As a localization buyer, it is important to consider the true cost of various initiatives beyond standard operational KPIs, in order to assess supplier performance and gauge content strategy effectiveness. Direct costs, such as rate per word and project management, are typically analyzed, but hidden costs like the cost of localization platforms and content stacks, Translation Memory leverage, and cost of rework or schedule slippage are often overlooked. Bringing additional transparency to language operations can have a significant impact on ROI and overall content and user experience strategy.
Transparency in cost allows all parties involved to track and improve the overall solution they worked on, and share data from all platforms and workflows to quickly identify opportunities for continuous improvement. It also helps build trust and confidence between buyers and suppliers. Valuable data is often collected and available but seldom evaluated or shared, making it crucial to evaluate and share this data.
Transparency in cost also avoids confusion during the sales cycle and focuses the solution on expected goals, workflows, and success criteria. This ultimately helps monitor agreed-upon parameters to ensure optimized productivity, sustained quality, and maximized performance.
Business leaders are increasingly turning to data to make their operations more intelligent and facilitate decision-making. Business Intelligence can become a pivotal component of a data-driven corporate culture. The ability to collect and structure operational data will help develop powerful and mutually beneficial value-chain partnerships with suppliers and customers alike.
Loquell is a data and content consultancy company with over 75 years of combined experience in content methodology optimization, technology, and data-powered customer engagement. They deliver integrated technology-driven content and data strategies to drive measurable business results and support world-class customer engagement through digital content. Their teams of dedicated solution architects and experienced consultants provide best practices, solid processes, technology know-how, and workflow management to optimize localization efforts and fuel global expansion.