Voice Recognition & Document Management in the Insurance Industry

 

Update May 2005

A lot has happened in the Voice Recognition industry since this article was written in 2003. 
Following are some of the important improvements which have occurred,
With particular emphasis on the Insurance Industry.

Speaking from our personal experience in providing this technology to a large number of insurance companies - both home offices as well as local agents, we believe that we can offer excellent advice on streamlining your office practices, saving you time and money, and increasing the level of service that you offer to your own clients.

Currently, Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional Version 8 is the de facto standard speech recognition engine for all professionals, including insurance professionals.  With many users reporting accuracy rates as high as 99%, speaking in a normal conversational tone of voice, the productivity gains have been enormous.  If you have been using a prior version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, with or without a digital recorder, we strongly recommend that you consider upgrading to version 8. (Please note, that with the incredible gains in features and accuracy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, many prices have risen $100.00 from the prices quoted lower down in this article.)

With the advent of digital recorders which offer substantially more fidelity in recording your voice, the accuracy rates of voice transcription have increased significantly.  Using any of a number of digital recorders from companies such as SONY, Philips and Olympus, you can dictate just as you learned to do in Medical School, and then have Dragon download the voice file and interpret it with amazing accuracy.  You may then perform the corrections yourself, or offer this job to a revisionist.  In either instance, the dictation is available essentially immediately, and in the former instance, with no cost at all.

Currently available recorders including the SONY ICD-BM1 and the Olympus DS4000 are excellent choices.  Digital Recorder Reviews may be helpful to assist you in determining which is the most appropriate for your specific usage.

 

---

 

Voice Recognition & Document Management in the Insurance Industry
Written 2003

There are a variety of environments in the insurance industry that can benefit greatly from the use of voice recognition software and document management. However, it is critical that you use the proper combination of software and hardware in order to allow you to derive the greatest benefit from your investment.

This article will attempt to simplify the process of determining which products are best for your particular situation. 

First we will outline a variety of potential users. We will then discuss the individual Productivity Tools; their potential uses and estimated costs. 

After describing the individual product lines, specific suggestions will be put forth for a variety of potential users such as Insurance Agents/Broker, Adjusters and Administrative Staff.

List of Productivity Tools 

1. Dragon NaturallySpeaking® – Including Volume License Agreements and Manufacturer Specials.
1. Medical
2. Legal
3. Professional
4. Preferred
   
   
2. OmniForm®
1. OmniForm Filler®
2. eOmniform®

3. OmniPage®
   
   
4. PaperPort®
   
   
5. Scanners
   
   
6. High Quality Microphones
1. Parrot Line – from VXI Corporation
2. Andrea USB – Great solutions for laptops
3. GNNetcom Voice Array
   
   
7. Digital Recorders
1. SONY ICD – MS1 – using Sony Memory Stick storage media
2. Olympus DS 3000 – and Smart Media Card storage media

 

Productivity Tools – Detailed Analysis

Voice Recognition Software – Dragon NaturallySpeaking®

Dragon NaturallySpeaking may be purchased as an individual boxed product, and the MSRP is as indicated next to each product in the table below: Keep in mind that Volume License Agreements allow much more user flexibility at reduced cost.

Product Name	MSRP	10% Corporate Discount
Professional	$695.00	$625.50
Medical Suite	$995.00	$895.50
Legal Suite	$995.00	$895.50
Public Safety	$795.00	$715.50
Preferred	$199.00	$179.00

The best way to get great value on your purchase is to invest in ScanSoft’s VLA (Volume Licensing Arrangement) program.  A full explanation of the VLA program is beyond the scope of this article, and can be best understood in consultation with a 21^st Century Account Manager, or your local Value Added Reseller.  In this paper, we will attempt to provide a brief overview of the possibilities of a VLA agreement in an insurance setting.  

First, your company should determine, roughly, how many users there are likely to be for each of the variety of Dragon NaturallySpeaking products.  There are various price breaks as you increase the number of licenses needed. Once you enter the next price level, you begin to save even more money per user and you can then order small quantities at your reduced price once you have attained a certain discount level.  Obviously, the larger the initial order, the lower the price per unit.  Discounts can be significant for larger investments, much like buying in bulk at the local wholesale club.

For more information concerning VLA pricing, please call 1.800.245.2133.  

 

OmniForm

ScanSoft’s OmniForm comes in two versions. OmniForm 5.0, and OmniForm Premium 5.0.  We will discuss OmniForm Premium 5.0 because this product is substantially more powerful, and much more likely to be used in the insurance environment.  However, if you are on a very stringent budget, you may wish to consider OmniForm 5.0

OmniForm Premium 5.0 is designed to assist everyone in an corporate institution who needs to produce, distribute and fill out forms, and manage form data.

What types of forms?  Your imagination, and your need are the only limitations.  OmniForm Premium 5.0 has been successfully utilized in a variety of corporate settings to produce forms such as: sales reports, quotes, employment applications, purchase requisitions, accounting reports, and applications.

OmniForm Filler

Having produced a form using OmniForm, anyone who needs to enter data into the form can do so easily using OmniForm Filler.  This software, unlike OmniForm Premium, does not allow the user to design his/her own form. However, it does allow the user to fill out a form, which has been designed using OmniForm.  In many situations, an institution may purchase one or two orders of magnitude more OmniForm Filler licenses than it does of the OmniForm Premium.  This keeps costs down, and allows each user to fill out forms electronically, automatically build a database for each record of form data, and manage this form data which can then be exported to any ODBC compliant database for further analysis.  

eOmniForm

eOmniForm, as its name would suggest, allows for the production and publication of fillable electronic forms on the Internet, specifically ScanSoft's SSL compliant eOmniForm.com website.  This is a wonderful feature for institutions which need distributed form filling.  After the form is published on the web as an HTML file, anyone with web access can fill out the form, either by typing or speaking, into the form.   The form is then sent, via email to the intended recipient.

Just imagine: Publish an OmniForm generated electronic form to the web, send an email to your agents linking to the url, the agents fill out the form, it is sent back to you by email, where it can be quickly and accurately submitted to the appropriate department for underwriting, review, etc.   

OmniPage

OmniPage is an OCR (optical character recognition product.)  In fact, it is the best one in its class.  It can be used with any scanner to rid your office of the reams of paper that tend to clutter it up.  After having scanned in your papers, (much as you would do with PaperPort), you can then edit the actual text. 

PaperPort

PaperPort allows for the organization of documents, images, and in fact any set of files which you may have on your computer or network.  In common use, incoming papers are scanned and assigned to an individual file folder.  Since the quality of the scanned image is so clear, the original paper can, in most instances, be recycled.

Scanners

In order to utilize PaperPort or OmniPage, it is necessary to have a reasonably high quality scanner. If you anticipate scanning a substantial number of documents, it is recommended that you purchase an automatic document feeder. However, these are not suitable for small sized or irregularly shaped papers.

Microphones

Software is only as good as the hardware you use. This is the case in general for any type of software, but especially so when using Voice Recognition Software. Accuracy can be greatly improved by using a high quality, noise-canceling headset microphone. A lot of things have to happen from the time you speak until you see the words on the screen. Your voice must be interpreted accurately by the software and converted into electronic signals, then converted into text that makes sense for the context you are using it in. Using an old, outdated or economy headset can cause recognition problems for some users and, in effect, the software can’t “hear” what you are saying very well. Just imagine trying to take meeting notes in a noisy construction zone and you get the idea.

 

Noise canceling technology does just what it says. It blocks out “noise”. We define noise as anything that interferes with the direct communication between you and the software. This could be a radio you play quietly in the background, a co-worker asking you questions or the lawnmower next door. Next we list a few high quality, noise canceling headset options for you. As always, feel free to call us anytime with additional questions on these microphones.

 

1. VXI/Parrot Aruba- MSRP $69.99. This is a great USB microphone for either a desktop or a laptop. VXI is well-constructed and great for good accuracy. The Aruba enables a computer to implement voice-based applications through the USB port. Applications such as, internet telephony, on-line games, video conferencing, choice recording, and voice chat, with specific support for IBM Via Voice and L&H and Dragon systems software offerings. This monaural headset utilizes VXI’s award-winning noise canceling microphone technology to block out any outside noise that could interfere with conversation. The Aruba doesn’t need a sound card, so distortion and noise resulting from sound card isn’t a factor.
2. The Andrea ANC 700 - MSRP $59.99 is a great non-USB option that would plug directly into a compatible soundcard.  This is another high quality, affordable option for a company that has built in noise cancellation sound cards as well.

 

Digital Recorders

Digital recorders offer the option of recording your voice away from the PC and perform transcription automatically through Dragon Naturally speaking later on! This means you are not tied down to your PC when you want to do voice recognition interaction.  By using an adapter, you can transcribe your voice files into text and organize and group your voice information much like you would e-mail. The software included with most digital recorders will allow you to organize your voice dictation in various ways. You can separate your dictation by date, class subject, or any other way you wish to organize your dictation. Next we will take a look at a few specific options available to you. 

 

• Sony ICD-MS1 - Sony and Dragon are known to work well together. In fact, the MS1 digital recorder was designed with Dragon Naturally Speaking in mind.  With a 16 MB memory stick, you may dictate for up to 1 hour.  This recorder is compatible with memory sticks up to 64 MB, and thus can allow for hours of dictation while on the go.
• Olympus DS3000 – This was optimized by Olympus for speech recognition, and has some very nice ergonomic features.

 

 

Specific Recommendations or ‘User Profiles’

 

Administrators 

As an administrator, it is your concern to maintain a successful and efficient institution. Maintaining profitability in a private setting is of significant importance.  

To the extent that the entire mood of your institution may be colored by your use, or lack of use, of technology, it is critically important that you utilize technology in just the right way.  Spend too much money on state of the art ‘gadgets’ which all too often lead to losses in productivity, and the entire  system will be hindered in its goals.

By the same token, the proper utilization can save substantial sums of money, which money can be spent on more important purposes.  Additionally, it can offer a ‘from the top down’ incentive to the remainder of the staff to maintain a forward looking approach to accomplishing a variety of goals.

Let’s see how this translates to your particular situation. 

As an administrator, you are likely overseeing a substantial number of secretarial employees, each of whom has a variety of computer skills. Storage space may be at a premium. You may be in a large city, and the expense of maintaining large quantities of paper files is enormous. We will first discuss getting information into your computer, and then discuss managing this information.

Voice Recognition Engine

Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Professional Suite for the computer adept, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred for the average computer user can assist significantly in lowering your costs associated with producing your written paperwork. 

The advantages of the Professional Version are worth the additional $500 in cost, only for certain users.

In order to obtain the greatest value for the investment in technology, it is helpful to determine exactly what usage each of the staff will get from their new capabilities.  For those who are in need of the additional sophistication of the Professional Version, the cost of $695 is well worth it.  The additional features which will increase the productivity of the Professional user are: 

• Extensive macro capability and support, which can be useful for filling out boiler plate text.
• Larger vocabulary
• Vocabulary which is specifically geared to professionals, including educators.

 

Microphones

 

In addition to determining which version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking is required, it is important to determine which microphone is most appropriate for each user.  Obviously, accuracy is of paramount importance. However, each of the microphones which we will discuss in this article is appropriate for voice recognition users.  They are differentiated more by their specific features rather than by their quality or accuracy.  There is no one ‘right answer’. Rather, it is important for you to determine the local environment in which you will be using the software, and then you can determine which of the rather large variety of excellent microphones available is most appropriate for your situation. 

For instance, in the event that you currently find yourself switching between typing and talking on the telephone, it will be helpful for you to have available a microphone which can be used interchangeably on the telephone and on the PC.  Microphones which fit into this category include:

VXI Bahama 1

Plantronics switchbox and microphone

 If you are a peripatetic speaker, and find yourself walking around your office while you are speaking on the phone, or dictating into your portable dictation machine, you will want a wireless system.  These come in a variety of styles.  Each of the following has a specific audience:

Logitech Cordless Freedom

Emkay RF 5185

 If you have a PC that has a significant amount of ‘electrical noise’ or has an unsatisfactory sound card, you have a number of options. Obviously you can purchase additional hardware. However, this can often be expensive, and if you are connected to a network, it can be rather time consuming.  An excellent method of obtaining satisfactory voice recognition results in this instance is to use one of the second generation USB microphones such as:

 VXI Aruba

Plantronics DSP – 100

Telex 8400

 

 

 

Please consult the following table to quickly determine which microphone or microphones will best suit your particular needs:

	On Phone and PC	Poor Sound Card – USB	Walk Around While Dictating
On Tight Budget	Plantronics SR1	Andrea NC-7100	Logitech Cordless Freedom
Intermediate Budget	Andrea NC-700	Plantronics DSP-100	GNNetcom Voice Array
Best Quality Available	VXI Bermuda	Telex 8400	GNNetcom Mobile

 

Digital Recorders 

 

For those of you who are truly on the go, a wide variety of portable digital recorders is available. The Sony ICD-MS1, and the Olympus DS3000 are rather popular, and can be utilized in two very different modes.

First, they can be used as can any standard portable dictation device. However, because they are digital, the sound quality as well as the user friendly features are amazing.  Sound quality goes without saying. There are no longer tapes to snap and break, and the dropouts that your current transcriptionist hears will be a thing of the past.  Using up to 64 MB of removable RAM, these portable digital records afford the ability to dictate for hours on end, anywhere in the world.

However, if you wish to use these recorders for voice recognition, this too can be accomplished. This allows you the freedom to take advantage of many of the benefits of voice recognition technology without the drawback of being ‘married’ to your computer. Admittedly, the accuracy rate goes down noticeably when using voice recognition software in this fashion.  While an average user can easily obtain a 98% accuracy using voice recognition while speaking directly into their computer, and a power user can obtain over a 99.5% accuracy, at rates of over 160 words per minute, this is not yet possible with the portable dictation machines.  Accuracy rates in the low 90’s are to be expected.  This, however, should allow your transcriptionist to produce your written reports in a small fraction of the time that was needed previously.  Correcting 1 out of every 10 words is, in most instances, significantly more efficient (translate significantly less expensive), than is typing 10 out of 10 words from the spoken tape. 

 

Document Management - Imaging and Forms

 

Equally important, however, would be the use of paper handling programs such as OmniForm, OmniForm Filler and PaperPort.

OmniForm, in particular, has a large number of uses for the administrative staff of any insurance company. The larger the company, the larger the savings available from the efficient use of OmniForm. However, even small  institutions can benefit from the amazing freedom from manually filling in forms that OmniForm can offer.  Specific uses of OmniForm in a university setting include the following:

1.      Insurance Quotes

2.      Claims Forms

3.   Billing

4.   Census Information

5.      Agency Tracking

 

The use of Paperport in the Insurance Industry is a bit easier to understand.  Paperport is one of those programs that you can’t believe you lived without, shortly after you’ve implemented it system wide.

Paperport allows you to scan in essentially any piece of paper that you might otherwise find on your desk, in a folder, in your filing cabinets (You know - the ones which are overflowing and cluttering up the hallways by now).  After it has been scanned, you can discard the original, since you have an electronic photocopy of it on your hard-drive.  You can use virtual filing cabinets to sort the scanned papers in any fashion you may wish.  Using a scanner with an automatic document feeder (a piece of hardware which can easily be purchased for around $500), reams of paper will disappear from your work area, to be retrieved electronically, at the click of a mouse, with substantially greater ease than you can retrieve them from your drawers.

With the ability to search for text strings within the documents, you will be able to find exactly the document you are looking for significantly more easily than you currently can.  Having found it, you can review it, print it, email it or fax it, again, with merely the click of a mouse, or a few spoken words. 

Summary and Conclusions

Many Insurance Companies are currently using outdated methods to input data into their computers.  Modern methods, including voice recognition, paper scanning, optical character recognition and electronic form design offer substantial savings in time, energy and cost.

 More importantly, however, these newer methods of information input, design, maintenance and evaluation allow for significant increases in efficiency in essentially all information users.

Insurance Companies, almost more than any other type or organization need to store, track, process, and distribute mass quantities of information. Not just any information, but information that must be accurate and correct.  If you work in the insurance industry, you know that importance of what you do. You help to protect people from loss and the unforeseen expenses that can wipe out almost any family. A system of electronic and voice composition, distribution and storage can streamline your organization in ways you never knew were possible. The system we have outlined above is a system truly fit for the 21^st Century.