New OCR Transcription Platform FAQ

Emburse is rolling out a new AI-powered OCR (Optical Character Recognition) transcription platform beginning in early 2025. Here are answers to frequently asked questions.

General

What is OCR transcription?

Emburse’s OCR (Optical Character Recognition) transcription is an AI-powered receipt- and invoice-capture technology that intelligently scans, extracts, and categorizes receipt and invoice data with unmatched accuracy.

Why is Emburse changing its OCR transcription technology?

We are committed to continuously improving the quality and global reach of our OCR capabilities, and that’s why we are making this change. The new engine uses an AI-powered OCR transcription technology that offers significantly higher accuracy and can process documents in multiple languages. This upgrade is designed to address previous limitations and deliver more reliable results, ensuring better performance and overall user experience.

What changes can customers expect with the new OCR technology in terms of features, field support, and regional support?

Our first objective is to improve the accuracy of receipt capture with upgraded technology. We are also increasing the number of supported countries.

What other use cases will Emburse’s AI technology be used to solve?

Since most downstream processes depend on accurate data being extracted during OCR transcription, leveling up to the latest technology is our top priority. Next, we will leverage the new OCR transcription technology for other related use cases, such as folio itemization. At the same time, we will improve processes that help organize users' expense data, such as card and receipt merge logic. Additional opportunities to improve our solutions with AI will be explored over time.

Accuracy

How accurate is the new OCR transcription technology?

The OCR transcription technology is highly advanced and more accurate than previous versions. The concrete accuracy improvements depend on the country, product, and field. However, we see an average increase of more than 20% across all different use cases.

How has accuracy helped automate other parts of Emburse’s expense solutions?

All expense-related processing benefits by being downstream from OCR transcription. For instance, even if no other processes are optimized, improved transcription accuracy will automatically enhance the accuracy of merging cards with receipts.

Features

Can the OCR transcription handle multiple languages?

Yes, our OCR transcription is highly proficient across many languages. It performs especially well with such widely spoken languages as English, Spanish, French, and German. However, accuracy may vary for double-byte languages with logographic or syllabic writing systems, like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, as well as for less commonly spoken languages or dialects. Further improvements are expected in the near future.

What are the new fields/features included for Emburse Expense Enterprise? Is there anything we need to be aware of during rollout?

The number of expense categories that can be auto-mapped is increasing from 14 to 39, improving expense reporting efficiency and accuracy for users.

During rollout, we will automatically update your mapping between our expanded 39 categories and your organization-specific ones. After we transition to the upgraded OCR transcription, you can go into the admin module and make changes where applicable.

Training

How does Emburse’s OCR transcription improve over time?

Our OCR transcription continues to be refined and updated based on feedback, advancements in AI technology, and additional data, resulting in a continuously evolving and improving product. This happens automatically behind the scenes with no action required by customers.

Privacy/Security

How does Emburse’s OCR transcription handle privacy and security concerns?

Privacy and security have been given due consideration during the development of the new OCR transcription technology. All data submitted is never stored outside of Emburse’s data infrastructure and is never used to uptrain external models.

How does Emburse’s OCR transcription handle privacy and security concerns when using AI-powered services?

Privacy and security have been given due consideration during the development of the new OCR transcription technology. All data submitted is never stored outside of Emburse’s data infrastructure and is never used to uptrain external models. Please visit our Trust Center to learn more about how Emburse is keeping your data safe.

Support

Whom can I contact if I have any problems?

Please contact Support if you encounter any issues related to document upload or processing related issues. If you see occasional, non-systemic issues with the wrong data point being extracted via OCR transcription, you do not need to contact Support. We are continuously improving the underlying engine. The best practice is to simply correct the mistake by overwriting the information in the application.

Mobile

Will the mobile app utilize the new OCR transcription technology?

Our new Emburse Enterprise mobile app fully utilizes the updated technology, but the legacy Chrome River SNAP app does not. Currently, the new app is only available in US app stores but will be rolled out globally to other app stores in early Q2 2025. Additional updates will be shared once the app becomes available worldwide. In the meantime, please use the Emburse Enterprise desktop version or forward your receipts via email to benefit from the accuracy of the new engine over the existing OCR technology used by SNAP.

Can multiple receipts be captured in one image?

Our upgraded image scanning capabilities on the Emburse Enterprise mobile app are optimized for single receipt capture to ensure the best possible data extraction. Please take a picture of each receipt separately, and Emburse AI will do the rest of the work for you.

Rollout

When will my organization be upgraded to the new OCR transcription technology?

The rollout will begin in Q1 2025. You will be contacted by Emburse about the exact dates for your organization.