Word up: Outsourcing dictation work

The global economic difficulties of recent years have ensured organisations are leaner and more efficient, with a renewed focus ?on core activities. This drive for efficiency has been reflected in the growth of the outsourcing sector, which has enabled businesses to trim their secretarial support.

Businesses seeking greater efficiency now have the option to buy these services only when they need them, from a growing number of service providers across the globe. But how secure is the work you choose to outsource?

Sensitive information

With even a short dictation potentially covering aspects of a client’s life, from confidential estate planning and pro-active tax advice to sensitive family and matrimonial matters, any breaches of confidentiality might have serious consequences for all concerned. Especially given the importance placed on trust and discretion by individuals seeking advisers to help them deal with their most personal matters.

As firms are working hard at winning new business and trying to keep what they have, they have tended to adopt an ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ approach to outsourcing. With little experience of the sector, their decisions have understandably often been cost-based, assuming all service providers to be similar, with cost a good way to judge quality of service.

This is not necessarily true, particularly when it comes to security. Although many service providers would argue that their security measures are often more comprehensive and more readily adhered to than those in place at many organisations, this does not mean firms outsourcing confidential work can be complacent. Not all service providers offer the same level of security.

The first consideration for any firm based in the UK is the Data Protection Act. Almost all information within a dictation is likely to include data covered by the Act and that brings with it certain responsibilities. If a breach occurs, then it is the firm that outsourced the work that will be held responsible, rather than the service provider that might have been responsible for the information leak.

It is essential therefore that you assess the level of security provided by your chosen transcription partner. You must evaluate the encryption used for sending and receiving work, the storage of finished documents, the location of the typists, etc. And to comply thoroughly with the Act, you should ensure work is only being undertaken within the European Economic Area (EEA) or within countries outside this area that offer levels of data protection that satisfy the requirements of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ?(see www.ico.gov.uk).

Local contact

Predictably, cost is a factor when firms give consideration to outsourcing partners in the most far-flung corners of the globe, but firms must decide whether there is enough protection for the data throughout the process of sending the original sound files and receiving the finished transcribed documents. This assessment of adequacy will help you identify and mitigate any risks.

Regardless of where the office of a service provider is based, it is important you check where the actual work is being done, which might just be a different country. If any doubt exists, ?you should insist on a guarantee that ?all your dictation work is only undertaken by UK-based staff who have all signed confidentiality agreements with their employers.

You should seek out the best service providers which will not allow a typist to save any work to their local PC, with bespoke system software designed to prevent this possibility.

You should look for short turnaround times for your transcription. Generally speaking, the faster the turnaround times, the safer the data is, with far less chance of a complaint being made if data is off-premises for an hour or less rather than days – a satisfaction ?of principle 5 of the Data Protection ?Act, that data is to be held no longer than necessary.

Importantly, choosing to outsource services within the UK enables law ?firms to comply more easily with the guidance from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

Chapter 7 of the new handbook Management of your Business has particular relevance for firms outsourcing work abroad. It states at outcome (7.10): “Where you outsource legal activities or any operational functions that are critical to the delivery of any legal activities, you ensure such outsourcing... is subject to contractual arrangements that enable the SRA or its agent to obtain information from, inspect the records (including electronic records) of, or enter the premises of, the third party, in relation to the outsourced activities or functions.”

This paragraph indicates the importance the SRA attaches to the issue of business process outsourcing and not just legal process outsourcing. One wonders who will pay for the SRA inspection team to visit offices overseas as they fulfil their obligations to inspect records or even enter the premises of offshore outsourcing service providers.

Security guard

Once you accept that outsourcing your transcription requirements within the UK is the best course of action, the next assurance you need is the security surrounding the data you supply and the files returned to you.

Choosing a service provider with a high percentage of legal secretaries, with experience of working with sensitive data, is a good start to limiting any potential risks. In recent years, law firms have reduced their pool of legal secretaries and many have now found work with UK-based businesses that ?can put their huge legal experience to good work.

Next, look at the systems used. Software should be secure; the optimum is a system that encrypts the sound files you send and utilises a series of firewalls and other security technologies to ensure the integrity of data is maintained on both sides of the process. It should also be accessible and allow files to be uploaded using HTTPS and FTPS.

You should look closely at how work is returned. All files sent back to you should be password protected. With laptops, mobiles and tablets often synchronised to a business email account, they offer criminals easier access to an individual’s email account. Password protection of these email attachments provides another level of security.

Also, you should understand where any work is undertaken. Not just geographically, but in a physical sense. Client sound files should sit on the provider’s servers and typists should access them there and type work directly back onto the servers. At no point should the sound file leave the server to sit on an unsecured PC somewhere. Nor should the finished document sit on that same accessible, unguarded PC. If you take data security seriously, you should demand such a service level and check how the workflow system actually works in practice.

We now find many legal and financial institutions introduce a degree of information security by requesting transcription of a highly sensitive or personal nature is sent to typists in an area of the UK not associated with their office location or that of their client.

This can reduce the risk of any ?typist having any personal association with or interest in the information contained within the dictation or being pressured to reveal details by individuals who know where they work and the type of details they have access to.

The decision to outsource ?some or all of your dictation to a transcription service provider is not one to be taken lightly. However, if you use a service provider within the UK, that does not allow typists to save files to their own computers, immediately deletes sound files and transcribed ?work files, encrypt and password protect work throughout the process, then you will reap the benefits of a service designed to deliver greater efficiency ?and profitability for your firm while ensuring confidentiality is maintained ?in all your dealings with ?private clients.

Maxine Park is a solicitor and co-founder of transcription services provider DictateNow