OUTSOURCING: A SOLUTION OR A SOURCE OF CONCERN?

November 24, 2020
Maria Joaquina Marques

Outsourcing can be defined as “the act of transferring secondary services to another company in order to ease the operational structure, reduce costs, and spare resources.” However, should a company only take these three factors into account when outsourcing its translations?

Before outsourcing translations, a company should first obtain a thorough understanding of the processes adopted by the potential providers in order to certify the quality of the work. Choosing a company that has an action plan and the appropriate resources for the tasks – both human and technological – ensures that the work will be carried out in a professional manner. Many claim to translate into countless languages and on all subjects; the reality is that these individuals often resort to machine translation and provide a mediocre service. The key to preventing this is to perform an in-depth analysis of the possible providers, including their portfolio, their track record, and, above all, the communication that is established with them, because listening to the client, understanding what they want, and following their guidelines are essential to successful collaboration, ensuring a high-quality final product.

For the client, the gains go much further than a mere cost reduction, as outsourcing the translations to a dedicated, specialized, and experienced team will allow their products/services to reach the target markets in a more efficient and productive way. If translation is not the core business of the company, outsourcing it to a team that lives, breathes, and works daily with content and translation is the best approach. Hiring an in-house team can be appealing, as it allows greater control of the work process. However, all the oversight that this entails draws time and resources from what is really important – the core business.

Thus, outsourcing is the ideal solution: the translations are handled by specialized professionals, allowing teams to focus on providing and improving their products/services.