March 2023 – GLOBO, the health equity-focused language solutions provider (LSP), announced that their average connect time for reaching a Spanish interpreter is now under 10 seconds, setting a new standard in the language services industry.
The announcement is a milestone in service of the company’s mission: providing increased access to care and services for limited-English speakers, a segment of the population that historically lacks access to equitable healthcare.
“The ability to reach an interpreter in under 10 seconds speaks volumes to GLOBO’s vision of improving access to care,” said Dipak Patel, CEO of GLOBO. “Looking forward, we will continue to push towards revolutionizing the way users access language support.”
Lowering connect times was a key initiative for GLOBO in 2022. Dubbed “Mission to Zero,” the company made significant investments in order to offer customers the fastest connection speeds in the market. For industries like healthcare, where language is a key social determinant of health, every second is critical to ensuring high-quality care for patients. In scenarios where language differences exist, patient communication is a critical factor for health outcomes. GLOBO believes being able to provide a qualified medical interpreter in under 10 seconds is a key differentiator in the language services industry. The Philadelphia-based language solutions provider is also now offering a financially-backed guarantee for customers.
“We talked to a lot of healthcare customers who were dissatisfied with past Language Service Providers because of how long it took to reach an interpreter,” said Francesca Mayr, Director of Product & Engagement at GLOBO. “After listening to their concerns, it was clear that driving down connect times was a critical factor in improving care for patients who are already at a higher risk for negative health outcomes.”
“At GLOBO, our mission is to help people communicate when it matters most. That makes connecting customers with a qualified interpreter as quickly as possible a top priority,” said Elizabeth Robeck, Vice President of Operations. “This milestone is a testament to all of the efforts made by our team in service of that mission.”
Challenges related to connection speeds may include poor technology, interpreter talent pool size, and dependency on contact centers. To achieve single-digit connect times for Spanish, GLOBO’s Talent team engaged in targeted recruiting efforts for qualified interpreters and audited areas of improvement for user experience. In addition to recruiting efforts, GLOBO made strategic technological updates. As of March 2023, the average connect time across all other languages is sub-30 seconds. Commonly requested languages and their respective average connect times include:
- Mandarin: 14 seconds
- Portuguese-Brazilian: 14 seconds
- Bengali: 15 seconds
- French Creole: 11 seconds
- Vietnamese: 12 seconds
- Russian: 17 seconds
- Dari: 18 seconds
- Pashto: 23 seconds
Quality plays a critical role in GLOBO’s service model; while many language service providers recruit bilinguals, GLOBO prioritizes applicants with specific qualifications and certifications in line with U.S. standards. GLOBO also applies rigorous standards for audio quality, internet speed, and equipment to ensure customers and the limited-English speaking end user are each able to communicate effectively. HIPAA compliance and ISO certifications (9001:2015 Quality Management System, 17100:2015 Translation Services, and 27001 Information Security) are all factored into GLOBO’s quality assurance program.
Spanish is GLOBO’s top-requested language, with the LSP filling over two million telephone interpreting requests in 2022 alone. For all other languages, GLOBO’s average connect time to an interpreter is under 30 seconds. GLOBO’s goal is to connect users with a telephone interpreter in under 10 seconds across all languages.
About GLOBO
GLOBO is a health equity-focused communications provider that helps organizations communicate across languages. Providing robust data and insights through a revolutionary cloud-based platform, GLOBO HQ, GLOBO has been featured on the Inc. 500|5000 for seven consecutive years and ranked in the Top 20 of the 2021 Nimdzi Interpreting Index: Ranking of the Top Interpreting Service Providers.
