The Transcription People - Digital Dictation & Transcription Blog » typing

What is Transcription?

Annalisa — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:51:17 +0000

I am often asked the question “What is Transcription?” when chatting to people about what I do and am often quite surprised when people don’t know. Put quite simply, transcription is the conversion of speech-to-text from video or more commonly digital audio recordings.

However there are a lot of steps to go through to transform a digital audio file into a useable text document – and there are many reasons in business for needing an accurate record of events.

Our clients upload their digital audio files via our secure online server, which generates an email alert to all staff in our office to advise that the file upload has been completed. We load the digital audio into one of our transcription software packages, we use a combination of Express Scribe and the Olympus DSS Player Pro transcription module (so we can transcribe the new .ds2 DSS Pro audio). This software lets our solipsists control the audio playback speed and volume using a USB connect foot control or pedal while listening to the audio.

Once we have checked the audio length and quality we assign the audio to one of our transcriptionists along with an individual client example and reference document. We have specific notes for each client indicating what fonts are preferred, whether or not to type verbatim, what format the client prefers time stamps and if required the clients letterhead. Using their transcription software the typist will transcribe into a Word document using a USB foot control and headphones. Each Word document is proofread and quality checked by a second person, we call this the second set of eyes and ensures that the quality and accuracy of the document is as high as can be. The completed document is emailed back to the client or for highly secure transcripts the completed document can be downloaded from our secure server.

Transcription can be used for business in a number of ways, such as documenting meetings or notes, keeping a record of an annual general meeting (AGM) or for any type of correspondence. Here are some examples:

Financial Transcription – typically financial results recorded live or via webcast.
Legal Transcription – this type of transcription can include hearings, correspondence or records of meetings such as arbitration, court cases and legal notes.
Medical Transcription – for keeping records of patient progress, referrals, letters, insurance cases or summaries.
Market research or focus groups – documenting what the group of people has said when reviewing products or services.
Podcast – many podcasters include downloadable transcripts on their websites.
General – other types of transcription include interviews, scripts, speeches, presentations, manuscripts and research.

Transcription is a very specialised field and for those who are not trained, transcribing an audio file into text can be very time-consuming and often frustrating. It involves the ability to work to tight deadlines, maintain confidentiality as well as the necessary transcription skills.

Previously, a business many have employed an assistant in-house to transcribe company documents, but with corporate cutbacks many of these roles have been absorbed into others and transcription is often now handled by an external company. Time is a valuable resource for business owners, so many outsource transcription to ensure they have more time to concentrate on their core business activities and increase their productivity.

Add Some Colour To Your Life – Become Your Own Boss!

Annalisa — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:35:30 +0000

The corporate world can be a bit grey at times – you travel to work on the same route, sit at the same desk every day, complete the same tasks, go to meeting after meeting… After 15 years of this grey existence I wanted to add some colour to my work life.

While working in the very corporate world of American Express, I started my own virtual office business, AMC Professional Office Services, from my dining room table in 1999 with my husband. It was a side business at first, but became much more when I was made redundant. I wanted the opportunity to work from home while I was pregnant with my son, so this seemed like the ideal opportunity for me. Initially AMC offered office services such as typing, resumes and PowerPoint presentations and just grew from there.

I have since had a daughter, and found working from home around two children met my dual aims in work and life. I am stimulated through work and building a business, while at the same time being a great mum. The flexibility of being my own boss means I can drop the kids off at school/day care and pick them up, attend their special events and take time off when they need me.

Like many successful business people I realised I couldn’t be everything to everyone – nor did I want to be – so I created my own niche. AMC’s strongest point was our transcription work, so I decided to concentrate on what we did well and be the best in the marketplace. This made great business sense because we had built up a good network of online typists and a strong client base, so it wasn’t hard at all to do away with all the little things that really were never quoted on.

We decided to rebrand AMC Professional Office Services to The Transcription People and we became a company on July 1, 2007. Now we concentrate on providing high-quality outsourced transcription services from our Australian base to clients throughout the world. The calibre of our clients is growing constantly and our client list includes Ernst & Young, Sony BMG, Tikitiboo, Canon Australia, IBM Australia, Wesley Mission, Macquarie University, KPMG and Sydney Water.

The business has become more than just fulfilling my goal to be a successful businesswoman. As interest in my business grew, I started contracting other work-at-home-mums (WAHM) as typists and proofreaders to cope with the increasing workload. We have now just taken on some on-site typists from our local area to help out with transcription.

Not only am I building a business for myself, but I am helping other female entrepreneurs grow too. It’s the ideal job for a WAHM because they can choose how much work to take on every day, based on how everything is running at home.

This year we took the plunge and moved The Transcription People from our home to office space in a growing business district and haven’t looked back. While it was great to be able to combine home and work, it’s better to be able to switch off, close the office door and go home at the end of the day. Our office space also gives us the room to expand that our home office didn’t, and this is becoming more relevant every day as our staff needs grow.

Running my own business means I now have a great work/life balance and I can guarantee no day is ever the same, like it was when I worked for someone else. This opportunity has shown me what I am capable of and added much more colour to my life – especially bright pink, in our logo and office feature wall!

For more information regarding our transcription service, please visit The Transcription People – Australia

Transcription vs. Typing – How They Differ

Annalisa — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:20:44 +0000

I was recently invited to be a “guest blogger” by Alexandra Popovic from VIP Virtual Solutions, a fellow twitterer, regarding transcription typing. There were many things I could have written about regarding this topic however considering my fellow twitterer is an online virtual assistant and VA’s make up the majority of people that contact The Transcription People looking for transcription work, I thought documenting the difference between transcription and typing would be a very relevant topic.

You can view the post on Alexandra’s blog here.