The right speech-to-text (STT) API has to do more than just transcribe audio quickly and accurately. It must also handle data safely to meet compliance standards and user expectations. This is the case in all industries, from CCaaS and CPaaS providers to those operating in more regulated industries like finance and healthcare.
Every organization using STT APIs—whether for external conversations or internal knowledge management—needs to take a serious look at the basics:
You don’t need to be a security expert to ask the right questions. But you do need to treat security and compliance as a core part of evaluating any STT vendor. Keep reading to learn what questions to ask yourself and vendors to ensure the API is up to scratch.
Key takeaways:
From a compliance perspective, choosing the right speech-to-text API starts with understanding your own requirements. You may only need to meet the broad, basic data protection rules in place in your country or state.
But depending on the industries you serve and how long you need to keep data, you may have to meet very specific regulations. So before you start evaluating potential partners, first get clear on the following:
We’ll go into much more detail on each of these shortly. Once you’re clear on your own needs, you can start assessing how each API partner can help. These are the questions to ask as you make your evaluation:
Let’s unpack each of these questions in more detail.
The following three questions must be carefully considered at the leadership level. The answers you come to should be documented so that every internal (and eventually external) stakeholder is crystal clear.
When integrating a speech-to-text (STT) API, it's important to understand which data protection standards apply. These vary based on your users, your customers, and the kinds of data you're handling. Specific industries have additional compliance regulations, and some regulations apply only in certain regions.
Here's a breakdown of some of the most significant frameworks:
Learn more about these key compliance frameworks for APIs.
When people speak to a sales rep, support agent, or virtual assistant, they can easily share personal or regulated information, even without realizing it. This is then transcribed, processed, analyzed, and stored.
A speech-to-text system may process the following types of sensitive data, and will therefore need certain protections in place:
Not everyone in your organization needs access to raw transcripts or audio. Limiting that access is a key part of protecting sensitive data.
Think in terms of "least privilege": only give people access to what they need to do their jobs. These questions help to clarify boundaries:
Managing access carefully reduces the risk of internal data leaks, ensures compliance with data protection laws, and builds trust with your customers.
Once all of the above is clear, you can confidently begin quizzing API vendors. You want to be sure that they’ll help you achieve the specific standards you need, as well as being broadly compliant in their own right.
When your platform connects to a STT API, you’re exchanging sensitive data. It’s essential that access is tightly controlled. API keys or tokens should be unique, securely stored, and never hardcoded into front-end applications.
Ask the vendor for their key rotation and expiration policies. Audit logs are also critical to identify suspicious behavior or misconfigured access. You should also ask if the vendor supports fine-grained access scopes, so that different services or users can access only what they need.
OAuth 2.0 support is a strong sign of mature authentication. This allows secure delegated access with limited scopes. IP allowlisting and rate limiting can further protect your integration from unauthorized or abusive use.
Certifications are an easy way to verify that an STT provider follows industry best practices and regulatory requirements. We’ve already seen the main ones above, and it’s important to ensure providers have these.
Ask where and how often these audits are conducted, and if you can review compliance reports (through AWS Artifact or vendor trust centers). And if the certification hasn’t been updated in some time, find out why.
Users’ voice data needs to be protected from the moment it leaves their device to the moment it's eventually deleted. In practice, this means:
Regions like the EU, UK, and certain U.S. states have specific rules about where data is stored, and how it moves between jurisdictions. Where information lives is known as “data residency.”
Ask if the vendor supports regional data residency, meaning you can choose where your data is processed and stored (including Europe, the U.S., Asia, and more). Some important principles to know:
Again, what matters most is that the vendor can meet your specific requirements. And hopefully you can manage data storage with little fuss or effort.
Granular control over who can access transcription data helps prevent internal data leaks and supports compliance. This may be specifically required to meet compliance standards, but also gives you more control and security over data in general.
Check if the vendor offers role-based access control (RBAC), so you can assign different permissions to admins, reviewers, developers, and others. Ask whether you can restrict access to sensitive transcripts, redact private information by default, or apply read-only roles.
Look as well for support for organization-level user management, including integrations with single sign-on (SSO) or identity providers (e.g. Okta, Azure AD).
The ability to audit and log access is also key. It ensures you can track who accessed what and when.
Even if your STT vendor is secure, unnecessary data storage still increases risk. Retention policies should match your compliance and customer commitments.
Ask if you can configure how long transcripts and audio are stored. This could range from minutes to months, depending on your needs. The vendor should also offer the option to delete information automatically, either immediately after processing or on a schedule. This minimizes long-term data exposure.
Also confirm whether deletion is complete and irreversible, and whether it applies to all copies and backups.
Finally, if you're in a regulated industry or working under GDPR/CCPA, the vendor must be able to delete or export personal data on request by the end user. Again, it’s not enough that this is technically possible—you need it to be efficient and easy in practice.
As voice-driven platforms scale, data security and regulatory compliance become essential. Choosing a speech-to-text API is about finding a partner who aligns with your security posture, compliance obligations, and customer trust expectations.
Before evaluating vendors, take time to clarify your own requirements—the kinds of data you handle, where it’s stored, who needs access, and what regulations apply to your industry or geography. From there, ask the right questions and look for API providers who offer transparency, certifications, and shared responsibility in protecting your users' data.
The right partner won’t just meet today's needs, they’ll help you stay compliant and secure as your platform, customers, and regulatory environment evolve.
Want to see if Gladia’s STT API is right for your product? Talk to our team.
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