Quality Management
Digital Language Services (DLS) is excited to announce it has successfully passed the ISO 17100 audit and has received its certificate of accreditation by Orion Assessment Services, a global accreditation agency.
Designed specifically for the translation industry, the 17100:2015 certification provides DLS’ customers with the highest level of professional translation services. Through established procedures and requirements on employee qualifications, client feedback and data protection, DLS is better able to meet market needs, a critical necessity when translating manufacturing guides, medical device descriptions or product labeling materials.
DLS Obligations
Under the 17100 certification, DLS is obligated to consistently meet stringent obligations such as:
- Translators, proofreaders and revisers are required to provide documentation verifying their professional and educational qualifications.
- Translators are obligated to have more than five years of experience as well as a government-issued certificate of competence in specific areas such as research, linguistic, textual, cultural, domain and technical competencies.
- Ensuring confidentiality through rigorous data protection standards.
- Establishing a system to measure client feedback, such as client surveys.
In addition, each step of the translation process is required to meet specific standards:
- Translators must verify their own work during the initial translation phase
- A mandatory revision step must be performed by another person, other than the initial translator
- Optional review steps may be included to evaluate and ensure the project meets the original purpose prior to publication of the project
- A final verification of the project must be performed against the initial specifications
Client Benefits
These requirements offer significant advantages to clients, including the knowledge that they are partnering with a company that is committed to quality. By achieving certification, DLS is declaring that standards matter and DLS is accountable to their customers.
Other benefits include:
- Superior quality assurance due to documented requirements for translators, editors and project managers
- Increased confidence about translation quality since translation and revision phases must be performed by different linguists
- Confidentiality assurance due to mandatory data protection requirements
- Expectation consensus between DLS and customers due to documented procedures on how the project will be managed
- Improved file management since all projects are traceable
Does ISO 17100 Certification Really Make a Difference?
Despite these benefits, some may wonder if ISO 17100 certification really makes a difference. If in doubt, here are a few things to consider:
- Without a system of stringent procedures and checks, there is a higher risk of errors, which will ultimately impact the final output.
- By working with an ISO 17100 certified company, customers are guaranteed they will be working with the best. Why would you want anything else?
- Some business sectors, like legal or medical, have stringent compliance and regulatory requirements. How are you certain these requirements will be met by working with a non-certified partner?
Certification also helps translation companies optimize their processes, which ultimately reduces costs, minimizes errors and improves efficiencies. Under a certification system, TSP employees are consistently offered training which leads to a sense of empowerment, better productivity and an enhanced customer experience.
