The current localization strategies of today’s global brands will be the models that our industries follow into the future. Given their scale and complexity, they solve problems that many organizations will face. Their teams are often the ones writing the book on industry best practices. To gain insights into how today’s top players tackle some of the hardest localization challenges, view these slides.

1. Global Brands:
Pushing the
Boundaries of
Localization

2. Global Brands Have Come a Long Way
• Years of continuous investment and improvement
• Globalization part of their DNA, across-the-board buy-in
• Localization is a central function
• Most processes standardized
• Central financial oversight and budget in place
• KPIs in place
• Supplier management centralized & established, incl. QBRs

3. So What Are Their Challenges?

4. Continuous Publishing & Localization
1

5. • Shift from one-off products to
online services — SaaS
– Applicable also to small-
footprint software, UA or
support online
• What’s needed
• Immediate release in multiple
languages simultaneously
• Reduction in time-to-market
through automated processes
• A sensible way of coping with
Agile
Why?

6. • Centralized cloud-based
translation management system
with online interface
• Localization tools automation
and integration
• Automatic detection of new
content, project creation,
resource assignment, content
pushing
• Online review, cost tracking and
status reporting
How?

7. • 24/48-hour typical turnaround times
• No handoff, no handback — continuous flow, online editing,
reviewing and validation
• No project extensions, as a rule
True
Continuous
Model

8. < 500 words 24 hours
< 1000 words 48 hours
< 2000 words 72 hours
< 4000 words 96 hours
* By resource
Typical TATs* in Continuous Model

9. • Full process transparency
• Visibility down to individual
resources — translators,
editors/reviewers
• Immediate status reports &
dashboards
• Follow-the-sun model a real option
• Trust is needed
Implications

10. Linguistic Quality Fully Owned by
Suppliers2

11. • Volume and # of languages make running
a fully-fledged in-country LQA program
(in-house or 3rd party) increasingly cost-
prohibitive
• Quality at source expected
• Management by exception rather than
hands-on
Solution: Self-certification
• Suppliers self-certify their deliverables at
hand back time, or at specific intervals
• All reviews shifted to the supplier side
• No client-side reviews, only random
checks or audits
• From catching errors to avoiding them
Typical Pain Points

12. • Firewall between production QA
and self-certification; different
resources, like in standard 3rd
party LQA
• Meeting specific quality
requirements
• Internal process adherence (e.g.
internal QA fully implemented)
• Full transparency, over time and
across suppliers
• Self-certification results shared
with clients and issues resolved
How to Implement
Self-Certification

13. Prerequisites
• Clear process
• Education
• Guidelines (style, terminology)
very well established;
ownership, update process in
place
• Mature suppliers
• Setting the right sample size
based on content type
(importance, visibility)
– Typically 5-15%, on some
content types up to 100%

14. Delivering Locally-targeted
Content3

15. 1. Translation
2. Marketing translation
3. Transcreation
4. Copy-writing
• Degree of local relevance vs.
costs
• Fine-tune your approach to
marketing objectives and level of
market penetration
– Local web & blog a viable first
move
Content Choices

16. • User generated content
• Content curation
• Mass personalization
• Build and manage in-country
communities
• Use cutting-edge multilingual
SEO
• Today’s marketing is content
marketing
Make Use of New
Tools

17. Measuring and Analyzing the
Sentiment of Local Consumers4

18. Typical Challenge
• Systematically capture and
track the wealth of user
sentiment data recorded on
global social media sites
• Diverse channels and data
formats — ratings, reviews,
comments, etc.
• Comments include diverse
informal/“slang” terms
across multiple locales and
languages

19. Sentiment Analysis
• Fine-tune off-the-shelf tools or create
proprietary tools to compile, translate and
analyze user posts
• Aggregate and translate posts using machine
translation
• Analyze posts for opinion-related terms and
phrases
• Assign sentiment score based on number of
positive or negative words
• Report sentiment scores by language, market,
platform, product, date range, etc. via
dashboard
• Drill down to original and translated post

20. Automating Workflows Between
Disparate Localization Systems5

21. Wishful Thinking Versus Reality
How it really is

22. Typical Custom Integration Approach
Integration
• Translation Management
System
• Content Management System
• External data source
• File repository
• Submission portal
• Translation Memory
• Terminology tool
• Quality tools
• Ecommerce and/or
marketing platform
• Workflow platform
Process
Automation
• Routing files for
approvals
• Quality checks
• File preparation &
conversion
• Notifications
• File HO/HBs
• Pre-/post-processing
• Custom automations
Optimized
Workflows
• No new tools
• No additional headcount
• No IT involvement
• Faster TAT
• Higher quality
• Lower risk of human error
• Visibility across entire
program

23. Automating Workflows Among Disparate
Localization Systems
TMS
(W)CMS
Data source
File
repository
Submission
portal
TM tool
Terminology
tool
Quality tools
Web
Marketing
platform
Request projects  Upload file handoffs Provide
instructions  Access program info: contacts, pricing 
Request and receive quotes  Track issues and status
Access analytics and reporting  Answer translator
queries  Review translations  Receive notifications 
Download deliveries  Receive invoices  Manage
resources  Run quality checks

24. Lessons from Fast-growing
Disruptors6

25. • Be ready to challenge the
status quo
• Existing assets can
become a liability
• Constantly benchmark
your program
• Beware internal myopia

26. Final Recommendations
7

27. • Pace of innovation is accelerating
• Boundaries of what’s possible constantly
being moved
• Don’t be surprised if what you plan for 3
years from now will happen in 1 year

28. Q&A