Web site globalization: the world is an online village
Web site globalization entails deploying multiple Web sites across the globe. Effective globalization respects the localization requirements for different cultures, languages and markets while maintaining central control over brand and messaging.
Description
Anytime on-line
The world is an online village.
Many organizations work on a global scale since the Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific are all part a 24-hour economy. As a result, organizations need to ensure that their products, service and communication are localized and translated for all of the different audiences within these regions. Regional variation means that different messages and approaches may be necessary even within regions, let alone between countries. At the same time, to follow a consistent corporate strategy, organizations also need to control message and brand consistency. This need to balance the needs of regional and international means that organizations need a solid Web site globalization strategy that includes and extends beyond translating content.
Download our white paper: Managing global Web sites.
A new Web site Now
Corporate and local marketing and communication departments need to react to market trends, launch new products and roll out integrated campaigns on a daily basis. Further, these activities are all time bound. Completing these activities to deadline requires internal coordination and access to all of the text, visual and brand elements for multiple Web sites. Centralized control and access to these elements can ensure that these campaigns are launched quickly and responsively.
Target audiences
In an international organization it is necessary to segment customers into groups and match these groups with products and services that meet their needs. In a global Web environment it is important to identify the unique requirements of each customer group in terms of site requirements, language and local content.
Global Web site enterprise architecture
The globalization of businesses not only cause challenges for marketing and communication professionals. IT is also faced with serious questions around supporting local editorial users; a wide range of Internet and intranet sites; storing data and guarantees for uptime; and functional availability to the online world. IT has the responsibility for offering a stable and reliable environment for the online presence of their companies.
Benefits
New Web sites in hours
The global 24-hour economy asks for responsiveness and flexibility on both a central and local scale. The ability to deploy new sites overnight using BluePrinting™ technology is SDL Tridion’s core strength.
Responding quickly to new opportunities in local markets increasingly determines your success. With SDL Tridion you can roll out a new Web site or marketing campaign micro site in hours instead of days or weeks without needing your IT department’s involvement. The business user is empowered to execute their online marketing objectives. The cost saving benefit is obvious but being in the market much faster than before really makes the difference.
Translate and localize
Web site globalization is so much more than copy and paste or translating Web sites for various countries.
Of course language and country sites are the most visible result of a global online presence. The complexity, however, is in the intelligence of combining local needs with corporate communication strategies.
Local needs go beyond translations – they go as far as localizing company messaging; local business functionality in Web forms and applications; as well as locally targeted communication to multiple audiences through a Web site, e-mail and newsletter or even print! This so called multi-faceted management stretches far beyond the need for just translating. It also involves areas like the localization of sites and content types.
SDL Tridion is designed to balance the needs of corporate consistency and local content.
Taking away the pain
Web site globalization involves understanding the complexity of managing and maintaining your global online presence for your customers (Internet) and your staff (intranet).
Understanding this also makes the pain and difficulties clear when delivering on the globalization promise. SDL Tridion customers use our WCM system to deploy dozens and, in some cases, hundreds of Web sites sharing all kind of content and visuals across these sites while still maintaining local business flexibility.
European heritage
As a global supplier of Persuasive Web Content Management solutions we have European roots that make us a pioneer and the recognized authority in the area of dealing with different regions.
You can see the impact of this heritage in our products and in our worldwide presence offering support in multiple time zones, a multilingual interface and our products' ability to coordinate Web site rollout and maintenance around the world.
Download our white paper: Managing global Web sites.