Editorial

The business potential from the emerging worldwide economy is nothing short of staggering.

In their article, Because Knowing Is Not Preferring (premium), Sandy McKethan and Volkmar Burke Seigmund of IBM/Tivoli Software discuss how economic and software globalization are closely interdependent. The former fuels the latter; the latter enables the former. The business potential from the emerging worldwide economy is nothing short of staggering. However, it is directly dependent on the software tools that make it possible. In turn, these must be globalized in order to be “globalization ready.” Given this reality, it is imperative that software globalization be viewed not as an option, but rather as a strategic imperative. The question then becomes, “How much revenue will I lose if I fail to globalize?”

The most popular search topic on LISA’s site is “global content management.”

A critical component in product/service globalization is the creation and management of multingual content – in whatever form and in whatever languages which may be required. By far, the most popular search topic for people visiting the LISA web site over the last six months is global content management. And since we average more than 20,000 unique visitors per month to our home page alone, this means that a lot of people are looking for answers.

Don’t reinvent the wheel – come to Boston (USA) at the end of May.

One great place to find answers, in addition to the LISA web site, will be during LISA’s upcoming Global Strategies Summit – Localization for the Next Millenium, to be held in Boston from May 23-27. Come join us–don’t risk repeating the same mistakes if you are planning or involved in a global content management implementation. For an overview of the entire program, please click here. To register, please click here. If you would like to share your expertise and experience to help others in the industry, please click here to review the speaker opportunities. To leverage the expertise of others by attending one or more LISA Skills Workshops during the Summit, please click here. To exhibit your product or service, please click here.

LISA Members Alison Toon, Translation and Localization Manager for HP GO-IT, and Andrew Draheim, Consultant at the World Bank (and previously its Business Manager for Translation and Interpretation), will be leading a very special all-day workshop during the Summit: Understanding Content Management and Global Translation Management Systems: Analyses of Technologies, Functionalities and End-user Implementation. It is especially designed for organizations with a presence in more than one country that are investigating how to integrate global translation management systems into their current information technology landscape.

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We spoke with both Draheim and Toon last week to find out why they believe that it's so important to offer this workshop at this point in time.

HP and the World Bank have implemented very different solutions...

Alison Toon: Global translation and content management technology is now past the “Early Adopter Stage,” and is considered to be mainstream by more and more users. It’s a growing market, but people need to understand the challenges and opportunities represented by its implementation. HP and the World Bank are from completely different sectors, and we have implemented very different solutions, but our challenges are exactly the same. That’s what we want to share with people, along with how we solved them, so that attendees don’t have to repeat the same mistakes.

...but their challenges are exactly the same.

Andrew Draheim: We need to recognize how far we have actually come since 1995, when the internet (as we know it today) got its start. High-speed dial-up modems were only introduced in 1997-98. And only since 2000-2001 have we had the capability at work and at home, through DSL and cable, to receive and manipulate large amounts of data. We can now easily share terminology, translation memories (TMs), reference material and other project-related files online. Of course, broadband internet access is still not readily available in most parts of the world, but we’re getting there.

There is another important factor as well. With the internet bubble bursting in 2000, some software vendors adjusted quickly and enhanced their solutions from systems for translation of web content to systems that support the translation of documents. They changed and created new solutions for processes such as workflow management, project management and vendor management in order to be successful. Therefore, we are now at the point where there are robust solutions that can be implemented.

INSIDER: How do the implementations at HP and the World Bank differ?

Toon: HP’s solution is a centralized translation / globalization architecture, based on centralized (1) TMs, (2) access to project management tools and (3) terminology, which is integrated with multiple content management systems, both third-party and homegrown. The architecture also allows submittal of one-off projects through a web interface. This permits us to share common translation assets across the entire company. At the same time, it allows HP to leave business decisions such as what to translate, when, and and how, where they should be: in the hands of the business teams.

We now process almost all types of content through this system, including software, firmware, help files, documentation, marketing materials, web files, etc. The only excepted content types are voice recordings, videos and artwork.

Draheim: The World Bank has a very decentralized approach to translation and uses a “garden variety” of solutions all over the world. Maintaining a decentralized production set-up precipitates the need to centralize certain support services (terminology, TMs, vendor management and QA), along with the technology infrastructure that supports these services. For example, the World Bank's solution provides users with pre-configured workflows to assure adherence to QA standards.

INSIDER: Why do you believe that there is really no globalization product available on the market to meet the needs of most organizations?

Don’t expect all vendors to be globalization experts—they are not.

Toon: At the present time, there is no true globalization product – no one tool – that handles both content and translation management well. Users are still required to maintain separate systems for both. There may never be "one solution" that works for everything. Therefore, we focus on finding the best solutions for content management and translation management, integrating them, and maintaining an apparently seamless architecture for the entire global content management process. For example, translation and localization are usually handled differently, and often by different people: translation via a global translation management architecture, and localization through a content management system.

Draheim: The question is:

How do these systems help who to globalize what?

I agree with Alison that many of the localization processes take place outside these solutions. For example, the knowledge about which technical standards a product needs to adhere to in different countries needs to be managed and shared elsewhere. And that is a critical aspect of localization. In addition, the management of media files finds only limited suport in today’s solutions. The current focus remains on how to get written content translated faster and at lower total cost, while sustaining high quality standards. That in itself is extremely challenging, because it is in translation and its management where the lion’s share of localization expenses occur.

INSIDER: The natural follow-up question is ... how can managers, who are saddled with this challenge, actually make any progress?

You must have chemistry with your vendor.

Toon: Here’s the one thing that I would do today if I were newly responsible for streamlining global content management in a large organization. I would obtain executive buy-in at the very top, including extremely clear guidelines at the enterprise level about what we were going to do, why we were going to do it, and how we were going to go about doing it. This way, we would not have to wait for osmosis to rationalize our processes enterprise-wide.

One of the most essential things is to have a good working relationship with all of your vendors, for all components of the architecture. You are going to be working very closely with them for quite a while! And don’t expect all vendors to be globalization experts—they are not.

Draheim: Since there is no “one size fits all” solution out there, you and your vendor will have to make it fit for you. Choose a partner who can make its solution work for your environment. Your vendor needs to understand you, your business and your challenges. Its corporate culture must be compatible with yours.

You must have chemistry with your vendor. Interview the Professional Services Team with each potential partner, in particular each one’s own Project Managers and Database Administrators. If these are the kind of people you would hire yourself, then the vendor is the right partner for you. Do not underestimate the importance of your partner’s Professional Services and your personal involvement that is necessary. Your relationship with your partner is as important as the actual technical solution. The World Bank was lucky to find both.

Seize the opportunity to improve the overall process as you automate it.

Toon: Knowing your requirements is something that we can’t emphasize enough. Learn as much as you can before you start – about the tools, about your business needs, how you expect your processes to change, the benefits expected, etc. Don’t expect simply to replicate today’s manual processes. Anything can change throughout the process, and probably should. Seize the opportunity to improve the overall process as you automate it: look at your raw materials, what you expect and need as end results, and find the best way to get from one to the other. Expect some reluctance to change, and prepare for it.

Draheim: We went from 52 production steps at the World Bank to only 15. However, everyone still went nuts because they were constantly clicking to get to the next step. User acceptance, once again, raised its head! We are now down to seven steps, which is manageable.

Editor’s Note: For more valuable analysis and insights to keep you from reinventing the global content management wheel, plan on attending the workshop to be given by Draheim and Toon on March 24 during LISA’s Global Strategies Summit in Boston.

INSIDER: Why, after 25 years or so (more than a generation in human terms, and light-years in terms of technology), do we continue to focus on the technology providing solutions, rather than applying our energies to the human issues in terms of solutions design, implementation, change management, etc.?

Technology may change quickly, but humans don’t – there is always resistance to change.

Toon: As solutions become more mainstream, people approach software implementation without realizing that they can’t always buy the entire solution off-the-shelf. It’s a natural mistake. When streamlining and optimizing processes as complex as global content creation and management, integration is always required. Specifically in the case of global content, users must build workflows just to get started and probably need to integrate two or more systems at the same time. This requires a consulting relationship with the vendor(s) to do this.

Draheim: User acceptance is key. I have a memo dated July 1960 (no, this is not a typo!) from one of my predecessors at the World Bank, which discusses resistance by translators to adopt the dictaphone. The technology can be used for some translations, but not all. Some translators can use it effectively, some can’t. Sound familiar?! You could take this memo and replace dictaphone with the name of any of technology that we’re using today, and it would still be valid.

Technology may change quickly, but humans need time. Sometimes it takes a lot of time – there is always resistance to change when it is conpanied by a potential or perceived loss. That’s why user acceptance is still our number 1 challenge with almost any software implementation.

Communicate clearly how people’s daily contributions benefit the organization overall.

Toon: There’s another issue as well. Here’s an example: at HP, some groups outsource all their content creation. This means that they do not themselves manage any of the operational steps in global content creation—it is a “black box” process. Therefore, they may (naturally) resist the implementation of a new global content creation process that requires them to perform totally different tasks—ones that they are used to outsourcing—if they do not understand (and agree with!) the reasons for the process. It may seem like an increase in workload or complexity. It may appear more expensive at an individual team budget level, even though the savings for the entire enterprise are huge.

You will always encounter some groups within any large company that are used to operating on their own and that want to continue to do so. Therefore, it’s critical to communicate clearly to the people working at more granular levels how their daily contributions benefit the organization overall. It’s also really important to leave business decisions with the people who know the product creation, sales and marketing. Provide the tools that allow them to do their jobs better, and allow the business teams to remain in control of their business processes.

It is a manager’s moral duty to define goals and set expectations.

Draheim: In the beginning, any new global translation management process will make users’ lives more complicated. There’s a steep learning curve, and they can’t see many of the benefits at the beginning. Just as we discovered through LISA’s latest Translation Memory Survey, it’s not just the amount of data that allows the productivity gains, but how experienced your staffers are with the technology.

For example, Global Translation Management Systems can save decentralized organizations a tremendous amount of cost just by avoiding duplicate translations. However, the translator does not necessarily see that. All he or she experiences is that a particular document takes longer to translate than when using old ways of doing it. Naturally, there is no feeling of contribution. That is very frustrating, hence the resistance. Managers must make the link between individual work plans and their benefits to the organization.

When users are caught up in performing their jobs day-to-day, they often can’t see the benefit company-wide that their work actually makes possible. When they go home in the evening they want to know that they have done a good job that day, and that they have contributed to the success of the organization. It is a manager’s moral duty to define goals and set expectations that enable users to do just that while contributing to the larger strategic direction.

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One of the building blocks of global content management is terminology management. The LISA Terminology SIG has just released a presentation entitled, Sloppy Terminology: The Sky Won't Fall, Will It?, available as a free download. It presents an overview, with concrete examples, of how imprecise terminology can lead to very real business problems for companies conducting international business. It is designed to be used

• when building business cases to convince managers and executives to invest in terminology management, and
• when building presentations to educate writers, designers and other content producers about why they need to be pay attention to terminology.

Two LISA Members are providing our readers with the opportunity to obtain up-to-the-minute information on multilingual content issues through participating in webcasts over the next few weeks (in chronological order):

Byte Level Research and Mercury will join LISA Member SDL International on March 23 to present Global Marketing – Streamlining Your Translation Processes. Using independent research, implementation experiences and technology insights, this web seminar will prove invaluable for anyone whose global marketing initiatives are constrained by inconsistent communications, delayed launches, hidden costs or a lack of process control. Prior to attending the webcast, check out Maximizing the Return on Your Translation Memory Investments.

As part of its weekly Knowledge Matters series, LISA Member Ektron is offering Ektron DMS400: Benefits of Ektron’s New Integrated Document Management Solution on March 24 and 31. Prior to attending the webcast, check out Eliminating Barriers to Web Localization.

Editor’s Note: LISA is committed to “spreading the word” about educational opportunities available through our Members, so please keep us up-to-date on your current webcast schedules by forwarding them to editor@lisa.org.

If you’re preparing to enter a new market, check out my article, Is Your Company Ready to Enter the U.S. Market? (Part 2) (premium). Performing an expansion audit of your existing organization will go a long way towards ensuring success outside of whatever you may call your home market. Learn how to do one by reading this series (click here for part 1).

In our Focus on Standards column this month, we are very pleased to have Dr. Alan Melby of Brigham Young University update us on the progress that has been made in defining translation quality metrics. He explains the relationship between the work being done by ASTM, CEN and OSCAR, along with the metrics that are already available through the LISA QA Model and SAE J2450. He also provides avenues for interested readers to participate in the standards building process.

Rory Cowan comments on the purchase of P.H. Brinks by Merrill Corporation in a special Money Talks column by John Freivalds (premium).

That’s it for this month! As always, please contact us anytime at editor@lisa.org with your ideas and comments regarding content.