Changing Environments Remind Us That Scale Matters

5 ways scale is critical for emergency communication

Last updated: June 11, 2020 10:25AM

The COVID world has disrupted normal business operations in unprecedented ways. It has shut secure facilities, challenged work environments globally and disrupted supply chains. Challenging times have a way of exposing truths masked during easier times. They remind companies of the essential characteristics they need in their partners.

Here are the top reasons to use Lionbridge as your global Language Services Provider (LSP) to deliver your emergency communications:

#1. Operational Resilience

With teams operational around the world, if one site is affected by a crisis, Lionbridge can call upon our global team to quickly and easily move work to another location. When offices in China went out of service due to COVID-19, we were able to avoid any interruption of workflow for our customers. Not only can our operations shift seamlessly to a new location, but our translation services are not limited by the availability of their native locales. As a result, when Italy became the next epicenter of the coronavirus, our global community of Italian translators absorbed the impact of a country-wide shut down.

#2. Rapid Scaling

In the wake of a crisis, global companies are met with the need to make widespread communications urgently and effectively. A large-scale LSP can withstand large surges in demand and respond to your needs—at scale and on your timeline. When a power outage cut off a client’s communications with their subsidiaries, Lionbridge could swiftly ramp up operations to bridge their language gaps. We supported an exponential increase in translation volume to facilitate communication across multiple languages, specialized to their industry—all in 24 hours.

#3. Creative Operational Models

When exceptional circumstances force you to shift to remote operations, work typically done onsite will likely need to be executed virtually. Lionbridge recognizes the increasing potential and necessity of technology and is actively chasing the cutting edge of virtual work solutions. Prioritizing security and efficiency, we helped a games developer move their entire games testing operation into the cloud.

#4. Operational Simplicity

Especially when dealing with a crisis, you don’t want to have to devote your time and energy to managing multiple partnerships with multiple translation agencies. Most LSPs are too small or too limited in scope to meet all your needs.

Consolidating your translation projects to one LSP simplifies operations and protects you against the risks of overloading your teams in an emergency. Lionbridge helped a customer trying to manage six translation partnerships optimize operations and streamline their localization strategy by taking on the work of many of their previous contracts—they’ve now limited their scope to two partners.

#5. Follow the Sun Delivery

Some crises require around-the-clock communications on demand. With a network of teams dispersed across the globe, we can sustain service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This was crucial when a telecommunications client was hit by a crisis that put one of its leading operational headquarters offline. Lionbridge was able to act fast and sustain service to push out critical communication 24/7.

The Bottom Line

Challenging environments and crises act as pressure tests to organizations' operating models. They remind us that decisions made during better times fail to properly account for business disruptions and create exposure. By partnering with a global LSP, you are able to mitigate the challenges brought by crises—whether they stem from from your own internal capacity, or that of your external partners. When deadlines are tight and the project is mission critical, call upon Lionbridge’s global scale. We guarantee action in 48 hours—or less.