Frequently Asked Questions

We are constantly aiming to expand our considerable repertoire, which currently includes the following:

• Audio transcription from all recordable sources (see our page on MP3 digital files – currently under construction)
• Live telephone transcription for urgent documents
• Data inputting in Word, Excel, Sage and all popular programs
• Composition and preparation of correspondence and reports
• Telephone answering and message taking
• Preparation and issue of invoices
• Proofreading and editing
• Editing of existing documents
• Printing and sending of mail shots and consignments
• Internet research and data gathering
• PowerPoint presentation slides
• Photocopying and printing up to A0 size
• Payroll and accounting functions

Presumably you have particular areas of business expertise that generate your income. Assuming that your professional charge out rates far exceed our hourly charges, it must surely be more profitable for you to use your time doing what you do best, leaving us to carry out our specialist services for you.

Outsourcing your administrative and clerical work will free up your valuable time, which can then be dedicated to:

• Developing your skills
• Focusing on your business
• Servicing your clients
• Having a life!

The most important reasons are these:-

• Who takes over his/her work when your secretary is ill or on holiday? Does chaos ensue until his/her return, or do you struggle through, using a temp who is unfamiliar with your systems?
• Clients hate to be left waiting for a call or letter to be answered, whereas we can deal with these matters for you before they become urgent.
• Your secretary is far more likely to feel the benefit of his/her hard-earned holiday if work hasn’t simply piled up in his/her absence. A happy employee is an effective employee.
• The use of temps may be a solution but it takes time to train them up, and they usually become able to work unaided just as your trusty old faithful returns to work.
• Is your business subject to seasonal peaks and troughs? Our services really come into their own when your usual team is overwhelmed.
• Do your staff find it hard to clear backlogs of trivial tasks while urgent work keeps arriving on their desks, until the backlog itself eventually becomes urgent? Take advantage of our flexible staff availability - send your routine work to us and free up your specialist staff to get on with the urgent work (or vice versa?).
• It can be awkward to find the right person in-house to deal with disciplinary, personnel and financial matters. At Standby confidentiality is assured.
• Your business appears to be expanding successfully, and it may be time to consider recruiting new secretarial staff, but what if the growth rate slows down, leaving you with wages to pay from thin air? Before making a major budgetary commitment, simply outsource your extra workload to Standby until things settle into a pattern, and thereby reduce the stress of managing those pressures.

On the contrary; in fact, taking on staff can cost you in many hidden ways. As well as paying out for a salary and associated benefits, you might also end up needing more space, new equipment, extra phone lines, until it all becomes very expensive and time consuming.

At Standby all services are available on a pay-as-you-go basis - you use us only when needed and pay only for the work that is done. Although there may be an initial learning curve for us, our many years of experience will soon enable us to familiarise ourselves with your business and how you would like your work to be presented. We always begin a new working relationship with a small informal conference by phone or in person to establish a suitable M.O. - and we're always there just whenever you need us.

Our clients are spread widely across the UK, but our inventiveness and experience have helped us to work pro-actively with them to great success. We can offer sound advice on how to ensure your work travels between us quickly and securely, and we can advise you on digital solutions for all your office needs. With all the benefits of current technology, distance is no object.

We have long experience of working with confidential and sensitive material, and all our work is done on a completely confidential basis. We are voluntarily registered with the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act 1998.

People tend to speak about 4 to 5 times faster than an experienced transcriber can type. Therefore, in general, a one hour audio recording of dictated text, which is of good sound quality and well presented, takes between 4 to 5 hours to transcribe. Therefore we generally work on a 1:4/5 ratio for all recordings. Variables such as number of people present, speed of conversation, overlapping speakers, audio quality, foreign accents, unusual place names, or poor microphone positioning, etc., can substantially increase the transcription ratio and make a marked difference in time taken to transcribe. We would always notify you of this before continuing.

We do our best to transcribe everything and we always research unfamiliar names and terminology. However, where dialogue genuinely cannot be deciphered, we mark the documents as [IA] (inaudible). Where the quality of a recording deteriorates part way through, and we feel it is not in your best interests for us to persevere, we would always contact you to discuss how you would like us to proceed.

• Speak clearly and spell any names or unusual technical terms.
• If you are particular about your punctuation, please do dictate your full stops, commas, new paragraphs etc. Alternatively we are happy to punctuate your work for you using our extensive knowledge and experience
• Try to ensure there is no background noise, as most good microphones will pick this up and this will result in loss of clarity.
• Where possible, avoid using machines with voice activated recording. The machine takes a split second to start running so that the start of a sentence is often lost.
• If you are recording a meeting, consider buying a conference microphone so that all the participants' contributions can be picked up.
• If there are more than two people in the meeting, ask them to state their name each time they speak. This helps us to differentiate the speakers and note their names in the transcription. Otherwise considerable "detective work" may become necessary to identify anonymous speakers, adding to the time taken and thus increasing your bill!

Everyone seems to have a different idea of how a CV should look and what it should contain, but we can offer you a selection of presentation styles and layouts for your consideration. We can also offer advice on phrasing and composition – it’s so important to sell yourself, your experience and abilities, rather than apologise for what you lack. We will gladly offer you a consultation tailored to your needs, charged at an hourly rate agreed in advance. We can keep your CV in our archives, for updating in the future, if required.

We can work together by e-mail, phone, fax or post, and our existing clients use a combination of all or some of these methods. You can also visit our offices at any time, although we are frequently very busy, and an advance phone call will ensure we can dedicate some uninterrupted time to you and your work.

Upon receipt of your instructions, we would always give you our best estimate of when we expect your work to be finished. The delivery estimate depends, of course, on the size and nature of your job and the volume of tasks already in progress at the office. Work is processed on a first-come, first-served basis, and we will always endeavour to meet all reasonable deadlines. We do understand that occasionally you may need to present us with a rush job, and we will do our best to oblige, but where this will entail out of hours working and therefore a higher hourly rate, we would discuss this with you before commencing work. We will always let you know as soon as possible if, for some unavoidable reason, we could not meet a deadline we had agreed with you.

You can receive the work in your preferred format - via e-mail, on floppy disk, CD or flash drive, in hard copy only, faxed, posted or, if convenient, you can collect it from our office. We can also make arrangements to deliver the work by hand locally (in and around Abergavenny), but there would be a charge for this.

Our own errors and omission are corrected at no charge. However, if mistakes were made due to incomplete instructions from the client, any revisions or corrections will be charged at the normal hourly rate or word rate. Any other revisions required would be charged at the normal hourly or wordage rate. Unless otherwise stated, the finished copy that is first sent to the client is considered a draft and the client is responsible for final proofing. Corrections and revisions can continue to be made until the client’s final approval is given. If revisions are then required after final approval, the work is billed at the normal rate as before.

Generally, no. Our services are available Monday to Friday from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm . On exceptional occasions, for example if your work is very urgent and/or to a very tight deadline, it is possible to work outside these hours. This can be done by pre-arrangement at an agreed higher hourly rate.

Not as a rule, although, for repeat volume business we do require a signature on our Terms and Conditions, which specifies the preferred and agreed method of working, and of payment.

We are pleased to quote for any type of project and we are confident that our rates offer excellent value for money. Generally, work is charged on the following basis:

• Standard secretarial and administration work - per hour basis or a flat rate per thousand words, depending on the type of job
• Digital transcription - per minute of recording
• Digital dictation - per minute of recording
• General copy typing - per thousand words. Please contact us for individual job rates
• Straightforward manuscripts - per thousand words
• General office services, analogue audio tapes, complex manuscripts (e.g. containing diagrams or graphics, dialogue or technical data) and proofreading, etc - charged at an agreed hourly rate
• Mailshots, data entry, and non-standard projects - quoted on an individual basis

We operate a sliding scale of charges based on the complexity and/or speciality of the work, and the timescales involved. Should you require your work to be prioritised, this will incur a premium rate.

For clients requiring work on an ad hoc basis, payment becomes due upon the client receiving the completed work.

For clients requiring ongoing, regular work, invoices are raised on a fortnightly basis (commencing from the date we deliver the first piece of completed work). Payment terms are within fourteen days of date of invoice.

The price quoted includes the time taken to carry out the work and to proofread it. We also provide one printed black and white copy. Extra copies are available for an additional charge. Unfortunately, due to high colour printing costs, we have to make a charge for all colour printing. Please note that an additional charge is due if heavy-weight or specially-ordered paper or card are requested.

We accept payment by BACS transfer, cheques with a valid banker’s card, or cash. Accounts can be established under mutually agreed terms, otherwise we normally require payment on delivery for one-off projects.

Your work is saved on computer hard drive and on disk, and a further copy is kept off-site. Our anti-virus software is automatically updated whenever downloads are available. All of our incoming and outgoing e-mails and attachments are scanned prior to opening or sending.

We have state-of-the-art anti-virus software and a firewall that are checked daily and are regularly updated. We are as well protected as current technology permits.

All our computers use the latest Microsoft Office package.

With pleasure - we currently perform as poste restante for several businesses, for entrepreneurs visiting from abroad and for those with otherwise insecure delivery addresses. We make a charge per item for handling mail and parcels, and can forward these on if required, or hold them until you can arrange their collection.

Artwork and clippings, etc, can be kept indefinitely, though due to increasing lack of space we may ask if we may return them to you if we have not worked on them for a period of over two years. Your project files will be stored on our computer system for a minimum of one year. Your work will be stored on a disk and kept in your client file, and we can provide you with a copy if required. If at any time you wish your files to be deleted from our system, please notify us in writing and we will ensure that this is done.