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PC BIZ of the MONTH
Excerpts from the book, "101 Computer Related Businesses",
Copyright 1994 by Michael A. Tims.
BIZ-067 OCR SERVICE
This is another of those service businesses which is usually not
thought of as a stand-alone business and would probably do best as
an add-on to some other related business.
Basically, an OCR (or optical character recognition) service is one
that takes paper-based information (books, manuals, documents,
forms, etc.) and converts them into computer compatible format.
This can be either in standard ASCII format or in EBCDIC
representation, which is bit mapped information.
You can market a service of this type by reaching those businesses
or individuals who need to turn printed material into magnetic
media. These businesses might be ones just starting out that
cannot afford optical scanners of their own or businesses that have
them but have more business than they can handle. Other markets
may be database producers, graphics arts studios, word processing
services and even law firms wanting their documents on disk.
You can reach these markets in several ways, but don't overlook the
basic Yellow Pages listings under headings such as, "Computer
Services", "Wordprocessing", Secretarial Services" as well as any
other related headings which may be appropriate in your particular
geographic area. Use direct mail flyers and brochures to local law
firms and other businesses which may have need of your services.
Scan the Yellow Pages yourself, making note of any businesses you
feel could become a client. Use telemarketing and contact all
local businesses also.
Pricing for OCR type services runs anywhere from 20 cents per
thousand characters scanned, to as much as $5 per thousand;
depending on how valuable the information is, how much editing must
be done to the information once it is scanned into the computer,
etc.
Most OCR software programs are very memory intensive and also
require a fast computer clock speed to do its job well. At the
very least, a 386-33MHZ computer is recommended, with a 486 or even
the new Pentium (aka 586) being better choices because of their
built-in math coprocessors. OCR software is much faster on these
computers.
A hard disk is an absolute must to even run an OCR program. Many
files will end up being quite large when finished and you will need
to store them until they can be transferred to the clients hard
disk by transmitting by modem over the phone lines or by more
conventional means such as floppy disks, tapes, or high capacity
optical drives. There is an old saying that you can
never have enough hard disk memory. Start with a minimum of 500
Megabytes of memory.
A dot matrix printer will probably suffice for most printed
output, although for more professional looking letters or
circulars you may be sending to prospective clients, a laser
printer would be preferable.
Other office equipment you may want to consider might include a
FAX machine to be able to send and receive reports, etc. without
having to wait for the postal service or even over night priority
mail.
A telephone answering machine which can sense the difference
between FAX transmissions and voice may also come in quite handy
in the office.
A flat bed or sheet fed scanner is, of course, central to the
operation of this service and we would recommend the flat bed in
order to accommodate bound transcripts or other balky documents.
The only other consideration in selecting the scanner would be its
maximum resolution. The greater the resolution, the clearer the
basic scan and easier character recognition for the software. With
the price of 600 dpi scanners coming in with a street price of less
than $600, we would recommend 600 dpi as the minimum.
There are several excellent commercial OCR software programs on the
market such as, "Omnipage" by Caere Corporation, "WordScan Plus"
by Calera Recognition Systems, and "Textbridge" by Xerox Imaging
Systems, Inc. There are even some fax/modem manufacturers who
bundle OCR software with their fax/modems in order to be able to
turn incoming faxes into editable text files. Among these software
programs are "DataFax" from Trio Corporation and "WinFax Pro" from
Delrina Corporation.
Shareware authors have also been hard at work producing inexpensive
shareware programs for OCR. Among the shareware OCR programs
available from Matco Software are:
ATXshare, v2.2, Matco #210220
Pro-Cr, v1.0, Matco #210221
In addition to the special OCR software required, the general
software requirements for a business of this type would consist of
the usual word processing, database, accounting and personal and
business income tax preparation software. As with most of the
business ideas presented in this book, we feel that properly
selected SHAREWARE (try-before-you-buy type software) will prove
to be more than adequate for all your basic business software
needs. Using shareware when you are first starting a business can
save you hundreds of dollars in start up costs. I have found most
shareware to be as good, if not better, than high priced commercial
software packages.
For word processing software, I would recommend either of two fine
shareware programs. The first is "Super WP", an excellent WordPerfect
clone that has many features superior to the commercial program.
The second is "PC-Write", which is said to be one of the finest
wordprocessor programs available at any price.
A database program is usually needed to keep track of customers,
client data, mailing lists and many other forms of data, etc. The
shareware program, "PC-File", is an excellent shareware database
program that has features such as custom report writing, letter
writing with mail merge, data analysis, plus charts and graph
support. "PC-File" also features dBase III and Clipper
compatibility, should you ever wish to write a custom application
for your business.
Every small business needs bookkeeping software to keep track of
income and expenses. What they don't need is a full blown
accounting package that takes more time than the business itself.
The shareware program, "Medlin Accounting", is an easy to use,
time saving IRS approved single entry bookkeeping system which is
more than adequate for the small-to-medium sized business. It
features a general ledger module, an accounts receivable module,
an accounts payable module as well as an inventory module.
Another financial program I would recommend to any small
businessman, or individual for that matter, is the shareware
program, "Checkmate Plus". "Checkmate Plus" is an easy to use,
yet powerful, checkbook style, double entry accounting system
which will also print checks on either laser or dot matrix
printers.
Spreadsheet programs are sometimes required by the small business
and I would concede that the industry leader is the commercial
program, Lotus 1-2-3. However, an excellent clone to Lotus 1-2-3
is the shareware program, "As Easy As". Menu-driven for easy use
yet a very powerful spreadsheet program. Features 8192 rows by
256 columns, dBase III import/export, macro playback, dot matrix
and laser printer support, worksheet linking, charting and much,
much more.
Communications software for use with telephone line and computer
modem is often needed by the small business. By using
communications software, the home based entrepreneur is able to
access remote computers, informational databases, bulletin board
services (BBS's) client's computers, etc., right from his/her home
office over the phone lines. This makes many high tech businesses
able to be run successfully from any place a phone can be
accessed.
The full featured shareware communications program I would
recommend is "Procomm Plus Test Drive". This time-proven shareware
offering of a commercial program will prove perfect for most of your
communications needs, and has such features as a 100 number dialing
directory, script file capability and support for most major file
transfer protocols including XMODEM, TELINK, and COMPUSERVE B.
However, If you should purchase a fax/modem for your office, many of
them come already bundled with communications software.
For a complete listing of commercial as well as shareware programs
featured in this book, see Appendix A.
=====================================================================
Copyright 1994 by Michael A. Tims
******************************************************************
If you have been looking for ideas to make money with your own PC,
"101 Computer Related Businesses" is available on floppy disk, as a
virtual book, directly from the publisher for only $29.95 Postpaid.
State disk size preferred when ordering from the author, Michael
A. Tims, POB 509, Suite 510D, Roseville, MI., 48066-0509. Many
other PC business ideas and opportunities are also available.
Other excerpts are carried on AOL in the SMALL BUSINESS FORUM-
PC BUSINESS FILE LIBRARY and EPUB FORUM-NEW FILES LIBRARY. They are
also carried on Delphi in the BUSINESS DATABASE. Just look for
"PC Biz of the Month".
An abridged version (10 of 101 Chapters) of "101 Computer Related
Businesses" is now carried on AOL--- Keyword to SOFTWARE and do a
search for BIZ101A1.ZIP
Hope you enjoy, Michael A. Tims - MTims48021@aol.com