Having a transcription company transcribe your electronically stored data into texts is a cost-effective hands-off technique that may serve the purpose of your business. Whether it be for interviews, online meetings, podcasts, there are a number of uses for transcription services.
There is a growing need for transcription services but how will you know what is the most suitable transcription service for you? Disappointment after receiving your transcribed file due to omissions, delays in turnaround time, or any other reason is a nightmare no one wants to go through. Below are essential areas you should put into consideration when picking or looking for transcription services.
Quality and Accuracy
Quality and accuracy are important factors to consider in any transcription project. Transcription services have become very accessible both through AI and manual transcription. It is a well-known fact however that automatically generated transcripts are only as sound or unsound as the audio file quality.
Before choosing a transcription company, you must ensure the quality of the service being provided. Having talented transcriptionists with excellent language skills and the ability to interpret regional accents, recognize grammatical and punctuation errors is a skill that sets most transcription companies apart from the rest.
When hiring for transcription or captioning services, it is advisable to find a service that will assure you of a close to 99% end product accuracy.
Most companies advertise an accuracy on their websites, if they don’t then learn how, they do ensure accuracy. Another way to ensure the accuracy meets your standards, you can send one or two short test files to the transcription company to test their accuracy.
Competitive Pricing
When looking for a transcription company it is important to seek a service that does not compromise on quality service, efficiency and speed but rather offers relief to businesses and individuals who are budget-conscious.
The best transcription service providers are characterized by unmatched speed, accuracy, precision, and an affordable and transparent pricing structure. This is further strengthened by a delivery system which ensures that your content data is transcribed and delivered within quick turnaround times, resulting in considerable cost savings for your business.
There are a couple of factors that come into play when determining the price. Below are a few of the areas to consider when it comes to pricing.
Jargon usage – Especially with medical files the prices maybe higher
Turnaround Time – Files that are required urgently may have a higher price tag to them.
Audio/Video quality – Audio files that have excessively inaudible have a higher price tag to them.
Accent – Accents differ globally and hence this can be a factor in pricing.
Request Previously Done Projects
It is important to find out what other projects the company you are hiring has done just to get a feel of the competency of the company you are about to start working with. But to be fair, some are just start ups and giving the startup a chance would not be a bad decision after all. To clear the doubt of a startup company being up to par with what you require, you can send them a test audio file. A good company will gladly do the test audio file for you, without any charges. The end result will help you as a company or an individual decide if you will hire them or not.
Data Security Procedures
In some industries, the audio information being transcribed to text doesn’t include personal or confidential information. However, many companies requiring transcription often do have sensitive data within their recordings, including social security numbers, health records, financial data, and more. This is especially true for oral history transcription; they enquire sometimes about personal data of the person being interviewed. At the same time the interviewee might not want their data disclosed to persons not involved in the study. It is up to the researcher if they want their document transcribed to find out if the company they are hiring, have data security procedures in place to protect the data.
Turnaround Time
Another important thing to inquire about when hiring a transcription firm is their turnaround time or simply TAT. Are there set guidelines as to how many days a file should take to be transcribed before it is returned or is the schedule open-ended? It is important to be wary of any company that leaves the timeframe open because it could signal delays in your project, which might be a deal breaker for you. Industry standard rules that it should take, at least, three times the size of a file to generate a transcript.
Conclusion
So Why Choose Us?
At JoFranLu we transcribe to meet your transcription needs. We do have a style guide but can work together with you to create a bespoke one to suit your needs. We offer transcription services that are not only timely but accurate and budget-friendly.
We can guarantee
99% accuracy
Data security
Transcription done by humans
12-hour turnaround time
That’s it for this post, if you’ve found it useful, check out my blog on Four Key Factors that Affect Turnaround Time.
Please leave a comment below and keep us in mind for all your oral history transcription needs and remember, always be kind, try to stay positive and learn to unwind.