When to move on from dependable software for a better product. A case study on finding better audio and video transcription.
The Business Problem
We had a tool that we were using and people liked. Every once in a while I would hear some frustration but the tool did what it needed. There was hesitation to switch because it was so embedded in our process.
Hyper-specific Software
The tool had a narrow focus so there weren’t tons of competitors. It was a well worn tool for adding captions. You may think this is easy because of all the AI tools that do this. You’re right. There are tons of tools. But our customers are Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who care deeply about their content. We can’t have closed captions that are close enough. They have to be right.
Mounting Costs
Over the course of a year it was costing us thousands of dollars. While we paid for what we used, it reminds me of how a subscription can creep up on you. It wasn’t any individual charge, but the total for the year that was the issue.
Difficult to Use and Not Built For Our Small Business Use Case
The interface was dated but it did what we needed. The way it sent error messages to email was frustrating (this may have been the original motivation for converting emails to Slack messages).
Even more frustrating was that it wasn’t really built for us. We already had tools that could provide video transcription like Descript (see our tutorial on using Descript for YouTube Shorts). This tool we were using was able to align our text to short audio clips but everything about how it worked made it clear that it was developed for adding captions to long videos and transcribing videos.
While we do some video transcription, we were primarily aligning captions to short audio clips and we needed them to be accurate to the script, including punctuation. This meant that the process was always just a little bit broken and they couldn’t fix it for us.
Finding Sonix.ai
While it wasn’t really an option when we first started using this tool, I really do believe that finding software meant for small businesses is essential. I was doing research about products that could do audio and video transcription and was surprised to find Sonix.ai.
I spent about a half hour reading through their documentation and was sure I was misunderstanding the pricing. When I compared it side-by-side it looked like we would be spending roughly 5% what we were spending previously.
Not only this, the interface was modern and easier to use. They quickly passed another test when I needed support on the trial and they responded quickly and solved the problem.
The process of using it was a little different and change is always hard, especially when a tool or process is essential to meeting deadlines.
The decision was made easier because we had been using a full time offshore staff person (from WorkBetterNow) who was doing the work of creating closed captions and couldn’t access the original system. Some combination of her being out of the country and using a Mac was enough to break it completely!
If you’re interested in how we decided to outsource some of our work to a virtual assistant, check out our discussion of outsourcing for small businesses.
Selecting Sonix for Audio and Video Transcription
We moved to sonix.ai for audio and video transcription. It had a couple of little things that we were worried about but it gave us new features (more languages) and worked for our staff person in Ecuador! The team at Sonix continues to help us as needed and we enjoy the productivity improvements and cost savings!
And we could automate it if we wanted because it has an API!
Small Business Software Evaluation: Sonix.ai
The basic features worked for audio and video transcription, but let’s see how Sonix ranks for the questions that we ask in our Small Business Software Evaluation Tool.
Feature Prioritization
| Need to Have (The Non-Negotiables) | Nice to Have (The Efficiency Boosters) | Sounds Nice on Paper (The Cost & Distraction Traps) |
| – Align our transcripts to audio files (this is why most AI tools fail to work for us) – Easy interface | – Integrations (we could do without them) – Multiple languages | – Translation tools – Fancy reports |
Integrations
| Feature | Question | Score (1-5) | Notes |
| Pre-built Connectors | Does your product offer one-click integrations with the biggest SMB apps like QuickBooks, Google Workspace, or Slack? | 4 | Sonix has built in connections with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Zapier integration! (Zapier wins out for me most times. This means I can quickly automate simple tasks without much work.) |
| API/ Webhooks | Does your product have an open API or support Webhooks? | 5 | Once you register you can get access to the API documentation. Last I checked, the API allows for a lot of functions, well beyond those in Zapier. |
| Data Export/ Portability | Can we easily export all your data (e.g., as CSV or JSON) if we need to switch vendors? | N/A | There aren’t too many things that we need to export. |
Usability & Learning Curve
| Feature | Question | Score (1-5) | Notes |
| Time-to-Value (TTV) | How quickly can a business owner go from signup to performing the core task? | 5 | I felt confident about how easy this was from my trial. But I love trying new software. I created a video of my process and sent it to my colleague and expected a few questions or a Zoom call. Neither happened. It worked as designed. |
| Intuitive Interface | Does this require dedicated IT knowledge, or can a non-technical small business owner manage it? | 5 | We have all been able to use Sonix without any training. |
| Mobile Accessibility | Do you have a fully functional and stable mobile app (iOS/Android)? | N/A | We would never use this on mobile. |
Scaling, Seats, & User Management
| Feature | Question | Score (1-5) | Notes |
| Seat Management & Permissions | Can I easily add/remove users (Seats) and assign granular roles (e.g., Admin vs. Viewer)? | 3 | Seats are easy to add and are billed annually. We only need one seat but could see adding if we need a second person doing this work. |
| Training & Onboarding | Do you provide a dedicated knowledge base or quick-start guide for new employees? | 5 | Easy onboarding. |
Reliability and Support
| Feature | Question | Score (1-5) | Notes |
| Uptime & Reliability | What is your guaranteed uptime (e.g., 99.9%), and where can I view your historical performance data? | 5 | We’re about two years in and haven’t experienced any hiccups yet. |
| Customer Support Channels | What channels are available (live chat, phone, email), and what are the response times for my plan? | 5 | Quick and easy customer support from a human being! |
| Security & Backup | How often is my data backed up, and what is your protocol for disaster recovery? | ??? | I’ve never inquired about this because we download the files immediately. |
Pricing
| Feature | Question | Score (1-5) | Notes |
| Billing Structure | Is your pricing based on user seats, contacts, transactions, or usage? | 4 | Seats. Each seat is quite affordable. |
| Contract Flexibility | Are contracts month-to-month, or is a long-term commitment required? | 5 | Do monthly if you’re not sure. There is a nice savings for an annual contract. |
| Hidden Fees / True Cost | Are there additional costs for premium support, priority features, or required add-ons? | 4 | No hidden fees whatsoever. The fees can be a little confusing at first, but it is very affordable. |
| Free Tier/Trial Quality | Is the free plan functional, or is it a worthless ‘demo’ version? | 5 | The free trial was amazing and the team was incredibly supportive. |
About the Company
| Characteristic | Question | Score (1-5) | Notes |
| Product Focus & Roadmap | Is the company dedicated to the small business market, or are we an afterthought to their enterprise clients? | 4 | They’ve added new features while we’ve been on. We haven’t tested them yet, but are glad to see they continue to innovate. |
| Financial Health & Stability | How long has the company been operating, and how is the service maintained? | 5 | Check out the Wayback Machine and you’ll see they’ve been running since 2017. |
| Data Security & Privacy | Are you compliant with major privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA), and how is my data secured? | 5 | Yep! |
Final Thoughts
No tool is perfect but Sonix proved to be a great value and has made it easier for our team to do accurate audio and video transcription while saving us money and time!
If you use our link to sign up to Sonix, you’ll get free transcription minutes and so will we!
