What are your main day-to-day responsibilities and tasks?
Broadly speaking, it’s my job to make sure that everything is running smoothly. We need the IT systems to be working properly so that everyone can get on with their work. A lot of what I do is about fighting fires, but we do think strategically too. Two areas we’re focusing on are:
- Developing applications for our clients and our freelancers.
- Working on developments to do with artificial intelligence (AI). This will determine the future of Apostroph. We’re committed to taking a proactive approach to AI and using it to generate added value for our clients.
One part of my job that I really enjoy is talking to the people on the front line – that means the other teams at Apostroph, such as project management, sales, marketing and finance.
What big projects are in progress or in the pipeline?
The projects fall within two main areas right now.
- First of all, we’re developing the interfaces that connect our clients’ systems directly to ours. This allows us to process translation projects efficiently with minimal margin for error. It cuts out all the back and forth with different versions of files and e-mail attachments.
- We’re also integrating language with AI. In other words, we’re using large language models (LLMs) for various purposes, including creating summaries through a kind of interactive search called chatting with your documents. We’re also applying this new technology to quality assurance.
Can you tell us a bit more about how Apostroph uses AI for quality assurance?
I’ll be happy to. So, we use AI to check the quality of our texts. We do this using systems that we’ve developed internally, such as apoSUGGEST. We use the context of individual segments to check that all the sentences are grammatically correct – this is all done on internal computers, of course.
Does Apostroph use other AI applications to improve efficiency?
Yes. For internal processes, for example. We use LLMs here too along with other AI models. Our apoSMART system uses AI to read e-mails and import them directly into our CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems. This means orders can be automatically added to our database using the information in e-mails from clients.
Would it be an option for Apostroph clients to use apoSMART too?
In theory, yes. We could build and train an AI model like this one using client data too and then connect it to the client’s ERP, for example. This cuts out so much work every day because the information is added directly to the internal system. Employees are left with more time to focus on delivering one-to-one customer service.
How much thought is given to data protection and security on behalf of our clients?
We take data protection and security very seriously:
- All our data is stored on a private cloud in Switzerland and we have a failover system in place.
- We also put a lot of effort into providing regular staff training so that everyone is aware of the most important points and knows how to keep data protected and secure. When it comes to security, our employees are our biggest asset. I really enjoy working with our teams.
Tomer, please complete these sentences:
The language that sounds the most attractive to me is…
Yiddish.
A good day starts with…
a chat by the coffee machine.
And ends with...
a good book.
I’ve got no time for...
people who are dishonest.
I’ve always got time for...
an aperitif.
