Transcript
The OCR vendor assessment guide: 6 questions to ask.
Your product manager has added optical character recognition (OCR) or PDF transformation and output requirements to the wish list for your next product release. If your timeline and budget are set in stone, it’s time to build a short list of OCR and PDF technology vendors, test features and options, and make final recommendations.
Your specific industry may have different requirements, but ultimately all businesses share common concerns regarding data security and the safe exchange and storage of information. These topics— along with speed and accuracy—should be top-of-mind for your executive team.
Ask the following 6 questions to find the right OCR vendor for your solution: Question #1: How does licensing work? When selecting an OCR or digital document transformation solution, you must first consider whether the vendor uses a “click” or “page-based” approach. This can dramatically alter the cost structure for your business. In addition, consider these potential licensing questions and challenges:
• Is the product hardware or software based?
• Are there dongles?
• Is an external Internet connection required?
• Is there flexibility to expand the license with the business?
• What is the total cost of ownership?
If you don’t ask these questions, you risk selecting a solution that won’t meet your needs—or that will cost more than originally projected.
Question #2: How good is the organization behind the product? Due diligence will help you select the right product and vendor—and navigate challenges over the long-term. When surveying the field, consider these questions:
• How long has the solution provider been in business?
• What is the quality of their engineering and intellectual property?
• What is their reputation for sales and support with their customer base?
• Are they responsive when there’s a question or problem?
• How do top consulting firms rate the vendor?
• What is their commitment to innovation and updating their products?
•A re they simply repackaging someone else’s technology or using an older approach?
• How does their warranty compare?
•W ill the company likely be around in one, five or 10 years from now if there is a problem?
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Question #3: How accurate were the OCR results? OCR accuracy varies greatly among products and vendors. In some cases, OCR products do not recognize certain page formats or fonts well—or they may choke on foreign languages and multilingual needs. Others may have problems with business cards and specialized documents. Or they may run into difficulties with photos interspersed with text, or colored or textured backgrounds. Be sure a vendor’s product claims are accurate. Ask whether the vendor has supporting proof for data, and whether the tests were conducted for the same industry or the same types of documents.
Question #4: Was formatting preserved during the OCR process? A major frustration associated with OCR products is their inability to differentiate columns, tables and graphics. In some cases, the scanned text and images become a jumbled mess, and the resulting document becomes useless. In other cases, formatting gets jumbled, and lists, bullet points and sections become intermingled. While no OCR solution is perfect, major quality differences exist among products and vendors. That’s why you must determine how effectively a system works in different real-world scenarios. Can the solution detect columns, tables and graphics, and convert them to a digital document in a format (DOCX, XLSX, PDF) your organization requires? Can it handle the nuances of spacing and reproduce fonts effectively? Can it reduce pixel noise and other potential problems?
In the end, you need to ensure the OCR can reproduce a paper document in a useful digital format.
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Question #5: How long, on average, did it take to conduct OCR or document conversion on a document? The ideal OCR solution places a premium on both accuracy and speed. Yet results can be deceptive if testing isn’t conducted on the same file set. Ask vendors which equipment they used for testing, and whether the testing was done on devices that map to your business’ real-world scanning or OCR models. This may include complex documents or specialized needs, such as accessing files on smartphones or tablets. Finally, ask whether product flexibility will allow you to adjust accuracy and speed to achieve the best possible results.
Question #6: H ow does the output file size compare to the original file size? Even in today’s world of cloud storage and lower storage costs, output file size can still impact IT systems and the user experience. For example, you may need to email files or access them on mobile devices, even in areas with slow Internet connections. That could lead to long load times.
By asking a vendor the file size for different converted and scanned documents, you’ll get the information you need to make an informed choice.
Keep your eye on value. Once you’re ready to present final OCR vendor recommendations to your executive team, be sure to outline the benefits and build a business case for a solution. Your end goal is to achieve the best performance at the lowest cost. The business case may include an explanation of why it’s worth licensing an OCR engine rather than using a free or open-source product. A paid OCR solution typically offers numerous key benefits, including: improved OCR accuracy; faster performance; service and support; APIs that connect to existing business apps and workflows; and access to a development team dedicated to improving the product.
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Stay ahead of the competition If you’re ready to select an OCR vendor, consider learning more about Nuance® OmniPage® Capture SDK (Software Development Kit) or OmniPage Server. OmniPage Capture SDK is designed to provide easy and deep integration into software applications that run in any environment— whether it’s a desktop, server or in the cloud. In addition to outstanding conversion speed and best-in-class PDF management, OmniPage Capture SDK offers advanced tools, such as form recognition and document classification technologies, so you can bring your solution to the next level. Nuance integrates OmniPage OCR technology into all its imaging solutions, so you can employ that same leading technology in your own software. In addition, the OmniPage server offers complete configurability, with design options for Windows, Linux and Mac, right out of the box, along with mobile device image processing. The OmniPage Server product suite includes server applications, server API, folder watcher and web conversion client. All its user interface components are web-based. It offers a low cost and low effort for the highest performance, simplifying your developers’ jobs and providing the security and ongoing improvements that will give your executive team peace of mind.
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About Nuance Document Imaging Nuance Document Imaging provides the software solutions and expertise required by professionals and organizations to gain optimal control of their document output and information capture processes. The comprehensive suite of leading-edge solutions provides the opportunity to reduce the costs of cumbersome workflows and eliminate gaps across the lifecycle of their documents from origin to archiving. Nuance’s cross-platform compatibility provides seamless deployment across all MFPs, printers, desktops and mobile devices. With an intuitive user experience, Nuance delivers more efficient and natural interactions with the technologies used to create, print, scan and process documents securely.
Learn more about Nuance® OmniPage® Capture SDK. Visit online
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