What’s important and what is not for terminologists

One topic is haunting me for quite a while now. There’s a lot of talk about quality assurance and certification. Is there really a need for it for terminology managers and translators?

Whenever I ask people I obviously get mixed responses. Most agree and find all these issues very important. But usually these are the ones who are involved in standards and other working groups so I am not sure if they are really representative for all the terminologists out there. 

There are also those who say of themselves they have no clue about all this and don’t care.  That there are other issues they find much more important. Or that, while they personally find it important, do not believe it will be successful in their country or region.

What do you find most important when you have to argue or prove to your managers or clients that what you are doing is important, state-of-the-art and worth every cent they spend on you?

I belong to the first group. I believe that certification schemas and the emphasizing of well-handled terminology management as an asset for quality assurance will ultimately strengthen our position.

Yes, it costs without guaranteeing reward but isn’t that so for all innovations?

What’s your opinion about this? Are you an innovator or rather wait until others have taken the lead?

A.