Having lived in Japan for 15 years, I learned the importance of understanding other cultures and languages. During my tenure in Japan, I participated in the internationalization of many software products and saw the positive results of offering native language support in a product. With this background I joined the ranks of the Internationalization Evangelists and will now describe how this evangelism is accomplished in a large corporation.

Preaching, Education, Tools, Coordination, Awareness, Communication and Adherence are all involved in the Avaya Internationalization Evangelist role.

Preaching

It is important to get the Internationalization message out to all the employees who are involved in product design, development and support. Since it is not possible to meet with each staff individually the evangelist targets decision makers. In fact, it is always best to start at the top. With the backing of top company officials, the internationalization message is easily disseminated from the top down. Also, support of upper management makes it easier to obtain resources. Finally, if upper management thinks and acts globally it has an impact on all employees.

Education

You can't internationalize hardware and software without the proper training. To address this need, we have developed a one-day training seminar. Needless to say that in one day, you can't cover all aspects of internationalization but we do cover the basics and students are provided references for additional training. This training is not just aimed at software and hardware developers but it also educates product managers to the importance of internationalization and the associated business and legal decisions of selling outside the US.

Tools

Trying to internationalize a legacy product can be a daunting task. If certain aspects of the internationalization process can be automated, the internationalization goal is easier to accomplish. We have developed analysis scripts to evaluate and report on the internationalization readiness of our software. These scripts evaluate C, C++, JAVA and VB and create a report on all potential internationalization errors. Additionally, the internationalization evangelist should review and recommend third party internationalization and localization tools that can be used in various software environments.

Coordination

Large corporations tend to be organized into many business units. Each business unit is responsible for their respective products and the worldwide distribution of those products. After a business unit completes internationalization they must decide on a global market strategy and the languages to support. Without proper coordination you may end up with individual products supporting different languages resulting in an inconsistent language offering when selling a solution based on your products. To help with language coordination, the Internationalization Evangelist must perform language audits on all company products and then report the results to product managers. The goal is to assure a consistent language offering when a customer selects various solutions from your company.

Awareness

Internationalization and Localization continue to change. New standards, tools and methods need to be monitored and conveyed to staff. To accomplish this, we have established a distribution list of company employees involved in product development, internationalization and localization. Additionally, we maintain an internal web site with the latest tools, white papers, presentations and internationalization/localization links.

Communication

This starts with all the Internationalization engineers acting as a team with a consistent message and set of goals. Your company staff need to know who the Internationalization engineers are and encouraged to contact an Internationalization engineer with questions and concerns. The Internationalization Evangelist should maintain a QA database on an internal web site with a list of internationalization and localization questions and replies related to your global product development.

Adherence

All the above items would be of little value if staff did not adhere to internationalization guidelines. To address this need, a company should develop an internationalization checklist and guidelines. These should be used during the software development process. Additionally, new employees should receive internationalization training. In fact, a question on our checklist asks if all staff have received such training. Finally, an internationalization engineer should be assigned to the design and requirements phase to assure that internationalization requirements are properly addressed from the start of a project.

Few companies start out realizing the importance of developing internationalized products. Internationalization becomes important when a company expands outside its local market. Additionally, there may also be pressure to first produce a localized product for a specific market, typically one's native market. Thus the Internationalization Evangelist must not tire out and continue preaching and education.

In conclusion, the goal of an Internationalization Evangelist must always be to convert individuals especially company officials to the Internationalization cause or to show another way of thinking. No longer should we hear phrases such as "Why can't they speak English" or "Let's just sell to English speaking countries". Most successful companies achieve 50% or more of their overall revenue from outside the US. Providing a product that meets the language and cultural needs of non-US markets is tantamount to achieving this goal and thus the Internationalization Evangelist role is critical to the overall success of any company.