Business Case Study

 Summary

For a telecommunications manufacturer, TOIN built an organization to quickly deal with internal business translations, the volume of which cannot be predicted in advance. We successfully created a system that was as convenient as performing the translations in-house.

 Challenges

• In-house translators were required for translating internal documents
• Translation volumes cannot be predicted
• A rapid response is required for documents such as meeting minutes
• Difficult for people outside the company to understand the in-house terminology

 Solutions

• TOIN created a translation group comprised of people who had worked temporarily at the client and were well-versed in the in-house terminology
• We created an internal translation order system where we received the required information at the same time as the client's staff
• We hired DTP operators and assigned them to the team

 Conclusion

• TOIN dramatically reduced the costs of the internal translation department
• Our system proved to be as convenient as performing the translations in-house
• We now perform almost all the translations for the client's internal documents

 Case Study

The client in this case study is a manufacturer of general telecommunications devices and its head office is in Europe. It needs translations not only for products, but also for its internal company documents. The client employed in-house translators, but the volume of documents to be translated, such as meeting materials and letters, could not be predicted in advance. As such, the number of staff always had to be kept at the upper limit of requirements, causing concern at the large rise in personnel costs. The company considered outsourcing some of the translation work, but they never actually did because of the difficulty in keeping internal terminology consistent and receiving the same fast response that in-house translators can provide.
On hearing of this predicament, TOIN decided to construct a system for internal documents where we would function as an offshoot of the client's department.
The client's translation ordering department is made up of a number of different departments. We constructed a mechanism so that whenever order information was sent by e-mail to one of the client's in-house translation departments, it would also be sent to TOIN. In addition, we assigned to the project translators who had worked on a temporary basis at the client and who were therefore very familiar with the client's unique terminology.

Internal company documents come in a variety of forms, including MS Word, PowerPoint and PDF. We created a team able to deal with any format, comprised of a dedicated Project Manager, DTP operators, translation quality managers and the translator group.

And of course, even though these are internal documents, the client is a telecommunications manufacturer and so the specialist terminology of the telecommunications field had to be used. In this regard, TOIN has a long track record in the telecommunications device field, and so we were able to supply translators who had the required experience.

At first, it seemed as though the client was hesitant about sending documents outside the company, because the orders we received did not exceed our initial expectations. In response, we decided that it was important to earn the trust of the client by further enhancing our high quality standards and fast response. We strove to improve in all areas, creating a glossary and making our processes even faster. After about six months, the orders we received started to increase, and today we are translating nearly all of their internal documents.