Part 3: Content Globalization: Do the Big Vendors Care?

Blogger: Craig Roth

This is the blog companion for part three of my 4 part podcast series on “What IT needs to know about content globalization, localization, and translation”. I previously posted part 1 and part 2.

Audio URL: Download Content Globalization Part 3 (17 minutes)

• Vendor segmentation
  • Look beyond internationalization (e.g., can they support other languages) to include localization assistance such as support for translation memory, translation workflows, and integration with language service providers
  • Content Globalization Value Chain (Note: the podcast lists sample vendors in each space)

    

    • Authoring: Content creation tools have a part to play in globalization, mostly through plug-ins that add localization assistance and XML-based authoring tools that create content in componentized form and allow a content designer to apply rules and structure to their content
    • Enterprise Content Management: Standard features in ECMs help with globalization, but ECMs specifically built to help with localization (such as by supporting XML content components or out-of-the-box integration to globalization management systems and language service providers) can help even more
    • Globalization Management Systems (aka Translation Management Systems): A GMS handles the translation process with features like project management, localization workflows, costing, and adapters between ECM and language service providers. Terminology management and translation memory tools are sometimes part of a GMS suite
    • Translation: Divides into human (the largest segment; provided by Language Service Providers) and machine translation
    • Assembly: Dynamic assembly such as portals can leverage personalization and the capability to dynamically determine which version of content to display
  • Some larger players (Microsoft, IBM) haven’t woken up to content globalization yet
  • One reason is that customers haven’t demanded they respond yet since the need is currently felt outside IT and the LSPs and GMSs have been addressing the problem
  • Innovation has been coming from smaller vendors, many of them European
  • The value chain will get tighter over time and acquisitions are likely, especially in the GMS space
• Buyer segmentation
  • Some types of industries and roles are more affected by the increase in content globalization
    • International organizations that attempt to maintain a single global brand image (i.e., hospitality, transportation, travel, automotive, and pharmaceutical) tend to change content frequently and need consistency and timeliness in localization
    • Industries that write lots of technical or service manuals (i.e., medical devices, technical manufacturing, and discrete manufacturing) need to translate complex documents and are more likely to use and benefit from componentized content creation
  • Roles: Many people may never get involved in globalized content creation if they work only on low visibility, internal documents. But for other roles, content globalization is an issue
    • Professional, technical writer
    • Line of business content owner
    • Local website owner
    • Marketing communications
    • Web designer
    • Programmer