To manage global content better, when should an enterprise consider embracing translation technology?

According to Common Sense Advisory, a market research firm specializing in globalization, adding automation is most often a reaction to specific pain points or challenges. That made me think about what those pain points are, and why you should add automation to your translation needs in the first place?

At the crux of the need for global content is a desire to enable and increase corporate revenue by being present in more markets. As you do that, scale probably becomes the all-encompassing finger-on-the-button reason to add translation technology to your corporate processes. Trying to scale your team, allocate budget and linguistic resources to match the growing global content needs is a luxury few enterprises can afford. By deploying translation technology correctly, the globalization process becomes predictable, more fluid – and responsible, putting you in control of your global content.

1   Pre-determined, Predictable Workflows

Enterprises are often faced with a two-pronged challenge with localization. On one side they are faced with a multitude of languages on the list of global content deliverables, and those deliverables are stemming from what seems like a continually expanding array of customer-facing touch points.  Since translation management systems (TMS) like our own Wordbee Translator have project management functionalities built in, the workflow can be pre-determined for each particular project (and then re-used for managing future projects).

As the project hits different milestones along the way, each succeeding task can be sent off automatically to the next participant in the workflow. By specifying deadlines, a project manager will be able to see the status of the project, how it’s progressing, how complete it is, and whether target dates will be met. And each subsequent project will have a workflow that is predictable and tailored for each language.

2  A Consistent Brand Voice

Project management automation — and reducing the amount of manual touches that need to be made to take a project from creation to translation — is just one reason to embrace translation technology. The translations themselves, as I’ve written in an earlier blog, are actually corporate assets and the translation memories and terminologies that are created with each subsequent project can be re-used, so you don’t need to translate the same sentence or string twice. Reproducibility not only reduces translation expenses, it contributes to a brand voice which is consistent across all target languages.

Translation technology also lets you manage translations from a wide variety of content sources and, with the help of smart plugins and APIs, you’re able to remove technical barriers, prepare the files, connect to your preferred Translation Service Provider or Corporate team and export the finished product back into the original format when done.

3  Bottom Line

The bottom line? For Companies with continuous translation needs automation is a must. An end-to-end translation environment increases efficiency, and the more technology employed earlier, the more efficient the translation process becomes. If you’d like to know more about how Wordbee Beebox or Wordbee Translator can help your enterprise manage global content better, we’d love to show you. Contact us today at info@wordbee.com