Case study — Research

Mercury Research

Mercury Research is a top independent full service market research company in Romania, active since 1994, providing solutions to help businesses make confident decisions.

The company covers all types of research tools: quantitative and qualitative research, omnibus research, statistical analysis, modeling and data processing, in order to help marketing professionals better understand their consumers and markets.

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Mercury Research

The Challenge

Transcribing audio to text is a time-consuming but essential step in qualitative research. Mercury Research used to do this manually, with hired third parties.

The company's previous method of transcribing focus group discussions and in-depth interviews was time-consuming and inefficient. They would have to wait for the transcripts to be completed, which could take several days. This delayed the analysis process and prevented the company from sending the final report to clients as quickly as possible.

To address this issue, the company decided to invest in an automated transcription system. This system was supposed to allow them to transcribe the discussions and interviews quickly and accurately. The transcripts would be available immediately, so the company could start the analysis process right away. This would allow them to send the results to clients much faster than before.

The main objectives were to:

  • Automate the transcription process and provide a faster and more accurate transcription of all the discussions taking place in a focus group or in-depth interview project.
  • Improve work productivity by reducing the time needed for sending the final report to clients, as the manual transcription process took an average of 4 hours per 1 hour of audio recording.

The Solution

A technology that automatically transcribes speech with over 95% accuracy for the Romanian language.

Vatis Tech achieved a transcription speed of approximately 15% of the file length, which means that one hour of audio could be transcribed in less than 10 minutes. This was achieved through the use of advanced speech-to-text technology, with transcripts reaching a high accuracy rate, comparable to the accuracy of human transcription.

The team implemented speaker diarization technology for recordings shorter than 2 hours, to identify multiple speakers throughout an audio-video file. As a result, the transcribed texts had diacritics, could be divided into paragraphs, predefined time sequences, or multiple speakers.

By automating the transcription process, the company was able to:

  • Reduce the time it takes to transcribe a document from 4 hours needed to manually transcribe 1 hour of audio, to just a few minutes.
  • Deliver the final reports to their clients faster.
  • Free up staff time to focus on other tasks.
Mercury Research

With Vatis Tech, I can generate transcripts in minutes, which is much faster than listening to recordings. The transcripts need some editing, but they save a lot of time. The transcription stamp is written directly into the transcript, so I can quickly check the recording if necessary. Additionally, the audio and video is pinned to the text, so I can always refer back to the source to check exactly what was said.

Senior Market Research ConsultantMercury Research

The Results

  • Boosted productivity

    With a transcription speed of approximately 15% of the file length, the team was able to transcribe 1 hour of audio in less than 10 minutes, helping deliver the transcription faster through its technology.

  • Improved efficiency at the team level

    Vatis' speech-to-text solution automatically reduced work time and helped the team stay focused. The audio and video is pinned to the text so the team can quickly refer back to the source to check exactly what was said.

  • Saved time and execution costs

    Reduced the time it takes to transcribe a document from at least 4 hours to just a few minutes.

  • Full adherence to GDPR

    Researchers' and respondents' data are fully protected.

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