Orange breaks down language barriers thanks to 5G

In collaboration with the FPS Economy.

In the Belgian care sector, we have the good fortune of being able to hire people from very diverse backgrounds. Home care company i-mens employs around 600 employees who are not yet fluent in Dutch or French. This is an important factor in a home care context, and it’s why i-mens called on Orange Belgium. With the support of the Federal Public Service Economy, they developed a solution that makes it possible to prioritise traffic from a phone’s translation app to the SaaS platform.

Priority for translations

Translation software programs have evolved dramatically in recent years. For urgent remote communication, i-mens uses the translation app Trulinco, allowing the real-time translation of conversations and video calls. Simultaneous translation during video calls demands a lot from the network and occasionally causes problems. However, i-mens employees need access to this software at all times. And that is where Orange’s fast 5G network comes in. The network is divided into a number of segments through network slicing. Critical calls can be assigned a dedicated slice that is always prioritsed, even when the network is experiencing high traffic. This also involves deploying the user equipment route selection policy (USRP) feature. Thanks tu USRP, the device automatically chooses the right network path and the right slice, so crucial calls are prioritised. Employees always have sufficient bandwidth to communicate efficiently via the software.

Watch the video to see the app in action.

Safety and well-being at work

The new app signals a major step forward for the home care service of i-mens. Non-native home carers can now confer faster and more efficiently on the go with i-mens's planners, supervisors and patients. This also enhances the service and the social contact between patients and carers.

The impact on the well-being of the staff is also considerable. They often lack confidence in their new language, so the software helps them express their needs and emotions in a more natural and accurate way.

Diversity in the war for talent

And finally, the translation app is a major asset for i-mens in the war for talent, because home carer is recognised shortage occupation. By guaranteeing non-native Dutch and French speakers that they can also communicate in their mother tongue, i-mens attracts a host of new talent and vacancies are filled much faster. So i-mens and Orange, with the support of the FPS Economy, are contributing to an inclusive care sector where people can easily communicate with each other.