Speech Recognition Leaders in Australia
Over 40,000 customers supported. 28 years in speech recognition.
Voice Recognition Australia (VRA) has led the evolution of speech recognition in Australia across every major shift. From analog and early digital dictation workflows, to desktop Dragon, through the Nuance cloud transition, and now into Microsoft’s AI era.
Started in 1999 and incorporated as Voice Recognition Australia in 2003, VRA has supported more than 15,000 Dragon users and is the largest Dragon reseller in the Southern Hemisphere by customer supported and sales volume. We work across healthcare, government, legal, education, and enterprise.
Founded by Russell Bewsell, active in speech recognition since 1998, VRA is privately owned, Australian family owned, and headquartered in South East Queensland with a presence across most states.
Trusted in High-Assurance Environments
VRA has delivered speech recognition and dictation solutions across Australia’s most demanding environments. We support teams where reliability, accuracy, and continuity matter, from government and hospitals to legal and enterprise.
Healthcare where quality directly impacts patient care
In the medical sector, we have supported clinicians working in environments where documentation quality is critical. This includes high-pressure settings such as emergency departments, paediatrics, and specialist services where accuracy and turnaround time matter. We have delivered this at meaningful scale, with deployment experience across hospitals and thousands of independent clinicians.
Government, justice, and public sector confidence
VRA has deployed speech recognition systems across most State and Federal departments to varying degrees. Our history includes work supporting the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Federal Parliament, State Parliaments, the Department of Defence, and justice environments including the Federal Court and High Court.
We have also run trials for most State governments, including evaluations involving up to 2,000 users. Work at this level demands disciplined delivery, clear governance, and stable support.
VIP support and direct accountability
VRA’s leadership has provided direct assistance and training for high-profile users, including former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. Russell Bewsell also personally supported Governor-General Peter Cosgrove with Dragon setup and technical assistance. He used Dragon to write at least two books.
More Than Licences. Certified Deployment, Training, and Support Australia-Wide
VRA has supported more than 40,000 customers and more than 15,000 Dragon users. We are the largest Dragon reseller in the Southern Hemisphere by customer supported and sales volume. In Australia, we were a major driver of the shift to cloud speech, including widespread adoption of Dragon Medical One.
Our support is run from Australia. Most customers get help within 15 minutes, often sooner. For higher-needs clinical environments, we directly remote in to resolve issues quickly and keep workflows moving.
When deeper vendor involvement is required, we escalate through Microsoft partner channels for second-level support. We have also built redundancy into our delivery through trusted partners, including ORdigiNAL, a global value-added distributor collaborating with Microsoft on Dragon Co-Pilot.
For how we deploy, train, and support speech systems at scale, see our implementation method.
Leading the Next Phase of Speech. Responsibly.
Speech recognition is entering a new era. AI has enormous potential to reduce administrative load and improve workflow efficiency. But in healthcare, government, and legal environments, new capability must be introduced with discipline.
VRA’s approach is deliberate. We remain focused on accurate verbatim documentation while introducing AI capabilities in structured, governed stages. We work within enterprise security requirements and remain conscious of evolving regulatory oversight, including how AI-enabled speech systems may be assessed over time.
Our role is not simply to supply software. It is to architect workflows for high-stakes environments and guide organisations safely through change.
Continue the Authority Series. Read our Microsoft and Nuance partnership, review ROI and case studies, and see our implementation method.
For the next evolution of Microsoft’s clinical speech ecosystem, explore Dragon Co-Pilot.
A personal note. I have worked in speech recognition since 1998, and VRA has been built on a simple idea. Be conservative where it matters, be fully accountable for outcomes, and support people properly when the stakes are high.
That mindset shapes how we approach speech recognition and AI adoption, especially in sensitive clinical environments. If you share those values and want to discuss a responsible path forward, you are welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn or contact our team via our Contact Us page.
Russell Bewsell
Founder and CEO, Voice Recognition Australia