We live in times of limitless possibilities. We can have more of everything, as well as turn work into pleasure, relying on modern technology and the conveniences it provides us. The same can be said about forms processing software that does the extraction of information from different types of documents. With the help of such IT solutions, work in the accounting department (and not only) will be optimized, and labor costs will also be saved.

What is useful to know about forms processing software?

Everyone knows how tedious and difficult it can be to process documents and especially extract key data from them. Such activities take time, make us feel bored, and the costs that the employer has to pay for human labor are not small at all. On the other hand, during the processing of forms with a specific structure, it is very possible to make technical errors that negatively affect the image of the company. Forms processing software is useful in many ways:

• just imagine how many fields and boxes can be on a form – such structural features are difficult for smart document applications to read, but Smart Soft’s will meet the challenge successfully;
• OCR is a great solution when office work involves processing forms such as job forms, surveys, claims and questionnaires and much more – the truth is that we live in a world in which we are daily flooded with various types of information, the synthesis of which is sometimes quite a complex task. In terms of work, the same can be said, but with software solutions such as OCR, data management will be easier and more enjoyable than ever;
• smart document solutions are easily combined with other programs, making them suitable for small and large companies, as well as for businesses with a different focus.

Nowadays forms processing software is even mandatory. It helps the business in so many ways that for some companies it is even unthinkable to function without its presence in the company structures. From Smart Soft offer great solutions in this category that will help you optimize your workflow and costs every month, and at the same time you will have a positive impact on your corporate image.

What types of forms the OCR can process?

Both in industrial sectors and in any other business field of activities, fixed documents are the type of document that is always used. They have a similar structure and contain certain fields and boxes where the necessary information can be entered. In most cases they have a “predictable” layout, but not so uniform as to cause no problems in information retrieval and processing. Here is more information on the topic:

• in order to get the most out of working with forms, it is even mandatory to implement software such as OCR in company structures. It is useful to know that the forms can be structured, semi-structured and unstructured – in each of these cases OCR software can be used, which will successfully cope with the extraction and processing of the information;
• as you might guess, structured and semi-structured forms are the easiest to intelligently process. These are all standard layout tests, insurance claims, tax documents, bills of lading, invoices and more. In all of them we find an easily predictable structure, which the application of OCR extremely effectively;
• however, the same cannot be said for unstructured documents, where information can vary dramatically from point to point in its placement and appearance. In this case the software relies on optical recognition (OCR) to successfully handle information retrieval.

Keep in mind that there is no clear structure for this type of forms – examples of such documents are reports, contracts and letters, all of which have a different format, for the recognition of which machine learning and NLP (natural language processing) are required.

What are the possible difficulties that can arise with forms processing software?

As with any other type of artificial intelligence and OCR, it is quite possible to encounter difficulties in extracting information from documents. One of the biggest challenges associated with forms processing software is the availability of a diverse approach specific to printing machines. It often happens that the problems are caused by the resolution levels, as well as in the divergence of the structure of documents with an expected uniform arrangement of fields in them.

Other difficulties with forms processing software are different markup methods, low image quality, different document layout options, which are identified as challenges in extracting information from forms. However, all these variations are not an insurmountable problem for OCR. It is also applicable to PDF and scanned documents, which increases its rating and makes it an even more indispensable tool in a world of diverse digital solutions. In conclusion, we will say that forms processing software from Smart Soft is capable of rationalizing the configuration process as much as possible, relying on its ability to “learn” continuously and improve its settings more and more.