Guest article by our client Una Hartzell-Baird from LUNA Language Service

Is Plunet worth it?

There’s more to consider than just the direct cost of Plunet licensing and maintenance. The time and effort of implementation and training can be extensive and are often underestimated. Is it worth it to use Plunet when you add it all up? 

After using Plunet for seven years, I recently asked myself this question again. Call it the seven-year itch, but I’m a fan of regularly evaluating processes and software my team uses to make sure they’re still serving the team well.

I won’t hold you in suspense, for my team it’s still absolutely worth it.

If you’re new to Plunet, the quick answer is– it depends. If your team is using a system that works for you and maximizes time savings while minimizing mistakes (and cyber vulnerabilities)- it sounds like you’ve got a good thing going for you! You can stop reading now.

But I have a feeling that this isn’t the case because you’re here, reading this. I was in your shoes seven years ago. My team was growing but so were mistakes that put a spotlight on the inefficiencies and frustrations my team (and clients) experienced. And let’s not even start with cybersecurity questionnaires for many life sciences and government clients.

Oh boy.

I knew that if we were going to maintain high quality in our department, we had to invest in equipping our project managers with the tools to do their best work. There’s a lot out there. From DIY custom software builds to one-size-fits-all project management software (that never quite manages to fit all…).

In the process of figuring out the right fit, the monetary costs were the obvious place to start. But focusing on the cost of licensing alone would have been a colossal mistake.

So what’s more important than cost? Three things: flexibility, ease of use, and support. That’s it. It’s that simple. Let’s dive into each one for the highlights of how Plunet continues to be worth the cost for my growing team.

Flexibility

Plunet is fully customizable. Take a deep breath because this also means you have to fully configure it. Starting with deciding whether you’ll host Plunet on your own local server, a shared cloud server, or a dedicated cloud server. I know, you’re panicking just thinking about it- there are a lot of decisions to be made, and Plunet’s expert implementation team has you covered.

The time invested in customization will be well worth the effort. Efficiency follows a thoughtful implementation of Plunet. My team’s customization included a number of workflow and item templates that ensure our regular clients take a fraction of the time needed before.

My favorite feature, and one that offers the utmost flexibility, is text modules. My team uses text modules to track lead sources, purchase orders, and quickly incorporate standard language around services and turnaround times for project delivery. Because text modules can be fully customized including whether they’re mandatory and where they’re visible, they’re a powerful tool.

Plunet offers integrations with CAT tools and a variety of automation options that help reduce errors by reducing the number of touch points and opportunities for mistakes by individuals. This is particularly critical if you are certified to the ISO 17100 standard.

It’s the worst kept secret among ISO auditors that Plunet is a 17100 compliance powerhouse. Between audit logs on every level and the ability to use properties to sort and select appropriate resources, maintaining quality is simple. Even when things go wrong, Plunet’s complaint feature provides an expert level of documentation to support corrective actions.

Ease of Use

I’ll admit that it was unsettling to be limited to just one tab of Plunet. On average I have 20 tabs open at any given time (and I know some of you do too!) so I was nervous to do everything in one tab. This discomfort was short-lived.

Because the system is so well designed you don’t NEED multiple tabs. It’s quick and easy to navigate back and forth between sections and the time savings adds up–especially when you look at the impact globally of reducing navigation across tabs for your whole team.

Recently I had a request from a colleague to share our top five clients by revenue. She assumed I’d know this information off the top of my head. A fair assumption to be sure since I lead the translation department. But I don’t have the information memorized. Why not? Because I can look it up so quickly and easily through queries. In less than a minute I ran a query, formatted the results, and added the contract start dates for each of the clients. That easy!

Support

Plunet support is 100 percent the secret sauce in my recipe for success. Outside of quality implementation processes at the start, our implementation specialist serves as an incredible resource continually. The relationship we’ve developed supports the growth of our team as we continue adding licenses, expanding client use of Plunet, and transitioning to the latest version.

But implementation specialists alone aren’t enough. Technology sometimes fails us, and the engineers behind Plunet work tirelessly to help with requests big and small. No matter what software I selected, I know that good support is critical to its success.

The inside track

Since my team implemented Plunet, I’ve seen many of our vendor partners do the same. Recently I had the opportunity to talk with a few colleagues regarding their experiences with internal proprietary project management software, and hands down they’ve all cited the lack of Plunet as a loss.

As my team continues to grow and serve a more diverse client base, Plunet is growing alongside us and with the robust reporting, tracking, and customization, it provides the WOW factor that helps us close more sales and nurture relationships with our clients more seamlessly.

Guest author

Una Hartzell-Baird served as the Director of Translation at LUNA Language Services. 

 

About LUNA

LUNA provides people-powered translation and interpreting services from real people with real world, nuanced expertise to ensure effective and accurate communication across all industries. We support culturally rich organizations and communities because we believe diversity is the key to progress.