Yes, it can. I use SFTP to scan directly to my NAS. Works wonderfully. It can also do OCR, but I'm not happy with it and therefore don't use it. I use Acrobat Pro for that. For this reason, I cannot give an objective comment on OCR.

However, setting it up is a bit difficult and takes a lot of time (if you have little experience). Also, I have to do the configuration using Windows, as I have not found the admin software for macOS. The admin software works on the device level. So the settings are written locally to the device. The computers do not have to be switched on to scan to the NAS.

A look at the manual (before buying) will give you more useful information about FTP/SFTP and OCR. I highly recommend it.