SDL , the leading provider of Global Information Management (GIM) solutions and Language Service Solutions today announced that it has been awarded the EN 15038 standard for quality assurance.  SDL adds the globally recognized standard to its ISO9001 accreditation to further demonstrate the company’s commitment to providing total process and quality transparency to their prestigious customer base.

EN 15038, published by the European Committee for Standardization, specifically provides measurement for translation services quality.  Arguably more relevant to the localization industry than ISO9001, EN 15038 defines requirements for service delivery and quality control as well as creating a communication framework for customer interaction.

Now included within SDL’s accreditation are the post-editing processes used to validate content quality for automated translation and SDL’s sophisticated SDL Knowledge-based Translation System® (SDL KbTS™).  The inclusion of these post-editing processes, within such a high standard of quality assurance, serves to show the level of output achievable through SDL’s unique combination of automated translation software and human linguistic skills.

In order to gain the certification SDL  was audited by National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), a leading independent certification body, who conducted a thorough review of the infrastructure, client communication models, linguistic qualification and project management processes employed by SDL. 

The announcement has been particularly well received by SDL’s extensive customer base operating within the life sciences industry.  SDL customers such as Siemens Healthcare and Varian Medical Systems have an acute focus on the level and consistency of localization quality.  The addition of EN15038 to SDL’s range of quality control procedures has been welcomed as a further demonstration of its strength within this highly-regulated and quality-driven Industry.

Dominic Kinnon, VP Operations and Strategic Accounts of SDL commented, “Gaining EN15038 accreditation is another milestone for SDL Services in proving its ongoing commitment to quality assurance throughout the complete localization workflow.  Our network of 50+ worldwide offices, over 800 in-house translation staff and market-leading technology, places us in a unique position to be able to ensure the integrity of the entire end-to-end quality assurance process.  Our customers continue to benefit from the local expertise our in-house teams provide, safe in the knowledge that the stringent global process controls that SDL employ provide the highest standard of linguistic and contextual output.”

For more information on SDL localization services, please go to: http://www.sdl.com/localization_services