Role of a Transcriptionist in Today's Business

The only constant in the modern business world is change. Every company or corporation needs to continuously adapt with the changing times and the changing needs of their customers. Everywhere you see there is a constant drive to maximize productivity and minimize cost.

Where computers and technology have surely increased the productivity of professionals, the rising cost of employing a workforce has seen many traditional positions in the offices completely disappear. One of such positions is that of a typist and now increasingly that of an assistant.

Every corporate professional today is expected to know how to type and use a computer. He is expected to manage and respond to his mails himself; making the job of the personal secretary redundant. Even though technology has made business more efficient and cost effective, the absence of assistants and typists has left behind a great vacuum. And this is where the professional transcriptionist steps in.

In the corporate environment there is an endless string of meetings, interviews and seminars being conducted and there is always the need to record the proceedings and transactions of these events. Companies don’t hire a dedicated employee to take down minutes of such events anymore. They outsource this job to individual transcriptionists or to specialized transcription companies.

Recording the event via audio/video devices and getting them transcribed, is no doubt the best method available for professional, work friendly reproduction of these events.

Transcription has evolved to be an extremely specialized field. A lot of transcription work is now done ‘intelligently’. This is the opposite of verbatim transcription. It means eliminating miscellaneous words or interjections used in verbal language like “you know”, “like”, “err” etc without ignoring any vital piece of information expressed in the recording.

There are never enough skilled transcriptionists to meet the corporate demand for their service. Every industry or business happens to have special terms and phrases which a transcriptionist should be aware of when working for it. So it’s always helpful when the transcriptionist has good knowledge of the media being transcribed, this allows her to identify special terms and phrases being used.

Also Read: How to Choose the Best Transcription Service for Your Business