During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have had to reinvent themselves very quickly to cope with the decline in activity and health restrictions. And the translation and interpretation sector is no exception. Translation agencies have not been spared by the economic crisis (more than half of the companies in the sector have seen their business decline since the beginning of the pandemic, according to CSA Research), but they have also been able to adapt to the new situation. One area that has experienced a boom is remote interpreting – the service is now gaining ground with international companies.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, companies all over the world have been forced to hold their conferences, events, and meetings remotely via digital platforms. For their part, translation agencies too have had to adapt to the limitations of global mobility encountered by both their employees and their clients.
Remote interpreting services, by telephone or videoconference, represent an ideal alternative to face-to-face interpreting services. In these exceptional times, these services enable companies and their employees to be protected from any health risks during their meetings and they compensate for any geographical distance.
While many agencies were already offering such services before the pandemic, since the beginning of the crisis they have become increasingly important.
At TraduPhone, remote interpreting services therefore play a key role in the range of services on offer. TraduPhone is part of the Optilingua International group, Europe's leading translation company, and offers telephone interpreting and a video-interpreting service for two or more participants, wherever they are in the world.
Remote interpreting has a number of advantages for companies. Compared to face-to-face interpreting services, it is first of all a more economical solution, as there are no costs related to transport and accommodation of the translator-interpreter on site. Clients also save on the possible costs of renting a room.
In addition, these services offer a lot of flexibility. Clients can hold meetings, virtual events, conferences, or training sessions with their multicultural teams anywhere in the world, in any language. They don't have to think about logistics or worry about having enough space to accommodate all participants. All they need is a good Internet connection.
Finally, with video-interpreting and telephone interpreting it is easier to source a professional interpreter quickly (whatever the language pair in question), and easier to provide an emergency interpreting service if necessary.
For many companies, remote interpreting has become a necessity during the crisis. But as with all of the trends revealed by the pandemic (the rise of teleworking, digitalisation of services, new modes of organisation...), there is every reason to believe that this service will continue to develop in the wake of the health crisis.
