Voice Recognition Software Business Plan

Our company will initially employ three people. They will all be principals of the company. These three people will fill the key management roles as the company moves forward. Specifically, those roles are: president, vice president electronic medical records, and vice president voice recognition and imaging systems. Our technology partner, WWBB, will develop the software and provide the support for our speech recognition, databased products, and technology needs.

Our near term needs will include a database coordinator and two sales representatives. We will have a human resource consultant to provide hiring assistance, routine human resource duties, and job descriptions. This will allow for our management team to remain focused on sales initiatives, profit initiatives, and product development.

Our management philosophy will be based on customer relationships. This single guiding philosophy will provide all team members an environment that encourages creativity, customer satisfaction, and business goal achievement.

6.1 Management Team

Jim Hendrix – president, is currently the president and chief executive office of a privately-held company providing orthopedic-screening and speech recognition software products to the orthopedic industry. Jim was recruited to the company to direct its return to profit and growth. In 1998, after successfully turning the company, Jim launched a new software diorthopedic. Utilizing speech recognition, the company pioneered dictation solutions for the orthopedic industry. Today, Jim is recognized as an industry expert in speech recognition for the orthopedic industry.

Jim has thirty years of entrepreneurial challenges, management, and sales experience. His experience includes sales management, production management, remote facility management, system installation, and training. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Cuyahoga Community College, in Cleveland Ohio.

Jim started his entrepreneurial challenges as a partner with Op-Tech, Inc., a company providing computerization of a manufacturing process. The company went on to become the leader in the manufacturing process of spectacle orthopedic wear. He then helped launch Orthopedic Laboratories, a company that manufactured spectacle orthopedic wear. His experience in publicly held companies came during his tenure as district manager for orthopedic-Ease, a diorthopedic of BMC industries. He directed a turnaround from $1.2 million to $12 million in revenue during his twelve years with orthopedic Ease.

Jim is currently chairman of the CEO Development Initiative for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. In January 2002 he will begin serving a three year term on the board of directors, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Dayton and is an active instructor and evaluator of ice hockey officials for USA Hockey.

James Brown has over twenty-five years of business management, marketing and sales experience. His extensive background includes P&L responsibility, sales management, marketing management, production management, facility management and personnel responsibilities. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Central Missouri State University. He has entrepreneurial experience through the current ownership of a small printing business located in Warsaw, Missouri.

James gained senior level management recognition as president of TSI Graphics, a privately-held company. He directed a company with $16 million in revenue and losses of $1.2 million per year to $31 million in revenue with operating profits of $3 million. He is highly recognized in the graphic arts industry for embracing new technology implementation. This is demonstrated through his efforts helping companies convert from conventional to computer-based operations improving throughput, costs, and customer satisfaction.

James holds a BS degree in Graphic Arts Technology and Management from Central Missouri State University and worked on an MBA at Drexel University in Philadelphia. As a private pilot, he is active in the EAA “Young Eagles” program designed to introduce young people to aviation. He is active in several local charities and is the vice president of an organization formed to raise funds for Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.

WWBB, Inc. – Technology Partner, was formed in 1997. It was established to provide command and control and flightline logistics expertise to the Air Force Research Labs and other commercial and military operational customers. Their role expanded to include research in decision-maker simulations, voice recognition, and rule-based expert systems through the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. The company has also applied these technologies in expanding their business base to Space Launch Range Support at both Air Force Ranges at Patrick and Vandenburg AFBs as well as to other commercial applications.

Their mission is to develop a team of orthopedicary functional experts that, when combined with highly skilled, state-of-the-art technical personnel, create innovative and affordable solutions to logistics end-user problems, by developing and integrating new, available and emerging technologies.

Steve Wonder is one of the owners of WWBB. During his Air Force career, Steve built a wing-level simulation to evaluate personnel required to support flightline aircraft maintenance. After his retirement in 1986, the simulation was selected for use by the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) System Program Office to help define and refine requirements for the JSF. In 1995, the Air Force Research Laboratory became interested in the technology and initiated formal R&D of the technology through the SBIR program.

While visiting a Maintenance Operations Center, WWBB discovered that controllers manually enter identical information into two or more automated systems, and technicians usually wait until the end of the day to enter job-tracking information. Mr. Wonder suggested reevaluation of voice recognition technology and that it be applied to monitoring FM radio net communications and passively extracting critical aircraft status and job-tracking information.

Air Force Research Labs awarded WWBB a Phase 1 SBIR and their demonstration revealed voice recognition technology had matured enough to support passive data collection. During the Demonstration Phase, WWBB focused on analyzing and determining which FM net transmissions contained important status and failure data, then capturing the correct data. They also performed an extensive evaluation of voice recognition technology that would function in high noise environments and that did not require individual training for each voice input. During this phase, other applications of this technology were investigated, including the ability to verbally query status and have the system automatically generate a voice response. The ability for the system to read inspection checklist items to the user, as well as the development of interfaces and supply systems for direct data entry, were also investigated.

This technology gained widespread Phase III (outside funding) support from numerous organizations. WWBB received additional funding from the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center F-15 Depot Maintenance organization to use voice recognition technologies to support the Evaluation and Inspection (E&I) portion of depot maintenance. Checklist items are read to inspectors and failure data is recorded and input into the Depot failure data system.

Three products have resulted from this research and are currently available. They are:

• Problem Reporting for Inspection and Scheduled Maintenance (PRISM). PRISM utilizes voice recognition technology to allow maintenance technicians to perform aircraft inspections and input discrepancies into PDMSS in a hands-free environment.
• Aircraft Status Reporting Tool (ASRT). ASRT passively collects maintenance failure data and launch status information from FM radio transmissions. Key logistics terms can be successfully converted to the required data codes, thus eliminating the need for the technician to determine them by searching through their Air Force Technical Order code manual. Examples are Work Unit Codes, How Malfunction Codes, and When Discovered Codes. ASRT creates a CAMS job whenever it receives a voice input that contains failure data.
• Speech Activated Inspection Tool (SA-IT). Much of aircraft maintenance requires that the technician complete various steps defined in applicable technical data. Using voice technology, SA-IT is able to audibly present the next step to the technician, receive and process a voice response and move to the next step, all without the user touching a keyboard or pencil. While the mechanic goes through the checklist, AVIRT tracks each step’s status as reported by the mechanic’s voice. The tool presents the status of each step in a management system that constantly tracks the work status and captures critical task information.

Below is a matrix of how the functional responsibilities are distributed within the organization.

6.2 Management Team Gaps

1. We will need to add a senior level database programmer. This person will have the responsibility of future updates of our software, coordinating installation, and telephone support.
2. Accounting services will be provided by Brady, Ware, & Schoenfeld  to perform all quarterly tax preparation in addition to yearly preparation.
3. Legal services will be provided by Coolidge, Wall, Womsley, & Lombard.
4. We will utilize Michelle O’Neil to fill the gap for our human resource needs. Michelle is well known in the Dayton area for her expertise in human resources.

6.3 Personnel Plan

Our personnel plan reflects the need to match key associates to our growth objectives. Our head count will have substantial increases in 2004, 2005, and 2006. This reflects the associates necessary to successfully meet our growth plans.