Don’t get stuck with subpar machine translation: How to spot an enterprise-grade solution

When free online translation tools are used, all the content being translated is saved in the cloud. Well-reported instances of leaked confidential internal communications, financial documents and customer-specific details provides strong motivation for enterprises to choose a tool they can trust, for example, one that has strict measures to guarantee data security.

 

An AI translation solution can be considered enterprise-grade if its cloud service is secure and if it offers flexible deployment options. This gives you the choice to deploy data in the cloud, on-premises for data that needs an additional layer of security, or a hybrid option, which gives you the flexibility of both. For example, digital marketing might want to leverage the self-service cloud model for eCommerce, while the legal department may need a fully in-house environment for eDiscovery. Data protection should also be fundamentally and natively embedded within all layers of the system’s architecture, development lifecycle and policies. No matter which option you choose—cloud, on-premises or hybrid—ensuring that a high standard of security exists across all three options is important.

 

Another consideration for many organizations is where your machine translation data will be hosted. Does the MT provider have servers where you want? For instance, some may want a server in Europe to comply with strict EU data privacy laws. Others, like government organizations, may prefer an option in-region or in-country. Having multiple hosting options ensures there will be no data transfer between instances, which is an important consideration for organizations with data that must remain within designated geographical boundaries to meet regulatory requirements.

 

Since security is a top concern for all organizations, we recommend also checking how your MT supplier handles risk and what certifications they have to ensure they align with your internal requirements.

Customization and the ability to adapt your translations is a strong indicator of enterprise-grade MT. Translations that don’t reflect your brand or are too generic won’t resonate in local markets. Adaptive MT, or custom MT, allows you to train the AI to understand your company’s style and your industry’s specific terminology. 

 

Here’s how it works: The machine translation is first trained on any existing bilingual data and translation assets, such as translation memories, to provide a baseline of quality. You can then take this to the next level by enabling users to train models continuously with real-time, direct feedback submitted by the users. The online tool captures the change, and the MT understands and remembers the new translation, which is now customized for your business, domain area and use case. These customizations are stored for your organization without sharing any data, enhancing the privacy and security of your sensitive information. The result is an MT solution that is not only robust and secure, but also uniquely private to your business.

You may only need a handful of languages today, but as your business grows into new countries or regions, additional languages may be needed on short notice. When this happens, having an MT solution with a robust selection of languages is critical.

 

For example, Language Weaver offers more than 130 direct language pairs and over 3,500 languages with chaining. This kind of flexibility lets you quickly add languages—and enjoy peace of mind that your MT solution is able to grow with you.

How well your MT solution can support your business is another way to determine if it is enterprise ready. The saying ‘little things make a big difference’ is especially true when it comes to global business operations. As you evaluate MT options, consider the difference having items like these will make on your daily work:

 

Native integrations: Having built-in connectors that integrate with your existing tools out-of-the-box saves considerable time and money, especially when compared with developing your own. Enterprise MT solutions that incorporate translation into applications such as Microsoft Office, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and other industry standard tools makes real-time translation fast and efficient.

 

Robust support: Enterprise MT solutions have a strong track record of experience and innovation supporting B2B organizations. From initial conversations to post-sale account management, look for a proven business consulting team and professional services options to help with your deployment and technical questions. 

 

Reporting: Detailed reports help you to assign, monitor, and track every translation—including usage and volume—by user and group. An AI translation solution with custom reports and labelling can support business oversight by providing granular statistics on the items most important to your organization.

 

Single sign-on (SSO): Enterprise-grade machine translation offers secure and straightforward user access to all system UIs and functionality with one login.

 

Role-based permissions: To keep data secure, enterprise MT maintains and centralizes user access and control of sensitive data using strict role-based access management.

 

Document handling capabilities: No more copying and pasting. With enterprise MT, uploading documents up to 100MB or multiple documents in batches accelerates efficiency and speed to understanding.

 

Balancing performance and volume: Determining whether enterprise machine translation can scale without compromising throughput allows the platform to grow with you as your business evolves. 

 

Branding flexibility: Customizing your MT solution so it looks and feels like an integrated translation portal offers your users a consistent and intuitive experience within your enterprise workflows.