A recent DocsCorp global survey has shown that 81 percent of respondents have installed optical character recognition (OCR) technology, which makes image-based files text searchable. However, 81 percent also said they could not locate the exact file they were searching for all of the time, with only 19 percent saying this technology was completely effective.

That suggests the hidden files were not being processed by their OCR tools, and there is particular concern about the impact regarding data discovery for those in Europe and in the United Kingdom. In total, 88 percent of survey respondents in the Europe, Middle East and African region specifically said they use OCR technology to make files searchable, but 69 percent responded that their search queries do not return files for which they are searching all of the time.

DocsCorp warned that companies may be at risk of noncompliance under the General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR stipulates that all information being held on someone who is a citizen of the European Union must be made available if there is a request.