The ATC’s Member of the Month in November 2023 is , Creative Words an Italian powerhouse of cutting-edge, tech-enabled language services, driven by a talented team of top-notch professionals.

We caught up with Creative Words’ Founder and CEO Diego Cresceri and Operations Manager Daniela D’Amato to talk about surfing the waves and the shifting sands of the language services industry, and fostering a supportive culture of innovation for its people.

Surfing the waves – and the shifting sands

At Creative Words’ heart is a culture of adaptability and continuous innovation. “We actively follow market trends and anticipate changes in the industry and client landscapes, and we make sure that our brilliant people are there to catch these trends. By staying ahead of the curve, our aim is to seize new opportunities and respond effectively to evolving demands and trends,” says Ops Manager Daniela D’Amato.

Since its inception in 2016, Creative Words has grown from an Italian language services partner to a powerhouse of innovation, complementing traditional language services from a wide-ranging multimedia offering to crowdsourced solutions, and from AI-assisted content creation to data collection and annotation.

For the past few years, Creative Words’ Founder and CEO Diego Cresceri has been surfing the waves and navigating the shifting sands of the AI revolution. “The language services industry is experiencing unprecedented change thanks to the advancement of technology and artificial intelligence. For us, it’s becoming increasingly clear how important it is to view AI as a valuable resource rather than a threat.”

Instead of fearing change, the Creative Words team calls for the language services industry to redefine the narrative and adapt to new opportunities and to the growing demand for innovative skills – and shows the way through an inspired merger with another Italian solutions provider, Creative AI, one of the first Italian players in the field of data collection and annotation for artificial intelligence.

In the services space, one of Creative Words’ tangible new innovations in the AI-enabled space is its new Human Approved Certification – a seal that denotes the preservation of the value of the human touch in language-related activities and highlights the undeniable competence, creativity, and cultural understanding of language professionals.

Innovation starts at home

Creative Words’ ethos is about creating a thriving environment for its team, ensuring that everyone can use their unique talents to contribute, and to shine.

“By building a company culture focused around supporting our people and fostering innovation, we want to create an environment where people will want to stay with us not only because of the benefits and opportunities we offer, but also because of our ethical behaviour and the values we uphold: helping others, fostering a culture of continuous learning, and encouraging bravery in tackling new challenges,” explains D’Amato.

And Creative Words puts its money where its mouth is: it was one of the first language service companies worldwide to adopt a four-day working week for all employees, including C-level management. Despite working fewer hours, everyone receives the same salary as they would for a five-day working week.

Being seen to make a difference

For Cresceri and D’Amato, running a forward-looking company is also about being visible, and being seen to make a difference. Creative Words are active collaborators at the ATC as well as at ELIA, GALA, the ALC, Eulogia, and the Italian language services association Federlingue.

As a company, Creative Words prioritises transparency, accountability, and social and environmental responsibility. It holds ISO certification with ATC Certification to ISO standards 9001 for quality management, 17100 for translation services, and ISO 18587 for machine translation post-editing, and is working towards B Corp certification.

“We want to give back to the industry and share our expertise, but we’re also out there making a name for ourselves,” says Cresceri. “We encourage each and every team member to jump on opportunities like responding speaking at events and writing articles for industry magazines. By doing so, we’re not just adding to the collective knowledge, but also making sure every one of us can feel empowered and respected.”

And that’s as it should be, for one of the most prominent language service companies in the European landscape.

Diego Cresceri and Daniela D’Amato were in conversation with ATC CEO Raisa McNab.