Intelligent character recognition is an influential technology that permits users to recognise and interpret printed or handwritten text in machine-learning form. It is immensely crucial in today’s advanced digital age where organizations must process large data accurately and quickly.
The market size of ICR was 11.8$ Billion in 2020 and is expected to reach 18.6$ Billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 9.5%.
This blog will cover all the aspects of ICR technology, its working principles and its benefits.
What is ICR Technology?
It’s an advanced form of OCR that uses advanced algorithms to investigate and interpret handwritten or printed characters. It helps users to understand the meaning and context of the document rather than simply identifying individual characters.
ICR can be used in different types of applications that include data entry, document scanning and form processing. It’s used to fetch information from handwritten documents like medical records or surveys and printed information like receipts or invoices.
Intelligent character recognition has various applications in different industries like healthcare, retail, education and customer service.
ICR Technology Benefits
ICR offers different types of benefits that are as follows:
Cost Savings:
By automating processing tasks and data entry, ICR supports companies by reducing their overhead costs and improving overall productivity.
Time Savings:
ICR has the potential to process large data instantly or effectively. It saves time and company resources as compared to the conventional way of data entry.
Improves Customer Experience:
ICR technology helps companies in processing information such as documents and forms more accurately and quickly which leads to better customer experience.
Improves Accuracy:
ICR has the potential to recognise printed and handwritten text that reduces errors, improves data quality and high degree of accuracy.
Working Principle of Intelligent Character Recognition(ICR) Technology
ICR uses a combination of image processing and machine learning algorithms techniques to interpret and recognise text. Here is a quick review of the ICR technology working principle.
Image Acquisition:
The primary step in the ICR process is to have an image of the form or document that needs to be processed. It can be done using a digital camera or a scanner.
Pre-Processing:
Then it pre-processes the image to remove any artifacts or noise that can interfere with the recognition procedure. It may involve adjusting the image contrast, brightness and also removing background noises.
Character Segmentation:
Then it segments images into individual characters that analyze and compares them to a predefined template set.
Character Recognition:
ICR technology uses machine learning algorithms to interpret and recognise characters by using several factors like handwriting context, style, font and size.
Verification Process:
At last, it verifies recognised texts and corrects errors. This involves manual verification by any employee or automated verification steps.
ICR Technology Uses
This blog will cover some important uses of ICR technology that are as follows:
Document Processing:
The most common ICR technology benefit is document processing as it can accurately and quickly identify handwritten text on documents or forms. Not only this, but it also has the potential to convert them into digital ones. It helps organizations that have excess paperwork like insurance and finance.
Healthcare
Healthcare industries also use ICR technology to analyze and process handwritten prescriptions, medical notes and patient records. It helps healthcare providers to access important patient information instantly and accurately. Moreover, it also improves patient care and reduces medical error risks.
Retail
ICR technology is very helpful in recognising and processing inventory labels, handwritten price tags and other important documents in the retail industry. It proves to be very helpful in keeping track of inventory more efficiently and ensures that pricing is up-to-date and accurate.
Customer Service
ICR technology helps organizations by quickly responding to consumer needs and recognising or processing customer service requests and handwritten feedback forms. Improves overall consumer experience and helps organizations to meet their user service goals.
Education
ICR technology can be used to interpret and read handwritten assignments or test papers in the education sector. It assists teachers in grading papers and gives timely feedback to students, overall improving the learning experience.
Key Takeaways
ICR technology is the most influential tool that helps companies in processing huge data on time and with accuracy. It automated data entry and processes tasks to reduce errors, improve efficiency and overall improve the consumer experience.
ICR technology has different applications in industries that include healthcare, customer service, retail, education and document processing. It has the ability to recognise and decode handwritten text that improves efficiency, improves overall customer experience, reduces errors and enhances user experience.
Just like tech is evolving, users can see more innovative ideas for ICR technology in future.
