Small businesses face unique challenges that can slow down growth
Small businesses often have limited financial resources and staff, making efficient margin management crucial for long-term success. Manual data entry and document processing take a lot of time, are prone to errors, and can pile up, leading to more mistakes when rushed. Moreover, small businesses deal with complex supplier relationships. Keeping good relationships with vendors is key, but managing financial operations with them can be tough and time-consuming. Finding effective solutions is necessary to streamline these tasks and ensure smooth operations. By adopting OCR tools, SMBs can turn these challenges into manageable tasks, allowing them to focus more on growth and efficiency.
What is OCR technology?
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a technology that converts scanned or photographed invoices into easy accessible formats, enabling automated invoice processing. It accurately captures crucial invoice data such as supplier name, total amount, taxes, due date, supplier payment details, invoice number, and invoice date, among other details. OCR software can recognise text in a variety of fonts and languages, making it an incredibly versatile tool for businesses.
What to pay attention to when choosing an OCR solution
- Pricing and Value: OCR software can be offered as a one-time purchase or as a subscription service, and prices can vary widely depending on the features and capabilities offered. Evaluate all costs involved, including setup fees and ongoing subscription charges and ensure the pricing fits your budget and offers good value for the features provided.
- Integration Options: The solution should integrate with your existing ERP/CRM/SRM or accounting systems, enabling a truly seamless invoice ocr processing workflow from start to finish. Plus, mail integration can help with a smooth transition to oc processing.
- Security and Compliance: Ensure the software meets stringent security standards and compliance regulations to protect sensitive financial data against unauthorized access.
- Scalability and Customization: Look for software that allows you to customize data fields, recognition parameters and output formats. The ability to configure workflows, approval hierarchies, and reporting is key.
- OCR Accuracy: Modern Optical Character Recognition, combined with machine learning, can work with more complex invoices or low-quality images. The software is capable of successfully extracting data from invoices, such as vendor name, invoice number, dates, line items, and totals.
Top 5 Invoice OCR tools
1. TurboDoc
TurboDoc is an optical character recognition tool offering automated invoice and receipt processing using AI. By using our tool, you can save time and focus more on other areas critical to the business. TurboDoc is powered by an advanced AI model trained on a large corpus of documents, ensuring high accuracy.
TurboDoc’s dashboard: invoices are being imported automatically from Gmail mailbox
Benefits of choosing TurboDoc as Invoice OCR solution
TurboDoc simplifies invoice processing with its rapid and precise data extraction. Invoices come in all kinds of different formats and processing each invoice requires full-time departments. By integrating our solution, businesses can reclaim valuable time and eliminate the risks associated with manual processing errors.
Easily integrate TurboDoc OCR into your existing workflow through Gmail
TurboDoc can provide a smooth transition to invoice ocr processing through Gmail integration, delivering scalability and adaptability as your business evolves. We are currently working on compatibility options using accounting software APIs. Our product will seamlessly integrate into your current accounting processes and ERP/CRM/SRM systems. TurboDoc will boost accuracy, efficiency, and productivity, making it a valuable tool for businesses looking to optimize their financial operations.
TurboDoc prioritizes data security and compliance
Our platform protects your data from unauthorized access. You can trust that your confidential information is handled with the utmost care and in compliance with relevant regulations by choosing TurboDoc. You can find more details about it in our Privacy Policy section.
Pricing
- Simple – $6/month
- Pro – $30/month
- Self-hosting – Ad-hoc
2. SparkReceipt
SparkReceipt is a modern receipt scanner and expense tracker designed for freelancers and small businesses. With AI integration, SparkReceipt extracts key details like vendor, total, and taxes from receipts, streamlining expense tracking. It’s ideal for pre-accounting, allowing easy organization of receipts, documents, and income records, which can then be shared with an accountant in just a few clicks.
SparkReceipt promo illustration (credits: sparkreceipt.com)
Pros
- Works in all languages and supports over 150 currencies
- Automatic categorization of expenses using AI
- Scans and extracts key receipt details such as vendor and taxes in seconds
- Supports multiple tax systems like VAT, HST, and GST
Cons
- Limited offline functionality
- No support for bank account or credit card integration
- Only integrates with QuickBooks for accounting software
Pricing
- Free plan: 15 scans per month with unlimited data retention
- Pro plan: $5.99 per user per month for unlimited scanning and additional features
3. Nanonets
Nanonets uses OCR and Deep Learning to extract relevant information from unstructured text and documents. Its self-learning AI models continuously improve accuracy, enabling touchless invoice processing over time. Nanonets provides real-time analytics, ensuring regulatory compliance and reducing operational costs.
Nanonets promo illustration (credits: nanonets.com)
Pros
- Can process a wide range of document types
- Supports more than 40 languages
- 24/7 customer support
- Build custom models
Cons
- Difficulties creating platform parsing rules
- No mobile scanner
- For more complex business needs, users note that the Nanonets model takes some effort to train
Pricing
€499/month for one document model
4. Docsumo
Docsumo is an AI-powered invoice automation platform that leverages advanced OCR and machine learning to accurately extract data from invoices in any format. Its intelligent data capture capabilities handle complex invoices with high accuracy, reducing manual effort. It offers a user-friendly interface, making it easy to use and integrate with existing software systems.
Docsumo dashboard: document upload options
Pros
- Bank statement data extraction API
- Document conversion capabilities from PDF into Excel, CSV, or JSON
- Key-value pair extraction and line item extraction
- Easy-to-use interface
Cons
- Lack of documentation and onboarding support
- Limited document support
Pricing
€500+/month
5. Rossum
Rossum is an OCR software designed for invoice processing. The software uses AI and machine learning algorithms to extract data from invoices, receipts, and other business documents. It can help pre-process, extract, process, validate, segregate, and sort all your documents.
Rossum dashboard: edit invoice feature
Pros
- Invoice data capture without setting up rules
- Swift deployment in your invoicing process within a couple of days
- Seamlessly integrate Rossum through email, RPA, or API
- Cloud data protection and data control
Cons
- More expensive than competitors
- The software can be challenging to set up
- Limited language support
- Because of the many technologies woven into the tool, Rossum can be a bit slow when processing data, and sometimes experiences short system outages
Pricing
Custom pricing, depending on the business’s requirements and needs
