Voice recognition software

Gustavo_Fring

Hi, I recently saw a presentation from a firm called Nuance, who were demonstrating their voice recognition technology. 99% accuracy and 3 x faster than typing apparently. Does anyone have experience of using voice recognition software and can offer an opinion on pros/cons, what a financial services firm may use it for?

I will apply for a free trial but I’m not convinced it would lend itself well to suitability letters. Maybe things like meeting notes/telephone notes would see a bigger advantage.

Thank you

arongunningham

Our company use BigHand but it's no good (in my opinion).

Nothing beats typing it out!

Gustavo_Fring

Thanks Aron. Why don't you like it?

Barriers for me are:

• Habit - people reluctant to change from typing it out.
• You can think as you are typing. I think you would lose that via dictation.
• The initial experience is likely to be quite poor unless it is used for quite simple tasks like long emails or meeting minutes. Will people persevere?
• Anti- social element of dictation in the office, especially if more than one person is doing it at once.

Thanks!

richallum

I used Nuance Dragon for a while. It takes a lot of training to get right and I still found it needed lots of correcting. I used it for dictating freeform text mixed with typing when it got a bit technical (it never got ISA for example).

I've since moved to using Apple dictation engine and the one built into Google Docs along with simple/complex text snippets in Textexpander.

Gustavo_Fring

Thanks Richard, It sounds like you've got all bases covered!

Do you prefer the Apple/Google offerings to Nuance? Do you find dictation is much of a timesaver vs typing?

Thank you.

richallum

Nuance was more sophisticated with complex system commands etc but it never quite worked 100%. It also messed up my machine quite often. They also don't support Mac now so that's that! Apple/Google much lower barrier to entry and easier to use. Much faster than typing but total time only slightly less when allow for editing. I have RSI so use when I can to save my arms falling off. Need to use any system with a mic. I did have a top of the range one with Nuance but mac/Google works with earbuds perfectly well.

Gustavo_Fring

Great, thanks Richard. Food for thought....