Basics

Brought into effect in 2018 to replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced as a means to protect people’s privacy and outline the practices for which businesses were allowed to use personal data.

It was determined that the previous regulations had become outdated due to the data centric lifestyles we currently live, and as the online world continued to grow better protective measures were needed.

The EU introduced the regulation to harmonise the way in which countries across the Union handle our data and to provide greater protection and rights to its citizens. To accommodate different Countries’ requirements, an element of flexibility was allowed so that the individual States could create rules based on the GDPR framework and as such, we (United Kingdom) are governed by the  Data Protection Act 2018.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights. Comprehensive guidance on the GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and their implications can be found at ico.org.uk.

Lawful Basis for Processing 

The most important element for ensuring you have a compliant GDPR policy in place is to have a valid basis for processing personal data. The ICO state that you must comply with one of the six available lawful bases for processing:  consent, contract, legal obligation, vital interests, public task or legitimate interest. The ICO has a useful tool for determining your lawful basis here.

No single basis is ’better’ or more important than the others – which basis is most appropriate to use will depend on your purpose and relationship with the individual. You’ll need to decide which suits your requirements and document it.

Who Does It Affect?

In a nutshell, everyone. It affects all businesses and organisations within the EU regardless of whether you process data or not. Whilst it may not be obvious how it affects you, it is important to understand that if you offer goods and/or services to citizens within the EU, you must be compliant.

The crucial thing about what constitutes personal data is that it allows a person to be identified – pseudonymised data can still fall under the definition of personal data.

Are you compliant?

Some of the main principles to think about when considering if you are GDPR compliant:

• How you collect your data:

Any data collected on an individual must sit within one of the ‘Grounds for Lawful Processing’ and this must be made clear to the individual at the point of collection.

• How you store and manage data:

If you had a security breach or you lost your stored data, how is it protected? Are there preventative measures to stop people accessing it? If anyone distributes the information you’ve collected, you are breach of GDPR. Also, it is important to know that if any individual requests to know what record you hold for them that you respond within 30 days of their request. 

• How you use an individual’s data:

You must only use the data for the intent in which it was harvested. This is why it is imperative that you know at the point of collection, what your data is to be used for with a clearly mapped strategy.

• How you share data:

If you intend to share this data with anyone, you must make the individual aware at the point of collection how and with whom you intend to do this. Make sure all end users are identified in your GDPR policy. Make sure you are sharing safely and responsibly and that you know where the data goes once shared! 

• How you dispose of data:

Does your policy define the timeframe for which you’ll keep the data and was this retention policy made clear to the individual at the time of collection? Ensure you know when all your stored data was collected to ensure you dispose of it safely and confidentially at the right time.

• Management of your website:

The ICO state that at every point that you collect data on your website, you must have a privacy policy that is totally bespoke to your business. Anyone on your site must be able to read and understand your policy and you need recorded proof that the individual from whom you are collecting this data, has agreed to your terms.

You must only use the data for the intent for which it was harvested. This is why it is imperative that you know at the point of collection what your data is to be used for and that you make sure the individual from whom you are collecting also knows. 

Why?

Failing to comply with the GDPR guidelines can result in huge financial penalties. These are determined on a case by case basis and split into two tiers with the higher penalties allowing up to 20 million Euros in fines or 4% of the company’s annual worldwide turnover (whichever is greater), or the standard penalties bringing a maximum of 10 million Euros in fines  or 2% of the company’s annual worldwide turnover.

The ICO website publish all fines issued to those who breach the rules.

Brexit and the GDPR

The GDPR applies to all companies based in the EU and those with EU citizens as customers. It has an extra-territorial effect, so non-EU countries are also affected. This means that although the UK has left the EU, as long as a business continues to work with EU states, the GDPR laws are still in effect and businesses will need to adhere to the rules to avoid penalties.

Previously, the EU dictated these laws, but it now is under the remit of the UK government. This means the UK has the powers to review and amend the regulatory rules as required. Any changes made will impact UK GDPR only.

Moving forward, you may need to alter your GDPR policies and processes to align with UK GDPR, including changing relevant documentation. This may include updating your privacy notices, data protection impact assessments, data subject access requests, and data flow documentation to reflect the UK as independent of the EU and represent the wording shown in the UK GPDR regulation.

Transcribe This

Transcribe this have a comprehensive GDPR compliant data security policy and ensure all our data is stored, managed and disposed of in safe and confidential manner.

If you have questions around GDPR, we can help you drawing our own experiences, or perhaps we can help to take on the administrative burden, collecting the data on your behalf. 

How many hours do you work a week, and how many of those hours are spent on administrative tasks? How many hours do you spend looking up solutions and fixes on the internet and how many hours do you use trying to implement them yourself to save money? How long does it take to make sure all your customers are paying you and your suppliers are paid?

In 2017, IT outsourcing in the UK grew by 20% with 35% of those businesses expected to increase their outsourcing activity further in 2019. Whilst the most recent statistics aren’t yet available, there has been an increase in the number of companies offering an outsourced service, showing a growth in this area of the market as demand increases and businesses are realising they need to work smarter.

Streamlining Business Process

Your main focus should be on growth and profitability. Whilst establishing your place in your industry, you simultaneously need to keep an eye on employees, systems, administration and communication, accounts and finance – all whilst trying to make sure your core business runs as smoothly as possible.

How much time do you actually have left at the end of the day to make sure your business thrives? Have you considered what your time is actually worth? Is using that money to chase unpaid invoices from clients cost effective? Your time is valuable and you will end up in a perpetual cycle of trying to stay afloat without being able to move forward, thinking that you are saving yourself money.

Outsourcing is a smart move that gives you more time to look at the overall output rather than trying to generate it. You can then use these data to make informed decisions for business development, how to increase output, revenue and effectively grow.

Utilising Experience

Running a business is hard, but to keep it running is even harder. It is neither practical nor possible to understand the full workings of each aspect of the business. It takes years of training and hands on experience to gain such skills and handing this to someone with experience isn’t giving up control, it’s working smart.

Outsourcing to an experienced, qualified business removes administrative, training and process issues with problems passed back to be rectified at their time and cost. Any company you engage will have a contractual responsibility to ensure that your business needs are met and let you focus on the bigger picture.

Cost, Risk and HR

Doing work yourself may mean you’re not paying someone else or buying software, but it’s difficult to quantify the cost in terms of your time being spent on smaller tasks to the detriment of other areas of your business. You could be adding an additional 20 hours to your working week with the justification that you’re saving money which may be true in principle, but could those hours be better utilised? Costs aren’t just financial, they’re efficient use of time, physical, mental and social and should all be factored in.

Employees are expensive. Even at minimum wage you may have to factor in agency fees, National Insurance contributions, pension contributions, employers’ liability insurance, training, re-training, cover during annual leave / maternity / sickness, and you have to pay employees each month regardless of how the business performs.

Outsourcing mitigates all this and reduces associated risk. It allows flexibility during high and low workload phases (particularly useful for start-ups and small businesses) to control the costs where needed. There are no HR issues around hiring and firing people and the other employment law red tape to navigate.

What Can Be Outsourced?

• IT – With ever changing systems, services and cyber security can you afford the time and financial investment in learning them all and keeping up to date with them?
• Accountancy – This can range from generating customer invoices and supplier payments to VAT calculations.
• HR – Is there need to have someone manage all your staffing affairs? Do you have many staff issues?!
• PA / Admin – Answering phone calls, managing your diary, writing you letter and emails and transcribing dictations, translation and subtitling services.
• Payroll – This may not suit everyone, depending on size of business but it can be a huge time and cost saving exercise…
• Customer Support – Depending on your service, can your queries be dealt with by a third party?
• Marketing – Utilise their experience and create a marketing programme that suits you and your business.

What Can Transcribe This Do for You?

• Audio transcription in English and Welsh
• Welsh-English, English-Welsh translation
• Isdeitlo
• Proofreading and copy editing

At Transcribe This we are specialists in providing a professional audio transcription service, primarily in English and Welsh (other languages are available). We ensure that your dictated work is dealt with quickly and professionally.

We undertake all aspects of outsourced transcription work to the research, medical, legal, media, financial, health and government sectors to name a few. As well as audio transcription we offer translation and captioning services. Contact us to discuss how we can help you save valuable time.

As most of us adjust to home working, we can turn to technology to keep connected. If you’re thinking of conducting telephone interviews, here’s a quick guide on how to go about capturing good audio.

GDPR considerations

There are many approaches to recording telephone audio. GDPR compliance needs to be considered. As with recording a face to face interview, you’ll need to obtain consent to the conversation being recorded.

The audio and/or video should be recorded to a location where you have complete control of the data, so this rules out most cloud based services. With cloud based services, it’s often impossible to determine where your data will be stored, geographically speaking. If you can determine where the data will be stored – is the country where the servers are located deemed to have adequate data protection laws in place according to the Information Commissioner’s Office? Is the data encrypted for upload, download and storage? Is access to the data password protected? Do you have control over the complete and secure deletion of the data from the server? We would favour recording to a local disk because there are fewer variables at play…

Recording calls on a mobile phone

Neither iOS nor Android devices have native apps that will record your calls on the device’s local storage. You can set up conference calls with cloud recording services, but we haven’t found a GDPR compliant service using this method.

We have come across an Android app that records to the device’s local storage, Call Recorder S9  – Automatic Call Recorder Pro. Nothing on iOS so far…

You can buy call recording hardware for your phone. The RecorderGear PR200 interfaces with your mobile device via Bluetooth, audio files are recorded onto the device, which you can then plug into your computer to transfer the data over.

Another, cheaper option is to use an adapter (such as the Speak-IT smartphone and iPhone recording adapter) to split off the signal from the headset you’d use to make a phone call hands free on your mobile. It’s a very simple bit of kit and the split plugs into your usual recording device, e.g. a Dictaphone.

You can use a similar device (like this one from PCM Telecom) to record landline calls. Electronically speaking, they’re slightly more complicated because the device has to incorporate a line isolator to protect you from potentially hazardous voltages that could be transmitted down the phone line in a fault condition, so it’s not a straightforward split of the audio signals.

VoIP Calls

Zoom.us, the VoIP service, have a feature where you can record conversations directly to your local disk if you call using a laptop or desktop computer (this feature is not available on iOS or Android operating systems). Zoom.us will record each participant’s video and/or audio stream as a separate video and/or audio file.

You can load these audio files into audio editing software, adjust the levels and create a stereo mix of the conversation. If that seems daunting, we can do that for you here at Transcribe This.

These are just a few of the options available. Good luck (…but also test your chosen method before your important phone call)! Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions – if we can help, we will!

 “Which transcription style would you like us to use?” – most people would be forgiven for staring blankly at this point, but don’t panic! We’re here to help…

There are three commonly referenced styles of transcription – intelligent verbatim, verbatim and discourse analysis.

Transcribe This House Style

Transcribe This uses a house style that is ‘almost verbatim’, where dialogue is typed as spoken, but decluttered a little by removing uhms and ahs and similar:

Intelligent Verbatim

Intelligent verbatim is a transcription style where recorded speech is cleaned up and distractions are removed, therefore capturing what was said rather than how it was said.

Strict Verbatim

Strict verbatim is a transcription style where every word, sound and non-verbal communication is captured, therefore capturing how a person speaks as well as what they are saying.

Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is an umbrella term that includes a number of approaches to analysing the spoken (or written) word and seeks to record information beyond the spoken word, for instance tone of voice, any sounds in the room, interruptions, pauses. It’s widely used in qualitative research. It’s common for the client to ask the transcriber to work to a bespoke set of guidelines when using discourse analysis.

Recording a large group of multiple speakers, for example a meeting or focus group, requires specialist recording equipment. A simple and relatively inexpensive solution is to use a purpose built conference recorder. The example pictured is a Phillips DPM8900 Conference recorder.

Crucially, the kit includes several boundary microphones, which when placed on a table, wall or other large surface, use the ‘boundary effect’ to capture a clear, phase coherent recording and they have a hemispherically shaped pick-up pattern.

The microphones should be placed so that ideally, all the speakers are all equidistant from a microphone.

The recording device pictured combines the signal from all the microphones and  records them to a stereo audio file. Because the relative levels of the different microphones cannot be subsequently adjusted it is important to ensure good microphone placement at the outset.

(If you had a device capable of multi-track recording, then you would be able to adjust the level of each microphone channel at a later date using specialist audio editing software – but that’s a whole different ball game and quite costly!)

If you’re unsure about setting the recording level, just remember that it’s much easier to correct for a signal that’s too low than too high so err on the low side. Too high a level causes clipping, which is pretty much impossible to correct for – on our budget anyway!

Some simple tips for getting good audio:

• Turn off any fans in the room. If you have to use a fan, make sure that it is not placed on the same table as the microphones and not pointing directly at any microphones.

• Find a quiet room. Keep windows closed if there is noise outside. Even a little traffic noise can obscure dialogue.

• If you’re serving tea and coffee, don’t use saucers – they clatter very loudly – and the noise will be transmitted through the table to the microphones. Use rubber coasters to dampen the noise of cups being placed down on the table, you can get some very inexpensive ones – Ikea coasters pictured.

• Ask participants to speak one at a time. If at all possible, the chair or moderator should try to mention the speaker’s name – to introduce them or to thank them for instance – at each contribution. It is often very difficult for the transcriber to distinguish between voices. At the very least, ask each participant to identify themselves at the beginning of the recording.

• If you study or work at a university, often your department will have a ‘conference kit’ that you can borrow. This could save you some money!