XTRF Summit 2023 - Key Takeaways for Vendor Managers

Marija Kozjak, Vendor Manager @ VERBA CENTAR – Quality Translation Services :

Attending the recent XTRF Summit in Krakow taught me that our industry is in the state of rapid development and that it is high time to start embracing the change and start adapting to the new circumstances.?

During two inspiring days of the conference an array of topics were covered. The speakers shared their advice on how to provide motivating feedback and how to build a personal brand. They offered their insight into their experience in different international markets, as well as announced what’s next in the industry.

I was incredibly lucky to have been invited to take part in a panel titled Vendor relations - how to build unbreakable bonds with your suppliers. I shared the stage with wonderful fellow Vendor Managers - Faye and Wiktoria, along with our moderator Aleksandra. Besides being able to share my view on the hot topics in vendor management, I was extremely happy to see we got the platform to discuss the “back office” of maintaining a healthy vendor management system.?

These would be my four main takeaways from the discussion:

• The Community Management side of a Vendor Manager’s role is becoming ever more important
• Being supported by different teams within your company is crucial for successful development of Vendor Management
• Vendor managers will have to step up and invest in their personal development
• Automatization of the operational part of the Vendor Manager role should become the priority in the future

Being a VM myself, I found the panel discussion extremely interesting, as it would be for anyone in the role, mostly because we all could relate to what was shared. Rates and honest communication were highlighted as the biggest challenges VMs are faced with. It became evident that VMs increasingly have to use their creativity not only when it comes to meeting PM teams and clients’ expectations, but also the demands of the linguist community.?

The key to successful recruitment shifted from merely offering a project rate to offering something more. Support in terms of a budget for testing, education and other projects, as well as trusting the VMs with the work they do can be of great help. But sometimes, other little things that can be offered extra can be managed by the VM on their own. For example, creation of educational materials for specific tasks or tools, organizing meet-ups for linguists (offline or online) or sending them monthly updates can go a long way while not requiring much time or effort. These kinds of updates to your processes can also help out the PM team in onboarding and evaluation of new linguists and make the growth of your base run more smoothly.??

Support from the PM teams is crucial for any initiative devised by the VM team to come into existence. Being able to clearly communicate your expectations to the PM team, giving them guidance on how to achieve various goals and support during the initial stages is quite important. Successful examples such as a “buddy system” between the new linguists and the PMs, as well as regular updates/meetings were brought up.?

Given that our industry is changing at an incredibly fast pace, VMs must be able to keep up with current trends and invest in their education just like any other professional in the industry. Since they are the first point of contact for any future potential linguists, they need to have as much information as possible, to be able to choose the right onboarding candidates and determine the needs they might have in terms of education and development. At the same time, they need to keep an eye on any potential leads the company might have and be able to start the recruitment process on time, usually having little information and experience with the service.?

The rapid development of technology which is supposed to help us in our everyday tasks is a hard topic to avoid for the past six months so it was interesting to hear the stand of the VMs. We all agreed that if there were a technology that could support the automation of the operational side of our job, we would gladly take it! This would free up more time for the much-needed creative processes, as well as the actual linguist management. This is not only my hope, but also my expectation for the near future and I could not feel more excited about what lies ahead of us!

XTRF Summit was a great reminder of what is coming and how the preparation for what the future holds in our industry has already started. I would like to thank the XTRF team for this amazing opportunity to share my point of view and pick up on some tips&tricks.?