November 2007 Archives

Mary, Kaija and I are thrilled to have an extraordinary group of presenters for the Globalization Track at Gilbane Boston.

Although they will not discuss how to properly design and implement an international online dating service, our audience will learn a lot about creating, managing, and delivering a truly global customer experience. It is never too late for a trip into Boston, especially if these topics are relevant for you.

GCM-1: Quality at the Source: Creating Global Customer Experience
Tuesday November 27, 1:00-2:30pm

GCM-2: Integrating Content and Translation Processes: Managing Global Customer Experience
Tuesday November 27, 3:00-4:30pm

GCM-3: Understanding the Globalization Standards Landscape
Wednesday November 28, 2:00-3:30 pm

GCM-4: Global Content Management Track Keynote: Making Quality Everyone's Responsibility - Delivering Global Customer Experience
Thursday November 29, 8:30-10:00 am

How are you handling the inevitable increase in the volume of source and translated content in your organization?

Scaling translation, maintaining quality. It's difficult, but achieveable. The recording from our webinar with Sajan is here. Food for thought.

Globalisation and the spread of information technology allow the creation of unexpected and disruptive business models. Many executives feel the heat is on and that they must innovate faster just to stand still. "Revving up," from the Economist, October 2007.

That about says it all. Innovate faster just to stand still. One of the reasons for our research back in February was that we believe globalization innovation from a technology perspective will include the integration of content and translation management. SDL's acquisition of Tridion in May sparked a bevy of commentary in the press and analyst blogs, including our own. What would "Under One Roof" mean for the industry's approach to globalization demands and challenges? Our answer? Various approaches, but ones focused on bringing these disparate software markets much closer together. You know, the "i" market.

Since then, there's a lot more brewing -- and it all has to do with one of our favorites topics. In fact, we're hoping that recent trends enable us to expand our definitions of integration levels in a big way. Hint: more 360-degree business process management than fundamental workflow integration. Given the events to date in the translation and localization market, we're optimistic that it will. Consider the list:

• Clay Tablet Technologies, with its "seamless integration solution" is coming on strong since a major launch in 2005. Since September, the company has announced integrations with translation management solutions and service providers such as across systems and SDL, adding to a roster that includes Language Weaver, TRANSLATED, and content management provider DocZone.
• Idiom has teamed with both EMC and Astoria in recent months to promote the benefits of "an integrated, state-of-the-art content management and globalization management solution." The company announced an integration with XyEnterprise's Contenta back in April.
• Lionbridge has multiple content management providers in the "CMS Provider" section of the company's Globalization Alliances description.
• Sajan has content management integration on its agenda, making impressive progress with the release of GCMS 4.0 and more specifically, its X-Content Integration framework in March and June respectively.
• SDL has taken the Tridion acquisition a step further, describing the October content and translation management implementation at Atlas Copco as an "off-the-shelf integrated solution."

These trends are signs of what is sorely needed for organizations to strategically -- and successfully -- more toward global expansion. However, a favorite question of ours in in this brave new world of integration is: "Who’s the buyer?" In reality, it is unfortunate that in many cases, content and translation management professionals do not collaborate and even worse, may not know that technology integration is possible.

If you are a buyer that's interested in this trend, come to Gilbane Boston 2007 to find out what's next for the "i" word and more importantly, what kind of technology approach is right for you. We think the entire Globalization track is pretty impressive, but for integration fans, "GCM-2: Integrating Content and Translation Processes: Managing Global Customer Experience" stands out.