ScanSoft Presents Back To Work Office Productivity Action Plan

Changes in employees working practises can translate into significant gains in personal and office productivity - as well as making jobs easier and promoting better business results, according to ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a global leader in speech and imaging solutions. As the nationís workforce return from the summer holidays, ScanSoft advises companies and their employees to follow its Productivity Action Plan to drive productivity in the office this quarter. Below are five Productivity Action Plan steps that employers and employees can take now:



1 Clear your desk of clutter. If thereís an item on your desk that has not been used for a month, it can be considered clutter. Clear it off the desk, recycle it or throw it away - itís clearly not needed. Use document conversion technology, such as ScanSoftís PDF Converter, PaperPort or OmniPage, to convert mountains of paper piles to digital files. Stored that way, miscellaneous clippings, reports, presentations and memos are easier to file, quicker to locate, and take up less space and less time when searching for them. A clear desk is a productive desk!

2. Work in blocks. Allocate time slots to make, receive and reply to phone calls, and leave desktop handsets on voice mail for the rest of the time. Allocate similar slots for drafting, sending and replying to emails. Being disciplined with phone and email communication will prevent other priority tasks that need to be completed from being interrupted. For more advice on how to use your time at work even more effectively, consider attending a time management course. More information about effective time management can be found at:

http://www.tsuccess.dircon.co.uk/timemanagementtips.htm

3. Consider how to control document costs. The money spent on document handling can be a considerable - and hidden - drain on an organisationís profitability. Each year, organisations waste money on ineffectively managed documents. Save time - and money - by unlocking the data thatís trapped within increasingly common PDF file format documents by using ScanSoftís PDF Converter. Costing only a fraction of the price of Adobe Acrobat, the latest version of PDF Converter enables business users to save both time and money by providing cost effective and easy access to data thatís locked within PDF files without having to retype it - thereby negating the risk of costly typing errors, and an average of 200 in labour.

4. Consider using voice recognition technology. An effective and reliable alternative to the keyboard and mouse for entering data, desktop-based voice recognition technology - such as ScanSoftís Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 software - enables users to dictate at up to 160 words per minute, far more than they can type. This can lead to an immediate improvement in worker productivity. Voice recognition technology can also be used by people with upper-body mobility issues, as it enables them to interface with their PC without having to worry about using the mouse or keyboard. This ensures that they can be just as productive at the desktop, as their colleagues. Critically, in the long term, the technology could also help to reduce the risk of suffering from a desktop workspace-related Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI); with an aging workforce working longer hours, employers should be wary of their legal obligations to their employers under health and safety regulations. More details on how to avoid RSI injuries at the desktop can be found at www.scansoft.co.uk.

5. Clean up your Intranet. If a companyís employees need to access the intranet regularly, look at it critically and ask employeesí opinions on how it might be improved to help them access the data and materials they need more quickly. Ensure that the data and information is correct and current, and that if they canít find what theyíre looking for, thereís access to alternative resources that might contain the material they need. Using ScanSoftís OmniPage, PaperPort and PDF Converter 3, makes it easy to store and file documents and organise them logically, so that those who have the authority to access to the intranet can quickly and easily locate the files or information that they need.

Steven Steenhaut, Marketing Manager International from ScanSoft said: Most employees are now coming back from their summer holidays recharged and refreshed, and are ready to take on the next quarterís new challenges. By taking some simple measures, this fresh enthusiasm can be channelled in such a way as to help make them even more productive and efficient in the work place, while delivering better results and improved performance for their employers.

He added: By combining good desktop practise with technology from ScanSoft, employees can boost their professional efficiency and, in turn, can contribute to making this quarter the most productive ever for their employers. All organisations and professionals can save time and remove the barriers to personal productivity by using ScanSoftís award-winning desktop applications, including; Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8, PDF Converter, OmniPage and PaperPort.

Over 10 million customers - and numerous industry awards - validate the quality and performance of ScanSoftís personal and professional productivity applications. From desktop scanning, OCR/PDF conversion and personal document management, to eForms, speech recognition and dictation, ScanSoftís products are proven to save users both time and money.