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Speech recognition & dictation

Implement speech recognition: How to Calculate Economic Costs and Maximize Savings

Direct and indirect costs of speech recognition, a sample calculation for hardware and servers, and the savings from less manual data entry and correction.

Published on 2 min read

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The cost of speech recognition consists of direct and indirect costs. Set against them are the savings from less manual data entry and correction. A cost-benefit analysis shows whether the implementation pays off.

Direct and indirect costs

Direct costs include the purchase of hardware and software, installation and configuration, training and support. Integration and maintenance are added to the overall calculation. Indirect costs arise from familiarisation with the new technology and retraining of staff. A detailed cost analysis provides a realistic budget.

Worked example

An organisation introduces speech recognition for documenting and transcribing conversations. It needs 10 headsets and a speech recognition server in the cloud, which costs 700 € per month in this example.

  • Headsets: 10 units at 50 € = 500 €
  • Speech recognition server: 700 € x 12 months = 8,400 € per year
  • Total cost in the first year: 8,900 €
  • Total cost in each following year: 8,400 €

Training and any maintenance come on top. Actual costs depend on the scope and requirements.

Calculating savings

The savings come mainly from less time spent on manual data entry and correction. To quantify them, you estimate the time and labour costs that speech recognition removes and the resulting efficiency gains. Example: if a user saves 30 minutes per day at an hourly rate of 30 euros, that equates to 7,500 euros per user per year. Costs and savings together form the cost-benefit analysis.

Key points

  • Direct costs (hardware, software, installation, training) and indirect costs (familiarisation) belong in the budget.
  • In the example, costs are 8,900 € in the first year and 8,400 € in each following year.
  • In the example, 30 minutes saved per day equates to 7,500 euros per user per year.

The ProDictate speech recognition software and its areas of use are described on the product page ProDictate.

Topics Speech recognition

This article comes from the DEVACON blog and was editorially revised for the new website.

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