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t's late
in the afternoon and I am sitting in my office, alone, talking
to the computer. Imagine that. If anyone were to walk in at
this moment they would think that I had lost it-or else this
would confirm it!
For nearly
a year now I have been using voice recognition software on
my computer that allows me to talk to it instead of typing
into it. For someone like me who does not possess terrific
typing skills this has been a real advantage. I am sure that
there are many others who feel the same way as I do. At long
last I no longer need to be a fast and accurate typist.
You might
wonder what application this would have in your dealership.
The one I want to expose to you today is one that we have
had trouble with for a long number of years.
SERVICE
REPORTS
After every job is complete-and if I could be more demanding:
after every segment is complete-the technician who performed
the work would write a brief description of what he found
and what he did during the repair. Many of us have seen these
service reports. Normally we don't send these outside of the
building. In those rare instances where we must show what
the mechanic found out and what he did, we have to type it
and put it into a much prettier form.
Well maybe,
just maybe, this voice recognition software will be the answer.
I am not in the business of recommending software packages
to anyone but among others "Dragon" or "IBM's ViaVoice" are
two packages that you should look into. Yes, there are other
packages I have not used so I can't comment as to their accuracy
or ease of use.
I have
been using ViaVoice, as I said earlier, for nearly a year.
In its first form I had to speak slowly and there was a limited
vocabulary and the room had to be very quiet.
In the
Executive Edition, which I currently use, I can talk nearly
as quickly to the computer as I can in a normal conversation.
This is quite important. I still remember using dictating
equipment, the dictaphone, and how torturous it was to use,
making sure that the person who was typing the document could
understand what I was saying. In the early versions of the
software it felt a lot as if I had returned to the days of
the dictaphone. But no more.
Sure
there's a period in which you have to train the computer.
The computer has to understand what your voice sounds like.
So there are sentences you must read and a story as well to
train the computer to recognize the way you talk. Each mechanic
would have to train the computer to recognize his voice. Of
course you can have more than one user on each piece of software
and on each personal computer.
Many of
your service departments already have personal computers in
the office. This is also probably quite close to where the
mechanics either punch in to the time clock or hopefully scan
their time cards when they go work. It would be quite a simple
matter, when the job is completed, for the technician to go
into the office and sit down and dictate a service report
to the computer.
Dictating
to the computer is easy. You speak in a normal voice at normal
speed. Perhaps you would take a little more time or pay a
little bit more attention to the way you say the words so
that you can be sure that it is understood-but other than
that you just speak normally. Would this help you? Would this
mean that the service report would improve in quality? Does
this mean that the technicians would be more thorough and
complete in their description of the work that they performed?
I think the answer to all of these questions is clearly yes.
For those
dealers who have a personal computer in their service office
I would strongly suggest that you try voice recognition software
for this particular application. The packages cost somewhere
between $100-$150. Not much when you consider the benefits.
Consider
the value that complete and accurate service reports, spoken,
would provide for all of us. Pick up the software, take your
time to train the computer-don't be impatient, and you will
be rewarded with technicians who enjoy providing accurate
and thorough service reports for all the work they do on each
job.
Good luck
and happy dictating.
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