Optimizing Language Access: How to leverage on Over-the-Phone Interpretation Service and Enable Users to Effectively Utilize Language Resources

Over-the-Phone Interpretation service (OPI) is a valuable solution that is widely used by individuals and organizations to facilitate communication with their non-English speaking audience. This service is used in various settings and industries including healthcare, legal, business, and social work. Designing and implementing language access should be carefully curated to fit your business needs and allow staff members leverage on OPI service. Learning and applying the right methodology of accessing interpreters will increase efficiency and cut costs. In this article, I am exploring the most common challenges users face and listing 10 fundamental questions that will help solve any issues and optimize OPI at your organization:

1. Does every staff member know how to access over-the-phone interpreters effectively?

This is the main question to ask to determine whether your language access program is successful or not. Having the vehicle in place won’t guarantee overcoming language barriers. Ensuring that your staff are equipped with the right knowledge and skills to work with interpreters and handle Limited English Proficiency (LEP) clients is a must.

2. Are they trained to work with a language interpreter and follow industry protocols?

After setting up an OPI account, your Language Service Provider (LSP) will send information packet with instructions and tips on how to access OPI. Disseminating this information to your staff/users via email won’t suffice. Ask your provider to provide a demo of your account information to your staff. Also, you can ask for training sessions.

3. If a specific language makes up the highest demand at your organization, do you have enough resources to handle that volume?

Whether you are outsourcing interpretation service, or depending on bilingual staff, make sure you have enough resources to cover demand. If connection times are long, hire more interpreters, or ask your LSP to do so.

4. Did you consider renegotiating the rate of this language?

In most cases, if you have a substantial volume of a particular language, you can renegotiate the rate. Give it a shot and ask your LSP to reduce the rate. They might be able to give you a discount. Reach out to me if you want pricing insights for certain languages.

5. Did you consider creating a shortcut to access this particular language quickly and directly?

At Language Link, OPI system is highly customizable. We design clients’ access based on their industry requirements. Teachers use OPI differently from nurses, social workers, or 911 dispatchers. There are multiple ways to directly connect with interpreters of a specific language. Whether by adding a dedicated line or creating a shortcut (press 1 for Spanish). This point can be discussed with you LSP and redesigned to fit your needs.

6. What qualifications, certifications, and experience do your interpreters have?

Ask your provider if you don’t know. Being bilingual doesn’t automatically qualify a person to conduct interpretation in a professional setting. Occasionally, we see mistakes being made by healthcare providers or teachers when they ask children to interpret for their non-English speaking parents. Having the right credentials, experience, and certification is crucial to enable interpreters practice their profession.

7. What customizations are needed to create an optimized version of your existing language access?

Work with your LSP to identify any issues in the existing model and make necessary changes. Improvements are always possible especially in call center setting. Enabling agents to have an interpreter join the call promptly will make a big difference. Reducing connection time will save costs.

8. What data points are being collected at every call?

Depending on your industry, data collection is a great tool for reporting and analyzing metrics to serve your goals and help you make better decisions.

9. What are the unnecessary access steps that can be eliminated?

To access interpreters, there are a few steps a user should take. However, some can be removed. Consult with your LSP to find out what steps can be cut out and how to implement these modifications. For example, at Language Link, we advise call center clients to program OPI toll-free number in their platform. Also, we can add dedicated lines for certain clients to skip entering their account number when connecting with interpreters. This is just an example of two steps that can be simply removed if you are working with the right LSP.

10. Do you have a portal with a dashboard to capture and analyze OPI utilization data?

Client portal is the bread-and-butter of any organization that is using OPI. The important thing here is to be able to generate reports and analyze data easily. Identify data points that matter to your industry. You can add more points by expanding data collection step. ??

Whether you are using language interpreters at your call center, or through your staff members, each of the above questions needs to be considered and discussed to enable users have a successful application of language access program. For consultation and more information, hit me up on LinkedIn or email [email protected]