What is the difference between Generic and Dedicated AI OCR Engine?

Everything you need to know about OCR engine

Technology is continuing to advance and businesses and consumers alike are becoming more and more technologically savvy. Because of this, it is increasingly more critical for businesses to adopt technologies and solutions that help them. These systems can help them better organize and process their information so they can better serve their customers. 

Businesses of all sizes and industries can benefit from software options that allow them to more effectively and efficiently manage their documents — such as accounts payable invoices or payment receipts. These solutions are often referred to as “document capture solutions” because they work to “capture” the data or other information stored in documents of various formats and help you convert all of that information into a format that is easier to analyze.

There are three main types of document data capturing methods. These are manual data entry, template-based OCR, and cognitive OCR. The first method, manual data entry, has been used for years by companies of all industries and is still to this day used to process almost 90% of invoices globally. Unfortunately, manual data entry can be incredibly time-consuming and it can also result in many costly mistakes due to mis-entered data or data entry errors. 

Because manual data entry relies on human workers to physically process all incoming and outgoing information, it can be difficult to ensure that all data being entered is 100% accurate. This is why, as technology advances, many businesses are continuing to see the value in adopting a data capture software solution — such as an OCR software solution.

There are many different OCR technology companies and software options available on the market today and it can be challenging to decide which one will be the best fit for your business. From open-source OCR software solutions to more comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) software solutions, there are a number of different software or platform options available. 

These are great options for when you are looking to improve your data processing capabilities. Unlike template-based OCR, Rossum AI uses cognitive OCR technology to better approximate human intelligence. This way, you do not have to worry about continually creating new rules and templates for your OCR system to continue functioning properly.

Best OCR engine

When you are considering new software implementation for your business, you likely want to ensure that the new solution will actually help make your business‘ internal processes more efficient. Essentially, you want to ensure that you are not going to be wasting your time and money on a resource that will not actually help you in the long run. As the amount of data and information businesses process each day continues to increase, a software solution that helps to streamline and automate data processing can be of use to businesses of all sizes and industries.

For this reason, there are a number of OCR engines, platforms, and software options that have been gaining popularity over the past years. Many of these options claim to be the best OCR online software solution. The truth is, however, that what may be the best solution for one business may not be the best for your business. Because of this, it is important to look at the features and tools a platform or software offers rather than simply a claim of being “the best.” 

Some popular examples are Pytesseract (the Python-Tesseract OCR solution) and Rossum AI (a cognitive OCR technology). These software solutions can use either template-based OCR or cognitive OCR technology. Template-based OCR solutions can be a step up from manual data entry, but the truth is that they also require a large amount of manual intervention to function properly. Every time data comes in a new or updated layout, your team will have to build new rules and templates for your OCR system to be able to accurately extract the valuable information. Cognitive OCR technology, on the other, does not have this pitfall.

Cognitive OCR solutions, like Rossum AI, use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to help them actually understand the data they are collecting — just like a human does. Rather than relying on templates or sets of rules, cognitive OCR software understands the data coming in and can work for any new number of layouts because it is not focused on the format of the document — instead it is focused on the information and content within it. This technology only gets better with time and will get more and more accurate the longer you use it. Additionally, cognitive OCR can help you to automate up to 98% of your data entry processes — which is a big upgrade from the up to 50% that you can automate when using a template-based OCR solution.

Open source OCR API

There are a number of optical character recognition (OCR) technologies available on the market today. The number of options is only likely to continue growing as more and more companies realize the incredible advantage of using a data entry software solution rather than relying on a traditional manual data entry system. However, because of this large number of options, it can be difficult to know which type of solution may be the best choice for your business. The first step to knowing which OCR system will be the best for you is knowing the differences between the many options available.

One type of OCR solution is open-source API software. Whether you are looking for the best OCR API or you are simply looking for options to compare the different types of solutions, an open-source solution will likely be one of the first options to come up. Now, you may be wondering, what is an “open-source API?” Well, open-source software is a code that has been made free and available to the public. This code can be manipulated and shared freely by anyone. 

These solutions can offer many different features and tools, but the truth is that they are often less effective than premium versions. “API” means application programming interface and this type of software allows other applications to communicate with each other. Essentially, it serves as a translator for two people who do not speak the same language. It allows two applications that usually would not be able to communicate and work together to do just that. 

OCR engine comparison

With so many different OCR technology options available to choose from today it can be difficult to decide which OCR engine will be the best solution for your company. As the amount of data that companies need to process increases, manual data entry processes are only slowing down efficiency and adding unnecessary costs to your business’s data processing systems. 

So, no matter the size of your company or the industry you are in, using an OCR engine can be an excellent way to speed up as well as reduce the overall cost of your data processing system. There are both free OCR engine solutions and premium solutions available today, and there are many options on the market for many different price points. No matter what cost range you are looking for with your OCR solution, there is likely going to be a tool or software option out there that meets your needs. 

If you are looking for an OCR engine open-source solution, there are a number of popular options, like Pytesseract, available for you to choose from. Pytesseract is an OCR engine (python-based) that is free to use for anyone and can be helpful in streamlining your data entry processes. Another extremely valuable software option is Rossum AI. Rather than using a template-based OCR technology to power its software, Rossum AI relies on artificial intelligence and machine learning to offer a cognitive OCR solution that can process data more efficiently and with much fewer manual corrections. And the best part is that the longer you use it, the better it gets! This cognitive OCR technology can reach up to 95% accuracy in just a month of regular usage.

Fastest OCR engine

Comparing all of the OCR engine solutions available on the market today can seem like an incredibly daunting task — especially as the demand for these software options continues to rise. However, finding an OCR accuracy comparison chart online can be an incredibly effective place to start your search. 

It is unlikely that there will be a comparison chart that offers details about every single option available for you to choose from, but you could look for any comparisons that directly detail some of the most popular OCR engines. For example, you may want to look for some comparisons that illustrate Rossum AI and Tesseract OCR accuracy. These are some popular OCR engines that can help to improve your overall data entry processes.

One thing to keep in mind during your search is what type of OCR solution you are looking for. There are two types of OCR technologies: template-based and cognitive. While a template-based OCR technology can be more effective than manual data processing, it still requires constant maintenance and you will have to continually be adding new rules and templates to your system in order for it to work effectively. A cognitive OCR solution, like Rossum AI, uses artificial intelligence technology — like deep learning, machine learning, and natural language processing — to actually understand the data it is processing. This allows you to much more easily gather information from unstructured or semi-structured documents (like emails, PDFs, and images). These documents generally house 80% of all of your business’s data and extracting information from these unstructured documents can be extremely difficult using a template-based OCR engine. Cognitive OCR engines can also automate up to 98% of tasks (as opposed to template-based solutions which can automate up to only 50% of tasks) and they can work 6-8x faster than traditional manual data entry.