Dragon Software Versions – What Is The Difference?

As Nuance Premier Partners and Nuance Healthcare Elite Partners, we at VoicePower Ltd are used to all the different product names associated with the Dragon range.

However, it is all quite confusing! When a new product is launched with a similar name it does take some getting used to, equally explaining the differences to our clients can also be a challenge.

We have recently been appointed as one of the Nuance Premier Partners who can supply and support on the brand new Dragon Professional Anywhere edition!

This is a truly exciting time in the speech recognition arena, this is Dragon speech recognition software but not as you know it!

But what is it and why does it have a very similar name to another Nuance Dragon product?

I would like to briefly explain the differences and similarities between the different versions of Dragon speech recognition, this will hopefully help you in your exploration of the technology.

What Is Speech Recognition?

The focus and purpose of the Nuance Dragon range of speech recognition software solutions are to help people do more work in less time.

With the Dragon technology we can dictate our emails, letters and CRM input data at 3 x faster than typing – what could you be doing instead of the time-consuming typing?

We now have the Dragon software available for use on computers, Smartphones, netbooks, cloud-hosted, server-based enterprise-ready, subscription, perpetual… you name it we have now got it!

What are the differences between the versions?

So there are some drastic differences between the versions, even though their names may be similar. Be careful out there!

Dragon Home

As the name would suggest this is targeted at home users. We at VoicePower do not supply this edition, it is a basic tool with limited functionality, however, if you’d like to use it for your shopping list it would be ideal.

Dragon Professional Individual (DPI)

This edition is is for an individual who requires speech for their job, who, however, is maybe part of a small company or sole trader.

The speech recognition engine between this version and Dragon Professional Group (which I will explain next) is exactly the same, so your accuracy levels will be the same.

The differences lie within the advanced features and IT administration tools.

Although shortcut commands can be created with the DPI edition this is limited to text and graphics and there is no facility to create automation commands.

DPI is supplied as a single licence key, there is no volume licensing, no central deployment options and no options to take out annual software maintenance. DPI is supplied as a perpetual licence.

This might be the edition which is recommended to a user undergoing the Access to Work scheme, whereby a single user requires the software within their office as an assistive technology tool.

Dragon Professional Group (DPG)

This edition has historically been the most popular for business (but this is changing!) The speech recognition engine is exceptional, the accuracy is brilliant.

DPG has advanced scripting capabilities which can be customised to automate repetitive tasks, this can be used to speed up workflow even further, for example, we can integrate DPG commands with Microsoft Office templates and macros.

DPG can also be customised to interface with other office software applications. DPG has the option of the Nuance Management Centre (NMC) this is a central management centre enabling organisations the visibility of their users and usage, it also displays users using the Dragon Anywhere Group App (discussed in a moment).

From an IT administration perspective, the DPG version is supplied as a perpetual volume licence, therefore one licence key is used for each installation, MSI deployments are possible and there is also the option of annual software maintenance and support services.

The annual software maintenance is an additional charge per user per month but it entitles the users to updates and upgrades as they are released. DPG is not for healthcare users.

Dragon Professional Anywhere (DPA)

This version is revolutionising the shape of speech recognition in business. Other editions of Dragon are quite ‘heavy’ products, they require ‘proper’ computers (FAT clients) to run on and the software is fully installed on to the computer and runs from there.

This type of software can present issues in certain IT environments and use cases. DPA is lightweight and highly scaleable version of the Dragon software, it provides accurate speech recognised text at the cursor along with the facility of an ‘intelligent’ dictation box which can be anchored and therefore you can browse other areas of your computer whilst still dictating and capturing text (not possible with Home, DPI or DPG).

This is the version for companies who need compatibility with virtualised environments, remote desktops and Citrix.

It can be hosted on your own virtual environment, on-premise on your servers or we can also supply a subscription cloud* version where your IT infrastructure outlays are minimal. DPA can be supplied as a perpetual licence or subscription-based model.

DPA is not for healthcare users.

Dragon Professional Anywhere Group (DAG)

Dragon Anywhere Group (DAG)* This version should not be confused with the above DPA edition, despite the name similarities.

DAG is actually a Dragon App which can be used on your Smartphone, this enables users to create secure and accurate dictations which can be emailed to themselves, shared, synchronised to Dropbox or Evernote.

This edition does not allow users to dictate into other Apps on their phone. DAG will synchronise with DPG, for instance, if you are using the App and teach it a new word it will sync with DPG on your local PC.

Note: You need the internet (WiFi or 3G/4G) to use this App.

DAG is subscribed to per user. DPG is not for healthcare users.

Dragon Medical Practice Edition (DMPE)

This is the equivalent of DPG for medical professionals.

This version is developed especially for the healthcare sector, it contains pre-populated vocabularies and formatting for doctors, ensuring excellent accuracy regardless of the medical specialism.

It is secure and adheres to HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) DMPE is compatible with healthcare clinical systems.

It also has a dictation box facility which is similar to DPA where you can be dictating into the dictation box whilst browsing other areas of your computer such as results pages whilst still capturing your diction, this is not possible with the non-medical editions.

DMPE is supplied as a perpetual volume licence with annual software maintenance.

Dragon Medical One (DMO)

This is similar to DPA but for healthcare deployment.

It is a subscription-based model and is securely hosted*, therefore the IT resource required on the end-user side is minimal. T

his edition is ideal for large medical roll-outs such as CCGs, GP practices, private hospitals and the like.

DMO provides central usage data in the form of Dragon Analytics, enabling organisations to monitor the usage levels and thus ensure that their return on investment is being realised.

Other useful information

There are editions of Dragon which have been integrated to work within other applications, such as with the Philips SpeechExec dictation software.

These versions are typically a SDK (Software Development Kit) edition of the Dragon product, enabling users to use the speech recognition software to create typed text within the application themselves.

The Philips SpeechExec solution is ultimately digital dictation, where you can send audio files for manual transcription by a typist.

However, a user can use the integrated Dragon SDK edition with SpeechExec to send the typed text as well as the audio to the typing team, equally, they can be self-sufficient.

These editions of Dragon are not to be used externally of the solution it is supplied with, in this example SpeechExec, they would not be supported and the functionality is also reduced.

All Dragon versions which are hosted fully comply with GDPR and security protocols which can be supplied upon request.

Phew! I hope this helps you to understand the different editions of Dragon available to you.

If you have any queries or if you’d like further assistance in choosing the right product just get in touch.