The growth of mobile and remote working practices and new technologies such as web services have completely transformed the professional service industry’s expectations of digital dictation products. Digital dictation systems are now being considered as indispensable business tools designed to deliver tangible business efficiencies and help reduce operational costs of firms. This means that traditional digital dictation technology suppliers have to seriously analyse and re-design their offerings if they are to meet the rapidly changing demands of their customers.
The historical trend of incremental upgrades to existing digital dictation solutions to make them “current”, no longer cuts the mustard. The professional service sector requires an enterprise-class solution, which is versatile enough to evolve in line with sector business requirements.
These developments have led to a need for Digital Dictation Software (DDS) 2.0, a new industry standard in digital dictation software systems.
In fact, nFlow’s Version 5.0 is a second generation digital dictation solution that has been completely re-designed from the ground up. Driven by customer requirements, it represents a significant technological advancement and is perhaps the only enterprise-class solution of its kind on the market.
There are certain characteristics that define a DDS 2.0 solution.
At a fundamental technical level, a DDS 2.0 system is one that is built using a common core of code running within a managed framework, i.e. the .NET platform. This is unlike the traditional native code solutions or hybrid solutions, which are essentially legacy applications that use a substantial amount of original native code and some managed code. This allows the same core code to integrate with and work seamlessly within a number of different user interfaces including Rich Client, Microsoft Outlook, Web Browser and Mobile as well as with third party applications.
For instance, with nFlow Version 5.0, enterprises can leverage .NET applications such as Microsoft SharePoint, a browser-based collaboration and document management platform. The solution allows enterprises to easily develop new and innovative web applications, which they can inexpensively integrate into SharePoint.
With .NET becoming the platform of choice for the majority of firms in the professional services sector, nFlow Version 5.0’s architecture is entirely based on Microsoft Best Practice and the.NET platform. Therefore, enterprises adopting the nFlow Version 5.0 will embrace future-proof technology. The portability of the common managed code that runs within the .NET framework means that nFlow can develop new functionality faster and more cost-effectively, to meet the evolving needs of its customers whilst maintaining an extremely low maintenance overhead.
A DDS 2.0 system is one that is able to leverage SOA. This is facilitated by the “loose coupling” of web services with the consumer technologies underlying any user interface.
Additionally, resilience is much greater in these solutions as the architecture allows multiple points of connection between the consuming device, the web services and data sources. In the event of a particular point of failure, a DDS 2.0 system is automatically able to redirect requests for service to another service provider, which is typically a web server, without the need to specifically know of that particular service provider’s location. Also, users are able to access the solution and maintain their user experience, irrespective of the device they are using within the enterprise.
Further, a DDS 2.0 system is best placed to meet enterprises’ requirements for Software as a Service (SaaS) cost effectively, giving both individual users and businesses the flexibility to use the software how they want, when they want.
A DDS 2.0 system does not require client side configuration of any kind as all user device and hardware driver configuration is served centrally from the server. As a result, a DDS 2.0 solution offers considerably reduced operational costs.
For example, nFlow Version 5.0 significantly reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for firms through lower installation, administration and maintenance costs. As routine administration, maintenance and upgrades can be done centrally, it completely eliminates the need for IT administrators to physically go to individual desktops to update the solution and effortlessly supports hot-desking without the need for roaming profiles or complicated scripting.
In an increasingly online and mobile business environment, today security is of grave concern to professional service firms. Security in a DDS 2.0 system is derived from the embedded security features within the technology platform the solution is developed on. To illustrate, in nFlow Version 5.0, security is derived from the security features within the .NET framework. This means that security is enabled and managed through the network, which not only ensures more stringent controls, but also significantly reduces and eases its administration.
As a result, customer confidentiality is always maintained, even in the event of an unforeseen disaster.
The online nature of business means that staff being able to access enterprise networks and solutions remotely is considered a given. Therefore, even in a professional service practice environment, users including fee-earners, secretaries and administrators, must be able to access their firm’s digital dictation solution, irrespective of where they are physically located at any point in time. For example, nFlow Version 5.0 offers unprecedented geographical flexibility as it supports a wide range of mobile devices including BlackBerry and Windows Mobile.
The ease of use offered by a DDS 2.0 system is tremendous and due to the sophisticated underlying architecture, solution developers are able to devise a number of innovative user friendly features. For instance, nFlow Version 5.0 provides a modern Microsoft Outlook style interface, with features such as auto-save and dictation recovery; dictation editing similar to word processing; bookmarks to allow fee-earners to jump from point to point in a dictation effortlessly; failure support so that fee-earners are able to continue using the solution even if systems are down; intelligent auto-sync with portable dictation devices and a confidentiality mode so that client privacy is protected at all times.
Similar advantages are offered to secretarial staff too, enabling business efficiencies. Secretaries are able to better organise their workload as dictations can be broken into individual jobs and then sorted into job lists. These job lists can then be screened so that only the target secretary is able to view the job, ensuring complete client confidentiality. Microsoft Outlook style alerts warn secretaries, both audibly and visually, when new jobs are added to the job lists and when jobs are overdue – even when the user interface is not open. Also, secretaries are able to view department and workgroup job lists, allowing them to cover for their colleagues without having to leave their desks.
It is also a powerful tool for administrators. They have complete visibility of the status of each assignment and are able to undertake workload balancing so that client commitments are always met. They can also view unlimited historical reporting data on work throughput.
In essence, this new breed of DDS 2.0 solutions are simple to deploy, low maintenance, easily scalable, deliver greater choice and most importantly are future-proof, making them suitable for firms of all sizes. They are a far cry from the cumbersome analog dictation solutions and a big leap from the incrementally updated and hybrid versions that some suppliers are still offering today. With DDS 2.0, digital dictation technology has finally matured.
nFlow DDS Datasheet