Steve Gravel

CRO Insights Edition

Post-Localization means a downturn in traditional translation volume for everyone—even for a government organization such as the Translation Bureau of the Government of Canada. It is the end of an era, yet it does not mean the end of our raison d’être. It is up to us to transcend traditional translation and redefine ourselves.

Of course, this entails business reengineering, but from a sales point of view, it also means tons and tons of client education. All texts are not created equal: some still deserve—or even require—the expert touch of language professionals, despite everything that artificial intelligence has to offer. Our challenge is to break through the hype and assert our added value.

The Translation Bureau has a few aces up its sleeve, not the least being the requirement for substantive equality between French and English included in Canada’s recently modernized Official Languages Act. Information security is also a must, especially when it comes to sensitive government information.

And at the end of the day, I think that the case for sound data management is the best selling point. To misquote the science fiction classic: “He who controls the data controls the universe.” Clients have everything to gain from having a reliable partner consolidate and leverage their language data.

The sales pitch is there to make. It is up to us to convey it convincingly.