What is Business Transcription and Why Do Businesses Need It? (Full Guide)

Business transcription is the process of converting audio recordings like meetings, interviews, conferences, focus groups, legal proceedings, and more into text documents. It involves listening to audio files and typing up the speech into written transcripts.

Transcriptionists listen carefully to the audio and transcribe it word-for-word into a text document. This requires excellent listening skills, fast and accurate typing abilities, and a strong grasp of grammar and punctuation rules.

The most common types of business transcription include:

• Legal transcription - Creating written records of legal proceedings like court hearings, depositions, arbitration meetings, and more.
• Medical transcription - Transcribing doctor’s notes, prescriptions, diagnoses, patient histories and examinations.
• Conference and meeting transcription - Transcripts of conferences, business meetings, training sessions, and board meetings.
• Media transcription - Transcribing video or audio interviews and shows.
• Academic transcription - Lecture transcriptions for students.
• Focus group transcription - Transcripts of focus groups for market research.

The end goal of transcription is to provide an accurate written record of verbal communication that can be referenced, searched, shared or analyzed.

Benefits of Business Transcription

Transcribing audio and video files provides numerous benefits for businesses of all sizes. Here are some of the key advantages of using professional transcription services or AI Transcription Platforms :

Saves Time

Transcription can save companies a tremendous amount of employee time. Rather than having staff members listen to recordings and type up notes, they can simply read through a transcript. This allows them to extract the information they need in a fraction of the time.

Frees Up Staff for Other Tasks

With transcription services, employees don't have to spend their time transcribing. This frees them up to focus on their core responsibilities. For instance, sales reps can spend more time selling rather than documenting calls, and HR can devote more time to strategic initiatives instead of interview transcriptions.

Improves Accuracy

Even the most diligent employees are likely to make mistakes when transcribing long recordings. Professional transcriptionists, on the other hand, are trained to precisely transcribe every word. This results in more accurate transcripts that businesses can rely on.

Allows for Searchability of Files

Transcripts enable businesses to search audio and video files for keywords. Rather than listening to hours of recordings to find a specific detail, they can simply search the transcript. This makes it easy to locate key information when needed.

Types of Business Transcription

Business transcription serves many industries and purposes. The main types of business transcription include:

Legal Transcription

Legal transcription involves transcribing legal proceedings, litigation, depositions, court hearings, and meetings between attorneys and clients. Accuracy and confidentiality are critical for legal transcription. Transcripts may be used as evidence in court cases.

Legal transcription has specialized terminology and requires transcribers to be familiar with legal references and documentation standards. Fast turnaround times are often needed as legal teams frequently request rush delivery of transcripts.

Medical Transcription

Medical transcription covers transcribing doctor’s notes, prescriptions, discharge summaries, radiology reports, and other health records. Medical transcription requires familiarity with medical terminology, anatomy, medications, diagnoses, procedures, and abbreviations.

Accuracy is vital as medical transcription documents are used for patient care and billing. Transcriptionists must comply with patient privacy regulations like HIPAA.

Financial Transcription

Financial transcription involves transcribing earnings calls, shareholder meetings, analyst discussions, investment committee meetings, and other financial communications. Knowledge of finance, accounting, investments, regulations, and company/industry-specific terminology is needed.

Speed and accuracy are important as financial transcriptions can impact business deals, stock prices, and investment decisions.

Business Meeting and Conference Transcription

This transcription captures business meetings, board meetings, town halls, training sessions, conferences, earnings calls, and other corporate events. The discussions can cover diverse business, technical, and industry-specific topics.

Meeting transcriptions create a record of discussions, decisions, and action items. Participants can review transcripts to clarify details. The transcripts also help remote employees stay informed.

Who Uses Business Transcription?

Business transcription services are used by a wide variety of organizations across many industries. Some of the top users of transcription services include:

Law Firms

Legal transcription is one of the most common uses of business transcription services. Law firms regularly need meeting minutes, legal proceedings, depositions, client interviews, and other audio content transcribed accurately and quickly. Quality legal transcription helps lawyers save time while ensuring important details are documented.

Hospitals and Medical Practices

Medical transcription converts doctor's notes, patient reports, consultation recordings, and other medical audio into written records. This is essential for keeping accurate patient files, sharing information between medical staff, and ensuring proper documentation. Medical transcription requires expertise in medical terminology and patient privacy.

Financial Institutions

Banks, investment firms, accounting companies, and insurance agencies rely on financial transcription. This can include transcribing earnings calls, client meetings, training seminars, compliance documentation, and other financial audio files. Accuracy and security are critical for financial transcription.

Corporations

Business meetings, conferences, training sessions, and presentations are commonly transcribed for corporate use. Transcripts allow employees to search recordings, share information, and utilize the content. Some corporations have frequent transcription needs requiring in-house staff or contracted services.

Government Agencies

Public meetings, legal proceedings, public commentary, and agency recordings often need transcribing to comply with public record laws. Government agencies at local, state, and federal levels utilize transcription for open government initiatives, documentation, and accessibility.

What Makes a Good Business Transcription Service?

When searching for a business transcription service, there are several key factors to look for:

Fast Turnaround Time

Speed and responsiveness are crucial for business transcription. Look for services that offer fast turnarounds, often within 24 hours or less. The ability to rush urgent projects is also beneficial. Slow turnaround can delay key business initiatives.

High Accuracy Rates

Accuracy is paramount in transcription. Even small errors can change meaning and cause problems. Choose a service with rigorous quality control that delivers 99%+ accuracy. Some provide complimentary accuracy verifications.

Security and Confidentiality

Protecting sensitive business data is a top priority. Reputable services use encryption and sign non-disclosure agreements. On-shore transcription with strict security is ideal for highly confidential recordings.

Industry Expertise

Look for niche experience in your industry to ensure correct terminology transcription. Services specializing in legal, medical, or financial transcription yield better results.

Competitive Pricing

Cost is a factor, but avoid choosing solely on price. Higher prices often reflect quality, security, expertise, and capabilities. Compare service tiers to find the best value for your needs. Expect to pay more for rush service.

In-house vs Outsourced Business Transcription vs AI Transcriptions

Many businesses have to decide whether to handle transcription in-house or outsource it to a third party provider. There are pros and cons to each approach.

AI Assisted Transcription (Glyph AI)

Pros:

• Highly accurate up to 95%+ and efficient transcription powered by advanced speech recognition and natural language processing models.
• Ability to handle large volumes of audio data quickly and consistently.
• Potential cost savings compared to human transcriptionists, especially for high volumes.
• No need for hiring, training, or managing dedicated transcription staff.
• Scalable and flexible to accommodate fluctuating demands.
• Consistent quality across transcripts, minimizing human errors or variations.
• Can Integrate with Large Language Models to Summarize or Extract Insights Instantly

Cons:

• Limited ability to understand context or nuances compared to human transcriptionists.
• Lack of specialized domain knowledge or expertise for certain industries or use cases.

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In-house Transcription

Pros:

• More control over the process
• Data remains internal and confidential
• Potentially lower costs if volume is high enough

Cons:

• Requires hiring and managing skilled transcriptionists
• Additional HR overhead (payroll, benefits, etc)
• Difficult to scale up or down quickly
• Employees may lack specialized experience

Outsourced Transcription

Pros:

• Tap into specialized expertise
• Easily scale capacity up or down
• No need to hire, train or manage staff
• Pay only for work completed
• Potentially lower costs

Cons:

• Less control over process
• Security risks with external access to data
• Vetting and managing outside vendors

When to Outsource vs In-house

In general, outsourcing makes more sense for smaller businesses or those with fluctuating transcription needs. The key factors to consider are:

• Data security - If tight control over data is critical, in-house may be preferable.
• Cost - Weigh HR overhead vs vendor fees to determine most cost-effective option.
• Scale - Outsourcing is easier to ramp up and down flexibly.
• Expertise - Vendors may have more specialized transcription experience.
• Management bandwidth - Outsourcing removes the need to hire and manage staff.

The ideal solution is often a hybrid - keeping sensitive core transcription in-house while outsourcing excess volume and special projects.

How to Choose a Business Transcription Service

Choosing a reliable transcription service is crucial for getting accurate transcripts that protect sensitive business information. Here are some tips on what to look for:

Research Industry Reputation

Look for services with a strong reputation for accuracy, security, and reliability in the transcription industry. Check online reviews and testimonials to evaluate a company's track record. More experienced services tend to produce higher quality transcripts.

Compare Accuracy Rates

Ask potential vendors about their accuracy rates. Many services quote 98% or higher accuracy for general transcription. Higher accuracy translates to fewer errors you need to correct.

Evaluate Security Protocols

Make sure the service uses encryption and other measures to protect confidential data. Ask about data storage, access controls, compliance standards, and physical security. Avoid services that take security lightly.

Assess Turnaround Times

Choose a service that delivers fast yet accurate turnaround. Turnaround can range from a few hours for general transcripts to a few days for technical, complex recordings. Faster turnaround lets you put the transcripts to use sooner.

Consider Industry Expertise

Look for specialized expertise in your industry's terminology, jargon, and subject matter. Services experienced in your niche can transcribe more accurately and efficiently. Domain expertise leads to fewer mistakes.

Taking the time to thoroughly evaluate transcription services can pay off with more usable, accurate, and secure transcripts.

Pricing for Business Transcription

The cost of business transcription services can vary significantly depending on several factors:

Factors that Influence Cost

• Type of audio: Simple audio files like interviews or meetings are cheaper to transcribe than complex legal or medical dictations that require specialized expertise.
• Turnaround time: Rush orders that require fast turnarounds will be more expensive than standard turnarounds of 24-48 hours.
• Accuracy rate: Transcripts that require extremely high accuracy (99%+) will cost more than ones with more acceptable error rates.
• Formatting: Any special formatting like time stamps or speaker IDs will increase cost.
• Language: Transcribing audio in foreign languages, especially rare dialects, will be more expensive.
• Volume discounts: Companies that order high volumes of transcription can get discounted bulk rates.

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Average Pricing Per Hour (Manual)

The average cost per hour of transcription ranges from:

• $1/hour for general transcription of meetings, interviews, podcasts, etc. This is for a 24-48 hour turnaround time and 98%+ accuracy with instant formatting.

Average Pricing Per Hour (Manual)

The average cost per hour of transcription ranges from:

• $60 - $120 per hour for general transcription of meetings, interviews, podcasts, etc. This is for a 24-48 hour turnaround time and 98%+ accuracy.
• $100 - $180 per hour for more technical transcription that requires specialized knowledge and formatting.
• $200+ per hour for verbatim legal or medical transcription with rapid turnarounds and highly accurate formatting.

Potential Extra Fees

Additional fees to watch out for:

• Rush delivery fees for fast 12 hour or 4 hour turnarounds.
• Overnight or weekend fees for transcriptions needed during off-hours.
• Formatting fees for adding timecodes, speaker labels, and other formatting.
• Handling fees for transcribing poor audio quality recordings.

So in summary, costs depend on your requirements but expect to pay around $60-$120 per hour on average. Clarify the pricing model upfront and watch for add-ons that increase your final price.

Conclusion

Business transcription is an essential service for companies of all sizes looking to improve efficiency and productivity. By having audio files and recordings professionally transcribed, businesses can save time and money while gaining valuable insights. As AI technologies continue to evolve and mature, the future of transcription looks increasingly promising. With improved accuracy, faster turnaround times, and cost-effective scalability, AI-assisted transcription is poised to become the industry standard for organizations seeking to unlock the full potential of their audio and video data.

The key benefits of transcription include:

• Freeing up employee time from manual transcription duties
• Enabling fast and accurate documentation of meetings, interviews, focus groups, and more
• Allowing staff to quickly search transcripts for key information
• Providing text-based data that can be used for analysis and reporting
• Ensuring important discussions and conversations are preserved in writing

Without transcription, companies miss out on the ability to fully utilize audio content. The time investment for staff to manually transcribe recordings reduces productivity. Businesses that embrace professional transcription services can accelerate information sharing across their organization.

Transcription streamlines operations in sales, marketing, legal, research, and many other departments. It enables businesses to improve processes, identify issues, and make data-driven decisions. For any business looking to work smarter, transcription is an essential solution for unlocking the value in audio files and recordings.

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