Clyde Anderson, VP Marketing, LLE Language Services
1. What types of services does LLE offer? What services have sparked the most interest from your clients over the past year?
LLE - Language Services is about communication. As a full-scale language services provider (LSP), we enable government, businesses, and non-profit organizations across the world the ability to rapidly respond to their non-English speaking prospects or customers in over 150 different languages. The LLE portfolio features on-demand, 24 x 7 communication solutions including LLE - LINK®, a 24-hour telephone interpretation service that provides immediate access to an interpreter, LLE-ODET email translation and LLE-TEST, our online language proficiency testing service.
In addition to our 24x7x365 on-demand services, we also provide Enterprise Language Solutions at every point of contact within an organization; document,
website and instant messaging translation; voicemail, onsite interpretation as well as digital audio / video transcription and recording of IVR announcements or messages. Our 24-hour telephone interpretation offering continues to be the most requested service with email translation a close second followed by document translation.
2. What trends in language services do you expect in the upcoming year?
The Census Bureau reports that over 50 million people across the United States have limited English proficiency. The constant swell of immigration and the increasing awareness of cultural diversity really contribute to the ongoing need for effective and accurate communication; increasingly, organizations of all sizes are constantly redefining how they can better respond to their customer base. As an LSP, we anticipate an increase in demand for our services within all industries, and are prepared to handle such an influx.
3. Does LLE intend to expand its offerings in the near future? If so, what can we expect?
Yes - Our vision is to enhance the global communication goals of our clients by being the premier language services provider.
We plan to continue the personal and professional development of our linguist, employee and client community with a very organic approach. Since our very beginnings over 28 years ago, we have listened to the needs of our clients and answered their demands. Our goal is to increase the reach of our on-demand testing assessment unit, dramatically expand the volume of our translation service delivery through continued investment in project technology, and maximize the global position of our telephone interpretation product.
We also plan to continue offering our value-added services such as our client and linguist portals - free platforms that everyone in the LLE community truly values.
4. There are several companies that offer similar services. How do you differentiate yourselves from your competitors?
That is an excellent question, and one I enjoy answering. LLE is more than a language services provider; we are an integrated community of 3,000 contracted linguists and staff working together to deliver excellence in foreign language.
Our key strengths shine through quality, service and value.
LLE prides itself on quality - it’s an obsession. Our quality control processes and procedures are extensive and embedded in all that we do. All of our linguists MUST express native-level mastery in both languages, hold a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, have 3 plus years of experience, are able to communicate extensively with industry-specific terminology, have accreditation/memberships to professionally accepted associations, and achieve LLE linguist certification through vigorous proficiency testing and analysis.
Our employees constantly express a genuine interest in foreign language. We come from a diverse background and our sensitivity to cultural nuances and human communication shines every day. LLE hires only the best, and we deliver this value to each and every one of our clients.
We are customer driven. Our customers tell us their needs, and we direct our resources to satisfy those needs. We survey our customers, provide online feedback forums and supply consulting and training programs to assist our customers with the integration of our language services into their enterprise.
Our distributed business model gives us the flexibility to incorporate a wide variety of linguistic resources. Thus, we can give our clients high quality with exceptional service at a price point that is fair and equitable.
All our services are performed by humans. Although we employ technology to assist in expedited submission and delivery process, all our services have the human component. Only a human can totally convey the cultural nuances, proper lexicon and spirit of the message.
We are involved. Kathleen K, Diamond, our founder and CEO, is consistently involved in numerous industry-specific associations, improving the delivery and responsiveness within language services. We are constantly speaking at local, regional and national venues, educating others on the importance of multi-lingual services and the impact they have on an organization’s bottom line and brand equity.
5. Please explain how Lingo Suite functions. What has been the marketplace’s acceptance of this approach?
Enterprise Language Solutions was designed as an enterprise-wide approach to communication. This type of language support allows an organization to rapidly respond to their non-English speaking prospect or customer at every point of contact - telephone, email, facsimile, voicemail, etc. - anytime, anywhere, and in over 150 different languages.
Our clients have found it very useful to have all communication channels within the enterprise language capable, or “fluent”. They don’t have to search to find an interpreter or translator anymore; or even worst, have to hang-up on the prospect or client. They simply access one or more of our on-demand language services. The quality, ease of use, and speed of the services gives our clients peace of mind and keeps their limited English proficient prospects and clients happy. Their customer service levels increase and their un-serviced requests dramatically decrease.
6. What selection criteria would you suggest a company use when choosing a language services vendor?
This is a scenario we address on a regular basis.
1. How long have you been in business?
2. Are you a full service language provider?
3. What services do you provide?
4. What are your quality control / quality assurance practices?
5. What are your linguist’s qualifications?
6. How do you ensure confidentiality?
7. What standards and certifications do you possess?
8. How do you respond to client concerns?
9. What are your services turnaround times?
10. Do you utilize machine language for translations?
While many of these questions are self-explanatory, they are crucial when selecting a language service provider that will translate or interpret your organizations message.
7. How has the advent of the multi channel contact center affected how LLE delivers its services?
Multi-channel contact centers have dramatically affected LLE’s demand for service. We developed Enterprise Language Solutions with contact centers in mind, realizing that as their non-English speaking customer population increases, we must be able to provide efficient, customized language support at every point of communication. It only makes sense.
8. What criteria should a company use to evaluate its need for language services?
Great question! An organization should identify the communication points, analyze the communication points, assess the language needs, plan the supporting language infrastructure and deploy language services for the greatest ROI.
9. How can a user test the capabilities of a language services provider?
We can provide a demo or trial of the service. LLE offers the ability for an organization to try LLE-LINK, our 24-hour telephone interpretation service, at no cost.
10. Apparently, LLE supports more than 150 languages. How do you forecast your staffing needs with so many variables?
It is truly a matter of balancing the demand with linguist availability. We have several technology platforms in place that allow us to ensure a linguist is available. When a certain language set becomes low, we simply contact one of our contracted linguists to help.
Furthermore, we are in a constant recruiting mode. For example, on the telephone interpretation side, we are able to attract high quality interpreters due to the fact that they can work from home and set their own scheduled work hours. In addition, with a competitive pay scale and the benefits of the LLE linguist community portal, we are able to retain a great majority of our interpreters.