The Belgian Translators’ Association (BCTI) launches a new communication platform to enhance member experience: Workplace

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Until recently, members of the Belgian Chamber of Translators and Interpreters (BCTI) communicated via two official channels: FastInfo, a Yahoo mailing list, and Yammer, a private Microsoft social network. The fact that these two systems ran in parallel created certain confusion and led to information getting diluted. The association has now remedied this: on April 30th 2017, they became the first translators’ and interpreters’ association in the world to start using a new tool called Workplace.

Belgian Translators’ Association Workplace 2_

The Workplace concept

Workplace is a service offering private social networks. It is mainly aimed at membership management for companies and associations. Developed by Facebook, it is currently used by over 14,000 entities and associations across the globe (e.g. WWF, Danone, Starbucks, Volkswagen).

The choice of Workplace

The BCTI has gone for Workplace as a single internal communication tool because of its many benefits:

Familiarity

For those used to social networking, Workplace offers a very familiar environment. Any users that still prefer mailings can easily configure their e-mail notifications.

Features

Workplace offers a wide range of handy features:

Workplace from BCTI

  • real-time video for broadcasting webinars and conferences intended exclusively for our membership;
  • groups, which can be set up so that members can select and follow the information that is relevant or of interest to them;
  • an instant messaging system similar to Messenger, so that members can easily share opinions and information;
  • alerts, which can be configured to remind members about training courses, deadlines, meetings and other activities organised by the association;
  • a mobile app allowing access to the platform anytime, anywhere;
  • compatibility with Facebook and other social networks easily allowing the BCTI to distribute content to the outside world and enhance its overall visibility;
  • links can be set up to other bodies using Workplace, ensuring clearer communication and heightened cooperation with our professional partners and peer bodies

Confidentiality is key

Guillaume DeneufbourgThough developed by Facebook, Workplace is an entirely separate platform. Members can use Workplace without needing to have a Facebook account, which means they are entirely free as to whether or not they sign up and their data is guaranteed confidential.

Finally, the platform is free to non-profit organisations (such as ours) and educational bodies.

Guillaume Deneufbourg, BCTI president and driving force behind the project, comments, “The BCTI wants to be a focal point bringing together all translators and interpreters operating in Belgium or that have professional links to the country. With this aim in mind, we need to enlarge the range of services we offer to both current and future members and raise our standards of professionalism by offering the chance to follow webinars and remote conferences or simply allowing members to interact more easily and efficiently. Choosing Workplace for our internal communications is a major step in this direction.”

Contact details

CBTI-BKVT

Belgian Chamber of Translators and Interpreters, Rue Montoyerstraat 24 B-1000 Brussels

secretariat@cbti-bkvt.org  / www.translators.be


Written by A.-S. De Clercq & D. Jonkers (CBTI-BKVT) Translator (from French): Graham Vincent (CBTI-BKVT).

Post edited by Doris Fernandes del Pozo – Journalist, Translator-Interpreter and Communication Trainee at the Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament. She is pursuing a PhD as part of the Communication and Contemporary Information Programme of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

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