Overcoming Language Afterthought Syndrome Mary Laplante Senior Analyst, Gilbane Group © 2009 Gilbane Group, Inc. All rights reserved

Overcoming Language

Afterthought Syndrome

Mary LaplanteSenior Analyst, Gilbane Group

© 2009 Gilbane Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://gilbane.com

http://gilbane.com

HP Multilingual Content Impact

Fiscal 2008 net $118.4 B

68% of revenue outside of US = $80.5 B

90% of sales based on content, not on touching product

$74.45 B

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Cisco Multilingual Content Impact

Fiscal 2008 $39.5 B

47% of sales outside of US = $18.5 B

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“The road to globalization, it seems, is paved in words.”“The road to globalization, it seems, is paved in words.”

- Damien Joseph, Business Week, Oct 2 2009, “White HouseChallenges Translation Industry to Innovate”

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Road Hazards

• Time to market delays• Inefficiencies due to redundant

translations• Content that should be reusable

but isn’t• High customer support costs due to mediocre quality of

translated product content• Time and money to retrofit translated content to meet

regulatory requirements• Maxed out language capability, constrained by non-

scalable globalization infrastructures• Inconsistent and out-of-synch multichannel

communications• Mysterious localization and translation costs

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• Time to market delays• Inefficiencies due to redundant translations• Content that should be reusable but isn’t• High customer support costs due to mediocre quality of translated product

content• Time and money to retrofit translated content to meet regulatory

requirements• Maxed out language capability, constrained by non-scalable globalization

infrastructures• Inconsistent and out-of-synch multichannel communications• Mysterious localization and translation costs

Language afterthought syndrome

A pattern of treating language requirements as

secondary considerations within content strategies

and solutions.




and solutions.

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This Presentation

• Implications of language afterthought syndrome• Why it’s troublesome

• A strategic view of language issues • Overcoming the syndrome

• Global content value chains

• Models for transformation• Roadmaps

http://gilbane.com

Multilingual Product Content

• Market forces reshaping global content practices

• Obstacles and challenges• The global content value chain

(GCVC) for product content• State of adoption• Best practices• CGVC Maturity Model• Company profiles

Transforming Traditional PracticesInto Global Content Value Chains

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Study Findings Include . . .

“Progress towards overcoming language afterthought

syndrome. We see slow but steady adoption of content

globalization strategies, practices and infrastructures

that position language requirements as integral to

end-to-end solutions rather than as ancillary post-processes.”

Gilbane Group, Multilingual Product Content:Transforming Traditional Practices Into Global Content Value Chains

http://gilbane.com

• Time to market delays• Inefficiencies due to redundant translations• Content that should be reusable but isn’t• High customer support costs due to mediocre quality of translated product

content• Time and money to retrofit translated content to meet regulatory

requirements• Maxed out language capability, constrained by non-scalable globalization

infrastructures• Inconsistent and out-of-synch multichannel communications• Mysterious localization and translation costs




and solutions.




and solutions.

http://gilbane.com

Language Issues

• More than localization and translation

• Associated with all processes in the chain

between creation and consumption

• Creating

• Managing

• Publishing

• Consuming

• Optimizing

• Enriching

Market Context:Why the Syndrome is Troublesome

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2009 Trends Forcing Change

Shifting world economiesContracting and expanding regions

Managing tension between innovation and fiscal responsibility

All functions, all levels

Evolving basis of competitive advantageNot just products and services but also

• Customer Experience• Brand

• Process know-how

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Megatrends Are ReshapingContent Practices

2009

Shifting Global Economies

Tension Between Innovation

and Fiscal Responsibility

Evolving Basis of Competitive

Advantage

• Customer experience

• Brand

• Process know-how

Content agility

Content measurability

Content utility

Content consistency

Content agnosticism

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Contemporary Content Expectations

• Traditional practices no longer align with new basis for competitive advantage

• Built on years of experience developing content to compete on the basis of product

• Demand for solutions that meet contemporary content expectations

Companies can no longer afford the luxury of language afterthought syndrome

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Mary’s Favorite Datapoint

Gilbane Group, Multilingual Product Communications, 2009

ROI from Investments in Globalizing Product Content

Market Context

Global ContentValue Chain

ConceptContentInstances

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Multilingual Communications as a Business Imperative

• Market forces driving change

• Obstacles and challenges

• Emergence of the Global Content Value Chain

• State of adoption• Best (and worst)

practices• Company profiles

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createlocalize/translate

enrich

manage publish consume

optimize

Global Content Value Chain

The Global Content Value Chain is a strategy for movingmultilingual content from creation through consumption. The strategy is supported by practices in disciplines such

as content management and translation management.The enabling infrastructure for the strategy comprises

people, process, and technology.

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Value Attributes ofMultilingual Content

Content characteristics that can be enhanced

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Value Chain for Product Content

PeopleTech writers, Engineers, SMEs, LinguistsCustomer support, Professional services

ProcessMulti-channel publishing

Granular content management

TechnologyXML Authoring/DITAMachine translationKnowledge bases


enrich


optimize

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Value Chain for Brand Content

PeopleMarketing, brand, and product managersWeb content managers and developers

ProcessTemplate-driven design

Multivariant testingDigital media managementSearch engine optimization

TechnologyWeb analytics and optimization


enrich


optimize

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create localize/translate

enrich


optimize

Language Issues, First Generation

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enrich


optimize

Language Issues, Next Generation

L

LL L

Language issues bubble up across the content chain

Market Context


Overcoming the Syndrome

Insights into the Cures

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Gilbane Survey Population

• Mid- and senior-level managers (“operational champions”)

• Operations in more than 150 countries

• Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America

• Automotive, consumer goods, high tech, industrial equipment, life sciences and medical devices

• 50% produce multilingual content in over 20 languages

• Well-established deployments

• 58% “web first, print second”

9% 14%

32%45%

TechnicalDocumentation

Customer Support

Localization/Translation

Training/Education

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Evidence in the Research

• Authoring assistance at content creation to promote localization-ready content.

• Centralized terminology management that defines repeatable words and phrases for monolingual and multilingual authoring.

• Reuse processes that extend the definition of multichannel to multi-purpose, enabling consistency across product, web, operational, and enterprise content.

• Higher levels of collaboration among cross-departmental and regional content stakeholders to mitigate the risk of brand dilution or worse, brand deterioration.

• Integrated and automated processes that connect content management with translation management solutions, authoring environments, and multichannel publishing.

• Content analytics and reporting for iterative web site improvement.

• Inclusion of translated user-generated content (UGC) in emerging corporate and consumer social computing environments.

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2009 Business Objectives at Companies Delivering Product Content

Improved global/product

brand management

9%

Time to market/simship

9%

Revenues for established

geographies12%

New product lines for specific

market17%

Revenues for emerging

geographies20%

Global customer satisfaction

33%


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Supporting Business Objectives

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Single-sourcing

Self-help customer support

Content quality/accuracy

Simship

Compliance improvements

Alignment product development

Increased multilingual volume

Improved collaboration

Very Important Critical


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Create/Localize Integration

Approaches in place for standardizing content for localization/translation

7%

7% 13% 15%

19%

19%20%

Terminology management

Translation memorymanagement

Governance program w ithformal policies

Informal collaboration andtranslator feedback

Strict DITA/XML/SGML topics

Hybrid machine/humantranslation process

Quality-controlled or translation-guided authoring

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Terminology Management

• 82% of respondents have a terminology management system in place, whether a formal database or Excel-driven glossaries

• Over 80% consider terminology management key to customer experience, brand management, and quality and consistency

18%

14%

14%

9%

45%

Centralized - internal

Distributed - internal, perdepartment/division

Centralized - external, centralservice provider

Distributed - internal + external(central service provider)

Mixture - internal + external(multiple service providers)

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Manage/Localize Integration

70% of respondents find the integration between content management and other applications such as translation management to be difficult at best

Level 30%

Level 220%

Level 140%

No integration40%

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Multilingual/Channel Publishing

“Based on qualitative evidence from the research and on Gilbane’s experience in the market, we see that companies are still struggling with desktop publishing in order to meet requirements for page-formatted product content. The multilingual multiplier is again the culprit. It increases the cost of producing formatted output significantly, remaining a major challenge for many organizations.”


The Evolving Service Provider

20%

63%

66%

66%

66%

83%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Regulatory compliance consulting

Industry-specific consulting

Culture/region-specific consulting

Change management consulting

Technology integration services

Global authoring consulting

Services Perceived as High-Value


Market Context


Overcoming the Syndrome

Roadmap: GCVC Maturity Model

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Why a GCVC Maturity Model?

• “. . . how to begin a rigorous, organized plan for bringing the GCVC to life within your organization, or expanding its reach if you already have a GCVC in place.”

• Proven framework derived from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (1986)

• Five levels of sequential development, defining organizational state in terms of competencies, capabilities, and best practices

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Initial/Ad-hoc Defined Managed OptimizedRepeatable

Aware

Operational

Collaborative

Aligned

Accepted

Reactive headquarters and regional approach to content globalization requirements.

Repeatable content globalization processes are developed according to project and content application.

Functional content globalization processes are in place, but siloed within departments and regions with little to no collaboration.

Streamlined content globalization processes in place based on performance metrics and shared language assets between headquarters and regional levels.

Process balance achieved between central and regional operations with enterprise-wide governance, measurement, and continuous improvement based on annual corporate globalization strategies.

Labels from the Capability Maturity Model®, Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University

GCVC Maturity Model

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Initial/Ad-hoc Defined Managed OptimizedRepeatable

Aware

Operational

Collaborative

Aligned

Accepted

Reactive headquarters and regional approach to content globalization requirements.

Repeatable content globalization processes are developed according to project and content application.

Functional content globalization processes are in place, but siloed within departments and regions with little to no collaboration.

Streamlined content globalization processes in place based on performance metrics and shared language assets between headquarters and regional levels.

Process balance achieved between central and regional operations with enterprise-wide governance, measurement, and continuous improvement based on annual corporate globalization strategies.

Labels from the Capability Maturity Model®, Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University

GCVC Maturity Model

http://gilbane.com

Aware

Operational

Collaborative

Aligned

Accepted

Defining the Stages

Capabilities

Competencies

Best Practices

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Using the Maturity Model

• A mechanism for • evaluating your company’s current situation• deciding where you need to go to align with top-

line business objectives• understanding which factors are most critical to

moving to that new state• driving conversations with stakeholders

• People and strategy as well as process improvements

• Why manage?• Top-line business benefits that the organization is

realizing as a result of managing the maturity of its GCVC

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Gilbane Group

Analyst and consulting firm focusedon content technologies and their

application to high-value business solutions

Practice Areas:Enterprise search, Collaboration, Content

Globalization, Digital publishing, Webcontent management, XML content and

technologies

http://gilbane.com

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Content Globalization Practice

The intersection of content and localization/translation management

Topic Areas: technologies, services, marketdevelopments, buyer perspectives

Clients: vendors, enterprise users, investorsUser engagements: content strategies, education,

technology acquisition support

http://gilane.com/globalization

2009 Publications

Innovation3: The FICO Formula forAgile Global Expansion

Borderless Brand Management: The Philips 2010 Vision

Multilingual Product Content: Transforming TraditionalPractices to Global Content Value Chains

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Research Sponsors

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Thanks

Mary LaplanteVice President, Senior Analyst

[email protected]: marylaplante

Gilbane Boston1 – 3 December

2010 Research and Publications

Multilingual Marketing and Brand Content:Web Experience and the Global Content Value Chain

Practitioner Profiles

Localization World Silicon Valley20-22 OctoberOvercoming Language Afterthought Syndrome

Documents

Overcoming Language Afterthought Syndrome Mary Laplante Senior Analyst, Gilbane Group © 2009 Gilbane Group, Inc. All rights reserved