Is Online Translation Services Project Management the future?
Its ok to say that the majority of small and medium sized companies specialized in internationalization, localization and Translation services have their own modern and informative websites but they are now following the big players in the industry and providing online translation facilities.
I am not talking about automatic translation but automatic management of translation services where the Users submit directly the criteria of the Project, the files, personal information, Project details, expectations etc…. When all has been uploaded the translation quote and delivery dates will appear on the screen. Also, when the user replies with invoice information and the payment he receives an automatic mail confirming the transaction. At the same time the Project Manager receives all the Project details via the internal server.
From here the Project manager allocates all the resources according to the Schedule and all the relevant logistics – its all so simple.
Many companies are now perfecting a fully automated process thus cutting out the project managers. Based on the criteria chosen by the User the system automatically selects the appropriate resource. Following this a mail is sent to the translator giving him a certain amount of time to respond before the Project is offered to another translator. Although this automated system is a considerable outlay initially there is the obvious saving on administration costs.
Apart from giving the user a greater sense of security the system also gives the user the option of following the progress of the Translation via an Access key.
It seems very possible to automate the whole process, by-pass the middle man and get a reasonable profit. If this is the case, why don´t more translation companies do it? Maybe it´s only a matter of time, but the initial investment and the fact that most clients still want some form of human interaction means that the job of the Translation Project manager is still safe for now, at least. Also, some localization projects are very complicated and involve multiple stages and languages making it nearly impossible to automate.
Today, there are few companies that offer these type of services. Of course, the big players in the industry have offered this service for many years but now some of the medium and smaller translation agencies are offering it.
With all this taken into account I believe that that automated Project management will be an industry standard but for more complicated projects involving many words, stages and languages the Translation Project manager´s job is a long way from being automated.
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Mark Kieran, CEO, One Stop Shop Translations
For a greater insight into our translation project management click on this link.
