Thriving in the Content Management Age

How Multilingual Technical Communicators and Localization Services Can Win in the Content Management Age

"The impact of content management on everyone working in information development and publication will be as dramatic as the introduction of word-processing software and the Web."

These words, written this year by Rahel Bailie, an associate fellow of the Society for Technical Communication, in an Intercom guest editorial, address the era of content management that is upon us. 

The growth of unstructured information within companies is spiralling anywhere from 60 to 200 percent each year. 
Even at the lower end of the spectrum, the growth is dramatic.  Companies need to manage that information and are starting to spend the euros to do it right.  Global content management systems oversee and organize all the information swirling around an international enterprise, including multilingual documentation and content.

What does the rise of content management mean for multilingual technical communicators and localization providers?

It's simple.  Either jump on and become part of the solution or risk getting trampled by the herd.

Content management can no longer be considered a different, distinct industry.  Content management systems are now sophisticated enough to take on multilingual content and not treat it as a separate entity.  Units of content are just units of content-language simply becomes one of the many attributes of each content unit.  Technical communicators, localization providers, translators and other professional services that have traditionally seen themselves as specialty services must adapt to the content management age or risk becoming obsolete.  To remain valuable and critical in the world of content management, consider the following:

Building Expertise and Broadening Services through Partnerships
Savvy businesses are increasing their value, not by maintaining specialty services, but by expanding through partnerships and the convergence of technologies.  Here are two examples:  First, companies that traditionally offered technical communications services alone have now begun to offer translation and localization services as well.  Meanwhile, localization providers are approaching it from the other direction.  They are applying their localization expertise earlier in the content life cycle by offering document design and content creation services. 
Rather than starting with a finished document, they are helping to author localization-friendly content.  These trends will intensify in the content management age.

Industry associations, such as the non-profit Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) are dedicated to helping businesses connect, network and partner.  In my own experience, I have attended numerous conferences to build relationships and partnerships-and, as a result, we have a stronger, more robust offering for our customers.

Elevating the Importance of Localization and Multilingual Content
The value of localized, multilingual content continues to grow as companies expand into new markets.  The fact that content management systems easily manage multilingual content means that localization issues can and should be tackled early in the information lifecycle.

Service providers increase their value to their clients by addressing localization and multilingual content issues at the beginning of a product cycle or global initiative.  Content that is localization-friendly from the outset will be quickly and efficiently localized when the time comes, cutting costs and, more importantly, time-to-market-a big benefit for any client.

Terminology management and structured authoring, integral parts of successful content management initiatives, manage the first language before other languages are even added to the project.  Tools and processes that support unique, well-defined vocabulary and localization-friendly style rules are used to 'attack' the first language.

Terminology management and sensible style guidelines enable savvy technical writers and product developers to create the source text with localization in mind.  This improves the quality of the translated text and greatly reduces the time required to localize that text. 

Terminology management is especially important when core concepts, such as product names, are created for a new product or initiative.  I know of a company that had a five-word product name.  Before proceeding to localization, the team analyzed the huge set of existing source-language product documentation and discovered that 56 variants had been used for the product name alone!  The variations were simple-colons instead of semicolons, capitalization, words in different order, the year in different places-but the differences made consistent localization impossible.  The team cleaned up the product name, enforced consistency and then completed the localization process by translating into 24 different languages.  Imagine the savings!

Using terminology management in the early stages allows authors to make tiny changes that eliminate the need for major changes further along in the process.  It's another way that multilinugal technical communicators and localization experts can work together and thrive in the content management age.

The new battle cry is: "Manage content as a corporate asset."  And content management systems are becoming more sophisticated and all-encompassing in the ways they manage, leverage and protect this asset.  As a multilingual technical communicator and/or a localization expert, you must understand that trend and evolve in order to remain relevant and successful.

Leif Sonstenes has been active in localization and global business for more than twenty-five years in Europe and North America in various technical, marketing and sales roles.  Leif currently works for Locatech GmbH in Dortmund, Germany in the role of marketing manager and can be reached at LeifS@locatech.com. 

Locatech GmbH is a GALA member company.