Orange Belgium and i-mens promote communication across language barriers with translation software and 5G technology

Home care organization i-mens employs about 600 colleagues who speak 'super different languages'. They do not speak a common language with their customers and colleagues. To address this challenge, i-mens, in collaboration with Orange Belgium, is exploring the use of translation software and leveraging 5G technology to enable secure and direct communication between employees and customers in the field, and planners and managers at central level.

Today, Telecom Minister Petra De Sutter took part in a workshop where i-mens presented the progress of the 'communication without borders' project. She welcomes it with open arms: "5G will have a social and economic impact. Above all, Orange Belgium and i-mens prove that it can make a difference for everyone. We live in an extremely diverse and therefore multilingual society, while communication remains essential. Thanks to this translation software, the language barrier is broken down and inclusion is increased. Moreover, we should not forget the impact on the tight labor market, because in this case 5G partly breaks down the language barrier, making it less of an obstacle to get started. Employers today still struggle to attract the right people, but this project helps both job seekers and companies to find each other.”

A secure and direct method of communication in any language

i-mens and Orange Belgium conduct user research to test a translation software solution. The software offers features such as simultaneous translation of live video calls over 5G. This enables employees to communicate effectively with supervisors, direct colleagues and managers.

"At i-mens, more than 600 caregivers speak languages unknown to the organisation's planners and managers. This language barrier hinders day-to-day communication, can create a feeling of loneliness or even uncertainty for individual employees visiting clients at home, and leads to a higher staff turnover," says Karin Van Mossevelde, CEO of i-mens. "In addition, the number of non-native speakers within i-mens is relatively low compared to the national average, representing an untapped resource of potential employees. This 5G project can help us bridge this language barrier."

By using Orange Belgium's 5G network, i-mens and the users also have the certainty that there is sufficient bandwidth available to allow the applications to work. The technology thus ensures uninterrupted connectivity, e.g. also during crisis situations. This increases the sense of security for employees.

Accelerating 5G usage applications in Belgium

Orange Belgium actively encourages partnerships to accelerate the deployment of 5G user applications across Belgium. By collaborating with organizations such as i-mens, Orange Belgium wants to show the potential of 5G in a transparent way, using its robust national and international network. The project not only aligns with Orange Belgium's goal of achieving 5G coverage of 40% of the population by end of 2023 and 90% by end of 2025, but also responds to critical communication needs in multilingual work environments.

Werner De Laet, Chief Enterprise Officer at Orange Belgium, says: "Since we launched our 5G standalone network in the port of Antwerp, followed by the opening of two 5G Labs (in Antwerp and in Liège), we have been working closely with industry partners to make their operations even more productive, secure and sustainable by leveraging the benefits of 5G private technology. The ecosystem we've been building for years is proving to be extremely fruitful for businesses, government agencies and the society in general. We are happy to give this use case with i-mens a boost to achieve better and more efficient communication in healthcare, thanks to 5G."

The collaboration between i-mens and Orange Belgium illustrates the importance of finding innovative solutions to bridge language barriers in the workplace. The adoption of translation software and the integration of 5G technology provide a secure and direct method of communication for employees who speak different languages. By promoting effective communication, organizations can unlock the potential of their diverse workforce while ensuring efficient service delivery.

About i-mens

i-mens is an independent care organization that specializes in care at home. The organization has more than 11,000 employees and offers domestic help, home nursing, family help, maternity care, childcare and cleaning help with service checks in Flanders and Brussels, among other things. She provides care for everyone, at every stage of life. By providing care at home, i-mens supports and relieves the people who call on their help.