From the earliest optical character recognition (OCR) machines reading only one character per minute, to contemporary software recognizing more than 10,000 characters, OCR solutions have certainly come a long way!
Optical character recognition, often termed optical character reader, entails the mechanical or electronic conversion of typed, printed, or handwritten characters into machine-encoded text. These can be obtained from a scanned document, a document’s image, or subtitle text superimposed on a graphic. The increasing number of OCR solution developers in advanced technology and the rising importance of document protection play an essential role in fueling the demand for optical character recognition, thereby augmenting its market growth over the upcoming years.
Aligning with this, as per Inkwood Research, the global optical character recognition market is set to progress with a CAGR of 15.74% over the forecasted period of 2022 to 2030.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Composition
Optical character recognition systems comprise an amalgamation of software and hardware utilized to convert physical documents to a machine-readable script. While hardware, including a specialized circuit board or scanner, is used to read or copy text, software generally deals with advanced processing.
Also, various software can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for the implementation of advanced modes of intelligent character recognition (ICR), such as recognizing styles of handwriting or even languages. In view of the segmentation analysis, Inkwood Research’s assessment suggests that the software segment, under the component category, is set to dominate the global optical character recognition market.
In this regard, Hyland Software Inc, a United States-based software company, launched a PII Compliance Solution in 2020 that employs OCR technology. Utilizing the functionality of intelligent document redaction to automate redaction processes, these developments further contribute to North America capturing the greatest market share of 35.29% in 2021.
Growing Need for Optical Character Recognition in BFSI
Financial organizations, such as banks, continually generate new records for clients and conduct fresh transactions, leading to a significant number of paper records. However, the ever-increasing records may become a critical source of concern for banks. With optical character recognition, financial institutions can monitor and evaluate information, including a plethora of client data such as personal as well as security information. This aspect not only helps improve overall performance and profitability but also plays an essential role in positioning BFSI as the fastest-growing and dominating industry over the forecast period.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR): Asia-Pacific Encompasses Tremendous Potential
In Asia-Pacific, optical character recognition is an emergent technology in developing countries for numerous BFSI avenues dealing with multiple application forms, including life insurance companies. For instance, in nations such as China, Japan, and Vietnam, OCR has greatly expedited the digitization of vouchers and other crucial documents, as well. Additionally, these are the notable growth drivers of the Asia-Pacific optical character recognition market, expected to record the highest CAGR of 17.08% by 2030.
However, despite the promising results, paper-based documentation, processing, and storage continue to remain the mainstream in neighboring Southeast Asian Nations, a factor likely to hinder the market growth of the region. In order to overcome such limitations, leading players such as Microsoft Corporation, IntSig Information Co Ltd, and Adobe Systems Inc are developing innovative products catering to the region’s BFSI industry.
For example, IntSig Information’s Bank Card Recognition offers smart bank card recognition, capable of reading the card number, expiry date, as well as account details. Owing to its advantages, the solution is widely being used in verticals such as banking, securities, and insurance.
End-Users Promise Lucrative Growth Prospects
As per our analysis, the prominent end-users of optical character recognition (OCR) are Business-to-business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) applications. Business-to-business (B2B) applications are typically developed in order to streamline business operations, abridge complex corporate processes, and accomplish specific industry needs. Conversely, business-to-consumer (B2C) applications help businesses deliver round-the-clock customer support. Through this, companies can offer timely as well as satisfactory responses to customer queries and provide adequate assistance. Moreover, this factor also enables businesses to build long-term relationships with their customers.
The implementation of optical character recognition for business-to-business end-users entails the collection of customer information, entering the identity document into the system, and subsequently extracting customer information from the document within seconds.
OCR solutions can accurately extract information from structured documents following a standard template, including government-issued documents such as passports and licenses, among others. Therefore, businesses can dramatically minimize errors occurring due to manual data entry. Besides, OCR systems can also extract nformation from unstructured documents that do not follow a standard format, like images, PDFs, handwritten documents, and others. As a result, business-to-business (B2B) applications offer tremendous growth opportunities for optical character recognition.
Furthermore, automated data accumulation, as well as processing, helps companies accelerate their operations and ultimately boost business revenue. In addition, the robust data collection process, further augmented with the use of optical character recognition solutions, consequently improves business productivity, as well. Besides, this factor plays a pivotal role in increasing the demand for OCR solutions globally, thereby contributing to the global optical character recognition market growth.
FAQs:
What are the key industries analyzed in the global optical character recognition market study?
BFSI, healthcare, transport and logistics, manufacturing, retail, government, education, IT & telecom, and others, are the key industries studied in the global optical character recognition market report.
Which is the fastest-growing country in the North America optical character recognition market?
Canada is the fastest-growing country in the North America optical character recognition market.