The ATC’s Member of the Month in March 2024 is Davron Translations, French-British language service company with an innovative approach to language data privacy, and total accountability.

We caught up with Davron’s Co-Founder and General Manager Anne-Cécile Bourget-Davron, to talk about the early days of the company, and how today it is blazing the trail through data protection by design.

The beginnings: a familiar/l story

Davron’s beginnings are rooted in a familiar story for many language service companies – a meeting of two minds and hearts, a Transatlantic life between the US and France, and a business that grew out of passion for language and international communication.

“Davron Translations will be celebrating 15 years in business next year,” says Co-Founder and General Manager Anne-Cécile Bourget-Davron. “In the beginning, it allowed us to combine my expertise in translation and interpreting, and David’s background in finance, and build a life in Paris where we relocated from the US. We started as a family business, like so many in the industry, and during these years, it’s been a privilege and a joy to work together on building the business.”

Today, Davron’s team of 10 serves both private and corporate clients from offices in France and the UK – specialising in the complex processes of certifying translations for authorities across the Channel, and enabling international trade through multilingual translation and interpreting services in more than 40 languages.

A modern focus: automation and data security

For Anne-Cécile and David, running a successful language service company is not just about commitment to outstanding quality, but also about integrating automation and data security as a design into everything the company does.

“Our clients’ needs and requirements are diverse, but they all benefit from our two guiding principles: making the order, service and invoicing process as smooth as possible, and taking a serious approach to data security,” explains Anne-Cécile.

Davron’s proprietary, automated client space enables customers to order, manage, and track their requests and projects in real time, and with minimal fuss. Certified to ISO 9001 for quality management, and ISO 17100 for translation services, Davron’s systems and services integrate data security as default.

“We are trusted with and manage large volumes of confidential business information and people’s personal data, and it’s absolutely critical that our data privacy and confidentiality processes keep our clients’ data safe and secure,” Anne-Cécile says.

The new frontier: total accountability through blockchain

At Davron, data protection doesn’t end with the requirements of data privacy laws – it goes further and deeper towards a new frontier of translation management and total accountability through using blockchain technology to track content.

Davron Translations’ affiliate company Davron Digital allows clients to translate and legalise documents for official use, tracing the process safely, efficiently and quickly on the blockchain Popcorn, which retains transparency through the entire process chain and the people involved in it.

“In the past, language service companies have sought to protect their operational supply chain, which has resulted in a largely opaque process,” Anne-Cécile describes. “This is now changing with data protection laws requiring transparency and accountability through the entire chain. Our blockchain technology builds an environment where data protection and accountability underpin an expert service, giving clients total confidence in our work.”

Already in operation at Davron Translations, this blockchain process can also be customised for the use of other language service companies through an API, and on any blockchain technology. This is data protection by design, for the benefit of an entire industry, and you can read more about it here.

Anne-Cécile Bourget-Davron was in conversation with ATC CEO Raisa McNab.