Audio Transcription – what is the best service you can provide your transcription clients – excellent customer service, quality; on-time delivery; or…strong security?

Transcription clients want to know that their data, payment information, their audio/video files, contact information and their transcriptions are all protected from the many hackers we have read about in the news.

Audio Transcription Security

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The first thing a transcriber needs to understand is that computer security is critical. We highly recommend that you follow Borlok Virtual Assistants, LLC 5-point plan of action by doing the below steps.

• Think about what your most important assets of your company data are.
• Regularly update your anti-virus software and system updates for all your computers and smart phones and browsers and…everything.

• Create, update and secure your passwords!
• Consider using a password manager.
•  Read up on even more ways to provide your company the computer security it needs.

Client Confidentiality

Do you remember what my last bullet point above was? In short, I mentioned that you should read up on even more ways you can provide your transcription clients with audio transcription security. I highly recommend that you read 3 Keys to Better Client Security to get some ideas on how you can protect your clients. You may have already heard about how important client confidentiality is in the legal and medical fields, but you can’t discount the importance of it in general (or business transcription) either. Your clients want to have their contact information, payment information, and data kept private, especially with all the talk about General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

GDPR

The next thing that audio transcribers need to concern themselves with if they have clients in Europe is GDPR. According to CNN, they describe GDPR as:

GDPR is the European Union’s new data privacy law.

It gives people more control over their personal data and forces companies to make sure the way they collect, process and store data is safe.

The EU hopes to achieve a fundamental change in the way companies think about data — its central idea is “privacy by default.”

So if you have clients overseas, please look into this as a way to keep your clients’ privacy confidential.

Audio Transcription Privacy

Now I would be amiss if I did not mention that you should have your privacy policy listed on your website or blog site. Let’s take a look a some of the items you may want to cover in your privacy policy.

• How do you collect, use and share the information that you get from your clients?
• Do you use cookies? And, if you are an affiliate, do your third-party vendors use cookies?
• Does your client have any control over their data? If so, be sure to spell it out as to how they can.
• How can your clients access their data?
• What methods do you use to protect their data?
• How can your clients contact you?

Audio Transcription Data Security

Your clients are important to you. Treat them as though they are important by keeping their audio transcription secure. Make sure you tell them exactly how you are going to do that. Would you like some other ideas on how to keep you client’s audio transcription data safe? Here are just a few suggestions.

First of all, one of the best pieces I have seen that provides excellent information on cybersecurity is The Complete Cybersecurity Guide for Small and Medium Businesses – 2018 released by vpnMentor.

I encourage you to really take the time to read their guide. They talk about everything from protecting your computers and devices to protecting against viruses to encryption, just to name a few topics.

But what else can you do to learn about audio transcription specifically and cybersecurity in general? I would highly recommend looking at Top Cybersecurity Trends To Watch in 2018 [Infographic] that is on the Tech Startups (TS) website.

Security Recommendations

Below are just a few more recommendations that you can think about for keeping  your audio transcriptions safe in the Cloud. These are companies that I have either used in the past or currently use. In addition, the descriptions are provided by Wikipedia.

• Hightail – formerly YouSendIt – is a cloud service that lets users send, receive, digitally sign and synchronize files.
• EchoSign: Lets users send, e-sign, track, and file documents online. I particularly like this site as I keep all my client contracts on this site.
• Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files on their servers, synchronize files across devices, and share files.
• Carbonite (NASDAQ: CARB) is an online backup service, available to Windows and macOS users, that backs up documents, e-mails, music, photos, and settings.

Final Thoughts

As Janet Shaughnessy says in her 3 Keys to Better Client Security article,

Do the little things to keep the “bad apples” out of your work stuff. Things like locking your computer when you are not around it, changing your password every few months, and making sure you do not keep your new password on a Post-it™ note on your computer or your desk are easy, everybody-should-do-it ways to maintain client confidentiality. Don’t e-mail your clients’ transcriptions to anyone without their express written permission. Another step that you can take is being very careful when on public Wi-Fi connections.

Audio transcription security and cybersecurity is a hot topic right now. What we say is, “you can’t be too careful. It seems like we hear about how hackers have gotten into computers and data and personal information and business information…I could go on and on. Don’t let this happen to you!

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Borlok Transcription started doing transcription in 2006, and started out doing all sorts of transcription. We started out in the freelance marketplaces like Elance.com and oDesk.com (now known as Upwork.com). It took us while to feel comfortable doing transcription, but we hung in there – and you can too!

If you have any questions about general transcription, just contact us.