An organization recently came to us with a request for more information on our services and they were very up front about their needs and their pain points for consolidation of corporate communications. They are a global organization with many different locations and wanting to consolidate translations for their EMEA operations.
They laid out their current situation:
- Corporate documents are established in English and communicated to the various countries for implementation
- Some of these documents may require translation for implementation. Translation is then carried out internally at the local level
- Local level translation carried out by staff or local translation companies
Current Pain Points:
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- The translation process is not managed at the corporate level
- At times, the translation does not get completed in a timely matter or is not good translation
- Lack of knowledge on how to reuse their past translation
- Corporate does not have much visibility on the local efforts regarding costs incurred from external resources or time spent by internal resources
The Benefits of the consolidation of corporate communications
We are always happy to work with clients that are on this journey of discovering how to move through the Global Communication Maturity Model. This client most likely knows where they are on the model but may not know the perceptions and risks around each stage and where a language service provider can help them. We offer a number of tools to assist clients with the conversations that they may need to have within their departments in implementing an initiative with the consolidation of corporate communications. We offer an online assessment for global communication, a global communication audit tool, and various other tools for a client’s success with our methodology of client mentorship.
Let’s break down their pain points and look a little deeper
Consolidation of corporate communications and managing them at the corporate level
- Get a handle on the overall process and the opportunity to identify the gaps in the process, identify local and regional strategies, increase your global competence and the learning and control of the messaging and not dilute the brand
- Control of the messaging allows corporate to speak with one voice. While local resources might be great for costs, the risks involve different interpretations of the messaging, no consistency of terminology, potential of negative impacts on brand identity (including corporate identity), and possible liability exposure for corporate if they don’t know what the messaging says….
- A local or regional strategy may include using your regional offices for customization of the messaging that pertains to their particular region.
- Local advisers can provide important information about the target market culture which will aid in the development of the target market strategies.
- Customizing an approach to specific markets allows corporate the ability to select and prioritize communications for that market and the languages to use for that market
- Know your costs! Having staff at various regional offices do the translation is not free for an organization. You must factor in their time to do which can pose a risk to their other responsibilities.
Ready to move to the next level? You may be at the point to implement technology…
This client may be at the perfect point to implement technology. We would suggest a scalable solution for their needs. No need to jump into the biggest most expensive option out there which could be complete overkill. They could easily purchase Translation Memory software to manage on their end so that they could reuse their translation and have more control over that aspect of the process. It would mean a dedicated employee to manage that and learn it and this could be part of the Communication’s team.
Be the one who comes in with a great idea and raises the awareness level of the Communication function within the organization.
Work with a language service provider that can be a partner in your success and provide you with options, resources, tools and ideas! That is exactly how we work with clients that come to us….so they can move past the pain points. Contact us to start the conversation.
