3 Things to Keep in Mind as You Localize

Localization is be a powerful tool for your company to go global and it is evident from large number of top businesses (over 70% of Fortune 500 companies, to be exact) that are now actively investing in localization to reach their international markets.

But as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Your localization efforts are only as powerful as the amount of investment, collaboration, quality control, and efficiency that you build into your workflows and it is important that you set these up early on in your localization journey. Because while localization is vital for global business success, like any other business expansion process, it doesn’t come without its challenges.

Whether you are still in the process of evaluating localization tools and methods for your company, or already knee-deep in localizing your websites and digital properties into multiple languages, here are the three things to keep in mind as you localize.

1. Get all the necessary resources in line.

Successful localization investment is a careful balance between not only the right translation management platform, but also making sure you have the right internal and external resources to bring your global plan to life.

From the internal side, this means having your localization management and development teams on board with the platform and workflows. From the external side, it is important to find the right translators and/or translation agencies to make create high-quality translations that will lead to increased conversions, improved international.

2. Understand the processes and methods available to you.

Traditional translation methods are completed by a process involving manually adding translatable strings to a spreadsheet and then sending the document to translators to be manually added to the code.

This has now evolved with technology, reducing margins of error, increasing cost efficiency, and enabling teams to streamline the automated processes. While it is great to have a range of technology options, it is important to find the option that is not only the best fit for your translation needs but also for your team workflows.

3. Shop around and keep your options open.

In the nascent and evolving localization industry, it may seem easy to just choose the platform that appears to be the biggest or the cheapest. However, it’s important to understand that there is no one-size fits all solution. Meaning that what works for some companies may not work for another company simply due to factors like team size, capabilities, team structure, integrations, or other areas.

The vital aspect to keep in mind here is to always shop around and keep your options open. In doing so, you’ll be better able to find a solution that not only fits your company’s current global expansion needs but also get in on the ground floor to build an agile localization that is easily scalable and can accommodate all future growth.

Bonus: Know the right questions to ask.

Evaluating different localization and translation methods can be a full beast if you are not sure of where to start. To ease and streamline the evaluation process, there are some simple and effective questions you can ask that will help narrow down your research process. The one thing that these questions have in common is that they help to bridge the gap between your company and the potential tool you are evaluating — so that you can best identify the key localization features and functions that are both ideal for your platform and offered by the prospective tools.

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Put these considerations in action and make the jump into effective localization today. Go global and sign up for a free 15-day trial of Transifex to start localizing your content today.