The Evolution Of Capture And OCR — Is It All It's Cracked Up To Be

Much like the world's financial system, the optical character recognition (OCR) industry is in a stage of great change. The only difference is that this change will be fun to watch!

The most significant issue we are facing is the roll up of OCR companies by electronic content management (ECM) companies and OCR companies acquiring niche ECM players. The vendors have a goal of controlling the scanning process, and they are purchasing capture companies in their effort to complete the paper document life cycle. This merging has had and will continue to have a profound impact on the industry. In the past, customers would select the best-of-breed solutions to solve their business needs. Now, IT executives can evaluate capture hardware, software, and document management software, all from one vendor. One-stop shopping is not unusual and on the surface could save the customer money.