LISA Surveys

Earlier this year, LISA surveyed users, language service providers and content management vendors to gauge the impact of the business/people/process/and technology drivers on how companies are creating and managing their global content. The results provide a snapshot of where users are in terms of implementing best practices in content and terminology management and are available in Creating Global Content.

This survey, which attracted some of the world’s most globally aware organizations, shows that there is still considerable room for improvement in globalization processes and their integration with general content management processes. SDL International supported LISA in running the survey, so we asked Christie Fidura, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Terminology, to comment on the results.

Insider: Why did SDL partner with LISA to run this survey?

Christie Fidura: With LISA’s history of driving standards for the language industry, its position as a thought leader and the expertise of its Member community in managing content globally, it made perfect sense for us, as the leader in GIM (Global Information Management), to pair up together to take the pulse of the industry on the topic of Creating Global Content.

The globalization process is still “unowned” in most corporations.

Insider: What can Global Brand Managers learn from this data?

Fidura: The survey highlights the corporate lack of understanding of technology and how it applies to language as a business driver. About 50% of the respondents either don’t pay any attention or understand this area. And yet we know that language and culture are major business drivers to achieving global success over the long-term.

This lack of understanding has a direct impact on hindering the growth of global business since it prevents executives from applying technology where it could really help their businesses grow.

Interested in this publication? You can download Creating Global Content for free as a LISA Sponsor or Corporate Member, or purchase it as a non-Member, by clicking here. If you are an Upper-Level Manager or Executive who is responsible for choosing or implementing a globalization strategy that includes terminology management tools or a content management system, use the data in this survey to find out what your competitors are doing in this area. If you are a Terminology or Content Management Practitioner who must automate the workflow for your organization, use this data to strike the right balance between providing a satisfying customer experience in local languages/cultures vs. maintaining and enhancing your brand.

The fact that roughly half the survey respondents didn’t know their total spend on globalization-related activities also proves that this whole business process is “unowned” (”disowned” may be an even better description in some cases!). There is no true ownership of the globalization process at the upper levels of corporations. Without this ownership, there can be no streamlining or efficiency, or consistency of message and branding.

And yet all companies want to lower their spend, and localization almost always appears from the outside to be very expensive. Yet these same companies don’t understand what is required in terms of commitment, resources and money. Just looking at the bottom line – if they look at that at all – they still can’t tell where the money is going, since the process isn’t owned.

Insider: Have you seen any improvement in this area over the last year?

Actually, we have. Companies are starting to think about a long-term solution, instead of only the short-term challenge of “having something translated.” Organizations are finally starting to treat content as IP (intellectual property), rather than only as information. That’s why CMS (content management systems) are being viewed as important tools for the entire organization, not just for Marketing or Documentation.

This is in part because Marketing is beginning to understand the importance and value of IP. Since content is IP, and since it is spread throughout an organization, Marketing can’t control all of it. A CMS serves as a tool to help gain some control over this IP that they normally couldn’t exercise.

To put things in perspective from the point of view of Marketing … in its annual ranking of brands, Coca-Cola came in at number 1 in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands by Value 2006 last year, with the value of its brand estimated at USD 66 million. And a brand is all IP. Once a company looks at its brand this way, it has to be more responsible in the process that it uses to maintain it.

It turns out that the key driver for localization is NOT cost savings.

Insider: Did any of the results from the survey come as a surprise to you?

Yes! It is amazing to me that the survey indicates that cost savings is not the respondents’ key driver for localization. Rather, the key driver is to increase customer loyalty and brand consistency. Therefore, people may not know what their total globalization budget is, since it’s spread across the organization (Yes, we spend a lot, and we’re not happy about it), but that’s not as important as what their customers are telling them when they indicate that the company’s information isn’t appropriate.

Check out these resources from LISA and SDL. SDL has a site dedicated to terminology at http://www.sdl.com/en/products/terminology_management.asp. If you are interested in participating in the creation of terminology standards, join LISA’s Terminology Special Interest Group (SIG) at http://www.lisa.org/sigs/terminology/. One of the most comprehensive resources available on global information management is LISA’s Best Practice Guide: Managing Global Content, 2nd edition. The LISA Archives are full of articles and Member presentations on the topic of “creating global content.” Here are just a few. Globalization Insider Archives Speaking Globally with the Right Message: Harder than it Sounds! Christie Fidura, SDL International Best Practice: Why Manage Terminology? Ten Quick Answers Uwe Muegge, Medtronic Terminology as a Key Driver in Business Communications Kara Warburton, IBM Fundamental Concepts of Reuse Ann Rockley, The Rockley Group The Globalization Initiative at PerkinElmer Kevin Lorenc, PerkinElmer HP on Global Digital Content Management: Today and the Future Todd Karnig, HP LISA Forum Archives (You must log in first as a LISA Member to be able to download the following presentations.) Authoring for Global Audiences: Closing the Gap Between Authoring and Localization Hans Fenstermacher, Translation.com Terminology’s Role in Developing China’s Globalization Initiatives Christian Galinski, Infoterm Feng Rong Dang, IBM Sophie Hurst, SDL International Globalization Assessment of Business Processes in a Regulated Environment Claude Lamoureux, PerkinElmer Your Product is Going Global: Is Your Documentation Ready? Björn Peltonen, Citec Information Managing Terminology for Content Management and Localization Kara Warburton, IBM Writing for Localization: Common Mistakes and Best Practices Melanie Flanders, KnowledgeMasters Global Authoring: Technology, Process and Best Practice Dr. Andrew Bredenkamp, acrolinx Panel Discussion: What Problems are Today’s Global Content Management Systems Solving? What are the Remaining Challenges? Technical Publications with DITA - Optimizing Localization Multilingual Content Reuse Moderated by Ann Rockley, The Rockley Group

To put it another way … the top driver for managing global content is not to reduce costs in the production of content, but to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time.

Another interesting finding is that respondents indicate that technological change, followed closely by cost constraints and executive initiative is what is driving change within their organizations. This somewhat contradicts general trends in the content management industry where, according to Scott Abel of CMPros, Marketing tends to drive implementation of content management systems due to their prominence and influence within corporate culture.

Insider: What will SDL take away from this survey?

That we continue to have a responsibility to help educate global corporations regarding their long-term strategies for managing global information – specifically vis-à-vis the quality and consistency of their information as an IP asset.

Editor’s Note: We thank SDL International for their sponsorship and support of this publication.

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Christie Fidura is the Senior Product Marketing Manager for Terminology at SDL International. With 15 years experience in global and pan-European software development, she brings a deep understanding of technology and marketing to SDL. Christie has successfully launched new software products to a worldwide audience, garnering several awards throughout her career. She can be reached at cfidura@sdl.com