We have our members to thank as LISA becomes the nexus for the globalization industry.

LISA enters 2004 with a new Executive Advisory Board, a clear mission and a successful 2003 under its belt. We have our members to thank for their support as they have shared their ideas, problems and solutions, thus enabling LISA to become a true nexus for the globalization and language industry. The association is now serving as the bridge between customers, services and language technology developers and the standards and best practices that guide them. During 2003, LISA developed strategic alliances with IdeAlliance, RusSOFT, The Advisory Council and the Society for Technical Communication in Japan, to extend the reach of the association, and thus, of its members.

LISA’s Executive Board is composed of John Hammond (Head of Product Management and Marketing for Exonomy Limited, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank) Kurt Ramin (Commercial Director, IASCF, at the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), Alison H. Rowles (Managing Director of SMP Marketing Sarl), Hanspeter Siegrist (co-founder and former CEO of the STAR Group and now an angel investor), and Lyra Spratt-Manning (CEO of the RWS Group, LLC). Along with LISA’s elected Supervisory Committee (Strategic Director, Bill Sullivan, Program Director for Globalization at IBM and Financial Director John Egan, VP of Production Solutions at TRADOS, and Michael Anobile, LISA's Managing Director), they greatly strengthen LISA’s mandate as the authoritative voice for GILT industry issues.

The new Board will play a pivotal role in reaching out to vertical market sectors.

Going forward in 2004, the new Board will play a pivotal role in helping LISA and its members reach out to define the language and technology needs of the following vertical business sectors: government, medical/pharmaceutical, finance/banking and manufacturing. Once defined, LISA will make available the wealth of information in its archives through publishing best practice in the form of business guides, the Globalization Insider and other publications and events available through its web site.

LISA’s web site averages more than 12 million hits per year now!

Speaking of which, LISA’s web site has become the pre-eminent reference for globalization and language issues, averaging over 12 million hits annually, with more than 300,000 unique visitors per year. LISA publications have generated more than 9000 new enquiries during the past year, several of which were converted to members. The Globalization Insider is now required reading for mid- to senior-level executives involved in strategic issues related to globalization and localization. The publication will branch out this year into best practice guides and other formats to allow members to co-brand, sponsor and advertise to spread the word about their own expertise, both externally to customers and internally to staff and partners.

LISA is organizing a 2004 World Tour in nine countries.

In spite of the continued terror alerts and budget cutbacks, LISA received more than 870 registrations worldwide to its industry-leading conferences and GILT skills workshops during 2003. Addressing the global market needs for training and information on the language industry and its services, LISA is organizing a 2004 World Tour in nine countries with fourteen events already planned for the new year. It will be collaborating with IdeAlliance, the world’s leader in promoting open-standards to business and governments worldwide, The Advisory Council, in the LISA China Focus conference in Shanghai March 31-April 2, St. Petersburg (RusSOFT) and Tokyo (the Society for Technical Communication). Please click here for other venues and events.

In the area of standards, SDL International received the first TMX (Translation Memory eXchange) Level 2 Certification for its computer-aided translation (CAT) tool during 2003 from the Language Technology Resource Center (LTRC) in San Francisco, owned by The RWS Group, a leading supporter of the TMX initiative. We look forward in 2004 to more TMX-certified products, continued progress on TBX (Terminology Base eXchange) and more outreach to other standards bodies to move forward with XLIFF, Translation Web Services, etc.

LISA’s public face is its members (including the 62 new ones who joined during 2003) and their wealth of expertise. Behind-the-scenes, SMP Marketing does a truly remarkable job in supporting all of LISA’s marketing activities (Forums, Roundtables, Workshops, producing the Globalization Insider, industry marketing publications, surveys, etc.). LISA has moved to a fully outsourced and virtual model through SMP’s assistance, with team members reporting in from St. Petersburg, Russia (our administration group), to Féchy, Switzerland (the Director and the head of SMP Marketing), Bloomington, Indiana (publications and the LEIT program management), and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (web services and business alliance consulting), with our various Editors in Paris/France, Dublin/Ireland, Montreal/Canada and Antakya/Turkey.

We look forward to hearing from you with ideas for publications, events, education programs, industry surveys – in other words, anything that will help us to serve you and your customers more effectively. Please send me an email anytime at mike@lisa.org with your suggestions. All of us at LISA and SMP Marketing wish you a very healthy and prosperous new year.

Sincerely,

Mike Anobile
LISA Managing Director