Digital Dictation – Why Legal Professionals Ought to Utilize Dictation Software
The objective of the dictation and transcription process is to increase the speed of document creation and minimize its cost. Today, with the introduction of digital dictation, document creation speed has never been quicker.
Whilst dictation and transcription technological know-how have evolved significantly, the basic principles remain the same. Probably the most valuable asset of any legal firm is the attorneys’ time. The dictation and transcription process still allows more time for lawyers to concentrate their extremely specialized skills on client services, while highly capable administrative staff quickly produce and provide documents; every user type concentrates on what they do best.
In today’s world of PC based word processors, many attorneys draft their own documents; this is not necessarily an effective utilization of their time. The average computer user types at 33 words per minute; adding formatting tasks, this average drops to around 19 words per minute. The average person speaks at approximately 200 words per minute. So, if an attorney dictates information instead of composing it themselves, this is almost ten times quicker. Attorneys wind up with much more time to practice law and provide more skilled services to clients. Whilst in most firms, all attorney time is chargeable, self-composing documents results in customers paying for administrative tasks at attorney rates. In today’s highly competitive legal services market, clients are much more scrutinizing and searching for firms that can provide the best value. Dictation and transcription allows firms to become much more productive and competitive.
What is Digital Dictation with Workflow and What are the Benefits?
The earliest dictation equipment introduced by Thomas Edison in 1877 captured sound on physical recording media; originally tinfoil and wax. This physical capture media continued to evolve over time. During the 1970s, magnetic micro-cassette tape recording was introduced, and this form of physical voice-capture media is still prevalent in legal firms today.
In achieving the ultimate objective that has driven dictation and transcription from its inception, speeding document creation and lowering cost, a centralized digital dictation program with workflow is the most complete answer (The Holy Grail). A centralized platform provides the following benefits:
– Automation – Centralized digital dictation systems with workflow take advantage of technologies to remove manual processes from the dictation and transcription workflow. These systems can automatically collect and deliver dictations, assess information about the jobs and automatically deliver work to the appropriate location and make it instantly available to transcriptionists. As a result, the authors only dictate and typists only type.
– Intelligence – Centralized digital dictation systems with a workflow component are able to acquire organizational intelligence and use this intelligence to create the most efficient work distribution decisions. Some workflow engines have the capability to recognize deviations within the regular workflow (like typist availability, document completion timelines exceeded, employee outages, and so on.) and automatically take corrective actions by rerouting work and notifying management.
– Distribution – A centralized system allows for more efficient sharing and distribution of work across all accessible administrative resources within the firm. The system tracks each and every job and ensures there isn’t any duplication of efforts.
– Security – It’s critically essential for legal firms and legal experts to protect the confidentiality of client info. Some centralized platforms can provide for security in the form of encrypted voice files, and some centralized dictation platforms are able to offer encrypted network connections, without requiring VPNs or any other third-party security hardware or software program.
– Monitoring and Reporting – Centralized systems maintain a consolidated information store. This allows transcription managers to monitor the status of the entire dictation and transcription process in real-time. Transcription managers know precisely how many jobs are in the system, where those jobs are (which typists and typist groups have ownership), and the precise status of jobs. Authors are able to track the status of their individual jobs. Also, historical reports can be run to assess productivity and efficiency metrics used to identify potential bottlenecks and continually make improvements to the process.
– Standardization – A centralized system allows firms to implement a standardized platform across the entire firm. Standardized equipment and processes decrease support efforts and costs.
Gaining Better Digital Dictation Workflow with Speech Recognition
Speech recognition technologies have advanced and matured substantially within the past two years. Currently accessible platforms permit for quick training processes and realization of consistent recognition rates of 95% and higher. Speech recognition integrated into the centralized dictation and transcription workflow can drastically improve the efficiency by removing typing from the document production process; typists simply review dictations and make any edits. Systems capable of providing a back-end speech recognition capability make these incredible productivity gains accessible without disrupting the authors’ regular dictation habits. Even in instances whereby attorneys prefer to continue producing their own documents, some digital dictation platforms also provide front-end speech recognition capabilities so that even author document production no longer requires typing the document from scratch; they also simply dictate, review and make any required edits.
Gaining Better Digital Dictation Workflow with Cellular Devices
Mobility and flexibility is critical in today’s fast moving legal environment. Some centralized digital dictation platforms offer attorneys with the freedom to capture and deliver dictation instantly when out of the office at a client site, in the courthouse or in transit using portable devices like the Blackberry and iPhone. The attorney does not have to locate a recording device or computer to send work; they simply dictate and send immediately.
Read more details about digital dictation and how technology can help legal experts increase their productivity.
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