Editorial

Sue Kocher of the SAS Institute presents “Globalizing Your Content Creation and Obtaining Executive Approval” during the LISA Forum USA

An “ı without a dot” is a letter in its own right

So why would one of the largest IT service companies in the world try to implement databases and financial software in Turkish-speaking markets that ignore that letter? It would be like ignoring the letter “e” in English.

The ultimate goal of a globalization strategy? To hit the ground running on day 1.

Issues like these were the focus for globalization professionals when they gathered in Silicon Valley at the end of June for the LISA Forum USA 2008. The buzz throughout the week the discussion surrounding the strategies required to move on from managing content globally to the disciplined integration of enterprise-wide globalization strategies with enterprise-wide corporate strategies. If you’re a LISA Member, you can log into the LISA site and pick up the Forum Summary and Analysis here. (If you’re interested in more information on joining LISA, click here.)

LISA Member Cisco is in the process of aligning its localization function with its business unit requirements. Brian Shorey (Director of Engineering) and Richard Faubert (Program Manager) leveraged the LISA Forum USA to bring in more than thirty Cisco managers from across the enterprise who have responsibility for localization of software, cisco.com, documentation, the Voice Technology Group, the Networking Academy, Linksys, etc. This was the first time ever for these people to gather together to address internal issues vis-à-vis globalization, as well as to meet with many of Cisco’s preferred providers in this space.

One of the highlights of the “Cisco Day” was the panel organized by Faubert (who also serves as Head of the North America Idiom WorldServer Users Group). I had the honor of moderating the panel, which focused on the current state and future of Translation Management Systems in today’s post-Idiom world. Panelists included Adobe, AOL, AppleCare, Cisco, eBay, HP, NetApp, PayPal, Sun Microsystems and Common Sense Advisory. Read what these companies had to say in The Post-Idiom World: High-Tech Companies Sound Off.

According to IDC, LISA Member VanceInfo Technologies (formerly Worksoft Creative Software Tech) is now ranked in the top three Chinese offshore software development service providers. It has grown over the last decade from providing localization services to offering a full range of globalization services, R&D, enterprise solutions, ADM (application development and maintenance) and QA and testing. In Target India: Finetuning the Chinese Global Delivery Model, David Chen (COO) and Junbo Liu (EVP) share what is driving them in their dream to build a world-class IT services company based in China. Along the way, they share details on how their team has carefully leveraged pureplay localization into a comprehensive IT services offering. They also describe how their own customers have purposely helped them grow their company by increasing their skillbase.

Editor’s Note: For an analysis of how China’s software development outsourcing sector and globalization services companies are transforming the country into a global product development center, read The New Breed of Chinese Outsourcers: Building Global Champions. It will introduce you to the players through their own words, and through the perspective of top Western companies who are working with them, based on face-to-face interviews.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The LISA Forum Europe (December 8-12) will focus on the business impact of operating without standards in the globalization industry. For more information, click here.

It’s time to submit your web site for LISA’s 3rd International Best International Web Support Sites Awards Program!

Previous winners include ATI, Cathay Pacific Airlines, Cisco Systems, Dell, HP, Intel, McAfee, Microsoft, Sony, ViaTraining and Xilinx. All companies that enter the awards program – held in conjunction with the Association of Support Professional (ASP) – will receive a detailed evaluation of their international support site based on 25 criteria, along with comments and feedback from the expert judges. Click here for more information and to enter.

The Eighth Conference of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas (AMTA) will take place at the Hilton Prince Kuhio Hotel in Waikiki, Hawai’i from October 21-25. Need we say more?! Click here for more information.

DocTrain East (part of the Documentation and Training Conference Series) will be held October 29-November 1 in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA. For more information and to register, click here.

If you want direct access to LISA’s more than 200 Members and their globalization expertise, then join today! Click here for more information.