IT-Enabled Translation Services Are Part of the Growth Formula

Who is doing it: EInstruction, a company that develops an interactive whiteboard and other products for schools, has had its software and documents translated into 47 languages in order to target global markets. Governments—which are frequent customers—often demand translations before purchase, says Susan Liberty, manager of eInstructions technical communications group.

To read more on this topic see:Think Globally, But Let Managers Decide Locally and How a Midsize Textile Maker Uses Technology to Compete Globally.

How it works: EInstruction hands over the documents it wants translated to MultiLing, a service company that analyzes the material using its translation memory tool. The tool identifies sentences that have been translated at an earlier time and automatically adds those translations to the new text. Workers at MultiLing also use a terminology tool that displays preferred terms, predetermined by the customers, for specified words. “The tool does not take the human translator out of the equation, but it helps the translator to be more efficient,” says Emmanuel Margetic, director of marketing at MultiLing.

Growth potential: Economic woes spurred demand for MultiLing’s services, Margetic says, as U.S. companies sought work in foreign markets. Research firm Common Sense Advisory says the top 30 translation companies grew nearly 20 percent in 2008. The firm expects the market for translation services to grow 10 percent annually, reaching $22.5 billion by 2012.