LanguageLine Solution’s services – the services with which it supports you and the people that you in turn support every day, have been purposely designed with the very highest levels of business continuity built-in.
The service’s technological infrastructure is cloud-based, includes multiple redundancy/failover features and is not operationally dependent upon any single technological or physical point of operation and therefore failure. The c12,000 interpreters and call agents that underpin the service operate on a work-at-home model and are intentionally, geographically dispersed. Our management and administration functions are designed to operate equally efficiently within a home-based environment as from a centralised office environment.
LLS has established, robust and tested business continuity plans that are regularly reviewed and updated as a matter of course, defined by any potential threats or risks identified. This includes scenarios relating to global and local weather extremes, terrorism and general security risk incidents. It also includes regional epidemics or more widespread pandemics which may themselves result in a desire, a sensible preference or even government advice or instructions to minimise human movement and interaction. In short, resilience and readiness are in our DNA.
Our industry-leading remote interpreting services – both telephone and video, in themselves, enable the uninterrupted delivery of interpreting support, including the maintenance of visual interpreter contact, even in situations of restricted human travel – when it makes absolute sense to restrict the number of people present at any given scenario. Within our industry, this currently includes possible restrictions around the movement of interpreters and the potential impact upon the delivery of face-to-face interpreting services.
All of these measures are designed to mitigate the possible effects of a public health incident, such as COVID-19, and mean that professional interpreting can continue to be delivered without increasing the general risk of a situation.
At a local level also, we have taken and continue to take various steps in light of the current situation to ensure that risk is mitigated and we have the back-up and support of our parent and sister companies across the globe as part of that plan. These steps include:
- The complete relocation of our administrative and managerial functions from our European Headquarters in Canary Wharf, London, to a 100% work at home model
- Monitoring staff health and well-being throughout, and issuing specific guidelines, support and instructions
- Deploying communications proactively and on request to staff, our supply chain and customers
- Readiness to use more global resource should local resource become challenged
- Preparedness to assist any customers under specific threat to employ solutions which enhance and/or enable the utilisation of remote interpreting services and reduce the risk of further cross contamination
As a company, we have been closely monitoring and assessing risk in relation to the Coronavirus outbreak. In line with Government instruction and the requirements of our clients, we have been supporting additional and growing demands for remote interpreting. All LLS clients have access to both on-demand telephone and video interpreting and these, because of the measures outlined above, have not been impacted. Therefore, we are fully able to maintain language support services during the crisis for our clients as they, in turn, look to continue to support their patients, customers and other members of the public.
As ever, it remains our longstanding commitment to continually analyse, review and test our resiliency and to further revise our plans as situations develop – ensuring that we continue to support our clients in these uncharted times.