Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a product that has had many iterations in its time. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Dictation, Basics, Home, Education, Premium, Professional, Legal and Medical… they’ve tried to cater for almost every possible situation and capacity. Ranging from the bare bones speech engine in combination with a digital recorder for transcription purposes to the full suite of features and a range of specialised vocabularies in Medical, the price spectrum is just as extensive. Nowadays the product line has become more limited in terms of options… possibly simplifying the marketing of the product and support offering.
While Dragon speech recognition software has a proven track record and is shown to work, we still have many people asking for a free trial or try-before-you-buy arrangement. This isn’t how we normally operate, but does tend to offer some users peace of mind when it comes to integrating a system like Dragon into their work set up. Even though people know the software works, may see a demonstration and may even use it themselves as part of the demonstration, there’s always a hint of doubt. Being primarily based on vocal input, some users may think their accent is too strong or have possibly heard mixed reports about the software’s efficacy from users who bought the product off the shelf without training or assistance.
Many prospective speech recognition end-users inquire about a free trial of Dragon in order to make their own assessment. However, the software isn’t the kind of plug-and-play app you download to your phone. It requires training in order to get the best out of your usage and in order to help users make the leap to using the software on a daily basis. There’s a temptation to revert to old habits, but having someone by your side to cheer you on and coach you is essential to learning how to use the product, getting inside knowledge, the recommended settings, optimal customisation to your field and incorporating the best practices. Even after some hours of training, there’s still much to learn and having a support company like HCD on standby to offer tech support or iron out any niggles is a confidence-booster.
So we don’t offer free trials per say. The software has a built-in system that allows you to launch it five times before requiring activation, which gives users an idea of how it responds, but it’s not recommended without building training into the package. Paying for the software also ensures that users give it their best shot and stick to the training programme in order to make it work.
If it were a disc that came bundled free with a PC magazine, you wouldn’t try as hard and Dragon know this first-hand after the original manufacturers released earlier versions of the software too soon and as a free edition with a substandard headset. Through the years, its become easier to get workable results with the latest version of Dragon 15 from day one but in the early days you needed to really optimise the system and train your voice profile up to get good results.
Our try-before-you-buy arrangement enables users to give it their best shot by taking training, but ultimately not being responsible for the cost of the license and hardware if they opt to discontinue after an agreed upon period. This lowers the risk of adopting a new system and provides a safety cushion in the event it becomes incongruent with their work style. After taking the necessary hours, Dragon users typically make the jump and reaps the benefits through their reporting, work flow and productivity.