A Manchester-based translation and language services provider has achieved double digit growth in its client base despite challenging international trading conditions.
The Translation People, which has offices in Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Tunbridge Wells, as well as in Germany, France and the US, welcomed 570 new clients in 2020, which accounts for 11.7 per cent growth across the group. The majority of these new clients are UK-based businesses, including online department store Fruggo, Hitachi Europe and charities Oxfam and Refuge.
The success comes despite the challenges on international trade inflicted by COVID-19 and Brexit, following several years of investment in technology-based workflows and solutions geared towards improving efficiencies and productivity. These include automated transcription tools, website connectors and intelligent machine translation technologies, as well as the rollout of a remote interpreting offering, which enabled businesses to reach overseas teams and customers whilst global travel restrictions were in place.
The Translation People is predicting additional growth in 2021 and aims to double its revenues in the next four years.
Jasmin Schneider, managing director of The Translation People, said: “We had anticipated the last 12 months would be turbulent as we drew closer to the Brexit deadline, however, COVID-19 introduced an unexpected challenge for businesses across the world.
“Thankfully, we’re an agile business and were able to adapt quickly. Boosted by the investments we’ve been making into intelligent translation technology over the last few years, which are designed to improve workflows and increase productivity, we were able to support clients to communicate vital messages to customers and employees around the world, no matter what language was required.
“Additionally, we used this technology to help mitigate the impact of international travel bans, helping clients communicate effectively when the world slowed down, including our remote interpreting platform, which allowed multi-language meetings and conferences to take place without the need for people to travel.
“The pandemic has accelerated people’s trust in technology, and we have been able to demonstrate that using the right software and platforms, travel isn’t always necessary to achieve the same outputs, outcomes or productivity. This capability has attracted new businesses to work with us, including a wealth of household names who have found our translation services vital to ensuring they can protect people and deliver essential services both in the UK and around the globe.
“We are now looking ahead to what 2021 holds. The last 12 months taught us that everything can change overnight, but our ability to acclimatise in the wake of something as extraordinary as COVID-19 gives us confidence to continue on our growth plans this year.”
The Translation People has over 40 years’ experience of delivering high quality translation services to clients around the world. With a global network of over 4,500 professional translators, the company offers over 300 different language combinations, operating from nine offices across Europe and the USA to service customers, which range from global brands to smaller, independent businesses.
