FBI Joins Ranks of Government Organizations Deploying Nuance Software

Following in the footsteps of two other government organizations, the FBI chose Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance Communications for use in creating documents throughout the organization.

For this deployment, the FBI will use a version of the software called Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal, and will enable the solution through Nuance's Site Licensing Program (SLP). The FBI chose the software at a time when national security fluctuates, forcing agents to take on increased workloads and produce more information in the form of documents.

According to Chris Strammiello, director of product marketing for productivity applications at Nuance, the FBI's greater productivity demands sparked interest in a solution that would help FBI employees work faster. "The workload and pressure of the FBI has been constantly escalating since September 11 ... and the desire to find a solution has been rising, and that led them to Dragon," he states. "At the same time, Dragon has gotten so much more accurate. It's crossed a threshold which makes it a viable solution for someone who needs precise information—like the FBI."

Using the software, Nuance says the FBI will increase productivity by 300 percent when creating documents using voice commands. The program currently operates at a speed of 160 words per minute, with  99 percent accuracy. One of the most time-consuming processes in creating FBI reports, however, is the input of repetitive forms and phrases that are legally necessary, but can waste an agent's time.

"The legal version has support for lots of macros that would allow you to navigate through a series of forms, to really flatten tasks and execute multistep processes with voice commands, as well as automatically input blocks of text," Stramiello says. "There are additional navigation and text shortcuts that can and are implemented."

In addition, because many FBI agent reports are used in court cases, the organization chose Dragon's legal version, which comes preloaded with legal vocabulary and terminology.

Nuance's SLP solution means the software is available to every member of the FBI, but Strammiello says Nuance cannot report on which of the bureau's departments will actually use the program. The FBI is the latest government organization to deploy Dragon; previous clients include the U.S. Attorney General's Office, and the U.S. Social Security Administration.