What does OCR stand for?
OCR stands for optical character recognition. What this technology allows you to do is to take your scanned files and turn them into fully text-searchable and text-editable documents. Normally when you try to scan something, it will only become an image file. There are a limited number of things you can do with an image which is why it is much easier to convert the file into a PDF. OCR enables you to do this because it can read, interpret, and understand the scanned files.

What are some benefits?
Since OCR is just a technology, it can be incorporated with many other processes that will make daily activities at your office run much more efficiently. For example, OCR can be used to help you in processing invoices because it can automate the tasks involved. Another way in which OCR will be helpful is by saving you storage space. It can transfer all of your physical files onto a virtual database which will make it easier for people to store and access the files.
How can I get OCR?
There are many different products out there that has some type of OCR engine or OCR capabilities. You first need to figure out what you need OCR for so that way you can determine what to look for. A good OCR engine that I have tried is CVISION's Maestro Recognition Server. It is one of the most accurate available and CVISION is one of the leaders in OCR technology. There is a free trial that you can download by clicking the links above. You can test it out so that way you can decide if this is what you need.