Overlooked and Underrated Business Technologies

In the age of technology, there are tons of technological innovations and buzzwords flying around. That said, there are many more that are overlooked in favour of their more famous peers. So, let’s take a look at some underrated but transformative technologies for businesses. 

Optical Character Recognition 

Optical character recognition (OCR) is reminiscent of – but a distinctly different technology to – the process of scanning. Whereas scanning simply takes an image of a physical item, OCR extracts the characters from the image it captures. The extracted characters are then transformed into a machine-readable format. This has many applications in dozens of industries. Take online casinos, for example. When card game enthusiasts play blackjack online games at Paddy’s, they join a live game hosted by a real dealer around a physical card table, which is streamed in real-time from the studio. As this uses digital methods but physical cards, OCR can be used to capture the cards dealt and the results of each hand.

As OCR transforms characters into a machine-readable format, the extracted characters can be inputted into the video feed as an automated graphic to display the results on the screen. The data can also be collected by the platform to ensure the fairness of gameplay, as it can be analyzed to spot any trends or repeated results. With this in mind, OCR can also be used in more traditional business settings, extracting the text from shipping labels, invoices, receipts, and applications. Thanks to this, OCR presents the opportunity for businesses to automate their processes and take steps towards further digitization. 

Random Number Generators 

Random number generators (RNGs) are another technology commonly used in online casinos, as they essentially digitally mimic the odds you’d get from rolling a dice, selecting a card, spinning a wheel, or pulling a lever. However, RNGs are most particularly utilized to encrypt sensitive data or to bolster cybersecurity protocols. For example, RNGs can generate passwords of a random non-sequential selection of letters and numbers, which are harder to crack as they have no relation. 

Another use of RNGs is to protect card details. Take mobile wallet apps like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay. You’ll see that your stored cards have different details from your actual card. This is called payment tokenization — random numbers replace the sensitive payment details, which can only be decrypted by the payee’s bank. Disguising this sensitive data, reduces the risk of details being stolen either at the point of sale, when the transaction is recorded, or when it is transmitted over the cloud. 

Speech to Text 

Now, you’ve probably heard of the AI applications that are looking to use text inputs to generate speech. Technologies such as Deepgram’s Aura, for example, can reportedly deliver fast, efficient, human-like conversation. However, technology that does the opposite — transforming speech into text — is widely overlooked as a critical business tool. Nevertheless, speech-to-text technology can be transformative in some ways. 

Let’s say you’re in a video meeting with executives from around the globe. Firstly, you’ll want to stay focused enough to solve the problems being discussed, rather than taking notes. Then, there is the risk of the call quality dropping. Not to mention the potential language barriers. With this in mind, automating note-taking with speech-to-text technology can streamline the process, making translation simpler, and ensuring that no words are missed. 

Overall, the technology world is full of underrated technologies. Whilst they might not be today’s buzzword, they have the potential to make a huge impact over a wide range of industries.