Business Transcription Outsourcing Explained Part I

The basics of business transcription outsourcing aren’t much being discussed today, but it seems that with the continuous rise of business startups, entrepreneurs would probably need to run through this valuable concept again.

To simplify it firsthand, a transcription service basically means converting a live or recorded speech to text which is read on paper, either written or electronically. There are lots of types of transcription services and those include legal, medical, tourism and travel, manufacturing and certainly, general business. Business transcription, then, means transliterating any means of communication or recordings done under any business activity that don’t have hard copies or duplicates yet. The concept of outsourcing has created an immense impact on business transcription because it has become in parallel with the rise of BPO companies offering such services. In line with this, new and innovative companies have also emerged and seen the advantages they can get by outsourcing to companies offering business transcription services. This is when the concept of business transcription outsourcing has begun.

When does business transcription outsourcing take place?

Generally, business transcription is looked-for whenever there’s an important occurrence that a company needs or wants to convert into hard copies or documentation. It simply means that business transcription outsourcing can actually take place in almost any type of business. It is merely because verbal communication cannot be absent in business. On the other hand, it is also possible for companies that focus mostly on typing, research or business conversations (e.g. contact centers) to require duplicates for future references as well. Those companies deal with a lot of data and can also take advantage of business transcription services. Business activities that are commonly transcribed are the following:

•      Conferences and Seminars
• Teleconferences
• Meetings
• Speeches
• Lectures
• Lecture Videos and Webinars
• Focus Groups
• Group Discussions
• Workshops and Trainings
• Interviews and Dictations
• Telephone Calls
• Symposiums
• Market Research Surveys
• Audio Visual Content
• Language Translations
• Court Hearings and Other Legal Measures

Who outsource business transcription?

As discussed above, business transcription outsourcing can be done by companies that deal with a huge amount of data, specifically, verbal data, every day. Various industries can be involved such as those in IT, Legal, Medical, Manufacturing, Travel and Tourism, Finance, Professional Services and more. Some CEOs of huge companies also become decisive of outsourcing the business transcription of their daily activities since they deal with a lot of it every day and cannot simply remember everything all at once.

Why do they outsource?

The reasons why such companies consider business transcription outsourcing are itemized and discussed below:

• Reduction of Costs: Instead of companies incurring costs in hiring and training new staff for just transcribing the indefinite number of business activities and communications, they can just let their outsourcing partner do that and save a lot.
• Availability of Outsourcing Companies vs. Your Secretary: If a company doesn’t want to hire or train new staff, then it’s possible that they will just let the secretary do the transcription. However, secretaries do a lot of things every day. It’s unclear whether yours will be available on a specific time that you’ll need her to do business transcription. Unlike with an outsourcing partner, it will always be available to cater your needs. They guarantee easy recovery or access of data that you will need as well.
• Free Time to Focus on Your Business’ Core Activities: Letting your outsourcing partner do the business transcription will give you more time to focus on creating strategies for your business’ success and growth. Whilst reducing expenses, companies get to increase profitability as well.
• More Professional Formats: Outsourcing companies can provide their clients a more professional format for the transcription results or reports. Companies who will outsource do not have to worry how the outputs will look like. While there are companies that discuss their output preferences to their outsourcing partners, the latter will see to it that they’ll certainly follow all of it. This also eases the flow of work on both parties.

There can be additional benefits aside from the ones mentioned above. These advantages can actually depend upon the type of company that will outsource its operations and preferences.

Nonetheless, there are also other factors that a company would need to consider whenever they decide to outsource their business transcription. Those include the rates, technology and other resources, security, turnaround time and accuracy.  The search for the right outsourcing partner could, and should, also depend on these.