Sudheen M L, aged 42 years, is a commerce graduate and holds an Advance Diploma in French language. Armed with an Advance Diploma in Computer Applications acquired in 1985, right at the onset of computer era, he took up various assignments as management trainee, audit and financial executive, etc., to hone his skills at being an entrepreneur.

Some of his assignments included international marketing position in a leading pharmaceutical company and as facility head in a reputed publishing firm.

In 1989, he co-founded and promoted an organization in the niche area of marketing communication services and took the organization to uncharted heights within a very short span of time.

In 1995, to put to test his skills as an entrepreneur, he incorporated Crystal Hues Limited, a public limited company. Focused on integrating the marketing communication services and localization services with the latest in technology, it delivers full services to clients exploring new markets isolated by the language and cultural barriers.

He was instrumental in achieving an average growth of 35% consistently and developing clients in India, Europe, USA, etc. He is a widely traveled person having visited United Kingdom, Belgium, China, France, Italy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Australia.

He enjoys membership to many trade and industry organizations. He has been a source of reference to the media and is quoted in the media on issues related to language industry.

A multi-linguist, he is fluent in English, French, Hindi and Malayalam.

GALA has been working hard on information gathering and bringing well-researched data to its members. However, translation and localization industry has never faced such challenges ever before. Rapid changes are redefining the dynamics of this industry on all fronts.

Technology is changing so fast; even the established players are having a tough time in generating value for themselves or their customers from the investments they make on implementing available technologies. Technological changes occur even before the users get familiarized with the existing one, let alone creating value for the service provider or the customer.

Price and product(ivity) is, now, more a derivative of competition than of quality and efficiency. Competition is redefining the expectations of the customer, in terms of quality, quantity and price of deliveries. The survival in the translation and localization industry (including individuals) is dependent on delivering quality as well as quantity at a price that is increasingly influenced by the competition.

Clients, businesses and resources are not constrained, unlike before, by any boundaries. The role of key persons involved in translation and localization industry is to ensure that they keep a close tab on the evolving expectations of the customer.

Given an opportunity to take up responsibilities at GALA, I would work with GALA members to identify and define these challenges along with other responsibilities that the Board may assign.