| Industry | Translation Procurement software Translation consultancy |
|---|---|
| Founded | Portsmouth, United Kingdom (2008) |
| Key people | Setti Mulari, Founder, Chairman Hesam Panahi, CTO |
| Website | www.translizer.com |
Translizer Group, commonly known as Translizer, is an international technology company with offices in Portsmouth, United Kingdom and Houston, Texas. Translizer's core operation is the facilitation of foreign language translation through an aggregator search function similar to sites like Moneysupermarket.com, Confused.com or Hotels.com. Translizer's technology development team is based in Houston and it maintains a service centre and industry insight research operations in Trafalgar Wharf, Portsmouth, England. In addition, Translizer has its Scandinavian service centre in Naantali, Finland and its operations in France are based in Colombelles, Lower Normandy, just outside of Caen.
Contents |
It is generally acknowledged that the language services industry, according to the European Union of Associations of Translation Companies (EUATC)[1], carries a “historical weakness” of being “extremely dispersed and unorganised.” There are tens of thousands of Language Service Providers (LSP) scattered all over the world, most of which are small online agencies. This creates a business environment that is very difficult to negotiate for those who seek to employ their services and thus the procurement of language services effectively has become a task that requires a high degree of industry specific expertise that is not readily available in most organisations.
The concept behind Translizer was first made public at the Enterprise Challenge competition run by the University of Portsmouth in 2008. It was branded as the Spinnaker Translation System, named after the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. The first system was wholly manual so it lacked the speed and ease of use of the later releases. The competition judges feedback called for the service to be automated before it could be taken to mass markets. The blueprint for the automated system was drawn up soon after.
Translizer began to develop a tool that would simplify translation services procurement based on the familiar concept that is widely used in travel and financial services industries as well as in the home utility services markets. The most visible feature of Translizer is its price comparison search engine. Translizer is currently the only service where users get instant quotes for translation services from multiple vendors.[2][3] This allows buyers of translation services to do market research in real-time without the usual wait for translation companies to respond to quote requests. As of August 2010, Translizer held over 120,000 individual prices from various translation companies.[4]
Translizer also includes a number of procurement features that allow corporate procurement teams to plan and monitor their translation spending through the use of statistics and reports.
Translizer's proprietary translation procurement system was fully developed in-house by their Houston-based development team. The first Translizer release included the search engine and price comparison feature, accounting functions and a translation ordering and delivery system. Later feature additions include customer satisfaction feature and a credit card processing function.
Translizer uses 256bit encryption with an Extended Validation Certificate from GoDaddy.com.[5] Due to the requirement for large amounts of secure storage space for documents, Translizer uses Amazon S3 to store client files securely.
Although Translizer incorporates a price comparison function, the key concept is its ability to find the best suited translation provider for each search. Translizer is not open for translation companies to freely incorporate themselves into the system. All translation companies are pre-vetted to ensure they represent the very best of the industry and Translizer matches the search criteria (source language, target language, industry and specialisation) with the translation vendors who are experts in those specific areas. This provides users the peace of mind that their translations are handled by industry professionals who are experts in their specific needs.
This feature takes away the possibility for user (buyer) error. Translizer will not allow the buyer to purchase translations from a vendor who is not independently certified to be an expert in the required field and, thus, improves translation quality. This also safeguards buyers of translation services from falling prey to unscrupulous operators. In support of the buyer protection offered by the system, Translizer carries a Web of Trust certificate from internet security community MyWOT.com.
Translizer offers translation consultancy services to organisations who regularly create multi-lingual content. The aim of the consultancy service is to streamline organisational multi-lingual content production through clearly defined processes, industry best practises and the use of technology.
Translizer is a corporate member of the Houston Interpreters & Translators Association (HITA) [6] and Kouvola Innovation (KITES) [7]. In the UK, Translizer is a member of the FSB[8].