Post on 30-Dec-2015
description
My background is recently in Software but I have worked in engineering and publishing localisation
Depending on the industry you can be at different stages of development
Global economy is right now is going through significant change
Looking for the next big thingShort development cycles - RAD24 x 7 development & testing using multiple, multi location teams
Introduction
To win in any market it helps to be:ƒ First orƒ Only or ƒ Bestƒ or all three! (dream on)
In reality being first and best gives you the strongest chance to win in a market.
Its about creating a special position for your company in any market.
Be First Only & Best!
Phases of life cycle of most businessesƒ Innovationƒ Investmentƒ Managementƒ Competitionƒ Comoditisation
The big bucks are made by phase 3After that the margins start to dropIn the end - deep pockets often win
Wave or Life Cycle theory
Where is Localisation today?
It varies company by company But somewhere between Competition and Comoditisation
You can enter a market at this stage but it is much tougher unless you own a niche
The future lies in Localisation "services" and a much wider array of engineering/test work
7300 Executives around the world believe that the global economy has improved over the past six months, but many think the improvement will level off during the next six. Also the hunt for talent and the sustainability of consumer spending are also significant issues.
Executives regard outsourcing as beneficial, .. Asia is considered the region with the most promising growth prospects in the upcoming year .. expect that the pace of merger activity will continue to increase.
McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives
Technology + Industry Expertise = Less Labor Intensity
Merrill Lynch report:The next big thing - Process Outsourcing
The definition of the IT industry will be expanded. Today vendors fight over the customer's IT budget. In the future, customers' costs of goods and expense lines will become available to IT vendors through process outsourcing.
Localisation providers supply to clients: Project managementGlobalisation technology for contentLocalisation/engineering/testing for ƒ Softwareƒ Web applications
What are providers doing today..
Most commentators now see our business as GILTƒ Globalisation, ƒ Internationalisation, ƒ Localisationƒ Translation
You can in fact see beyond that -ƒ broad language/locale/cultural services
GILT
Content Creation/ManagementTechnical WritingTerminology ManagementWeb GlobalisationProducing Multimedia in multilingual environmentsTesting - (as described elsewhere)Linguistic Quality testingMultilingual Product marketing materialMulticultural Brand ManagementCultural Assessments
List of some additional Language/Cultural Services that can be outsourced
Increased content qualityLower content volumeMaximise readiness of content for localisationNew markets due to open standards/ open source
You should not underestimate local knowledge - the OS, Cultural, Technical
Other things to look........
So what does that mean...
Localisation remains a key part of any global business strategy
BUT it is not the only partIt needs to demonstrate that it has a first and best culture
There will remain a very significant number of clients coming into the market for the first time looking for solutions
There are still big numbers of clients using older business models due to "cost"
At the end of the day the majority of the business will move - the 80:20 rule applies
Product Develop cycles used to be 18mth + for major releases
Now there down to 8 months!New tools help but we also need ...Better and faster & reliable processesProcesses can be outsourced
So what does this mean....
Turn around is now the most critical factor Many cite the example of 6 Sigma - an excellent quality process for established products where you want to drive down costs and raise efficiency
You can loose out to competitors who innovate while you try to put a complex process in place.
Its horses for courses.
Speed is of the essence...
Not every client will be staffed (or want to be) to cover all content and locale issues
Even the largest client companies will outsouce (or be oursource providers themselves)
Smaller companies will outsouce even moreKnow your client needs - anticipate them!
Look for the gaps....
RAD is working on extending the Eclipse platform, which is supported by an open-source community for multi-vendor software tool integration. Using Eclipse-based tools, developers can integrate tasks easily and quickly to improve the quality of applications and time to market.
RAD tools enable users to quickly build applications and application templates, using visual editors, without having to program the code.
Rapid Application Development or RAD development tools
Open source open platform for tool integration Built by an open community of tool providers Common public license - royalty free source code & world wide redistribution rights
Ultimate flexibility and control over software technologyEclipse based tools give developers freedom of choice in a
ƒ multi-language, multi-platform, multi-vendor environmentƒ Is written in Java with extensive plug-in construction toolkits and
examples.ƒ Deployed on Linux, QNX, OSx and Windows based systems.
A full description of the Eclipse community and white papers documenting the design and use of the Eclipse Platform are available at http://www.eclipse.org
Eclipse
Selection of members:ƒ Borland, IBM, Rational Software3, Red Hat,
SuSE, Sybase, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Oracle,Catalyst Systems, SAP, teamstudio Ericsson, Intel, etc.,
Who make up Eclipse
24 X 7 Cycles
Short RAD cycles demand quick turnaroundsWork is spread over many locationsƒ Asia, Europe, America etc.
Work gets passed from one team to the nextCommon access to builds and deployments ƒ every team can work on the same task held in a
common area.
Globalisation Testing
Not just about UI testingthere are many other services that can be provided:ƒ functionalityƒ usabilityƒ System testing and interoperabilityƒ performance ƒ scalability
Unit test System TestPerformance
testFunction test Integration test
Globalisation Verification Test
Translation Verification
testService test
Testing Phases
Globalisation (G11N)ƒ The proper design and execution of systems,
software, services, and procedures so that one instance of software, executing on a single server or end user machine, can process multilingual data, and present data culturally correctly in a multicultural environment.
ƒ Ensuring that the product under test is internationalised and localisable.
Globalisation Verification
Internationalisation (I18N)ƒ Process of producing a product that is independent of
any particular language, script, culture, and coded character set.
ƒ Making sure the product will work in the required locales prior to localisation. This means for example that the English version needs to be able to handle Japanese text when being used by someone in Korea. Internationalisation is sometimes referred to as international enabling or NLS.
Internationalisation verification
Localisation (L10N)ƒ The process of modifying products or services
to account for differences in distinct markets.ƒ This usually means ensuring that the product
under test is able to be translated without reduction of functionality. Other example of localisation would be adapting rules to meet local regulations and business practices such as sales tax calculations etc..
Localisation verification
Single exe / Localization Pack
Single program one executable for multiple locales with standardised approach to working with different sets of locale-specific program data.
LPs contains Program data that is specific to a language in a country or region
Also includes user visible text. May have date and time format, currency format, number format, collating information, and text layout information.
A product needs to be able to support multiple localisation packs simultaneously so that it can support users from different parts of the world at the same time, and data from multiple locales.
Installable - only one locale can be installed and used at a time.
Pluggable - multiple pluggable localization packs can be used by a single installed copy of an executable
Run-time pluggable - new or changed localization packs can be accessed by the main program without requiring a program restart.
On-Demand - new or changed localization packs can be located by a running program or platform without user intervention - administrator authorisation may be required
Types of Localization Packs