Formerly part of the Consumer Lifestyle division of electronics giant Philips, Speech Processing Solutions GmbH became an independent company in 2012, and retains the right to market Philips-branded products under license. Founded in 1954, the company celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. It is a good moment to look back and reflect on how the industry has changed over the past six decades and how much still remains.
“We still have customers loyally buying mini cassettes for their dictation recorders even though we have used digital storage media for more than ten years,” says Dr. Thomas Brauner, CEO. “Some customers in the medical and legal professions are somewhat conservative in their dictation habits.”
There is now also great demand for its new transcription service called Philips SpeechScribe. “SpeechScribe has the advantage of allowing users to speak naturally and stick to their speaking habits while dictating,” says Dr. Brauner. “The recording is then transcribed by experienced transcription specialists who are able to correct any mistakes as they go.
” The transcription service offers transcribers with experience of specific technical terminology such as that commonly used in the medical sector for example. Transcription is guaranteed within 24 hours and can be completed within five hours for an up to 25-minute prioritized dictation. The service is highly reliable so that on average 999 out of 1,000 documents are delivered flawlessly, representing one of the highest precision rates in the industry.
It is new technology that is increasingly dictating the future of dictation. Workflow solutions using speech recognition software provide instant transcription for people whose typing is not quite up to secretarial standards. “Our SpeechExec software suite provides an all-inone solution for efficient workflow management,” says Dr. Brauner.
“They are also designed today to be ready for the future with a number of future-looking features.” One of the key developments is a new cloud-based dictation workflow solution called SpeechLive. Hours and hours of valuable time are used every month for typing all kinds of reports, leaving you less time to spend with more important things.
Philips SpeechLive, the revolutionary cloud dictation solution with its integrated cutting-edge transcription service now does the typing for you. All you have to do is speak, Speech- Live does the rest. SpeechLive is an easy, secure, flexible and efficient dictation workflow solution with the seamless integrated transcription Service SpeechScribe.
The user pays on a pay per-use basis for the speech-to-text service, which is currently available in English and German. “We are the first to offer an all-inclusive service of this nature,” insists Dr. Brauner. It is thought that SpeechLive including the speechto-text transcription service Speech- Scribe will open up opportunities to acquire additional clients outside its traditional customer segments in the medical and legal sectors, thus widening its customer base.
In additionto software and services, Speech Processing Solutions of course supplies dedicated dictation hardware. Its devices, such as the Philips Digital Pocket Memo and the Philips SpeechMike, are classic products in the range that have been tried and tested in practice and constantly refined over the years. Dictation on a smartphone based on a Philips Dictation App is a very interesting option too.
“Although the quality of a dictation via our Smartphone Dictation App is slightly lower than a dictation with our dedicated professional solutions like a Digital Pocket Memo or a SpeechMike, a Smartphone dictation is a useful addition to our portfolio. Particularly for customers who require 100% mobil-ity and want to send their dictation anywhere, anytime.
We continue to push the boundaries of dictation technology and set benchmarks in the industry with our innovative solutions” says Dr. Brauner. By offering both hardware and software as a combined package together with the relevant speech-to-text services, the company is able to ensure that its solutions are perfectly integrated.
“Modern dictation is so much more than the transformation of the spoken word into written documents,” adds Dr. Brauner. “It is an integral part of the workflow and our products not only speed up the process and make it more accurate, they succeed in adding value at every stage so that they are an indispensable part of the value chain.”
This approach has made Speech Processing Solutions the world leader in the professional market for dictation solutions with seven subsidiary companies in Belgium, France, Germany, the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. In addition, the company works with distribution and service partners worldwide.
With almost 200 employees, of whom approx. 100 work at the company headquarters in Vienna, Speech Processing Solutions is enjoying strong growth in its traditional markets and is also expanding into new areas such as insurance brokers, architects and building engineers, police, estate agents and sales managers (e.g. in conjunction with CRM solutions).
The company is currently offering a 30-day free trial for its cloud-based services to give new clients a taste of the advantages of modern dictation solutions. “Based on the impressive efficiency gains for our clients, it is an eureka-moment for them,” says Dr. Brauner.
“They think to themselves ‘why did not I do it this way ages ago’ and never look back. Remember: You speak on average seven times faster than you type. We can help you to unlock this huge potential!”
