While the global economy is shaken up by a failing banking system, the localization industry is getting cold feet. The ‘localization system' is not functioning so well either. Nothing evil really, but far from efficient. Customers are not being served. Mind you, we are talking about the billions of people struggling to get access to information in their own language. Too much friction on the line, too little technology to do miracles. As the TAUS World Tour progresses from Copenhagen to San Jose the picture is getting clear: it is the middleman that is standing in the way. Whether the audience in our Round Table meetings consists of language service providers (LSP) or buyers, the LSPs are seen as the biggest roadblock to innovation: 39 out of 140 (28%) identified the current LSP business model and the resistance to change as the biggest barrier to innovation.
The San Jose Round Table was a highlight in the World Tour. The localization representatives from Silicon Valley icon companies could not agree more that translation technology and community business models offer unique opportunities to the localization industry. Google was not considered a threat in this round table meeting (perhaps because they participated themselves) as much as people in the Amsterdam and Copenhagen sessions feared the emerging translation power of Google. There was more focus on the opportunities of expanding need for translation and the possible roles that LSPs can play in defining new value-added services in for instance differentiating quality requirements for different types of content and communication, personalization services or a focus on language data enhancement and coding.
Next stops in the TAUS World Tour: Dublin, Zurich, Barcelona, Milan .... Join in the global localization brainstorming and register now. It is time to change. We measure the localization temperature wherever we go and will report on the collective intelligence we are gathering.
See below the five highest scores in opportunities, threats and barriers consolidated from the brainstorming with all participants in the TAUS World Tour until now.
|
OPPORTUNITIES |
Votes |
Percentage |
|
|
1. |
Offering/leveraging technology/MT/tools to enhance translator productivity |
21 |
18% |
|
2. |
Improved time to market - continuous publishing |
14 |
12% |
|
3. |
Expanding need for translation |
13 |
11% |
|
4. |
Business model around communities |
12 |
10% |
|
5. |
Quality as a differentiator - ROI of quality translations |
12 |
10% |
|
THREATS |
|
|
|
|
1. |
Loss of LSP Role - failure of current business model - old paradigms |
24 |
21% |
|
2. |
Google (dominant player without common interest in translation) |
16 |
14% |
|
3. |
Loss of quality - language degradation |
15 |
13% |
|
4. |
Prices going down to zero |
11 |
10% |
|
5. |
Fragmented Competition |
8 |
7% |
|
BARRIERS |
|
|
|
|
1. |
Changing the business model - word based model - LSPs - resistance to change |
39 |
28% |
|
2. |
No control over source content |
14 |
10% |
|
3. |
Lack of standards - insufficient standards |
11 |
8% |
|
4. |
Competencies of translators - slow technology adoption LSPs |
9 |
6% |
|
5. |
MT's own imperfection - manage quality expectations |
8 |
6% |