Google OCR API for Small & Medium Enterprises

Paper documents still often generated for deliveries and sales. For example, a small hawker or provision shop placing orders still prefers a hard-copy purchase order that he can refer to when goods arrive. Similarly, many receiving staff or QC still wants the handy printed delivery order and/or purchase order to check physical accuracy of goods, then chop and sign to return to delivery person.

Though we foresee that notepads and electronic papers will be available in the future, it will take some time for habits and preferences to change. Just think about how we still ask to check a physical copy of receipt when we buy stuff, then checking using SMS or
Email.

Couple this with the many invoices and delivery orders a company gets from its suppliers to staff purchases, there could be a good case to look into Google OCR API. Companies can generate insights from photographs taken from signed delivery orders to generate invoice straightaway, or orders written on paper.

OCR is not new, and is already used by companies to capture truck number plates.

Perhaps having a order form for customers to order. Then take a picture for OCR processing for supply chain efficiency is a good compromise between usual practice and changing technology overnight, especially for the long tail of customers and suppliers small businesses serve.

An article on how demo of Google API for OCR is as below:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-docs-ocr.html