In the August issue of ClientSide News, it was argued in an article by an executive of a mid-size translation company that clients don’t need to have regular access to their project status, via a Translation Management System (TMS). This argument was based on a survey conducted with his clients where many stated that they “don’t care as long as the project is delivered when I expect it”.
Additionally, when his clients were asked in the survey “Does the need exist within your organization to use multiple translation services suppliers?” they answered: Yes 33.4%, Maybe 29% and No 37.6%. In other words, two-thirds of his clients are either already using or are considering using a second source to his service.
These answers somehow helped him draw the flawed conclusions that, keeping an up-to-date project status on his yet-to-be-developed TMS is unnecessary, and since his competitors may use his clients’ data via his TMS (when available), charging the client a fee for its use is justified.
I don’t have access to the names of his clients nor the type of work that his company does for them, but I can safely conclude that they are not heavily involved with complicated localization projects requiring multilingual simultaneous releases, and that he seems to be misreading today’s client expectations and business realities.
When you are in the midst of a major product release, you want full and immediate access to the latest status on your projects. In the real world, product release schedules slip, source files change, and deadlines shift to accommodate urgent features, enhancements and bug fixes. Experienced consumers of localization services reject the black-box approach and demand constant visibility into the entire localization schedule so that they can make educated last minute decisions involving releases or change orders. Full transparency in this process is essential for them to integrate localization activities with development, facilitating task and file hand-offs.
Granted not all clients experience these complicated requirements; but, make no mistake, it is these complicated requirements that drive the need for further automation and dictate the evolution of the localization industry.
As far as paying for the use of TMS is concerned, clients want uninhibited and free access to their information, assets and intellectual property, regardless of which vendor is involved. They are fed up with vendors who take their translation memories hostage and withhold key information about processes or specifics applied to their files and assets.
At GlobalVision we are committed to a free and transparent process. We don’t opine or hypothesize; we have first-hand experience with the benefits of our TMS portal, gvAccess. It is free of charge to our clients. It permits them to monitor their project status 24/7 and create user accounts for anyone they wish, including second source vendors.
Don’t worry; some of us do get it. If you want to see with your own eyes, we recently announced the availability of a free webinar that demonstrates the benefits of the portal. Register online and schedule a one-on-one 30-min session at your convenience on http://www.gvaccess.com/.
Thou shall have Transparent and Free Translation Management Systems
In the August issue of ClientSide News, it was argued in an article by an executive of a mid-size translation company that clients don’t need to have regular access to their project status, via a Translation Management System (TMS). This argument was based on a survey conducted with his clients where many stated that they “don’t care as long as the project is delivered when I expect it”.
Additionally, when his clients were asked in the survey “Does the need exist within your organization to use multiple translation services suppliers?” they answered: Yes 33.4%, Maybe 29% and No 37.6%. In other words, two-thirds of his clients are either already using or are considering using a second source to his service.
These answers somehow helped him draw the flawed conclusions that, keeping an up-to-date project status on his yet-to-be-developed TMS is unnecessary, and since his competitors may use his clients’ data via his TMS (when available), charging the client a fee for its use is justified.
I don’t have access to the names of his clients nor the type of work that his company does for them, but I can safely conclude that they are not heavily involved with complicated localization projects requiring multilingual simultaneous releases, and that he seems to be misreading today’s client expectations and business realities.
When you are in the midst of a major product release, you want full and immediate access to the latest status on your projects. In the real world, product release schedules slip, source files change, and deadlines shift to accommodate urgent features, enhancements and bug fixes. Experienced consumers of localization services reject the black-box approach and demand constant visibility into the entire localization schedule so that they can make educated last minute decisions involving releases or change orders. Full transparency in this process is essential for them to integrate localization activities with development, facilitating task and file hand-offs.
Granted not all clients experience these complicated requirements; but, make no mistake, it is these complicated requirements that drive the need for further automation and dictate the evolution of the localization industry.
As far as paying for the use of TMS is concerned, clients want uninhibited and free access to their information, assets and intellectual property, regardless of which vendor is involved. They are fed up with vendors who take their translation memories hostage and withhold key information about processes or specifics applied to their files and assets.
At GlobalVision we are committed to a free and transparent process. We don’t opine or hypothesize; we have first-hand experience with the benefits of our TMS portal, gvAccess. It is free of charge to our clients. It permits them to monitor their project status 24/7 and create user accounts for anyone they wish, including second source vendors.
Don’t worry; some of us do get it. If you want to see with your own eyes, we recently announced the availability of a free webinar that demonstrates the benefits of the portal. Register online and schedule a one-on-one 30-min session at your convenience on http://www.gvaccess.com/.