1. No Longer Lost in Translation - The Benefits of a
Centralized Localization Model
This article was originally published on the Acclaro blog.
Category: Client Successes & Acclaro News
Imagine this: a multinational consumer products company,
with a sophisticated global management system in place to
support international sales. Everything seems to be going
smoothly.
But as the company’s localization requirements expand at a rapid-fire pace, the translation work
starts piling up. There is little to no structure around the localization process, and translations
are being handled on an ad hoc basis.
The problems were quite clear:
Each department had its own set of translators and processes, yet there was no sharing of
resources between them. One team might have a Translation Memory (TM) management
system and a glossary, another may not — so there were no cost savings from re-purposing
previously translated content.
Requests were coming in from all over. But there was no way to assign those requests to
centralized project managers to efficiently work with outside language vendors. Tracking and
reporting? Not an option.
With no centralized cost models or metrics, the company did not have a clear idea of how
much they were spending on translation – and more importantly, what the returns were.
Who is this multinational consumer products company? Amway, three years ago.
What did they do? With the help of Acclaro, they worked through pain points, identified needs,
and chose to implement a centralized localization model — aptly called the Amway Localization
Center.
Page 1: No Longer Lost in Translation - The Benefits of Centralized Localization Copyright © Acclaro 2012

2. Here's how the model works:
A master glossary, with branded terms and product descriptions, was created, translated
into 40 languages and distributed. Translation Memory (TM) is also handled centrally, so
each department can leverage translated text.
Processes were consolidated into eight workflows (from 20), reducing confusion and making
it easier to train new employees.
The online localization center, built on a SharePoint site, handles all translation requests for
Corporate Headquarters. It’s the beginning of the localization process.
1. When someone has a translation request, they fill out a request and submit it to the central
system.
2. The request then goes to the operations localization lead in Corporate Headquarters If
needed, the lead can ask any questions or get clarification from the requester.
3. The project kicks off, and a Language Service Provider (LSP) is selected. (Previously, Amway
was working with individual translators.)
4. The LSP supplies the professional translation to Amway, who then sends it to a native, in-
country Amway employee for internal linguistic review.
5. The final, localized content is delivered to the original requester.
This online Localization Center is being developed as a repeatable model that can be
implemented by each region in the future.
As with many operations overhauls, it is still too soon to understand the real impact that the
centralized model is having on Amway's bottom line. But it's not too soon to know that creating
an ordered system has some serious benefits, namely:
Letting teams focus on what they do best. When you take translation off the plate of
each department, you free up their time and allow for higher productivity. The Global
Distributor Training team at Amway, for instance, was managing their own translation, and
spending additional time on every project to translate their learning modules into the
necessary languages. With the centralized system, they could eliminate that extra time they
had been using for translation-related activities, and focus their time on developing more
training.
Page 2: No Longer Lost in Translation - The Benefits of Centralized Localization Copyright © Acclaro 2012

3. Unified workflow = unified metrics. When localization is centralized and you can
accurately measure the work being done – and the resources being allocated to that work –
it is easier to understand the ROI of translation.
Planning. Localization is often an afterthought – something companies realize they need to
take care of as they embark on international growth initiatives. With a centralized model,
executive management can count on faster execution from streamlined planning.
Additionally, it is easier to understand the true cost of translation and the possible returns
when given a unified "before and after" set of metrics.
Speed. The ability to streamline processes and eliminate unnecessary steps means faster
time to market and adds to the ROI of centralized localization.
Quality. Fragmented translation processes are not only a danger to efficiency, but also to
the overall quality of the final product. With a master glossary and a unified TM technology
in place, plus qualified LSPs in line to execute the translation, higher quality is assured
We had to ask, though. What would Amway have done differently?
Answer: Amway felt that they should have attempted to get a more comprehensive idea of the
"before" picture. Prior to starting the process of centralizing localization, they would have
conducted a more extensive survey earlier on to better understand translation processes
throughout the company, and what the true pain points were.
And they would have also started the process with a subject matter expert already in place in
the operations area - someone who could bring the localization and business processes together
and enable more experience-based decision making upfront.
Next steps...
Now that the basic process is in place, Amway is constantly refining and implementing
improvement to the Localization Center. Soon, it will be launched in other regions so that they
too can benefit from more efficient, quality-assured and cost-effective localization.
About Acclaro: Acclaro is an international translation and localization company that
helps the world’s leading brands succeed across cultures. We translate websites,
marketing campaigns, documents and software to give clients an authentic voice in
key language markets.
North America: 1-866-468-5106 Worldwide: +1-914-468-0222
www.acclaro.comsales@acclaro.com
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