Documenting your business videos and audio files through transcription is an excellent way to make the most of their content. That’s why savvy business owners transcribe audio to text to back up their minutes (of company meetings), pertinent industry news, and clips containing statistics.
Turning these audios into written words offers multiple benefits to a business such as:
- they are helpful for legal and compliance purposes.
- Aid in backing up crucial business data.
- Transcribing promotional audio content to share with clients or post them on the web
- You may also find transcription services helpful if your business wishes to provide an audience-friendly format for people with hearing problems.
So how can you use transcription to improve your business? Where can you get transcription services, and what are some best practices to follow.
This post has been updated in September 2021.
Which Type of Transcribe Audio to Text for Your Business is Best?
There are three types of transcriptions you can use for business purposes, depending on your industry:
● Verbatim Transcription
It is also known as accurate or script transcription and is often long and detailed.
In this form of transcription, the transcriber tries to document all the speakers’ words, including the repetitions, stops, filler content, non-verbal cues, etc.
Verbatim transcription includes words such as “oh” or “uh.” Sometimes, it may also detail the reactions from the audience or noise.
However, they don’t always cover sounds from sources irrelevant to the text, e.g., hooting cars, sirens, or alarms.
This type of transcription is helpful in:
- Police witness interviews
- Research purposes
- Therapy sessions
Businesses that deal with acting and theater also depend on verbatim transcription from time to time.
● Edited Transcription
An edited transcript, unlike verbatim types, does not include filler words, pauses, or other cues. It focuses on retaining the speaker’s words as they are without changing the meaning or rephrasing.
Most businesses use edited transcription because they don’t consider filler words and pauses important. Also, they don’t impact the meanings expressed by a speaker.
Any entrepreneur looking to extract data from a podcast or video can use this approach.
● Intelligent Transcription
This approach focuses on turning recordings into clearly understandable text. Here, the transcriptionist has the freedom to edit and eliminate sections of the speech.
An intelligent transcription’s primary goal is to present or communicate a speech’s meanings naturally rather than just documenting it as it was recorded.
For this approach, you eliminate all pauses, filler words, etc., and restructure sentences, if needed, to ensure a final grammatically sound transcript.
While this type of transcription does not capture everything as spoken by the speaker, It documents the meanings of everything uttered by the speaker.
Perhaps this is the best approach for businesses extracting crucial information from videos, podcasts, etc., to share with their audience.
The Two Ways to Transcribe Audio to Text for Your Files
Companies save lots of time and cash by letting someone else do their transcription work.
Because of the demanding nature of these tasks, it’s better to outsource to a professional than struggle with a job you know little about.
Transcriptionists are experienced in turning all sorts of audio to text, including:
- Interviews
- Manuscripts
- Reports
- Teleconferences
- Phone conversations
- Dictations
- Script
- Meeting
- Forums
- Correspondence
- Articles
- Speeches
So, what are your options when looking to hire a transcriber for your next task? Where do you search for them? How do you identify the right one?
There are two main ways you can transcribe audio to text if you are a novice or don’t have the time to DIY. They are:
a) Hire a Human Transcriber
Freelance platforms like Bunny Studio connect clients like you to a pool of expert transcribers.
Beyond that, they work to ensure your project completes as per the stipulated time and everything happens as requested.
To get the best transcript, an audio-to-text transcription professional must be an expert in grammar and punctuation.
They must also be keen to understand a speaker’s intended meaning and make sense of the inaudible parts of the audio.
Next, the expert you hire must be experienced in the specific type or form of transcription you need.
Follow these tips when searching for a qualified candidate:
- Identify the right freelance platform
- Go through samples from different experts
- Ask whether they offer the type of transcription you need
- Identify the best candidate
- Submit project details
- Be available if the freelancer needs any clarifications
Spend quality time searching for the right candidate: this will simplify your work down the road.
It can be hectic sending a project back and forth for editing.
b) Use online tools or speech-to-text software
Living in an era of tech advancement, we can’t rule out the possibility of turning your audio into text through various online tools or mobile applications.
However, be warned because transcribing a recording through a computer doesn’t guarantee the same results as what you’d get from a human transcriptionist.
For instance, while a human transcriber can decipher unclear audio and capture the speaker’s intended meanings, most technologies can’t do the same.
Often, machine transcriptions are full of errors because computers don’t have a mind of their own. Hence, these tools will resort to the nearest possible word if a section of the audio is unclear.
Humans, however, are patient enough to play a recording back, time and again, until inaudible speech makes sense. They also know how to make the best judgments based on the speaker’s theme and context.
People, unlike tools, also understand transcription’s rules on how to document completely inaudible words.
Lastly, human transcribers are better at punctuating and formatting the text, especially if they contain more than a single speaker.
Why Transcribe Audio to Text Services for a Business?
Most business owners don’t understand the far-reaching advantages of transcribing audio to text services.
Even more crucial, a good number don’t recognize the importance of having a human transcriber handle the work instead of using speech-to-text software.
Depending on your industry, this strategy may be helpful in the following ways:
1. Get access to troves of data
Audio and video files are rich in data. However, these formats restrict access to specific sets of data, e.g., when you need to pick a particular fact, date, or statistic.
It turns into donkey work when you have to forward or rewind a record to capture the information you need.
However, turning it into text offers easy access, e.g., when the data is arranged into:
- Dates
- organized into pages
- having a table of contents
Even much more accessible, you can hit CNTRL + F and search for specific information.
2. Improve strategic coherence
Company meetings help you define your organization’s outlook and implement strategic adjustments to your business.
While you can have a secretary take notes during the meeting, a better approach is to record the entire session and transcribe it later.
Recording audios during meetings is better than taking notes because it captures everything. A minute taker can easily get lost and leave out crucial insights.
Capturing the audio ensures every piece of information goes into the record, and all relevant data is retained.
This information can later be turned into text with the help of a qualified human transcriber.
3. Boosts workplace efficiency
How long does your staff take to extract the data you need from company audios and videos? Does it eat into their working hours and slow down operations? Does the process lead to worker burnout?
Turning audio to text leaves you with scripts that are more searchable than a podcast or recording. This simplifies data access which then improves operational efficiency.
In essence, you get the information you need in a matter of minutes or seconds instead of playing a recording or video, back and forth, to confirm a statistic or fact.
Transcribing pertinent audio files also offers a quick reference point when you need time-bound information, e.g., when customers call to get in touch about some info.
4. Avoid Misunderstanding
Using transcription tools or apps can lead to misunderstanding. Hiring a human transcriber, however, guarantees accuracy.
Sourcing facts from inaudible audios and videos are challenging, especially if you’ve never transcribed anything before. A more straightforward approach is to turn the recording into text.
Avoid using automated speech-to-text software as these can cause further confusion. These tools struggle with transcription work and may not make sense of stuff like thick accents or technical jargon. In the process, your transcript loses the original meanings in the video and audio files.
Such mistakes can threaten to taint your brand’s reputation and disadvantage your business in a lawsuit.
Competent audio-to-text service providers like Bunny Studios strive to retain all the meanings in the source text.
5. Safeguard your data
Data safety is priority number one for all companies. Turning videos and audios into text documents is an excellent way to back up and safeguard your data from loss if your audio files disappear or get infected.
Safety can also mean data privacy or confidentiality. Again, you want to use a human transcription service because most automated transcriptions do not guarantee document safety.
Sometimes, websites suffer data breaches, and consumer data is lost to fraudsters, mainly if you transcribe in a foreign tool where data safety rules don’t matter.
The best transcriptions services ensure compliance with existing data safety laws. For instance, if you are in the United States, be sure to check compliance with regulations like HITECH, HIPAA, CJIS, and NDA, depending on your industry.
Hire an Audio to Text Expert from Bunny Studios
The transcriptionist you hire can make or break your experience. To avoid making a mess of your business recordings, be sure to check out what previous clients say about the service.
Hiring an expert transcriber at Bunny Studios relieves you of the stress that comes with audio-to-text projects.
Once you share all the project details, a capable client support team and dedicated quality control crew work to ensure the final script matches your specific instructions.
Even more interesting, you can request corrections if you feel a portion of the audio wasn’t handled to your satisfaction.
Final Take
It’s never too late to learn and turn. Consider giving it a second thought if you haven’t tapped into the far-reaching pros of audio-to-text transcriptions.
To get the best results, work with a human-based transcription service instead of using speech-to-text software, as the latter doesn’t guarantee accuracy.
Ready to hit the ground running? Submit your project details to Bunny Studio and hire a transcriber to handle everything.
