prone.

The company automated the process of scanning prescriptions by implementing an AI-powered OCR system from Coherent Solutions. Today, employees are empowered to scan prescriptions using an iPad application. The system scans and verifies the information in real-time. Errors by humans were minimized and prescription processing speed was increased across 200 stores. The company is now expanding this OCR solution for online orders as well to simplify filling prescriptions further.

Financial Services: Speeding Up Invoice Processing

Manual processing of thousands of invoices is inefficient and error-ridden for financial institutions. A fintech firm used OCR technology to automate data extraction from invoices.

The results were groundbreaking:

• 40% reduction in processing time.
• 90% fewer errors in handling invoices.
• Significant cost savings through minimized manual intervention.

OCR boosted efficiency and accuracy by facilitating faster transactions and financial management.

Insurance Sector: Cutting Document Processing Time by 30%

A private insurance entity partnered with Innova Solutions to automate the policy processing. The firm made the decision to automate document capture in order to trim 30% off document retrieval time and policy renewal durations.

Despite images being captured from badly scanned documents, the OCR produced greater than 85% accuracy. Automation in this case allowed the company to scale its operation. Through OCR, they anticipated 2.5 times increased market share gain in the next two years.

Manufacturing: Processing 300,000 Invoices Annually

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel, a leading steel manufacturer, used OCR in combination with Robotic Process Automation to automate vendor invoice processing. The company benefited from:

• Automated processing of 300,000 invoices annually from over 10,500 suppliers.
• Faster and more precise payment to suppliers, delivering the maximum cash flow.

This OCR-driven transformation improved fiscal operations and made the company quicker and more economical.

Government: Digitizing 50 Million Pages for Better Data Management

The National Research Council embarked on a massive digitization project. They merged OCR and AI-powered data extraction. The project enabled:

• Accurate OCR on all document types lacking barcodes.
• Extraction of up to 20 metadata fields per document for improved organization and searchability.
• A scalable system adaptable to future data processing needs.

This project turned the NRC into a model for governmental data processing and reduced the reliance on manual processing.

Education: Reducing Administrative Workload in Universities

A Texas university employed OCR technology to automate processing of student forms. Previously, administrative staff had been sorting and categorizing such forms spending countless hours on manual work. With OCR now, all that was automated. That frees up staff to focus more on students and other core activities.

When You Might Need Optical Character Recognition

If your business handles great volumes of paper information, OCR could be the key to accuracy and efficiency. If you work in retail, healthcare, finance, insurance, manufacturing, government, or education, OCR can help you with:

• Removing laborious data entry and human error.
• Speeding up document retrieval and processing.
• Streamlining customer experiences by eliminating tedious processes.
• Growing operations via digital transformation.

OCR is especially useful if your business has business with:

• Invoices, contracts, or legal documents requiring data extraction and storage.
• Customer or employee files that require digitization for access and security.
• Handwritten forms, receipts, or prescription data requiring a long time to process manually.
• Regulatory compliance requirements requiring document digitization and searchability.

Nowadays, to be leading edge is all about automation and efficiency. OCR not only saves time and money, but it also allows companies to make informed business decisions from their data. From reducing internal workflow to customer experience through to business expansion, OCR is an investment worth making with tangible dividends.