THE
HIDDEN COSTS
OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES
How to Increase Time to Market and
Reduce the Length of Translation Projects
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 2
TRANSLATION
PROJECTS TAKE TIME.
AND TIME IS MONEY.
You pay your staff to do the job they were hired to do.
But all too often, they end up getting distracted by
tasks that aren’t the best use of their time.
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 3
IF YOU’RE NOT USING
SOFTWARE, HERE IS HOW
YOU PROBABLY FEEL
ABOUT TRANSLATION.
SLOW
MANUAL
INEFFICIENT
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 4
YOU MIGHT WISH YOU
COULD MAKE IT GO AWAY,
EVEN IF IT’S CRITICAL FOR
YOUR BUSINESS.
Delays Your
Launches.
Gets In The
Way.
Not Sure It’s
Worth The
Company’s Time.
A Real
Pain.
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 5
EVER HAD A HUNCH
THAT TRANSLATION IS
TAKING WAY TOO LONG?
YOU’RE RIGHT ABOUT
THAT TOO.
Here’s what’s really
happening behind
the scenes on a
typical translation
project
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 6
STEP
1
You have content that needs to
be translated. Your staff member
contacts a translation agency to
ask for a quote. They promise
to get you a quote within one
business day.
TIME
LOST
=
8
HOURS
(Agencies often take multiple
days to negotiate rates with
vendors and provide a quote.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 7
STEP
2
The quote comes in. Your
staff member has other work
to do, but reviews the quote
and approves it on the same
afternoon once she is out of
meetings.
TIME
LOST
=
4
HOURS
(In reality, a staff member might
be busy and not get to it until the
following day due to being busy.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 8
STEP
3
Your staff member locates the
source files, makes sure all the
files are complete, checks to
make sure they are the correct
versions, and sends the files to
your translation provider.
TIME
LOST
=
1
HOUR
(In many cases, it takes far longer
than this, especially if dealing with
multiple files or languages.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 9
STEP
4
The translation agency briefs
the translators and editors on
the project, prepares the file
for them to use a computerassisted translation tool, and
kicks off the project.
TIME
LOST
=
1
HOUR
(The computer-assisted translation tool will generate a
database of your translations, but you generally won’t
receive the files unless you ask for them.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 10
STEP
5
Translation takes place. Even
a very small translation project
can take about 5 business days
to deliver.
TIME
LOST
=
5
DAYS
(Large projects take even
longer, of course.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 11
STEP
6
Once the content has been
translated, the agency will
prepare them for delivery and
send them to you.
TIME
LOST
=
2
HOURS
(The agency will manually check the files to make sure they
are complete, verify that the databases of translations are
attached, and then deliver the files to you.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 12
STEP
7
Your staff member then
prepares the files so that your
in-country reviewers can look at
them to make sure the quality of
the translations is acceptable.
TIME
LOST
=
1
HOUR
(This is a best-case scenario that assumes that there is
very little to do to prepare the files for review. In reality, this
can take a lot longer.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 13
STEP
8
Your in-country staff reviews the translations,
but it’s very time-consuming. They have
other work to do, they are not professional
translators, and they have to provide their
feedback manually. They cannot usually put
other work on hold to review translations.
TIME
LOST
=
4
DAYS
(Staff often cannot see the final end result of the translations
until they are published, so they are reviewing the translations
in a spreadsheet in many cases – a huge time sink.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 14
STEP
9
The translation agency receives the
comments and begins to implement all the
change requests. This can require a lot of
back-and-forth discussion.
TIME
LOST
=
3
DAYS
(The length of time depends on the number
of comments and changes required.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 15
STEP
10
The files are sent back to the reviewers for
an additional review. Again, they don’t have
time for this, but your staff wants to make
sure that the translation quality is high.
TIME
LOST
=
2
DAYS
(The final decisions generally
take less time, but there can be
multiple cycles at this stage.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 16
STEP
11
The final files are delivered. In
many cases, your staff will then
have to manually copy and paste
the final translations into the
publishing platform.
TIME
LOST
=
1
HOUR
(This is a best-case scenario that assumes that there is
very little to do to prepare the files for review. In reality, this
can take a lot longer.)
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 17
STEP
12
By the time Step 11 is
completed, new content has
been created and existing
content has been updated and
needs to be published.
Return to Step 1 and start again.
1
12
TIME LOST = IN TOTAL, YOUR
COMPANY HAS LOST NEARLY 3
WEEKS, MOST OF WHICH WERE
SPENT SITTING AROUND WAITING.
IN ADDITION, YOUR STAFF
HAD TO SPEND HOURS ON
MANUAL TASKS THAT
CAN EASILY BE
AUTOMATED.
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 18
4 DAYS
+
3 DAYS
+
1
HOUR
2 DAYS
+
+
AS A
RESULT, YOUR
TRANSLATION
CYCLES LOOK
LIKE THIS…
2 HOURS
+
5 DAYS
+
1
HOUR
8 HOURS
1
HOUR
+
+
1
HOUR
+
4 HOURS
+
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 19
WHEN INSTEAD,
THEY SHOULD
LOOK LIKE THIS…
STEP
1
SMARTLING
API INGESTS
CONTENT
AUTOMATICALLY
STEP
2
TRANSLATIONS
ARE COMPLETED
STEP
3
SMARTLING
AUTOMATICALLY
PUBLISHES THE
LOCALIZED
WEBSITES
11 STEPS REDUCED DOWN TO JUST 3?
NOW, THAT’S EFFICIENCY.
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 20
SMARTLING REDUCES
THE TIME SPENT
ON TRANSLATION
PROJECTS, BY
AUTOMATICALLY:
STORING
TRANSLATIONS
FOR FUTURE REUSE
ROUTING IT TO
EDITORS AND
REVIEWERS
EXTRACTING
YOUR
CONTENT
ROUTING
IT TO
TRANSLATION
PROVIDERS
TRACKING
EVERY
CHANGE
MADE
PUBLISHING
WEB-BASED
CONTENT
DELIVERING
THE FILES TO
THE RIGHT
PLACE
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TRANSLATION INEFFICIENCIES • 21
WHY MANAGE
TRANSLATION PROJECTS
MANUALLY, WHEN YOU
CAN AUTOMATE THE
PROCESS INSTEAD?
REDUCE YOUR
TRANSLATION CYCLES.
INTERESTED IN
LEARNING MORE?
CONTACT US:
+1 866.70.SMART
WWW.SMARTLING.COM
[email protected]