In my profession, it is common to ask many questions. Really, it is necessary. A virtual assistant is someone who has to know as much as possible about a particular client’s systems or the way of doing things in order to better configure and make use of available technology to help them do it better, faster, for less. cost, whatever the customer seeks to earn.
I began my VA career almost eight years ago and limit my practice to virtual assistance to the legal industry. Over the years, I have asked many lawyers, law firm administrators, paralegals, human resource managers, private investigators, IT administrators, managing partners, office managers, secretaries, and others about the processes used in their firms. Some use document management software, some don’t. Some have websites, some don’t. Almost without fail, when asked what lawyers use to dictate, the most common answer: a tape recorder.
That’s a good thing, because dictating is a very efficient process, even with a tape. According to Dictaphone, by 1952 recorded dictation was established as “a time saver over handwriting and stenography among lawyers, doctors, and other professionals.” The first mini cassette recorder was released in 1973. Do you believe it? That same little tape recorder still in use at most businesses in the US today is the technological equivalent of listening to music on an 8 track!
In any case, if your company uses tape-based dictation, then it’s already understood that recording the company’s actual work product is a good way to get things done and if your company doesn’t use dictation, perhaps you should start with digital, so keep reading. .
Why upgrade to digital dictation?
Although not as old as dictation itself, digital dictation has been around for quite some time. The medical profession has been using digital dictation technology (phone calls and portable recorders) for over a decade. Why? Upgrading to a digital dictation process provided hospitals, clinics, doctor’s offices and insurance companies:
o the ability for doctors to work remotely with nothing more than a phone or portable recorder and internet connection
o Centralization of document workflow for multi-user, multi-site operations
o The ability to monitor work in progress and overall productivity
o The ability to track and report various metrics and criteria
o The ability to use remote transcriptionists and save on staff costs
The way I see it, a company of any size has just as much to gain as a similarly sized medical office by upgrading to a digital dictation process, so the question remains, with so much to gain, why haven’t they? done? (Read the above list again, thinking about your company.)
Why don’t companies use digital dictation?
The main reason, I think, is that no one has assembled 2%2B2 yet. Since digital dictation technology is not “new,” it has not received much attention outside of the medical industry. Recently, however, British and European law firms have been in the news discussing how the upgrade to digital dictation has been easier and better than expected.
What happens here in the US?
Listed below (in reverse order) are the top three responses I’ve received over the years to the question, “Why didn’t your company upgrade to digital dictation?”
Number 3: “Digital dictation, isn’t that speech recognition?”
No, voice recognition is not digital dictation. Speech recognition is software. It takes the human voice and converts it to text. Speech recognition software requires training for each specific user: hours of training for most applications, making implementation of this technology impractical in most companies.
Digital dictation is the recording of your voice with software or equipment that provides dictation functions: stop, rewind, insert, etc. With digital, however, the recording doesn’t go onto tape, it’s saved as an audio file (ie .wav, .dss). Unlike voice recognition, digital dictation requires a transcriptionist and software to write down your recorded thoughts.
By the way, one of the reasons I strongly believe that voice recognition software can never replace a good legal secretary/transcriptionist: no matter how much you train it, it will never be able to detect when you say “defendant” and you should say “plaintiff!” “! 😉
So while you may have heard or read about the pitfalls of speech recognition technology, digital dictation is a different animal entirely.
Number 2: “If it ain’t broke…”
Yes, it’s true that tape dictation works and has worked for decades, but so does a typewriter, an abacus, and even a compass. Upgrading to digital dictation is not a solution, it is an enhancement to a known process. It is the natural evolution of dictation: from human (secy), to recorded (tape), to digital (sound file).
When upgrading to digital, what needs to be noted is that those doing the recording no longer need to be in the same physical location as the person doing the transcribing, or in today’s jargon: they can work remotely! Depending on how the capture process is set up, as long as company dictators have access to a phone or the Internet, they can produce billable time.
Since the dictation file created with digital is electronic in nature, it can be manipulated in the same way as any other computer file: stored, routed through networks, etc. This makes the dictation file itself much more convenient and easier to use in today’s electronic environment (networks, multiple offices, document management software, retention requirements).
Along with remote work opportunities for firm dictators, upgrading to digital dictation provides reporting and tracking of each file as it travels through the process or all the metrics that a tape-based dictation system simply can’t provide. Hold up a tape and ask a lawyer what’s on it and see what he says! However, if it were a digital file, you’ll always know the date and time a file was created, by whom, how old it is, what client it’s for, what it’s for, and more.
So, from both the administrator and the dictator perspective, upgrading to digital dictation provides a vast improvement in the way work gets done.
and… my favorite response of all time to…
“Why hasn’t your company upgraded to digital dictation?”
Number 1: “We don’t like change.”
I’m not kidding! I’ve heard this exact phrase more times than I care to admit!
Plus, of course, this answer helps me realize that companies can take forever to make a decision, it presents a huge conundrum. Why? When upgrading to digital, there are not many changes in the process for the dictator. In fact, Olympus and other major manufacturers even have portable digital recorders in their professional lineup that have a slide switch. Truly a digital recorder that mimics the functions of an analog recorder.
So, when configured correctly, aside from the fact that a lawyer doesn’t have to get up from his chair to deliver a tape to his secretary (or leave it in her chair), when upgrading to digital, dictators don’t “do” anything. different. .
wrapping it all up
At some point, every company must weigh the pros and cons of any technology upgrade. With more and more equipment and software needed to stay competitive, it’s no wonder no one is looking for another “upgrade.” However, unlike much of the technology available today, digital dictation technology is not “new.” It is very stable and has been successfully tested, deployed, and used in environments of various sizes for over a decade.
In my humble opinion, this should make upgrading to digital dictation a must for any company’s technology budget in 2009.
