Practical benefits of Connected Translation: Interview with Into23 and Faust Translations

The world is ever-changing and the language industry is no different. With more content than ever requiring translation, developing and implementing new ways of meeting such demand has never been so important.

We caught up with the founding CEOs of two successful translation companies, Christian Faust of Faust Translations and Richard Delanty of Into23, to discuss the concept of Connected Translation and the importance of embracing the latest advancements in translation technologies to stay relevant in the industry — here’s what they have to say.

Many LSPs report an increase in the demand for quicker delivery from their customers, is this something you can relate to?

Richard: Definitely. We focus a lot on eCommerce, companies that are pure eCommerce and companies moving their offline business online. We see a lot of companies are on a journey of digital transformation, they are integrating backend systems such as customer support, CRM, order management systems, business intelligence, marketing systems to their front-end eCommerce system, e.g. Magento.

Christian: In discussions with my customers, I hear three main arguments: we need high quality, short delivery times and a good price — in this order. While quality cannot be increased — at least not with us, — there is always pressure on delivery time and price. In addition, the number of markets is increasing. Some customers expand their offerings by up to seven markets per year.

What’s the usual customer reaction to the suggestion of trying out a new process like Connected Translation?

Richard: We find pitching it as part of the digital transformation most effective: you are connecting your business intelligence, your marketing systems, shouldn’t you also be thinking about connecting a translation management solution? Smartcat’s webinars were very helpful in allowing us to form an effective go-to-market strategy but also in how to present the solution to customers and prospects.

Christian: At first, customers struggle to understand the immediate benefits. Many are reluctant to alter their tried and tested work processes. This is especially true in cases where customers have invested in expensive applications and licenses in the past. It is understandably easy for them to overlook just how much time and money they are wasting unnecessarily.

So what’s been the reaction so far from customers who have tested out Connected Translation?

Christian: “Wow! This is so much easier and saves us a lot of work!”

Richard: We have only being actively promoting Connected Translation for a few weeks now but we are already seeing a lot of interest. Most customers have grasped the potential quickly and see the advantages: faster time to market for new content through shorter translation cycles and lower costs due to automation.

What can Connected Translation do for the eCommerce industry?

Richard: eCommerce today moves so quickly, content has a limited shelf-life. A fast-turnaround solution that is always-on is competitive advantage. A Connected Translation solution enables this, it can be working 24/7 to keep language versions in-sync.

Once you have automated your front end solution with all the backend systems, including the Connected Translation solution, adding new languages is an easy decision to make. You have the capability of adding in new languages at the click of a button.

So what would you say are the main benefits that the Connected Translation concept brings to your company specifically?

Richard: Into23 is a technology-driven translation and localization company. We are always trying to incorporate technology solutions to simplify managing translation for our customers.  Connected Translation aligns with our business strategy. We see Connected Translation as a solution that allows us to bring greater value to our customers.

“We see Connected Translation as a solution that allows us to bring greater value to our customers.”
— Richard Delanty, Into23

We believe the solution will allow us to grow our eCommerce presence. Our production philosophy is lean translation management – our priority is always to get content from a customer to the translator as efficiently as possible with minimum translation management overhead. Connected Translation fits this model perfectly.

Translation management is a critical component if your target eCommerce customers speak more than one language. To be successful in multiple language markets, having an automated solution to manage the extraction and integration of multilingual content is a critical business system. Many companies today are still manually managing this. Doing it manually is time-consuming, error-prone and you probably do not have your different language versions in-sync.

See also: Richard Delanty on the benefits of Smartcat Marketplace & Payment Automation, the future of the industry and how Into23 is prepared for change

Christian: The Connected Translation concept is an important component for us in serving our customers comprehensively. I do not see higher revenues as a business purpose, but as the logical consequence of an excellent and customer-centric service. The efficient use of Smartcat's capabilities benefits the entire production and supply chain, from translators and revisers to project managers and clients: The latter in particular are pleased that they can get much more work delivered faster, with the same quality, and for a better price.

“Clients are pleased that they can get much more work delivered faster, with the same quality, and for a better price”
— Christian Faust, Faust Translations

Thank you both very much for your time!

Christian: You’re very welcome – I would also like to take this chance to emphasize the valuable support consistently provided by Smartcat. Without Smartcat we wouldn't be where we are today.

These are just some examples of translation companies riding the content economy wave by implementing Connected Translation in their workflow. Want to join them? Sign up with Smartcat today.