Transcription is one of the simplest yet challenging professions today. It requires changing different recorded voice files into text format. Transcription is a fast growing telecommunication job which has immense earning potential. Main reason of its popularity is that transcription work can be started from home with minimum investment. Its acceptance as a part-time engagement for housewives and retired persons makes transcription work a much sought-after home based business of modern times. People aspiring to become successful transcriptionists need to possess some set of skills, which requires basic training for the same.

General transcription includes transcribing speeches, religious sermons, insurance and meeting minutes, group discussions, interviews focus groups, telephone conferences, educational seminars etc. Ability to type fast and accurately, strong vocabulary, excellent spelling and grammar skills, and familiarity with word processing software are the basic skills required by a good transcriptionist. For successful execution of transcription work, you will need some basic equipment like a computer with a good headset, foot control pedal, microphone and perfect Internet connection.

There are not many schools offering courses for general transcription because it pertains to a general field, open to a wide array of topics. Since there is no specific industry in relation with general transcription, it will be a tough task to find a college providing such a course. Some business colleges offer transcription as a part of other courses. This course will generally include transcribing and deciphering speech, which forms the core of a transcription job. Reputed transcription companies also offer training, which is known as in- house training. The training schedule includes a training manual, with necessary details about the basics of transcription. The candidate will be expected to adhere to the rules set forth by the company. Audio and video files will hold the transcription process, the formatting, and in general software to be used by the trainees to practice.

General transcription training does not usually require an official college degree. A student can teach himself to transcription without any formal education. The most important requirement for transcription is a good typing speed and listening abilities. These skills can easily be developed by constant practice.

Different business sectors use the transcription services and have thus seen a great change in the way transcription companies have brought a change in the efficiency of the services. The transcription services have brought a shift in the volume of business and the revenue they are able to generate by concentrating on the core business issues. Outsourcing the transcription services bring in a lot of benefits for your business and one of them is that you can rely upon the professional services being offered by them and be sure that all your projects will be delivered on time.

When you want to opt for legal or medical transcription services, you can be sure that the information you provide to the company will be kept secure and safe. The professionals never compromise with the quality of the work and ensure accuracy in the information. It is understood that some medical and legal information is confidential and should not pass through more number of hands. To make this sure, the transcription companies deal only with the authorized people in their offices and send the information over secure networks. This is done to make sure that no information gets leaked or passes on to wrong hands.

The information about your business is important and if leaked, it can lead to problems. When choosing a company to work with, make sure that you opt for a company that offers you complete support throughout the day and delivers the files electronically through channels to which no unauthorized person has access. The company that is HIPAA compliant is the one you need to opt for in order to get certified people to do the documentation work for you. The documentation projects need to be completed in time so you should choose a company that can make available the documents within the deadlines. Choose wisely to get the best services.

The transcription services are being opted for by a number of businesses as they come to know its importance. The number of companies that are providing transcription services has also increased gradually. The varieties of services that are available today make sure that you get the work done in the most affordable price and in the minimum time. If you have a business and you need transcription services, opt for outsourcing the services rather than getting an in-house team to do the work for you. You can maximize the benefits of transcription services and get your business to reach newer heights. 

In a small company, it is not possible to hire more employees or get the regular employees to do the transcription work. If the employees will work on transcription, who will focus on other core business activities? That is why it is advised that you hire an outsourcing company to perform all types of transcription work for you at affordable and competitive prices. 

If you have a big business, small tasks like transcription will just take up more of your time. You can outsource it to a specialized company and work towards the achievement of your other critical goals. In today’s world it is essential for you to keep your eyes set on the main goals. While outsourcing, you will be able to save a lot of money, you will not have to worry about the work and the employment of an in-house team. The transcription companies employ professionals who are trained in the work and offer transcription services at a price that you can easily afford. So while you focus on your core business, the professionals will provide you with excellent quality work. 

While outsourcing transcription work, some considerations are important, such as accuracy, the turnaround time, and the payment methods: checking for a mutually convenient method of payment may save a lot of inconvenience later.

It is often asked what one needs to be careful while choosing an outsourcing transcription company. In the medical industry, security and privacy are extremely important. 

In outsourcing arrangements with services and healthcare vendors, you can check the vendor’s expertise and credibility by HIPAA compliance. Amongst all the rules that are stipulated by HIPAA, ones concerned with security, health care compliance and privacy are deemed to be important by outsourcing experts. The benefits include giving greater accuracy, data security, and absolute privacy for all of their patient's records and documents.

Look for a company that is HIPAA compliant and takes proper measures to ensure security, health care compliance and privacy. A good company will make sure that the sensitive information related to patients is handled with great care. From compliance training and secure systems to the confidentiality agreements, Transcription Companies cover all the aspects involved in the HIPAA regulations.

Transferred medical files should always be encrypted while moving between transcriptionists and medical providers. This will help to ensure absolute safety and privacy of the data.

Use of logged systems and high security firewalls restrict movement of information while locking it down to the system on which personnel works. You can also request the transcription company to work on your company’s servers too. They operate remotely through your computers, nullifying data theft risks. Email access is also banned or restricted for process managers working on healthcare projects while handling customer data. Access to USB and floppy drives is banned so that there is no privacy breach.

It is important to know that those who work for the company are qualified to work in the medical transcription industry. They must have knowledge of medical terms, procedures, and need to have completed training on international coding standards. Coders have various levels of expertise and experience. These coders are regularly updated with contemporary methodologies that work in the best interest of your company.

 While hiring a transcription company, one of the most important things to look at is to ensure that the company has effective safeguards to keep private information secure. Also find out if the company does check backgrounds of their employees. They should have strict rules to find out the credibility of new employees; after all you do not want your company’s sensitive work to be handled by unreliable personnel.

Bingo!!

Last Week our marketing executive Rashmi Padhi managed to corner the elusive CEO and President Ajay Prasad of GMR Transcription Services for a brief interview. Here’s the transcript.

Rashmi: You are now running a successful transcription business and are poised to generate revenue of several million dollars this year. It's been a long ride, how does it feel

Ajay: Fantastic. We have spent 1000s of hours of hard work and strategy to reach this level. It feels good to finally see positive results of hard work.

Rashmi: How has the ride been and how long did it take to get to this point

Ajay: Just like any business, it has been up and down. This business has many pieces, and it took us several years to get all the pieces working well. It took us four years to hit $1m revenue. We made too many mistakes to even count, which slowed down our growth significantly. Now we have the momentum and have enjoyed close to 100% year-over-year growth for the last three years.

Rashmi: It is rumored in the company that you started with just 1000 dollars. Is it true?

Ajay: Yes, it is true. I was doing marketing consulting work and I taped a client interview (4 hours of it). Instead of spending four hours to listen to the tape, I decided to get it transcribed. I received a sticker shock when I was quoted over $1,500 for transcription. I figured that I will start my own transcription business, charge 1/4th fee and make decent money, plus employ transcriptionists who want to work from their home. Internet made where they lived irrelevant. I obviously spent lot of time planning the business (I fancy my thinking rate at $500/hr) and figuring out how to build/launch it. But yes, I spend $1,000 hard cost to start this business.

Rashmi: What were the basics tenets that you laid down and have followed till date for the success of the company?

Ajay: This will come as no surprise -- 1) fanatic quality control of transcripts, 2) beat customer expectations on delivery time, 3) best customer service, 4) take care of your independent contractor transcriptionists -- pay them a fair wage, pay on time for their work, and reward good ones with more work and occasional gifts/kudos, 5) make a decent profit for the company, 6) focus on long run, not immediate profit 7) manage cost without sacrificing quality -- for example, majority of our transcriptionists are located in small town USA/Canada where wages we pay go a long way. We thus manage our cost and also have satisfied and happy workforce. Our wages in large cities would be on the low end of the spectrum, whereas it is on the middle range in small cities.

Rashmi: It is said that long before transcription was a truly online business you anticipated it and till today your online strategy dominates your marketing strategy.

Ajay: When I started this business, technology needed for success of this business (access to broadband, computer usage, website security, transmission of voice files to transcriptionists and final transcripts to customers) was used only by internet savvy people. So I planned to recruit transcriptionists through internet and find customers through internet. These people found it easy to adapt to the new process, and appreciate convenience and lower cost benefits of internet usage. The strategy worked even when a very small percentage of population had access to broadband. Now the penetration is much higher and there is no reason for us to change our strategy.

Rashmi: Can you share with us some of your statistics? They will serve as an inspiration of others wanting to set up their own transcription business.

Ajay: Anyone can build a transcription business. I had never thought of it and yet I own a successful transcription business. Just like any business, start with the needs of your target audience and beat their expectations with your product/service. Well executed plan should generate 1/2 million revenue during the 1st year of operation. A transcriptionist can easily start her own transcription business and double their income working the same number of hours as they are doing now.

Rashmi: What resources were useful for you.

Ajay: Since my business was internet based, website design and web marketing were the most important pieces required to start the business. Operations were the next challenge; especially getting quality transcription completed consistently. It frankly took me longer to succeed because I had never been a Transcriptionist and had no idea about the operational needs. I had a much easier time identifying customer needs and bringing customers (now you know why I fancy myself as an expensive strategist). A good transcription supervisor helped set the operations right.

Rashmi: What is the scope of transcription business

Ajay: HUGE -- IT IS A $20BILLION BUSINESS

Rashmi: Do you think your management background helped you?

Ajay: Yes and no. I have always worked for large companies before I started this business. In those companies people are self motivated and do not need hand holding. Here it different. I meet too many workers who do not see beyond their paycheck when recruiting for small business. They need different management style. I tried big-company style and ended up with too many deadbeats as my employees. It took a lot of firing and adjustment from my end to finally figure out the right style and processes.

Rashmi: Lastly, have you ever transcribed an audio?

Ajay: Never tried. It is too difficult for me.

I am a big business owner now. It wasn’t always this way but en route to my destination I realized the importance of outsourcing certain tasks. One of them was keeping the records of the business meetings with different clients. It included what was discussed and what was not; and following up on those. Even my usually competent secretary was making too many mistakes. I had to act before the human error factor would ruin my reputation.

But it was only after a faux pas that I decided to get my meetings transcribed with the help of the professional transcriptionists.

Getting my business meetings transcribed was the best thing that could have happened to my business. I got highest quality of services from the transcriptionists who were trained in the work and hence they met the deadlines easily. I got all my transcriptions mailed back to me in the form of MS Word documents and sent them to my clients. Wow, they were impressed with my professionalism!

Another benefit of getting the meetings transcribed was that I could just make actions notes in the margins. I began to give quality time to my business.

Today, my company still follows the policy of business transcription. Even if I am not present in some of the meetings, I can still get to know what was being discussed; and I encourage my colleagues to use the margin.

The best part of this was that I was not spending too much of additional money in the transcription. As I became experienced I bought bulk hours and saved on costs.

Transcription gave my business an edge over my competitors. In business, impressions are important. Imagine a proposal meeting with a client and you sending the transcript later on.

In my business it served as an edge. The client may have met more companies for proposals and may have even received better ones. However, the transcript spoke both of professionalism on my part and served as a reminder of the proposal discussed the day before. I also suspect that it was easier to forward my transcript through email to the boss. Hence I started getting more deals and my business grew.

The guest author is a client of GMR Transcription and a virtual office business owner.
As told to Beth Worthy.