Just a quick observation about the March 11 edition of Gilbane's email news round-up. Five of the ten "news-of-note" summaries were developments in the globalization space that we cover in this blog.

• Across Systems formally establishes presence in North America.


• Translations.com merges with Alchemy.


• Clay Tablet partners with Oracle.


• Sajan releases new search-and-match technology for multilingual content.


• MultiCorpora offers packaged solutions for corporate translation applications.

More evidence that there's lots shaking in the world of people, process, and technology for multilingual business communications.

Posted by Mary Laplante at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
and tagged: globalization, laplante, localization
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Hewlett-Packard has long been a poster child for the application of people, process, and technology to content globalization solutions. The Gilbane case study on HP documented the company's commitment to satisfying customers in their local langauges. The mandate for multilingual content was made clear by the then-VP of content and product data management: 90% of HP's customers buy based on content, not on touching the product.

The importance of investment in content globalization solutions was driven home once again with HP's announcement of quarterly earnings on Feb 19. Overall, the company posted a 38% increase in earnings and a 13% rise in revenue for its fiscal first quarter. Of note to our readers:

In its first quarter, H-P's results were fueled by strong sales in its personal-computer division and robust sales overseas, particularly in markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. International markets accounted for 69% of H-P's revenue for the quarter.

Put these results together with customer buying patterns.

• 69% of the company's revenues were in markets outside the US.


• 90% of customers buy based content, not on touching the product.

Can there be any more compelling reason to develop a multilingual content strategy? And invest in people, process, and technology to execute against it?

Posted by Mary Laplante at 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
and tagged: case study, content management, globalization, laplante, translation
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

The topic of the globalization track keynote was billed as "delivering the global customer experience." Earlier in the conference (in the Wednesday keynote, I believe), a speaker eloquently offered an alternative for the now-almost-meaningless term "customer experience." Customer experience can be good, bad, or indifferent, as noted elsewhere in our blogs. This speaker distilled the business requirement as "enabling valuable interactions." This phrase resonated with us, and we used it to introduce the globalization keynote session. How are companies, today, enabling valuable interactions with customers in any language, through any channel?

We set the panel up to answer this question from the various perspectives that should be represented at the table in the conference room when planning global content strategies: the business people responsible for delivering content to customers, the translation professionals who make sure that content in the customer's language is of the highest possible quality, the content management professionals who facilitate the content lifecycle, and the analysts and consultants who can give stakeholders access to industry knowledge and best practices.

The goal of the session was to give our audience guidance on framing the globalization discussion within their organizations. What matters to which constituents? What's the lens through which they look at the problem and the opportunity? Participants were Brian Shorey, director of engineering at Cisco Systems; Donna Parrish, publisher of Multilingual; Dean Berg, currently with Sajan, formerly with Stellent, now Oracle; and my colleague Leonor Ciarlone.

The panel offered insights too numerous to report, but the key topics included small successes with "unfunded but mandated programs," the need for translation professionals to begin considering themselves project managers, and the growing requirement for collaboration across the global content lifecycle, which Leonor identified as a potential hot topic at next year's Gilbane Boston conference. Personally, the keynote brought together the key themes that defined content globalization for me in 2007, especially the changing nature of the business case for investment in people, process and technologies that support global content -- and therefore enable valuable customer interactions.

The other personal observation worth sharing, I think, is that content globalization was, for the first time, an integral part of the industry dialog that takes place at Gilbane conferences. All of the sessions in the track were well attended. Multi-lingual business communication was discussed throughout the entire conference program, not just in the globalization track. Eyes no longer glazed over at the mention of translation process management. Improvements in the quality of machine translation were even mentioned in the keynote on the future of content management.

What's fueling the content globalization discussions within your organizations? How can we bring your hot topics to the forefront at Gilbane San Franciso 2008? Email us with ideas for sessions in the globalization track. If you're game to tell your own story, consider submitting a speaker proposal. The deadline for submission is January 15.

Posted by Mary Laplante at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
and tagged: content management, customer experience, gilbane boston 2007, globalization, laplante
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Attention, buyers and users of content and globalization management solutions! Wondering about the right integration approach for your company?

The globalization track at Gilbane Boston 2007 includes a session entitled "Integrating Content and Translation Processes: Managing Global Customer Experience." The panel brings together two content management vendors, two providers of translation technology and services, and one middleware company that connects multiple CM and GM systems. Our goal is to explore the different options that you have when integrating the two technologies to create solutions supporting the global content life cycle.

In the session description, we promise to use "real world scenarios" to drive the panel. We're issuing an invitation to our readers to submit suggestions for the scenarios that we'll use for discussion. Do you have CM and GM practices that need to be streamlined? Are you planning to acquire and deploy CM/GM in the future, but not sure how to best fit the technologies together? Need fresh ideas for outmoded processes? Then think about proposing a scenario for the integration session at Gilbane Boston.

We'll arrange a call with you to discuss your scenario and its context. If your scenario is chosen for use in the session, you'll help us write up a description that we'll share with the panel participants prior to the conference. Whether we choose your scenario or not, you'll have the benefit of a little free advice from the Gilbane Group in the course of discussing your situation, constraints, requirements, etc. Please note that you need not register for Gilbane Boston in order to submit a scenario for possible use in the session. But if you do plan on attending the conference, you'll have the option of presenting your own scenario to the panel.

Send scenarios or questions about the session to me or to my colleague Leonor. We'd welcome the chance to speak with you about this unique opportunity.

Posted by Mary Laplante at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
and tagged: conferences, content management, globalization, integration, laplante, translation
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Crimson Life Sciences, a division of TransPerfect, Inc., recently announced that it has been certified by Underwriters Laboratories as compliant with ISO 14971, the "only international standard for risk management for medical devices." According to UL, "ISO 14971 has become an integral element for satisfying regulatory requirements in most major markets." Crimson's certification relates to risk management processes for translating medical device labeling and documentation.

The announcement caught our attention because medical device manufacturing is one of the verticals on the Gilbane globalization practice radar. It's a huge market in which significant opportunity is spread across the globe. Just one proof point: according to RIC International, "25% of medical devices produced in the US are exported, with diagnostics comprising the largest export sector." As such, this vertical is generating a significant amount of the demand for solutions that integrate content management and translation process management in a global content life cycle. Which is why it's of particular interest to us in Gilbane's globalization practice.

Medical device manufacturers face some of the most rigorous challenges associated with content translation. They must create, translate and publish product support content that describes medical devices, documents proper procedures, complies with global regulations, and enables best practices. The risks associated with poorly translated content are particularly onerous for these companies. Crimson Life Sciences recognized this and went the extra mile have its risk management methodologies for translation validated by an international certification authority.

An important sub-theme here is quality of translated content and translation processes. Today, quality measurement is a mix of science and art (science in the case of industries with established standards such as SAE J2450 in automotive). Crimson's UL certification is another step towards taking some the mystery out of quality verification.

The issues of multi-lingual content, translation processes, quality, and brand management come together in a case study on GE Healthcare that Gilbane will publish this fall. We're also working on a white paper that identifies opportunities to insert quality improvements into the global content life cycle. For insight into content-related business issues in medical device manufacturing in the meantime, see our case study on Siemens Medical, and check out the archived webinar we did earlier this summer with Medtronic. We'll also be covering quality and the global customer experience as the theme of the globalization sessions and keynote at Gilbane Boston 2007.

Posted by Mary Laplante at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
and tagged: customer experience, globalization, laplante, standards, translation, translation quality
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

We conducted our occasional poll on most pressing business drivers for providing localized content to customers during our July 11 webinar with Idiom and EMC. (See below for results.) A post-webinar email exchange about the results stimulated a discussion on the business impact of established versus emerging markets (geographic regions in which economies are still developing). How are global companies approaching growth strategies? We set out to look for indicators.

Two of the 12 Megatrends in B2B Marketing indentified by the Economist Intelligence Unit in a recent survey underscore the importance of emerging markets in reaching global executives. From the report:

"The geographic demographics of today will bear little resemblance to those of the next ten years. . . by 2017 China will become the world's largest economy when growth is measured on purchasing power parity. . . for 2006, [study] sponsoring organizations are targeting Asia and central/eastern Europe more than the Americas and western Europe."

"...there is a growing belief that the high-flyers of the next decade will arise from the ranks of today's domestic companies (domcoms) in emerging markets."

We also looked at the performance of companies reporting quarterly earnings this week. On an interactive Earnings Cheat Sheet available on wsj.com, analysts say that IBM's expansion in Asia is a positive factor:

"In the first quarter, IBM's Asia-Pacific revenue rose 10% to $4.5 billion, on growing demand in China and India and a turnaround in Japan. Management said in May that it plans to increase staffing in China by at least 10% in each of the next few years."

And in commentary on Merrill Lynch's global reach:

"Merrill's non-U.S. revenue has been setting the pace and now accounts for more than half of its GMI total. In April, Merrill said it's taking a $2.9 billion stake in Resona Holdings, the largest foreign investment ever in a Japanese bank."

One question pertinent to Gilbane readers is the timing of real investment in content technologies that will enable businesses to realize potential in these markets. For what should enterprises plan, and when?

July 11 webinar attendees see other factors as more pressing drivers today. Time-to-market for simultaneous product shipments is the most important, global and product brand management least important.

These results are not surprising considering that the topic of the webinar was technical documentation for global markets. Participants were naturally inclined to be more concerned about shipping the documentation with the product and less concerned about brand management.

Posted by Mary Laplante at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
and tagged: globalization, laplante, translation, webinar
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Your day in the sun may finally be dawning.

While preparing for an upcoming webinar on technical publications in global markets, we reviewed the content/globalizaton management topics that we've covered recently in white papers, case studies, and other webinars. An emerging--and insistent--theme is the role that product support content plays in the nearly universal drive for positive customer experience.

This signals an important shift in the value proposition for investment in content technologies for
technical documentation. One that should warm the hearts of techpubs pros everywhere.

Historically, companies have spent money on technical publishing technology in order to realize operational benefits--more automation, content reuse, lower headcount, and so on. The value proposition was inward-facing. Now, however, value is increasingly derived from outside the operations of the organization. High-quality technical content impacts customer satisfaction, drives new revenue in new markets, enhances product usability, and reinforces brand. The value prop is now outward-facing. And these dimensions of ROI can pour a whole lotta sunshine in the corner offices of worldwide organizations.

In addition to the July 11 webinar with Idiom and EMC, check out these Gilbane artifacts for evidence of the value shift in technical publishing.

From the Autodesk case study:

Regarded as a strategic and essential company asset, product documentation is a significant component of the company’s customer-centric information supply chain. With over 60 percent of revenue derived from outside the United States, Autodesk’s vision for content globalization is paramount to continued market leadership.

See also the Sun Microsystems case study and recorded webinars with Medtronic and Astoria.

Posted by Mary Laplante at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
and tagged: case study, customer experience, globalization, laplante, technical publishing, webinar
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Leonor summed up Gilbane's perspective on the real challenge in content globalization in her entry of January 19:

We've found that the problem for organizations is less about the act of translation itself, and more about aligning the business processes that support it.

The hard part of globalization isn't translating one phrase to another. The core problem is the inefficiencies associated with how we do the translating, with how we move words from creation to consumption by their target audience.

Our latest Content Technology Works case study describes how Autodesk, a major software company with worldwide sales of $1.6 billion US, recognized that better processes and higher levels of automation are the critical elements of a scalable globalization strategy. More words in translation memory were important outcomes of its initiatives, but the real benefit to Autodesk is greater competitive advantage as a worldwide software company.

Minette Norman, Senior Software Systems Manager, Worldwide Localization, at Autodesk shares insights in a webinar on April 25, 1:00 pm ET. Registration is now open.

Posted by Mary Laplante at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: case study, globalization, laplante, translation, webinar
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Carnegie Mellon University, one of the top-ranked institutions producing technology talent, recently announced that it will offer a new Masters of Science program in software management at its Carnegie Mellon West campus in Mountain View, CA. The driving force is our increasingly global economy.

The school recognizes that going forward, developing good, useful software won't be sufficient for managers who want to excel. The curriculum combines software engineering, one of CMU's sweet spots, with business and organizational coursework. The goal is to prepare graduates for the reality of the software business in the 21st century. James Morris, dean of Carnegie Mellon West, says that the program's "... cross-training gives our students the perspective and contextual understanding they need to see and seize opportunities in the global market.”

The deadline for applications is June 1. See the program description in the Carnegie Mellon West brochure for details.

Posted by Mary Laplante at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: globalization, software
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine