XTRA Corporate Localization Strategy Seminar August 31, 2001 Airport Conf. Center Frankfurt Lessons Learned

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Why Is there a Need for a “Corporate” Strategy? Today, localization is often considered an afterthought. It is often left up to local subsidiaries to take care of localization. Having no unified corporate approach leads to many inefficiencies and costly errors multiplying the overall cost of localization with every target language.

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Why Did XTRA Host the Seminar? When working with clients, we notice very often that there is an immense waste of time and resources due to lack of communication, planning errors, improper preparation or inefficient processes. The goal of our seminar was to answer the HOW‘s and WHY‘s of successful corporate localization strategies and processes.

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services How Will Participants Benefit? We expect the presentations of the seminar speakers to be highly valuable contributions. More importantly, we believe the discussions following the presentations will provide the greatest benefit to participants. We do not simply want to present “success stories”, rather we want participants to examine issues that hinder successful localization.

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services How Can the Seminar Help Attendees Improve Their Localization Processes? The goal of the seminar is to help attendees improve localization in their companies by way of the following:  Reducing time-to-market  Increasing product quality  Reducing localization costs

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Reduce Time-to-Market – Questions to be Answered What can be done to make localized versions available shortly after releasing the original product?  How are international product releases planned?  What are the responsibilities of product development and the localization group? How do these teams interact?  Who is responsible for proper localization enabling (internationalization)?  Who takes care of forecasts and project schedules?  Is there a systematic approach for product testing, problem reporting and bug fixing?  How are past experiences utilized?

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Improve Quality – Questions to be Answered What can be done to improve product quality?  What are the definitions of product quality?  Are there guidelines for monitoring the quality standards defined?  Is there a systematic approach to assure achievement of quality goals?  Do you track performance of internal and external resources?  How does feedback on quality issues influence future projects?

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Reduce Cost – Questions to be Answered What can be done to reduce the overall cost of product localization?  What figures about direct and indirect localization costs are available?  Who in the corporate organization pays for localization?  Is there a common interest for all involved (development, marketing, documentation, etc.) to reduce cost?  What prevents the use of tools to further automate processes?  How do cost drivers of the past influence future projects?

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services About XTRA Our mission is to help IT companies overcome the language barrier to their target markets. By taking on a global view to localization we help them reduce time-to-market, deliver high-quality products and contain the cost of localization.

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Key Messages – View of Localization Localization is not a mere cost factor. It is the key to entering global markets and provides a competitive edge over competitors.

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Key Messages – Reporting A corporate localization strategy can only be effective as long as corporate marketing, product development, in- country sales and localization group managers work as a team.

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Key Messages – Process The entire process of multilingual product development provides a large potential for continuous improvement. Think about what you can centralize to avoid redundant work. Learn from the lessons of the past and learn from others – continuously!

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Key Messages – Technology Choose the globalization technology that best fits your needs. Don‘t get trapped in proprietary technology offered by vendors. Understand and take ownership of the tools used!

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Key Messages – Outsourcing Take on a global view of multilingual product development and design your localization strategy. If you have done so, seek out vendors that fit your strategy. Set criteria for selecting vendors and measuring their performance on a continuous basis.

xtra-services.com/seminar Copyright 2001 © XTRA Translation Services Contact Us! You are most welcome to contact me, if you have any questions. I am looking forward to talking to you. Phone Cell phone: XTRA Translation Services GmbH Calwer Straße 7 D Böblingen/Stuttgart Stefan Lampert Managing Director XTRA Translation Services GmbH