1. Why do Companies Invest in Multilingual Content Initiatives?
The Gilbane Group conducted a survey of 40 multi-national corporations. Each company views multi-lingual communications as vital to their business and each has implemented a technology solution to manage it. The respondents are senior managers with technology solutions up and running for at least two years. This slide is based on the following question:
Why are companies investing in multilingual communications?
The most important drivers focus on time to market, global brand management, and meeting regulatory requirements.
Low priority of “increasing multilingual content volume” is logical when viewed from a content-centric interpretation of “do more with less.” More content isn't the goal. The objective should be "less content with more impact" through communications specific to regions and customer expectations.
Implications for using this information when building a business case :
Note these are not ROI factors. They are drivers for a company’s investment in people, process, technology and services for multilingual content.
Companies of all sizes – including small/mid-sized – can identify with these drivers.
The data illustrates that a mix of top- and bottom-line drivers are motivating corporations to spend money on multilingual content.
This information provides insight into factors that can help build a business case appealing to executives.
Gilbane Group, Multilingual Communications as a Business Imperative 1
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2. What ROI Factors Lead to Funded Business Cases?
The Gilbane Group conducted a survey of 40 multi-national corporations. Each company views multi-lingual communications as vital to their business and each has implemented a technology solution to manage it. The respondents are senior managers with technology solutions up and running for at least two years. This slide is based on the following question:
What factors figure most prominently in ROI for all content types?
There are strong ROI expectations in two categories: increased revenue and improved customer relationships.
Both directly relate to corporate business goals for global expansion and meeting customer expectations.
Implications for using this information in Business Cases:
In the survey, respondents stated that when building a business case, one of the key factors in getting it funded is to remember that revenues and customer satisfaction are seen as more important than cost savings.
See the slide on “Business Drivers for Investment” and how the data corresponds. Increased revenue as an ROI factor relates directly to business driver of increased revenues from vertical, established, and emerging markets. Companies are explicitly connecting their business drivers with promises they make to management in exchange for funding. Which means that . . .
Champions seeking funding for Global Information Management solutions need to look at specific corporate objectives related to revenue and customer satisfaction and tie them to business improvements as a result of content globalization initiatives.
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3. Implications for use in Business Plans:
What Challenges are Solved by Implementing a Global Information Management Solution?
The Gilbane Group conducted a survey of 40 multi-national corporations. Each company views multi-lingual communications as vital to their business and each has implemented a technology solution to manage it. The respondents are senior managers with technology solutions up and running for at least two years. This slide is based on the following question:
What do companies perceive as the major obstacles to implementing an integrated solution?
The two highest ranking bottlenecks, “lack of collaboration” and “inconsistent terminology” are directly related to operational inefficiencies which can benefit from technologies available today.
Implications for use in Business Plans:
SDL offers technologies that address these very obstacles.
In addition to technology, a prospect company should be aware of people and process needs when implementing language asset sharing and management technologies.
Risk of inconsistent terminology is significant considering potential for brand mismanagement during the execution of corporate globalization strategies. Clear and consistent terminology, in both the source and target languages, is important across the complete globalization chain.
Because companies recognize inconsistent terminology as a major existing problem, investing in a terminology database should be a prominent part of globalization improvement planning.
Collaboration remains an issue due to expansion of internal and external worldwide corporate resources plus the drive toward a multinational customer base. It’s essentially a scale problem. Pushes the boundaries of collaboration strategies the same way that content volume pushes the boundaries of enterprise content management strategies: companies need to be able to scale for “volume” of collaboration as well as volume of content.
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4. How do I Measure Success from Multilingual Content Initiatives?
What Metrics do other companies use?
The Gilbane Group conducted a survey of 40 multi-national corporations. Each company views multi-lingual communications as vital to their business and each has implemented a technology solution to manage it. The respondents are senior managers with technology solutions up and running for at least two years. This slide is based on the following question:
How are companies measuring or planning to measure the value of multilingual communications initiatives?
The top three measurement objectives are related to customer-facing benefits that can positively impact corporate goals for global expansion and customer satisfaction.
They also reflect specific tactical objectives such as content reuse (helping to manage content volume), and faster resolution of customer problems (helping to enhance customer experience).
Implications for use in business plans:
Metrics are still mysterious at many organizations. These factors provide champions with tools for developing measurements for business cases, performance management, governance, and so on.
Specifics for the first metric, “customer satisfaction with content”: companies are gathering this information through customer surveys, feedback buttons on websites (“is this content helpful?”), and field outreach to customers.
SDL has capabilities for helping companies track “level of source content reuse” within its TMS and CMS products.
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5. What’s Driving Global Businesses ?
2009 / 2010
Business
Objectives
The Gilbane Group conducted this survey on a group of multi-national corporations. Each company had been creating and managing multi-lingual content with technology solutions for an average of 5 to 10 years. The respondents are senior-level management. This slide is based on the following question:
What are high-level business objectives at companies that produce and deliver multilingual product content?
Global customer satisfaction is a clear strategic and operational business priority, outpacing the next most commonly-cited driver—revenue from emerging geographies—by a significant margin.
Customer satisfaction remains the top priority even when we combine revenue growth from both emerging and established markets (if only slightly).
New product lines, faster/simultaneous time-to-market, and improved global/product brand management are second-tier concerns.
Implications for using this data in business plans:
The key point of this slide is that SDL has products and services that align with all of these business objectives.
It’s a conversation starter or changer: these business goals are important to all companies. It’s important to note that SDL has a solution to fit these business goals.
Global customer experience and satisfaction is the center of gravity for content globalization in 2009.
Cost savings will always be part of the product content picture, but in uncertain economic times, engaging and satisfying customers is paramount.
Emphasis on customer satisfaction shifts the value proposition for investments in content globalization. The business case is now about outward-facing customer impact, not just inward-facing operational efficiencies and cost reductions.
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6. What ROI Factors are Most Important? Interpretation of the data:
How do I Write a Successful Business Case for Global Information Management?
What ROI Factors are Most Important?
The Gilbane Group conducted this survey on a group of multi-national corporations. Each company had been creating and managing multi-lingual content with technology solutions for an average of 5 to 10 years. The respondents are senior-level management. This slide is based on the following question:
What ROI factors are driving investments in technologies and services for programs supporting strategic business objectives?
Customer satisfaction/experience is the primary ROI delivered by or expected from practices, programs, and initiatives.
The next most commonly-cited ROI measure is “global-ready technology architecture.” This is significant: it’s a recognition that content globalization is a valued investment. This is the first time that Gilbane’s research has produced such a result.
Although cost savings weighs in at 18%, this issue was prevalent within respondent conversations, with many citing cost reductions as a gating factor for proving ROI.
Interpretation of the data:
Customer experience figures prominently in assessing and proving the business value of global product content.
The perception that the payoff will be in a globalization-ready technology architecture indicates that companies perceive such capabilities as competitive advantage.
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