The Value of Localization for Beginners: Part Three – How Mature Organizations Do It

They Understand the Value of Localization

Mature organizations understand the place of localization in their global strategies and act accordingly. In other words, they simply view localization for what it really is – a smart investment with long-term, multilevel benefits that will help put their business on the international map.

This approach to localization actually stems from the organization’s maturity as it reflects the company’s strong sense of corporate identity, confidence in their products/services and dedication to globalization strategies.

Needless to say, they already have their localization programs and custom KPIs set before the project begins. They know what they can and what they want to achieve with localization and all they need is help with the execution.

They Understand the Importance of Language and Communication

There are many myths about translation, ranging from the one that any speaker of a foreign language can do it to the one that machines can do it. An organization’s maturity is also reflected in the awareness of the dangers and hidden traps of these myths.

They simply know that language is something people take for granted and notice it only when it’s bad – and when it’s bad, things can go really wrong and damage the corporate image and make even the best marketing campaigns flop on a foreign market.

These are the chances no serious company is willing to take and that is why mature organizations take localization seriously and rely on professional providers of language services who provide appropriate quality control and take responsibility for the quality of their work.

They Have a Dedicated Localization Officer

It’s old news that every process should have an owner.

Complex multilingual localization projects, though, are virtually impossible to yield satisfactory results without a dedicated point of contact on the client’s end who will be responsible for the localization projects and share the necessary information with the localization teams.

No team on Earth can be that good to know how to render specific organizational aspects and/or product/service features to different languages, or to know what kind of impression the company wants to make on a new market without any input from the client. Execution-wise, this is where the role of localization officer becomes crucial – he/she is the link between the company and the localization project manager who, on the other end, organizes the localization teams and coordinates their work.

The more information is fed from the localization officer to the localization team, the less issues there will be during the project and the final output will be completely in line with the client’s vision.

They Have Allocated Localization Budgets

Localization is not cheap – superficially. Its benefits and damage prevention justify every cent. However, a mature company will allocate the resources for localization the moment they decide to go global because they understand it is not a running expense.

In most cases, the localization budget is only a fraction of the marketing budget – but it’s there and it always makes localization project negotiations run smoothly.

They Are Aware of Language Technologies

Clients do not need to be experts neither in linguistics nor in localization technologies, but mature companies (i.e. their localization managers) are usually aware of the existence of language technologies that can make the execution of their projects faster and cheaper, and, more importantly, that can be integrated into their existing technological infrastructure.

Clients who are aware of the technology can provide more valuable information to the language services provider who will then be able to choose the appropriate tools and tailor the perfect solution to suit their needs.

Read more about language technologies here.