Guest post by Kyrylo Proskurnya, CEO of BALTUM Bureau and founder of TranslationCert.com

The translation industry is changing. Enterprise clients, legal firms, and healthcare organizations are no longer just asking about your experience — they want proof. ISO 17100:2015 certification has become the standard benchmark for professional translation services, and LSPs that lack it are increasingly losing tenders to certified competitors.

What is ISO 17100?

ISO 17100:2015 defines the requirements for core processes, resources, and interactions necessary to deliver a quality translation service. It covers translator and reviser qualifications, workflow management, revision processes, and quality assurance — everything that separates a professional translation service from an amateur one.

Why it matters now

Three trends are driving demand in 2026:

Procurement requirements. Large organizations — banks, pharmaceutical companies, legal firms — are adding ISO 17100 to their vendor qualification criteria. If you are not certified, you simply don’t make it to the shortlist.

AI and MT accountability. As machine translation post-editing becomes mainstream, clients want assurance that human oversight meets a defined standard. ISO 18587 (MT post-editing) pairs naturally with ISO 17100 to provide that assurance.

Differentiation in a crowded market. With the number of LSPs growing globally, certification is one of the clearest ways to stand out. It signals commitment to quality in a way that testimonials and portfolios cannot.

The certification process — what it actually looks like

Traditional ISO certification involved months of consultants, paperwork, and costly on-site audits. TranslationCert.com was built to change that.

Here is how it works:

1. Free assessment. Complete a structured online questionnaire about your company, team, and processes. No documents needed upfront.

2. Documentation package. Receive a complete, ready-made documentation package tailored to your company — Quality Manual, Translation Workflow Procedure, Linguist Competence Register, and more.

3. Online audit. A certified auditor reviews your documentation and conducts a remote audit via video call.

4. Certificate. Receive your ISO 17100 certificate, valid for three years, with annual surveillance audits.

The entire process takes 2 to 4 weeks for most LSPs.

Which standards should you consider?

For most translation companies, we recommend starting with:

– ISO 17100:2015 — the core translation services standard

– ISO 9001:2015 — the universal quality management standard, required by many procurement processes

– ISO 27001:2022 — information security, increasingly required when handling confidential client documents (legal, medical, financial)

All three can be pursued simultaneously through an integrated certification programme, saving time and cost.

What the industry is saying

At the GALA 2025 conference, certification came up repeatedly as a differentiator in enterprise sales conversations. Language service providers who could present an ISO certificate reported shorter sales cycles and higher close rates with large buyers.

Getting started

If you have been considering certification but were put off by cost or complexity, 2026 is the year to act. The process is now fully online, documentation is provided, and the timeline is weeks, not months.

Visit translationcert.com to start your free assessment. No commitment required.

TranslationCert.com is a service of BALTUM Certification Body — an international certification body with over 10 years of experience, operating in 100+ countries.

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Written by Kyrylo Proskurnya, CEO of BALTUM Bureau and founder of TranslationCert.com