Why is English important?

The integrity of your data/info is vital. Incorrect punctuation and homophones, for example, can completely change the meaning of a sentence.

Our excellent command of the English language means we will make sure what is said or written is correctly captured, therefore we won’t compromise the integrity of your data/info.

For more info on the importance of punctuation, read our article: Punctuation.

Why a personalised service?

Our service is centred around you as our client. As you are unique, we believe that it’s important for you to be able to choose what you want to make life as easy as possible for you.

We will give you as much information as possible so that you can make an informed decision. Once you know what you want, you tell us and we will work according to your needs. We will work with you and advise what we feel is best but we will also respect your decisions.

Quality vs. deadline

The first thing to understand is that quality takes time, which does affect our turnaround time. However, we try and strike a good balance, providing quality within a decent turnaround time. We will discuss this with you before we start any project though.

Once a deadline has been decided, we will not miss it. We have made sure we are set up to handle as many crises as we can imagine, from loadshedding to computer crashes. Even in the face of a crisis, we will not compromise quality and will do everything in our power to meet the deadline.

Why double-check?

Unfortunately, too many companies use freelancers and don’t check the work standard. We rarely outsource work. When we do, we double-check (and often triple-check) the work before we send it on to you to make sure it meets our high standards.

Why format documents?

We want to make it easy for you to make changes, should you wish to do so, later. Therefore, we format documents properly from the start. We use Styles to set the document formatting before creating new documents. When formatting an existing document, we set everything up in Styles and work through the document, amending as we go along. Using Styles allows many big changes to be done easily with a few quick setting changes.

Why is equipment important?

We pay special attention to computer hardware and software so that we can keep up with the times and offer you quality. A good set of headphones, for example, can enhance audio, which allows us to pick up more than standard headphones will during the transcription process. We keep our Microsoft Office program up to date and have a wide range of other programs to assist with your requirements. We invest as and when needed to ensure we always stay on top of our game.

Why research?

Although we have vast knowledge in many subjects, we don’t profess to know everything. In these cases, we will do online research. Research can be on anything from complex terminology in an unfamiliar field to company and people names where needed. Our job is not just to do your project but to ensure we capture the finer details too.

We believe you deserve more

We don’t charge express rates

Many companies charge extra if you want your project started within, for example, a week of handing it over. If we can help you immediately, we don’t charge extra. The project takes the same amount of time no matter when we do it.

This also allows us to work side by side with you on your project. You can send us bits of your project as you complete them. This means you’re not waiting a long time after completing your bit to get the project back from us.

In both these cases, availability does need to be considered. In order for us to work side by side with you, it’s best to book ahead of time so this can be guaranteed.

We offer time-coding for transcripts and track changes for editing and formatting

For transcription, we include time stamps at every indistinct area longer than 1 minute apart. This helps you to easily get to a section and see if you can pick up what was said.

For all editing and formatting, we include track changes and comments so that you can see what we changed and, when it’s not obvious, why we changed it.

We do voice comparisons for meeting/focus-group transcriptions

In cases where there is no clear indication of speakers, we do manual voice comparisons, insofar as we can. This means that you will know what a single person says throughout the whole transcript.

We keep backups

We keep a backed-up copy of all our projects on both a secure external hard drive (well-hidden and inaccessible by anyone else) as well as a cloud backup for up to two years. This means that, should you lose your work for any reason (and we’ve had it happen), we can re-send your work to you.

Because this is not a formal service, we can’t guarantee this in the event of a major server breakdown.

We will delete all trace of the project on completion if you don’t want us to save it.