Why Are UK Based Transcription Services Better?
People rarely think about who is transcribing their audio. But, in fact, that is quite important. If you want accuracy, data security, regulatory compliance and contextual understanding, UK based transcription services have the rest of the world beat. The question you need to know the answer to is why UK based transcription services better than other places? Let’s take a look! Here are 3 reasons why you should only be using transcription services based in the UK.
1. Security and High Working Standards
The UK has a long history of taking data protection seriously — pursuing privacy violations through a robust and respected judicial system. This is critical to a safe environment for your data.
The UK also has high working standards. With more paid vacation days, guaranteed maternity leave and higher health and safety standards than the US, workers in the UK are likely to be more motivated and happier with their employment. You want a transcriber that is focused on getting your recording completed and back to you on time and done right. Finding a company that is interested in offering high working standards is important to getting the quality transcription outcome you are looking for.
From both of these standpoints, however, just looking for a company based in the UK is not enough — you need to make sure that their transcribers are actually in the UK as well. Many transcription services offshore their labour. This can help with prices, but it comes at the cost of accountability.
2. GDPR Compliance Guaranteed
The UK is the only English speaking country subject to the GDPR. For anyone worried about the GDPR, keeping your data within its jurisdiction is important. The EU regulation that came in to effect on 25th May 2018 doesn’t simply make companies responsible for their data and require the reporting of breaches, it levels a number of unique requirements aimed at ensuring the protection of data that need to be followed at all times.
This includes things like the regular applications of Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) and maintaining a special position called the DPO (Data Protection Officer) within all organisations handling certain types or volumes of data.
For business within the GDPR’s jurisdiction, it can be hard enough to manage your own compliance. But, making sure that your partners are doing the same with your data is a whole other ordeal. The easiest way to make sure everything is compliant is to simply partner with businesses who are themselves subject to the GDPR whenever possible. UK based transcription services deliver this — giving them a leg up wherever the GDPR is concerned.
3. The British Know How to Handle an Accent
Understanding the inflexions of different dialects can make a huge difference in transcription services and the outcome that you receive. Accents always present a challenge. Meaning can be lost, words completely misheard, colloquialisms confounded — all of which is detrimental to an accurate transcript.
This is one reason that picking native English speakers is important if you want the best outcome. But, the British have everyone else beat when it comes to the nuances of the English language. In addition to inventing it, they have practice with some of the most obscure and complex variations in modern usage, along with more direct experience with non-native speakers than the rest of the English speaking world.
In the UK, there are 30 different dialects. People from different parts of the island speak the same language so differently that many other native English speakers (Americans!) would swear that they weren’t speaking English at all! But, this has only given the British practice in understanding everyone — making the UK the number one choice for your transcription service needs.
