Management is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit, develop and retain multi-lingual, multi-skilled personnel who can effectively interact both verbally and in writing in a language other than English. One of the most difficult processes in developing a language support infrastructure is identifying the communication points within the enterprise that have a language need, and how to deliver the language support to satisfy the required need.
There are many communication points within the enterprise that should be considered when speaking of a comprehensive, enterprise-wide approach to multi-lingual support: Internet (web site), telephone, e-mail, documents, voice mail, digital audio files, web chat, and announcements/messages (IVR/VRU). In addition, implementing language proficiency testing of multi-lingual testing should be considered.
Why language proficiency testing? Due to the increase in the utilization of bi-lingual or multi-lingual personnel to handle in-house language related situations it is a good idea to assess the language proficiency of a bi-lingual speaker that will be communicating with your prospects or clients. If you do not know the language, how do you know if they are speaking the language fluently, following corporate procedures and conveying the message of your organization?
How do I go about determining the language services I need to develop a comprehensive language services program? When assessing multi-lingual support you must first identify the communication points within your organization and analyze the language needs of each communication point. In analyzing corporate language requirements, we have found many instances where companies have translated their web site and have done a great job. However, they failed to build a language infrastructure to handle the volume of inquiries or sales that come pouring into the organization by non-English speakers around the world: telephone calls, e-mail, letters, facsimiles, etc… They have invested huge amounts of money in the appropriate marketing vehicle but failed to properly address the response of potential buyers. Thus, it is crucial to implement language support at every communication point accessible by a prospect or customer.
In assessing language needs for the enterprise, a comprehensive language services audit is required:
- identify the communication points within the enterprise
- determine the amount of language traffic at each communication point
- analyze the type of language traffic received
- assess the language needs of each communication point
- plan the supporting language infrastructure
- deploy the appropriate language service to quickly and effectively respond to the prospect or client language need
Begin your internal language assessment with a review of on-demand, or real-time, language requirements (telephone interpretation, e-mail translation, web chat translation and online proficiency testing) followed by the more passive language needs (web site translation, document translation, voice mail / digital audio transcription and recorded announcement/messages).
There are many benefits to implementing enterprise-wide multi-lingual support such as pro-active support for non-English speakers; a reduction in un-serviced requests due to language barriers; open new markets and acquire more customers; increase customer retention, loyalty and trust; cut the time for customer service resolution to non-English speakers; increase service and support efficiency in handling non-English requests; easy cost justification when associated with inherent value and return on investment; and, generally, improve communications through-out the entire organization.
In summary, monitor and review your language needs; develop an enterprise-wide language services infrastructure; and be prepared to utilize a reputable language service provider. Always remember - if you can’t communicate in the customer’s language, you can’t do business.