Digital dictation: the essential business tool

Digital dictation is fast becoming an essential business tool enabling companies to work more efficiently. Parsons Dowd, a team of five specialist forensic psychologists avoided recruiting additional support staff by partnering with Olympus and OutSec.

The world of forensic psychology may be unfamiliar to most of us, but those in it are just as keen to apply modern business practices to their way of working as any conventional legal, medical or accountancy practice. Parsons Dowd, based in Newcastle, provide risk assessments in family and criminal proceedings for the courts.

Two years ago they were getting much busier but did not want to hire another new member of staff. There was also pressure internally to release time for existing staff to undertake financial and PA duties as the company had started to process a lot of work away from the office which involved additional staff administration time. It did not make sense for the existing support staff to be typing and previous experience with temps had often produced very poor quality reports.

On a recommendation from a business colleague, Dr Shaun Parsons contacted OutSec, the leading UK web-based secretarial services provider. OutSec provides access to dedicated specialist UK-based secretaries in a variety of disciplines through its unique award-winning FileManager web-based file transfer program.

OutSec were consulted on the choice of recorders and they advised Parsons Dowd that the Olympus system was the most appropriate one for use both in and out of the office.

All dictators were subsequently issued with Olympus DS-2300s. These good-value robust hand-held devices produce extremely high quality sound files that are small in size– a significant factor when sending files through the internet. Not only could the recorders be used for dictation but, in addition, meetings, discussions or on-site visits could also be recorded and stored.

Everyone knows how impossible it is to remember all that happens during important ‘sensitive’ interaction but the Olympus DS-2300, with first class recording quality, enables word-by-word storage.

Additionally, due to removable xD-Picture Card storage media, there is effectively unlimited recording capability. Voice files are managed with ease – up to 199 recordings can be stored in each of the five folders available. Offering further flexibility, any part of dictations can be flagged to allow subsequently for the effortless access and location of particularly important sections.

The fact, too, that the Olympus recorders could be used in a variety of locations was important to Shaun. “The ability to dictate reports on the move and then upload them wherever I have an internet connection is a highly valued benefit. This would usually be in a hotel room in Cardiff but, once, it was on the top of a mountain in Wales!”