ATC Commercial Collaborations Update July 2022

Getting to know you

The first quarter of work for the ATC’s new Commercial Collaborations Lead Sarah Bawa Mason has been a period of getting to know the ATC membership and spreading the word outwards on the inspirational move by the ATC to take lead in promoting the value of language services to the UK’s business community.

Sarah met many Council members in person at the ATC Council meeting in London on the morning of May 18^th, before helping facilitate the Networking Session of more than 50 language service company representatives in the afternoon, getting to know members, their concerns, and their understanding of where the sector will be heading in the coming five years.

Getting on with the job

In recent weeks, Sarah has concentrated on analysing the ATC membership list with a view to the formation of regional groupings. She is arranging introductory meetings with members in clusters from the South East, the South West and the West Midlands, in the first wave of national engagement.

These discussions will cover what ATC members are already doing with their local business entities, what they would like the CCL role to offer to them, and how the post can best be used to engineer leverage for ATC companies with business entities and the export sector in the UK. She will also be leading our interns Rihab and Imane El Bachiri in research to identify openings where the expertise of ATC member companies can be promoted among export-related business entities.

Finally, Sarah will be preparing for her part in the Stargazing event and Awards in London, on September 21^st where she hopes to get to know many more members on a personal basis.

Getting the word out

Sarah has worked hard on spreading the word of the CCL role, highlighting this innovative development and explaining to members of the wider LSP community what this new proactive approach could be able to achieve for language industry associations in the UK and globally.

She wrote an extensive article for the July/August 2022 issue of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting magazine, The Bulletin, highlighting the key LOC-30 research messages that SMEs embracing language capabilities are 30% more successful in exporting than those that do not, and that language services are guaranteed to add value to the bottom line of any business.

At the International Federation of Translators conference in Cuba in June, Sarah presented to over 60 translator associations from around the world, informing them about the CCL role and what an initiative like this has to offer ATC members and the significance of this exciting development to the sector as a whole.

If you would like to get involved in engaging your local business community with the ATC, get in touch with Sarah at ccl@atc.org.uk and via LinkedIn.