Capacity in General – Who We Are?

Posted On: 2/15/2019




Capacity in General – Who Are We?

In practice, language solutions are proven to be more than what can be captured on paper. This makes it somewhat challenging to define us as a translation agency that has been operating since 2002. However, in the following paragraphs, I’ll attempt to describe our capacilities.

 

To do so, I’d like to focus on the concept of “capacity.” My question is: "What are the key elements that define our capacity to deliver language services?"

I believe that three main factors shape and potentially limit our capacity: management, vendors, and automation.

 

Management

Project management tasks are handled by our project managers, meaning our short-term capacity largely depends on the number and quality of these managers. While digital automation has enhanced productivity, the human element remains crucial in project management for language services. To increase our management capacity, we must continue investing in training and hiring new project managers.

 

Vendors – Key Capacity

For the Turkish language only, we collaborate regularly with a core team of around 50 specialized vendors. This carefully selected group of experienced freelancers includes language consultants skilled in various types of projects, simultaneous interpreters, video transcribers, dubbing actors, and studios. Over the years, our dedicated project managers have worked closely with this team on thousands of projects. In this sense, this aspect of Alafranga resembles a traditional translation company.

 

Vendors – Additional Capacity

When projects require advanced technical expertise, we work with professionals to meet the needs of engineers, lawyers, practitioners, and managers who make up our client base.

 

We particularly rely on our additional capacity to identify highly specialized technical translators. Currently, about 5,000 multilingual freelancers are registered in our Vendor Community Platform, which we refer to as "King Road."

 

This platform, which has been in use since 2010, is our proprietary system, designed in-house. It remains live and up-to-date because certified users can modify their details at any time.

 

Our project managers can:

 

 - Quickly match vendors based on technical and financial feasibility,
 - Swiftly review each vendor’s scores and project history,
 - Send invitations to selected vendors efficiently,
 - Monitor other key determinants and conduct testing procedures as needed.
 - This section of Alafranga functions more like a global translation company with worldwide reach.

 

Technology – Capacity Beyond

 

In addition to our human resources, our ability to use specialized automation technologies also defines the limits of our capacity. For instance, we may not be able to support certain file formats. However, I consider our automation systems an integral part of our capacity, as they significantly enhance the productivity of both project managers and language consultants.

 

 


Conclusion:

Capacity has limitations. Our key capacity represents a traditional core whereas our Additional Capacity represents our extra capacity, indicating a new adaptation to the modern requirements.

Based on thousands of the projects that we have accomplished so far, our experience since 2002 plays significant role in understanding the facts of the demanding tasks in terms of technical and financial feasibility.

 

Author: Volkan Güvenç 
General Coordinator 
at Alafranga Language Solutions

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