| Optical character recognition or OCR has gained | | | | glance OCR may seem to be a lot cheaper than |
| fame in the digital world as you can scan and | | | | data entry but if you will have to estimate a bulk |
| view anything electronically or do the reverse | | | | OCR project cost in contrast to massive data |
| action of having a document in digital format be | | | | entry project budget will all error corrections, you |
| converted to hard copies. Data entry, on the | | | | may realize that OCR system would cost you |
| other hand, is another popular trend in the age of | | | | more. |
| information but the process does not make a | | | | Error correction process is definitely more |
| greater impact to other people as this is not new | | | | accessible, affordable and convenient. Audio files |
| to the world computers. The question about | | | | and hard copy documents can be done easily by |
| which one is greater or highly functional or more | | | | data encoders. There are some cases wherein |
| reliable lies on how we handle information. | | | | data entry becomes the only solution to certain |
| OCR can be used in many digital formats and file | | | | information problems. Medical transcriptions, for |
| conversions. Data entry can be used in many | | | | instance, cannot executed by any OCR and |
| ways and there are special circumstances wherein | | | | scanning work. Audio files need medical |
| data operation can only solve a particular problem. | | | | transcriptionists to manually encode data from |
| So what are the pros and cons of using OCR in | | | | audio file to text or hard copy. Data entry also |
| information management? | | | | proves its higher capability and reliability in cases |
| OCR is best used for file conversions of digital | | | | such as data extractions and conversions of |
| formats to readable and printable hard copies. The | | | | mailing list. There are several levels of data |
| process involves scanning of different documents | | | | manipulation service that needs OCR intervention |
| and you can choose which format should you | | | | at the start but a higher percentage of data |
| convert your final output. Excel, Rich Text | | | | entry functions are needed in order to finish the |
| Formats, MS Word, Text, PDF and HTML are the | | | | data input process. |
| most common formats that OCR software | | | | So if you are asking which one is of greater |
| converts through a scanner. These converted | | | | importance which one is of greater importance |
| documents are easily manageable, editable and | | | | between OCR and data entry, the honest answer |
| affordable as compared to data entry. | | | | is that both of them are of equal significance. |
| However, there are some functions in document | | | | Functionalities and utility choices vary from each |
| processing systems that OCR cannot deal with | | | | type of information you need to obtain for a |
| and sometimes its counterpart can do is just | | | | more productive management or information for |
| much more effective and faster to execute. At a | | | | better results. |