KMD
About their decision to outsource translation and their choice of translation agency.
KMD is one of the largest software companies in Denmark. The KMD Group has more than 3200 employees, and every day, more than 1000 people work with the coding of IT solutions vital to society. The group has offices throughout Scandinavia and a large branch in Poland. KMD supplies IT to Danish local authorities, regions, the State and more than 800 Danish and foreign companies. The company has built and developed Danish IT infrastructure for 40 years. More than DKK 400 billion is funnelled through KMD’s systems every year, corresponding to around 20% of Danish GDP. KMD is owned by Advent International and Sampension.
At KMD, we translate large volumes of documents. The documents are mainly used for internal knowledge transfer between our colleagues in Denmark, Poland and out external partner in India. We use English as the basis of our knowledge sharing. Moreover, we are gaining foothold in new markets in Scandinavia, and in this connection, some of our solutions have to be translated into Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish. When KMD participates in procurement projects, it is necessary for us that the tender documents can be translated at short deadlines.
WHY DID WE DECIDE TO OUTSOURCE TRANSLATION TO AN EXTERNAL PROVIDER?
Translation is not defined as KMD’s core business. Software development is. Instead of handling translation internally, KMD wanted to use an external setup. We wanted to maintain ownership of the actual translation function internally in KMD, but the specific translation job had to be handled by appointed strategic partners. The external setup had to be able to serve all areas of KMD, provide scalability and reasonable prices.
REQUIREMENTS AND WISHES?
The tender documents described the service levels which the external provider should be able to meet, i.e. a certain number of translated words within a specific time frame etc. KMD wanted different levels of quality for translation and we wanted the entire process – from quote to delivery of translation – to be supported by a portal solution which could also match KMD’s security requirements. At the same time, it was essential for us to have a designated contact person, so we would always know who was close to the planning and execution of our specific jobs.
WHY DID WE CHOOSE ADHOC TRANSLATIONS?
In the request for tenders, all invited parties were asked to provide specific input for central parameters. These parameters included price, service levels, security and confidentiality. Also questions concerning invoicing flow and reporting had to be answered. And obviously the quality of translation was a decisive parameter. We decided to work with AdHoc Translations because we could tell that we would get the right balance between the measurable parameters, such as price, and the parameters where everything is not black and white, i.e. quality.
With AdHoc Translations, we got high-quality translation. And throughout the tendering process, AdHoc was ready to listen to our wishes and made good proposals for solutions in the process, especially when we had to handle the security requirements. And then it was decisive that we had a constructive and open dialogue in the process – our chemistry was good. And that is a condition for the future cooperation.
HOW DOES ADHOC TRANSLATIONS HELP KMD?
AdHoc Translations supports a secure project flow. They quickly send a quote to us which our internal customers in KMD receive for approval. At KMD, the individual projects are invoiced to ensure transparency of translation costs, and AdHoc supports these processes. We quickly receive an estimate of when the job can be delivered, and when we have agreed on a deadline, they keep it.
It takes time to reach translation deliveries which reflect KMD’s terminology 100%. AdHoc Translations has made a big effort to make their team work in the right direction. They know that it is important to us that we always receive translations that match our expectations.
ARE WE SATISFIED?
We have worked with AdHoc Translations for more than a year now. It is a pleasure to see that we receive great help in many areas of our daily work. On-time delivery of translation is probably our key priority, but many other tasks are involved in running a translation unit. We get excellent advice on technology, we have defined a KMD-specific project flow, we receive detailed reporting and then we appreciate the open and informal tone. That certainly makes most jobs easier.
Charlotte Pedersen, Language Service Manager
