SAVD provides audio and video remote interpreting services for public authorities.
“Initially, it was a research project from the Medical University of Vienna which wanted to provide fast access to overcome language barriers in emergency settings in hospitals. That was 10 years ago. Since then, we’ve grown to be a market leader in German-speaking countries, explains Heckl.
SAVD’s services are used by migrants or refugees and is paid for by public authorities.
“Public authorities pay for the service. And the users are migrants or refugees. The main languages we work in are Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Pashto. And more recently, a lot of Ukrainian and Russian and a lot of Turkish, Romanian and Bulgarian.”
The interpreters are not volunteers but properly paid professionals, explains Heckl. “That is a very important aspect for us because if you want to keep the standards high, then people have to be paid for it. Interpreting is one of the most intellectually challenging jobs there is. Therefore, it has to be a professional setting where people are paid adequately.”
SAVD has come a long way since it was founded 10 years ago.“We have about 120 employees and roughly 1,000 freelance interpreters that work around the clock to service our clients and their customers. In 95 to 98% of the cases we manage to service our clients within 120 seconds. We interpret about 30,000 times per month and therefore I’d say we’ve come a long way from where we started.”
Gregory Heckl firmly believes SAVD has changed the world for the better.“In one sentence, we foster and support the integration of migrants. Because the first and most important step is to overcome the language barrier. And that is exactly what we do. And you have a lot of bureaucracy when you enter any country in the European Union, from having a medical checkup to getting your driver’s license translated so you can actually drive a car. All these things that are obvious if you speak the language become huge barriers suddenly. And that’s exactly where we can support, and it’s twofold. It’s support obviously for the migrants, but also for our clients and authorities and hospitals who can do their work in a better and more efficient way than they could otherwise.”
