Translation Management News & Articles

All indications point to 2012 continuing the economic turmoil of the past few years. Companies interested in growing despite the economic difficulties are taking steps to attract customers who live outside of the United States. In the constellation of possible growth strategies for 2012, few options shine brighter than the use of a content management system or CMS for customer communications.

Companies who wish to grow business overseas are faced with a difficult path. In 2011, 78% of people in North America, 58% in Europe and only 11% of people in Africa have internet access. Europe and Africa both have large populations who are not currently online but will be in the coming decade. It is clear that with the majority of future internet users emanating from somewhere other than the United States, finding ways to service these new customers is paramount. 

The days of catering exclusively to the customers in a single nation are over.
 

Content isn’t what it used to be. Companies used to only have to manage contracts, proposals, documentation, and other standard business content. Today, in addition to those core internal documents, businesses have socially driven content such as online communities, email, websites and social media. That means blogs, tweets and other kinds of social media updates, as well as collaborative content tools like wikis, forums, and endless email attachments -- to name just a few -- all comprise a company’s content. In many cases, organizations employ a global, mobile workforce; this means not only that online content is growing, but also that it is growing in many different languages.

IBM’s Watson impressed us on Jeopardy in February. But can Watson cut it in a global world?

Another interesting add-on (or add-in) for SharePoint 2010 has just been released, this time by Lingotek (news, site) in the shape of a new set of APIs in Lingotek-Inside. The new APIs can take SharePoint content and translate it quickly and cheaply using machine translation software and real-time community translations.

When we think about global information management (GIM), it’s important that the right information gets translated into the right languages so it can be made available to the right people.

SDL Language Weaver, who just launched a new GIM product called SDL BeGlobal, knows these principles.

Only a few months after they consolidated their business divisions under the SDL (news, site) brand, another major announcement is coming from the global info management organization: a new General Manager is set to lead the North American operations for their Web Content Management Solutions division, formerly known as Tridion.

Across Systems, the masterminds behind the Across Language Server has released the fifth generation of its central software platform. This latest product iteration introduces new features, as well as new concepts that employ business intelligence in multi-language documents and content.

Translation is big business in the world of the global Web. XML-INTL (site) is a U.K. company specializing in making it happen for corporates wanting to get their voice across in any tongue.

Across Systems (news, site), the corporate translation management systems provider, is asserting itself as a force within the language industry. At conferences and special speaking engagements, they've been busy make the rounds and aiming to stay relevant. Highlighting their expertise within Content Management and Translation Management technologies, as well as their central software platform makes for good business.

Last summer, SDL (news,site) launched a Worldwide Language Service Provider Partner Program to help organizations get their content in the right format to the right customer. This week, they have announced another strategic partnership with Language Weaver, a self-described human communication solutions provider.

SDL plans to deliver Language Weaver’s translation software integrated within their Global Information Management platform and eventually, as part of SDL Knowledge-based Translation System.

Globalization doesn't mean the end of language. In most cases, it means more. And the ability to communicate in the global world means having to conduct business across cultures and countries. Yet, many corporate managers are finding multi-lingualism a barrier.

According to Global Information Management provider SDL, even though more than 90% of an international company’s dynamic content is available to a global audience, only about 10% is actually translated into multiple languages. So what does SDL do? They launch a Worldwide Language Service Provider Partner Program to help these organizations get their content in the right format to the right customer.

It seems the SDL acquistion of Idiom stirred up a little action in the translation management industry.

ThebigwordGroup has set out to offer an alternative to SDL/Idiom that is scalable and has little capital investment on the front end. Hmmm...sounds intriguing.