If you are considering outsourcing audio typists, then you already know the benefits that come along with transcription services. The big question is how do you find the right provider for the job?
Fortunately, there are many companies these days that offer audio typing services on the internet. Finding a reliable provider may therefore seem easy but sometimes things go wrong. Mistakes range from hiring an inexperienced audio typing agency to receiving half-done work or transcripts that are not at par with your expectations. Here are a few tips that can help you avoid a bad experience when outsourcing transcription services online.
Choose the Right Provider
Bad outcomes experienced after outsourcing audio typing services in large part can be attributed to choosing the wrong provider. Before outsourcing your work for cheap, first get to know whether your chosen provider is worth hiring. A few things to look out for include the level of experience and reputation of a particular audio typing agency. Focus on hiring an experienced agency with good reviews from past clients. This way, you can be guaranteed of receiving high quality transcription work from expert audio typists.
Provide Clear Instructions
It is very important to provide clear and detailed instructions when outsourcing transcription work. Failing to do so leaves you with transcripts, which can be described as drafts because of the hours one has to spend editing and fine-tuning them. If you want transcripts which are print-ready, make sure to provide your chosen transcription company with all the necessary guidelines that they have to follow in order to meet your quality. This may include things like:
- Templates of previous work of similar nature: e.g. letters, reports, memos, witness statements, and so forth. This will give the audio typists a good idea of the type of documents they have to type.
- Style and format guidelines: Do you want your work in a word document, PDF format, text file, or HTML? Would you like time stamps to be included in the transcripts and how often? Make sure to provide clear instructions on the format you need. In addition, provided detailed information on the font style, text size, files name, spelling format (American or British English) and other details regarding how you want the transcripts typed.
- Provide support material: This includes lists of abbreviations, terminologies or any other details that will help the audio typists move faster when transcribing.
- Provide a realistic TAT (Turn around Time): If there are documents needed urgently, let your transcription agency know so that they can prioritize on that work. It is also important to set realistic deadlines so as to avoid doing the work in a hurry, which all too often compromises on quality.
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You can save yourself the hustle of editing poor transcripts by simply providing all or some of the information listed above before outsourcing audio typing services. Providing clear instructions and choosing an experienced audio typing agency will in turn saves time, thus allowing you to integrate the transcription process to your workflow effectively.
Douglas Finlay is a professional blogger based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is a contributing author for LeraBlog and the transcription service company-1st Class. Douglas loves to educate other readers about audio typing services.
