Lot of companies use transcription services to transcribe their electronically stored files into text.
Transcription services are used worldwide for transcribing lectures, conference calls, interviews, speeches, podcasts, videos, webinars, sermon, among others in a variety of sectors such as business, media, academia, and the law.
Due to the high demand for online transcription services required by businesses and organizations, the challenge is how to find a legitimate transcription service suitable for you. There are important factors to consider before choosing the right transcription service provider to tackle your file, these features are;
1. TYPE OF TRANSCRIPTION YOU NEED
There are three types of transcriptions that you should look into before getting your work into a transcriptionist, these are, verbatim, edited and intelligent verbatim transcription. All these transcriptions can be used for audio or video files the only difference is the process, depending upon the requirements and resource availability.
Verbatim Transcription
This type of transcription requires a lot of time and also it is most complicated. In verbatim transcriptions, you transcribe exactly what you hear, include filler words, stutters, interjections, and repetitions. Files written in verbatim style is a bit expensive because it requires the transcriptionist to transcribe the audio file the way it is including filler words, all the murmurs, shouting, laughs, background noise or jumbled words must be transcribed, this makes it expensive than the other types. This type of transcription is mainly used for legal records, commercials, or films.
Edited Transcriptions
If you want the transcriber to omit some parts from the video or audio file, without changing the meaning of the recording, choose this type of transcription. Though, this type of transcription is time-consuming as the transcriber must know what is important so he can decide what to omit and what not to omit.
When to use Edited Transcription? Edited transcription is mainly used if the audio file will be published or have the content in multiple languages and the file must be in a formal way. It is mainly required by the publishers and conference organizers.
Intelligent Verbatim Transcription
In intelligent verbatim transcription, you do not need to transcribe any emotions in the audio, mumbled or garbled speech in the written text.
2. CUSTOMER REVIEWS FOR THE TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE
Before handing your work to a transcriptionist, look at the service customer reviews find out what nearby businesses or others in your industry use. You can take a milestone and dig deeper into their credibility by visiting their website and checking their reviews from their customers.
3. QUALITY EXPECTATIONS.
When choosing the right and legit transcription service provider you must first of all review the quality of the service they offer. You can get this through customers who use the same transcriptionist for their files, this way you can be assured of the kind of results you will definitely get. Go for the highly-rated service provider.
Quality expectations fall into two main categories; Accuracy and formatting.
Accuracy - how accurate are they, they should be over 98% accurate and clear.
Formatting - can they correctly format your audio file without changing the meaning of the file?
4. MEETING DEADLINES.
Transcription job is so challenging and requires a lot of time and multitasking skills.
Turnaround time or TAT in transcription is the time taken between submission of your file and the return of the completely done output, this duration is always measured from the time transcriptionist received the digital audio file to the time the complete transcript is handed over. This duration according to the transcription standard rules should last at least three times the size of a file to generate a transcript.
5. IS THE TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE OFFERED IN OTHER LANGUAGES?
Transcription service providers who offer transcription in multiple languages with accuracy guarantee enhance healthy competition among other businesses. Here are some of the advantages of having your transcription in different languages;
It facilitates the exchange of idea
Transcription into other languages facilitates the exchange of ideas and opinions between communities and countries enhancing better relationships.
Data will not be limited to one place.
When you transcribe your audio in different languages, data gets to reach a lot of audiences and different places at the same time, your content will be view by a lot of people.
6. WHAT OTHER TYPES OF TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES DO THEY OFFER
A good cheap transcription services handles a lot of different industrial activities and a variety of formats at a highly competitive rate and the level of expertise should be highly rated, for example, business transcription services, sermon transcription services, educational and research transcription among other activities, it should have an ability to give you a wide range of choices based on your career or interest.
