McElroy at 40 Years—A Historical Perspective
“Translation is the second oldest profession.” That quip is oft cited by those in the business of translation. In any event, the need to communicate across cultural and national barriers has indeed long existed. Even in this context, McElroy’s celebration of 40 years in business is remarkable. There is not a single competitor that exists in its original form from just two decades ago. That “staying power” makes McElroy unique as the only company we are aware of that has been able to sustain and thrive based on a strategy of organic growth. Why?
McElroy has remained focused on core competencies while developing healthy client diversification. Founded by Ralph McElroy in 1968, the company started translating for the chemical industry with flagship clients that included Celanese and Monsanto. In the 1980s a medical focus was added, and the 1990s was an era of patent and litigation client acquisition. Software localization followed as the next emerging market when international product launches became status quo for the high-tech world.
Management structure is another contributing factor to McElroy’s success. There is a distinct difference in the outlook between language service providers who are owned and controlled by a founding individual or small group of partners versus one that has transitioned to outside professional management. While McElroy remains tightly held by family, professional outside management has been in place since 1980. McElroy successfully matured from the “owner operator/translation agency” stage to a professionally run language services company.
And finally, we were on the leading edge of technology when we first invested in ELJOTS®, our proprietary workflow system, in 1999. McElroy’s focus on process and project management principles was ahead of the rest of the industry. Currently we are ahead of the curve as thought leaders in viewing machine translation not as a threat or just a way to do translation at a cheaper word rate, but as a potential to extend our service offerings through innovative use in workflow.
We believe that an era of unprecedented change is upon us. McElroy will continue to serve clients with traditional workflows and focus on quality. But the statistical machine translation revolution led by Google, Microsoft, and private companies like Language Weaver will make “fitness for use” a standard that leads to completely new market opportunities. McElroy has already identified new clients whose translation needs have emerged as feasible for the first time because of advancements in technology, and we look forward to many more key anniversaries as we recognize all the possibilities for growth.
