On The Job With...
Crain's New York Business - January 30, 2004
Elizabeth Elting
President and CEO, TransPerfect
Globalization spells opportunity for TransPerfect Translations Inc. Demand for the company’s foreign-language services--such as document translation and simultaneous interpretation--have boosted revenues past $27 million, a 40% increase since 2002. Meanwhile, TransPerfect is expanding its offerings. In February, it will launch a staffing services division, to help clients find bilingual personnel.
Crainsny.com: Tell meabout your company:
Liz Elting: We got started in 1992. Now we’re one of the five largest language service companies in the world. Between TransPerfect and translations.com [a spinoff that focuses on foreign-language Web sites], we have 250 full-time employees and 4,000 subcontractors, most of them translators. We have 31 offices worldwide, on three continents, so we can offer round-the-clock service.
Our translators are professionals. They usually have advanced degrees in their languages, and many also have specialized skills. They know the terminology of the field they’re working in. For example, many of our legal translators are former attorneys. For our first project, for a company that wanted to open a mine in Russia, we hired translators who had actually worked in mines in the Soviet Union.
Crainsny.com: What languages are most in demand?
Liz Elting: At the moment, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
Crainsny.com: How have you managed to grow in recessionary times?
Liz Elting: We specialize in legal, pharmaceutical, medical device, and financial projects. These areas are somewhat recession-proof. We have a number of preferred provider agreements, and a high percentage of our work is from repeat business or referrals. But there’s a lot of turnover in companies, so we still make a lot of phone calls and set up presentations.
In addition, we require a service orientation in our employees. We hire energetic, aggressive people who aim to please, and give them extensive training. Twice a year, we hold company-wide training sessions, which include exercises in sales techniques, role-playing and problem solving.
We’re always asking, “What do we need to do to keep clients happy?” We find out what they need and introduce it, which is why we’re opening the staffing services division. We always provided on-site translators and interpreters, but then clients wanted us to help them find bilingual administrators.
If we have the right people and do the right things, we’ll continue to grow regardless of the economy. The more we put into our employees and training, the more we get out of it.
Crainsny.com: You recently received ISO certification. What does that mean for your company?
Liz Elting: Certification by the International Standards Organization [a network of the national standards institutes of 147 countries] is very important to clients in regulated industries, so it’s important to us. We were audited for performance in the areas of quality, timeliness and customer satisfaction. Now we have a full-time ISO team on staff to assure compliance.
Crainsny.com: What foreign languages do you speak?
Liz Elting: I speak Spanish and French, but not at translator-quality level.
About TransPerfect
TransPerfect is a diversified family of companies providing a full array of international communication services in 22 offices worldwide, including document management, translation, and staffing solutions. TransPerfect is ISO 9001:2000 certified which means it has implemented the most rigorous quality assurance process, according to criteria set forth by the International Organization for Standardization. The wide range of services it provides includes imaging, reprographic services, electronic data discovery, multilingual OCR, electronic labeling, coding, on-site imaging and copying, as well as staffing, and a full suite of translation and interpretation solutions. Headquarters are in New York City.
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