Software tool to reduce translation costs

Citation

(2004), "Software tool to reduce translation costs", The Electronic Library, Vol. 22 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2004.26322dab.009

Software tool to reduce translation costs

An Auckland based software developer is enjoying keen interest from corporates around the world following the release of a new tool that makes it faster and cheaper to get information to different cultures in different languages. AuthorIT Software Corporation recently launched a new Localisation Manager that has been shown to reduce business costs. It has been developed with investment of NZ$240,000 through government R&D funding agency Technology New Zealand’s Technology for Business Growth (TBG) scheme. The breakthrough technology has been designed to track and manage translation and localisation of source content into any single or double-byte language.

AuthorIT’s Localisation Manager contains a number of “smart features” allowing it to know what content is translatable, what has been previously translated, is reused or has been added or changed, meaning only content that actually requires translation is sent to translators. The resulting significant reduction in the word count and translation costs has been demonstrated in a pilot study with Coca Cola, which showed a word reduction of 31.5 per cent in new translations, resulting in a direct saving of more than US$75,000 for translation into just one language.

AuthorIT Marketing Director Ray Duncan says the Localisation Manager attracted strong interest at its recent launch in Europe:

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  Translation of user guides, manuals, training material and other information documents is big business in Europe where so many different languages are spoken. It’s also a major expense for big corporates that want to sell their product all over the world.

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  As well as delivering cost savings, the new tool means products can get to market faster. Traditionally documents couldn’t be sent for translation until they were complete but with AuthorIT each section can be translated as soon as it’s written. This can result in products being released up to six weeks earlier.

The Localisation Manager integrates seamlessly with all existing localisation and translation processes and exports text to XML in a neutral format, increasing accuracy by eliminating the effects of formatting. The software also provides for a visual library comparison to show exactly what has changed between different versions of the document’s components. The parent software is an integrated single-source documentation solution that incorporates authoring, content management, security and standards control, publishing to print, online help and the Web.

Paul Trotter, AuthorIT CEO explains:

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  In the field of translation it’s a leap similar in scale to the one that saw people move from lists of figures on paper to databases. We have developed it because we identified demand from companies the world over for new solutions to manage the publication of material. What may appear to be disadvantages actually give New Zealanders some unique advantages – often we don’t have the money or the people to throw at finding solutions so we approach problems differently and come up with really novel answers.

The new Localisation Manager was showcased late last year in London at the Content Management Europe show with UK representative Activ-ecm and at Tekom, the principal annual event for technical writers in German speaking countries and the largest of its kind held in Europe. AuthorIT received an immediate order from a German company and there has been a steady stream of enquiries and orders from around the world since.