Overview

Hazard Management Consultant specializes in commercial property insurance and risk management solutions. HMC offers risk transfer strategy and loss prevention engineering and research.

Requirements

HMC produces a variety of publicity and product information materials, such as; brochures, periodicals, presentations, technical data sheets, onsite worksheets, checklists, forms and training contents. These are needed to support their business in China, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Response

HMC engages IPPWORLD as a virtual department working closely with HMC's HQ and their regional offices. Development requirements are identified for respective target country's needs.

• Researching on audience demographics and cultural competencies. Identifying project management and delivery approach strategies, translation resources, their capacities and technical skills.
• Assembling dedicated project teams specific to HMC's requirements. Teams include, Delivery Managers, Translators, Editors, Artists, Print and Replication Specialists, Quality Assurance Specialists, Document Logistics and Distribution Coordinators.
• Extraction of source information from print artworks, web pages as well as managed CMS Databases for content variants and customization of Translation Memory Libraries and multilingual pairs of dedicated glossaries.
• Development of relational databases for customized jargon and terms unique to HMC's products and specific to industries of each target country.
• Performing advanced content translation and integration processes for respective delivery platforms. Managing multi lingual content databases sensitive to linguistic peculiarities, currency and confidentiality.
• Implementing adaptation and transformation of technical content, including standardization of corporate concept and design, content quality and editorial appropriateness, scripting, testing and debugging interactive assets, finalizing prepress graphics and print-ready artwork.
• Managing offset printing, replication, packaging and logistics of publicity and training materials for regional markets. Providing centralized coordination on administration and distribution activities.

Overview

A global hotels & resorts worldwide group with its headquarters in New York operates over 1,000 luxury hotel and resort properties around the world. Key to the their fame is their unique brand identities, each tailored to specific guests.

In 2006, IPPWORLD assisted the group's Asia Pacific office to localize media marketing content for their expansion into China and the region. After successfully delivering several ongoing projects, IPPWORLD's services were extended to cover markets in Japan, Middle East and Europe.

At about this time, the group implemented a global content management system (GCMS to store, track and deploy multiple language contents to support initiatives around the world. But the group as well as their respective location based teams were unhappy with the quality and efficiency support of US-absed translation vendors.

The group initiated a global-wide tender to source translation vendors for their linguistic expertise and knowledge with CMS procedures. After several rounds of reviews and and interviews, IPPWORLD was selected for Asian language categories. A series of pilot projects were conducted and IPPWORLD is now connected to their GCMS as well as contributing in regular concalls on current and future content localization needs.

IPPWORLD Challenges

1. To manage distinct translations for each of global hotels & resorts worldwide group's brand - each with its own tone-of-voice, content objective and audience impact.
2. To maintain dedicated glossaries and TM libraries - with assurance on content quality for every revision or update in their respective language pairs. IPPWORLD’s direct access to backend content facilities allows its linguistic teams to turnaround processes faster.
3. To manage projects and liaison activities with global hotels & resorts worldwide group's team in NY, respective regional offices and various property stakeholders worldwide - IPPWORLD receives assignments from participating properties around the world, initiates, manages and delivers multiple localization projects simultaneously; for loyalty marketing campaigns, press releases, training instructions, etc. Respective localized contents must adhere to each brand’s standards and corporate guidelines.
4. To assist global hotels & resorts worldwide group's native verifiers - due to short turnaround timelines, IPPWORLD's linguistic teams work closely with appointed location-based verifiers to resolve and finalize terminology issues, content preferences, etc. IPPWORLD's project teams have to continuously learn and adapt to various writing styles and tone-of-voice.
5. To work directly with global hotels & resorts worldwide group's appointed creative media agencies around the world to help resolve content display issues such as erroneous or truncated texts, improper word-breaking, paragraphing alignments, etc for online web pages as well as offline print artworks.

IPPWORLD Value-Added Services

1. Its core business is in managing translation and content localization. This is in contrast to GHRW's previous vendor, a multilingual software system developer that operates with linguistic contractors. IPPWORLD focuses on ‘the human touch’ in finished content and leverages on its years of first-hand experience as a service provider to software and IT Systems developers. Thus, helping to minimize data compatibility issues and rollout delays.
2. IPPWORLD's teams are located in Asia, which allows for quicker turnaround with GHRW regional verifiers. Respective parties are communicating and working in similar time zones, as well as provided with a half-day advantage to finalize and deliver project files well before the GHRW NY-based web team starts their workday.
3. IPPWORLD is able to accommodate high volumes of localization projects by deploy external resources at short notice as a result of many years of good relationship and an effectively working system. GHRW only needs to pay for these services when required, hence keeping their base cost low.
4. IPPWORLD conducts ongoing familiarization and training for internal and external teams involved in GHRW projects, ensuring minimal hiccups while working on specific file formats, unique translation applications or the content management platform.

Conclusion

Translation and localization of content is a common practice of global businesses, to minimize the high costs to develop separate materials for separate markets. To the well-established enterprises like GHRW, they are aware that certain skill-sets and expertise in the management of multiple language projects are not the same with creative design or IT projects.

Enterprise content will continue to grow in extent and complexities as information localization needs will span across multiple languages and multiple cultures of the world. To the untrained team, consistency in quality and turnaround efficiency will be an even bigger challenge. Thus, having the right linguistic resources and project managers are just as important as a well-thought marketing concept or a versatile information technology infrastructure.

IPPWORLD strengths stem from a solid foundation in the management of traditional translation projects since its inception in 1994, and for keeping abreast with the new media applications and digital platforms being introduced into the market. Its unique ability to diverge or converge contents across various languages and media platforms has since contributed tangibly to GHRW in reduced cost and improved efficiency for their global initiatives.