Choosing a Strategic Sourcing Model for Localization

Choosing a Strategic Sourcing Model for Localization
A jonckers white paper
your localization hotkeyChoosing a Strategic Sourcing
Model for Localization
By Ian T. Butler
Contents
Introduction Page 4The Supplier Continuum Page 7Supplier Dependency Page 8Cost Tolerance Page 9Time-to-Market Page 10Risk Page 11Content Quality Assurance Architecture Page 12Summary Page 13If you're facing one or more of those issues, how do you begin to solve Introduction them? Companies that blazed the trail before you, and have achieved suc- cess, made their decisions with the right data. Without it, they know they're do you need to launch, grow, improve, shooting in the dark. They ask themselves questions like the following. or economize your localization program?If you're responsible for your company's localization efforts, you may be 1. How and where am I currently spending my money on localization? caught in the same conundrum as many of your counterparts-you need Is it internal or external? Is it centralized? How many decision makers to make big decisions about how to best structure your localization program are involved? and team, but it's tricky to match your ever-changing needs with the right 2. What is the plan-what is our international road map? What markets and solution. And what's more, you don't really have time to sort it out. territories are we planning on entering in the near future and long term? The following questions may apply to you. You may be wondering what What's our time frame? What are the priorities?to do next and what your counterparts in other companies are doing: 3. What exactly do we need to accomplish? What services do we need?
i) Is our content stagnant or growing? What is the content growth . Is your company localizing for the first time? rate? Does it differ for each separate content stream - marketing . Are your company's localization needs changing, maybe even rapidly content, product content, support content, etc.growing? ii) How technically complex will it be to localize?. Are you being asked to manage localization costs carefully? Is purchasing iii) Is the technology architecture and the business logic conducive becoming centralized, or is there a change to your supply chain strategy? to internationalization? Does the very business model need to be Or, maybe there's a hiring freeze. adapted to the market? Do core processes need to change?. Do you staff up to meet your increasing localization volume? How will When PayPal launched in Germany they had to change their position-demand vary over time and can you predict your staffing needs? ing and site content for customer acquisition from an emphasis on . Is your business expanding to new markets and countries? Do you have credit card protection. In Germany the bank transfer (iEFT or ELV) to meet the needs of the business without increasing the size of your system is very efficient, and bank overdraft rates are lower than team? credit card rates, so consumers prefer debit cards and ELV over credit cards. This effectively changed PayPal's value proposition . Are you having difficulty finding qualified resources, especially in Germany. since the demand for translation services is growing so fast? In mobile phone design, one of the key safety feature requirements . Are you struggling to be more efficient and get more for less is emergency services accessibility-whether with SIM, without, PIN in your organization? locked, or unlocked. In order to test this critical safety feature, simu-lations need to be run, and there are many combinations. Modern . Is corporate strategy impacted by a limited supplier base? multi-band mobile phones operate in multiple territories and access-. Are you trying to project your localization budget and not sure how? ing emergency services in each country must be possible under all circumstances. Accessing emergency services requires different . What about quality? Are your customers-internal and external-happy numbers in different territories e.g. 911 for the US, 999 for UK and with the quality you are providing? Is there any perception at all of Ireland, though all GSM phones now support 112 access as an inter-quality? Have you had to lower your quality standards out of necessity national emergency services number. This service must be tested re... [download for more]