Once Bill Gates said that content is a king and everyone started experiencing it. This quote was first made in the middle of the 90s and is still relevant nowadays. We are consuming content all the time and don’t want to stop.
There are many sources to obtain information but not all of them are easy to use. For instance, audio files aren’t suitable for students who write academic papers. Another good example is a video format that is also inconvenient to use for business and educational purposes. That’s why transcription services are in demand. This is a perfect tool to convert audio or video to text for future reference.
A new level of a transcription technology
People use audio and video records for many reasons. Companies record meetings and events, journalists record interviews, students record lectures, and so on. That’s so great when you know every second of speech is captured so you can always refer to the file. As a result, there is no doubt making records is essential for many people.
The importance of audio and video records means the importance of modern technologies that can convert speech into text. Thankfully, we may rely on the newest speech recognition technology. Based on relevant software and experts in transcription, it lets us receive high-quality content in text format for later use for any purpose.
As you can see, making notes by hand isn’t the best approach nowadays. People prefer content in text format because it is more convenient and versatile. As a result, having a text version of a speech, presentation, conference, lecture, etc. becomes the norm and not an exception.
Here is another side of the transcription assistance. Besides the high popularity of textual content, it isn’t easy to convert audio or video into text format. An experienced transcriptionist must have great professional skills. Here are the main abilities of an expert in this field:
– to have excellent skills in grammar, including writing, editing, and proofreading;
– to focus on details without losing the general concept;
– to be able to work in standard (Microsoft Office) and specific programs;
– to type characters very fast (good speed is 65-75 words per minute);
– to reach the highest accuracy level.
All these job position requirements mean that professional transcriptionists do very hard and vitally important work. This fact highlights the high demand for their services among people of different kinds.
Who needs assistance in transcribing
Depending on the area, using such services may open a variety of advantages for a customer. This is a must choice for business and personal needs, especially for education and self-education in particular. Both entrepreneurs and students may take great benefits from transcribing, so let’s describe the examples of organizations interested in using transcription help.
1. Legal organization
Law is one of those areas which uses many written files all the time. Depending on the priority of documents, legal organizations and lawyers often rely on human assistance or automated software (mostly on human help for its excellent quality). They may need to convert audio and video records into textual files for hearings, interviews with individuals, etc.
2. Marketing companies
Marketing research is based on analyzing a massive amount of information. For instance, an efficient marketing company uses interviews, polls, focus groups, and so on. Because the data includes audio and video files as well, marketers need to organize all documents. That’s the key reason for them to rely on transcription assistance. Anyway, the textual content is very versatile and valuable for researchers.
3. Public companies
Every company that holds meetings and events has plenty of recorded content. But it’s too hard to use it daily. By using high-quality software or human assistance, it’s much easier to convert any record into traditional text. Then people will be able to use the paragraphs they need without listening to or watching two-hour records.
4. Healthcare organizations
The medical industry also requires the help of professional human transcribers. There are tons of records made by physicians and medical staff. With the help of professional transcriptionists, healthcare organizations will easily recover patients’ medical history, treatments, conversations with individuals, etc. In addition, such an approach also helps to organize all medical data for fast access.
5. Educational establishments
Students need to use primary and secondary sources in writing academic papers. They often refer to audio and video files that contain unique and important arguments. By using professional help they may easily convert records into documents and save a massive amount of time.
6. Personal brands
People who have developed their personal brands and create content for the target audience, usually do it in audio or video formats. For instance, influencers, motivational speakers, and so on. Professional audio transcription services will help a lot to convert such content into text for future reference.
The main reasons to use services in transcription
You way think how text could be way better if users prefer videos. Pay attention that visual content is in demand as the simplest way to consume information. Most companies prefer using text content for multiple purposes. It has much more benefits in work compared to other formats.
No matter the type of organization (commercial, social, charitable, governmental) and individual’s needs, there are many advantages of converting audio and video files into textual format. Let’s mention the key reasons why people and businesses use such services.
#1. Receive content in a convenient format
As it was said before, working with audio or video files is very hard. The textual format is versatile and is accessible from any device and any place. You can’t listen to audio in public without headphones but you are able to read an article without disturbing people around.
#2. Avoid wasting time
Whether you need to extract all the information from a document or only a piece of it, you still need to listen to it again and again. Making notes by hand is an annoying and time-wasting process that has very low efficiency. It’s a thankless job people shouldn’t waste their time on.
#3. Resolve disputes
This benefit is highly important for companies serving customers. For instance, a designer discusses a new project with a client by phone. The details define the result of the cooperation. But if a customer may change their mind and demand edits that weren’t discussed before. If a designer has transcribed audio then such a dispute will be easily resolved.
#4. Increase efficiency
It is fair to say you can level up your employees and business efficiency by relying on transcription services. Your team members will focus on their direct responsibilities and don’t waste time on useless jobs. As a result, efficient staff will positively influence business development.
#5. Create content in extra formats
If you want to promote your website or social media account then it’s a powerful idea to transcribe your videos and podcasts into textual format. Search engines will index your posts and articles so you’ll admit traffic grows. Take into account: you don’t need to create new content but only to change its format and present it to your audience in new formats. That will help you to target different audiences without investing in content creation.
#6. Create content the way you like
Someone prefers typing words and word combinations, someone would better record a speech. It’s definitely much faster than writing sentences by hand or using a computer. Many people make records by using a dictaphone but later they face issues with converting their content into textual versions. They highly appreciate using transcription technology to keep creating content by voice with an opportunity to convert it into proper formats later.
#7. Achieve information properly
The textual format is also in priority when you need to store and achieve information. It takes a small amount of memory and is 100% searchable compared to other types of content. In addition, individuals will easily share such data every time they need it.
As you can see, services in the transcribing industry are in high demand for a reason. Besides, this list of advantages isn’t full and contains only key reasons to try transcription. Here are several additional advantages that transcription assistance brings:
– make content accessible for people with hearing disabilities;
– help to share links for original sources of other information;
– guarantee to catch every detail in audios and videos;
– increase the efficiency of search engine optimization;
– optimize the working and educational processes.
The only challenge customers may meet is selecting a company to cooperate with.
How to choose the best transcription company
If you need to transcribe your content into the textual format you may select automated or human transcription services. Both these options may be suitable for your case depending on your requirements.
You can save money and use automated software based on Artificial Intelligence or hire professional transcriptionists to be sure of the top accuracy level of the final content. Anyway, both choices have advantages and disadvantages so prefer the appropriate one for your solution.
It’s great to know that you have an opportunity to convert your audio or video files into text format. Whether you prefer automated apps based on AI or human transcribers, this is a great tool for many users!