We live in a digital world where everything is becoming digital. Most modern-day marketing, branding, documenting, and shopping processes are all done digitally.
However, it is also worth noticing that a vast amount of information held by various businesses established several decades ago is still managed physically.
The reason behind it is its availability in paper documents.
However, protecting and using such information takes time and effort, affecting productivity.
Hence, large-scale businesses are swiftly moving toward entirely digitized working environments.
These digitized working environments that help businesses save time and increase their productivity are made possible through Digital Asset Management (DAM) strategy.
A DAM strategy refers to the process of managing all the necessary data digitally using a central digital repository, commonly termed a server.
This digital asset management strategy has significantly reduced the cost, effort, and time required to manage information.
DAM is not only used by large business entities but also by libraries and public database services.
The main challenge faced by such entities while digitizing their data through the DAM strategy is the conversion of information preserved in the form of paper documents to digital material.
We know that technology has progressed a lot. AI (Artificial Intelligence) and its subsets, including Computer Vision and Machine Learning, can help us do it through the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) algorithm. OCR algorithm is commonly used for image to text conversion.
However, the main issue in this entire process is the effective implementation of OCR.
This article will discuss a few best practices to help you implement OCR in digital asset management effectively.
Further details are given below:
Plan OCR Implementation Strategically
Implementing OCR in digital asset management is easy and requires no planning. However, it is easier said than done.
Like any other process, you should have a proper plan to administer the entire process.
In addition, the plan you are preparing to implement OCR should be known to everyone involved in the process.
Doing so will help you keep everyone on the same page and avoid fatal mistakes that may result in the loss of highly confidential and valuable data.
You should also outline the requirements regarding the final product. For example, these requirements could be the format used to save digitized information.
The file format of digitized information depends highly on the type of data. For instance, if the digitized information only features text, then saving it in TXT or Word format will be great. However, if you plan to save visual data, Excel sheets, charts, and text information in the same files, then PDF will be fit for you.
Choose the Right OCR Tool
A mistake often made by entities working on digitizing their work environment through the implementation of OCR in DAM strategy is selecting the wrong tool.
It is often observed that such a mistake is often made by SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises).
Such entities are running short on budget and choose inefficient OCR tools for photo to text conversion.
However, this mistake leads to inaccurate results because of the inability of the tool to support a particular language or recognize a specific set of characters.
The best way to deal with the situation mentioned above is to find a highly efficient image to text converter capable of supporting multiple languages and character sets.
Using such a tool will help you achieve accuracy in the picture to text conversion process.
The good news is you can find a free tool for image to text conversion online easily.
Just ensure you have thoroughly analyzed the documents you plan to digitize through a particular OCR engine.
Doing so will help you become aware of the formatting, characters, and font styles. This know-how about documentation will help you choose the right tool.
Review the Accuracy of OCR Multiple Times
As we said earlier, image to text conversion and OCR implementation in digital asset management is easier said than done.
To ensure consistent accuracy throughout the picture to text conversion process, staying vigilant is a must.
It is only possible when you monitor the accuracy of the OCR tool from time to time and try to refine it using various practices.
Improving preprocessing techniques is a great way to refine the accuracy of the photo to text conversion process.
Your objective should be to ensure an optimum final product that is easier to read, process, and understand.
It is only possible when you have used all effective practices to review and refine the accuracy of OCR multiple times during the process.
Overlooking this practice will only lead to the emergence of problems after you are done with the image to text conversion.
Hence, analysis and validation of output generated by an OCR tool should be done periodically for optimum results.
Ensure Quality Images
As OCR implementation in any DAM strategy is done through the image to text conversion process, the quality of images used plays a crucial role in ensuring optimum results.
Overlooking the quality of images can lead to non-rectifiable mistakes. Some techniques can help you ensure the optimum quality of images effectively.
These techniques include noise reduction, contrast adjustment, and image resizing.
In addition, brightness configuration should be optimized to get the best results. The dpi (Dots Per Inch) value is crucial in providing optimum results. Generally, the optimum dpi value for medium-sized fonts is 300.
However, smaller fonts should be captured with values ranging from 400 to 600.
Finally, make sure the initial scan of documents is straight. It will help you make the image to text conversion process more accessible and accurate.
Conclusion!
Businesses ranging from large companies to small enterprises are trying to convert their working ecosystem into a digital work environment.
However, it is easier said than done. You will likely encounter multiple challenges while working on this project by implementing OCR in a digital asset management strategy.
We have discussed a few highly effective practices that will help you get optimum results from the said process.
Making these practices a part of your project will help you save time, effort, and budget effectively.
Moreover, you will be able to avoid plenty of mistakes. Hopefully, you will have plenty of takeaways from this article.
We wish you luck with the process of OCR implementation in Digital Asset Management!
