Use Your Voice to Streamline Workflow and
Optimize Productivity
A review of dictation and speech recognition solutions for law firms

When you hear the word
dictation
what comes to your mind?

Do you think of images like the one?
Or are you thinking…
“Do people still dictate?”
Norman Rockwell , Executive Dictating to Stenographer, circa 1925

They do and more should!
Dictation has evolved, and the business world has
changed tremendously since those days.

Today, business men and women
tend to support themselves and
often do not have a personal
assistant at arm’s reach.

There has been a shift
among new
generations to cease
dictation in lieu of
preparing one’s own
documentation.
Most colleges today do
not teach dictation as
part of their curriculum.

The result is a lack of emphasis on one of the most
effective ways to improve productivity…
By leveraging your voice!

The average person
speaks at a rate of 150
words per minute and
types at a rate of 40 words
per minute.
If the average person
dictates information
instead of composing it
themselves, production is
3x faster than preparing
the documentation oneself.

A Conservative Example
Minutes per day composing typed documentation: 30 minutes
Typing rate: 40 words per minute
Words composed in 30 minutes: 1200 (30 minutes * 40 wpm)
Dictation rate: 150 words per minute
Time required to dictate 1200 word composition: 8 minutes
Time saved: 22 minutes per day
Work days per year: 260
Time saved per year: 95 hours (260 days x 22 minutes/day)
95 Hours Per Year, Per Staff Member Now Available for
Billable Tasks!
* The average person may type at a rate of 40 words per minute, but when
composing as you type, productivity is much less than that.

If the loaded cost of a secretary is $100/hr accounting
for salary and overhead expenses (such as office
space and operational costs)…
Why would a good manager
want to make their lawyers
billing $200+/hr responsible for
typing and properly formatting
documents?
THEY WOULDN’T!

Firms today are under pressure:
Competitive pressure to minimize the time it
takes to turn around information
Pressure to boost profits

Growing Challenges in the Legal Environment
• The time and cost involved in documenting case and client
information continues to grow
• Traditional reliance on administration staff and outside transcription
services drags down productivity and profits
• The unwieldy documentation process means longer work days, but
fewer billable hours

It is inefficient for attorneys to be so
heavily involved in administrative tasks.
You have billable fees to think about. Those hours pay
you to think, apply law and work directly with your
clients. Those hours do not pay you to shuffle
paperwork and be immersed in back-end
documentation.

When attorneys are alleviated from the hassle of
completing this documentation, they have more time to
acquire new work, increase their billable time and
serve their clients better.

What would your attorneys do
with more time?

Now that we’ve made a case for dictation, let’s
take a look at traditional dictation methods of
the past compared to today’s technically
advanced dictation methods.

Analog Tape Limitations
• Subject to loss (loss of client information)
• They break
• One tape = several projects
• Difficult to identify specific jobs on each tape
• Hold up the document turnaround process

The Digital Advantage
Wide array of input device options (i.e. digital
handheld device, PC dictation with speech
microphone, Windows Mobile, Nokia or
BlackBerry Smartphone devices)
Direct routing for transcription from anywhere on
job-by-job basis
Easy editing and insertion of voice into files
Better sound quality
Mobile freedom – make productive use of non-
productive time

Basic forms of digital dictation (without a workflow
platform) require you to hand off the data to the person
doing the work.
Many people use email to send the work but that does
not provide you any security.

A basic digital dictation system doesn’t enable
managers and users to clearly identify:
backlogs of work
who is working on specific jobs
information on support staff efficiency
the promotion of priority jobs
Nor does it support the option to manage and
reroute work quickly or efficiently.

Digital Dictation + Workflow
Help you overcoming issues associated with:
The inability to monitor productivity, track
down job status and reallocate to an
available resource
The inconvenience of manual allocation of
tapes and files throughout the organization
The high costs for tape and unit
replacement
The need for remote dictation and
transcription with improved document
turnaround time.

Advanced dictation systems of today have
automatic routing capabilities.
Imagine having the ability to instantly know how many dictations
are pending for completion.
Imagine having the ability to know who is working on what.
Imagine having the ability to configure a system that can identify
and remedy bottlenecks in the production process.
With an advanced digital dictation workflow
management system it is all possible.

Speech Recognition
The average person can speak 3 times faster than he or she can type!
When that individual is composing text while typing, speech
productivity is even greater. This fact not only makes dictation a
viable work method but it demonstrates that transcribing dictation
from scratch is time consuming, not to mention costly.

Speech Recognition:
• Speeds documentation turnaround
• Eliminates transcription bottlenecks
• Frees staff members to focus on
billable work
• Increases efficiency and profitability
across the enterprise

Speech recognition comes in two forms:
front end (client side speech recognition)
back end (server side speech recognition)
Server-Side Speech
Recognition
Client-Side Speech
Recognition
With some vendors you have the ability to choose the method that
works best for you, or take advantage of a combination of both

With client-side speech
recognition, recognized text
can be viewed, edited and
corrected at your work
station for ‘on the fly’
document creation and
completion.
With Server Based Recognition, the
speech recognition process is carried
out at the server level with no
interaction with the speaker. Server
Based Recognition uses the
appropriate recognition profile and
dictionary to substantially increase the
recognition rate.

Server Based Recognition
“Training” the speech engine
with adaptive technologies allows
a typist’s corrections of the
recognized text to be submitted
back to the speech server, thus
enabling an ongoing improvement
in speech recognition rate!
As a result, your staff does not need
to transcribe the document, but
instead, proofread the recognized
text, correcting any errors as they
go.

Software Solutions

WinScribe Digital Dictation
Workflow Management Software
WinScribe is a software-based digital dictation, transcription and
workflow routing solution empowering thousands of organizations globally
to take better control of their document management, dictation and
transcription needs.
Because WinScribe uses digital files instead of tapes to transport dictation
your work can be sent for transcription instantly from any location with
internet access. Dictate and send your job using multiple recording options
including your PDA, BlackBerry, PC or notebook, digital handheld device,
cell phone, touchtone telephone or VoIP phone.
WinScribe also allows you to monitor the status of your work from
anywhere. You are able to retrieve jobs for review and editing or download
completed jobs which can include the transcribed document.

WinScribe’s Key Features:
Remote access for remote working
Job routing options for spreading/reallocating/outsourcing workload
Built-in reporting for tracking productivity
Job type prioritization for differing job types and priority levels
Optional front and back end integrated speech recognition
Encryption of data and voice for data security
Satellite Dictation Architecture (SDA) for communicating across the
local area network or Internet
Web Manager interface for visibility and control of organizational
workflow
Integration Tool Kit for seamless integration with backend office
systems
Adjustable sound quality for improved productivity

WinScribe Digital Dictation
with Integrated Speech Recognition
WinScribe offers its users two ways to take advantage of speech
recognition technology – client side recognition and/or server side
recognition. You choose the method that works best for you, or take
advantage of a combination of both. Both combinations also retain all
the workflow management features that make WinScribe so powerful.
Authors can review their own reports before and/or after they are
transcribed, or have them reviewed by others.
?

Client Side Speech Recognition:
Access and correct text immediately for ‘on the spot’ sign-off and printing
or emailing of reports.
Review and complete reports online, even when transcriptionists are not
available.
Watch the speech recognition process, or hide it until they wish to review it.
Choose not to use speech recognition processing, in which case the
dictation will be routed for manual typing.
Format text as they dictate, or use voice commands to edit text.
Make spoken changes and additions anywhere in the document with
immediate recognition.
Use speech recognition when offline, and synchronize with the server later.
Mark the level of correction completed on each report – corrected, partially
corrected, or uncorrected.
Fully or partially self-correct their own dictation. Regardless of the level of
correction the dictation can still be routed to a reviewer or transcriptionist
and all reports remain available for the department’s review process.

Server Side Speech Recognition:
The WinScribe server-side speech recognition solution is highly
scalable and can be installed on any size site; from a small site with a
single dictation server, to a large site with multiple servers. Speech
recognition is processed centrally and all reports are routed to
transcriptionists or back to the author. This means:
Authors require no extra training.
Speech recognition can be seamlessly integrated into your WinScribe
solution.
Transcription is handled in one place, by professional transcriptionists.
Procedures can be stream-lined to ensure maximum efficiency.
Large reports can be batch worked on a server and corrected by internal or
external transcriptionists, or rerouted to an author for later sign-off.
There is minimal impact on client PC performance since all speech
recognition processing is performed at the server, eliminating the need for
expensive upgrades to client hardware.
Authors have the flexibility of using any of the wide range of input devices
that operate with WinScribe.

With WinScribe’s optional Text Processing module for Server Based
Recognition, the recognized text can even be pre-formatted prior to
proof reading to further enhance productivity.
Recognized text is scanned by the Text Processing module, to identify
sections, headings, lists, missing punctuation, and even to
standardized common words and phrases. This process eliminates
the need for tedious and repetitive formatting, correction or
standardization of grammar, and even reorganizing of sections to
conform to company standards.

But is it Accurate?
WinScribe Dictation version 4.0 integrates with
Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10, which is
up to 99% accurate!

WinScribe integrated speech recognition
has been proven to:
Reduce transcription costs
Give professionals greater control of reports
Improve quality of service
Improve report turnaround times

Whatever your requirements, WinScribe has a solution to fit.
WinScribe provides improved dictation and transcription
workflow, and employee performance.
To learn more about WinScribe
and how your can try our
software solutions for FREE,
CONTACT US AT:
Australia: +61 (2) 9258 1090
New Zealand: +64 (9) 486 9010
North America: +1 866 494 6727
UK/Europe: +44 (0) 118 984 2133
sales@winscribe.com