Creating software, a PC or mobile app, a video game, or any other successful business is the beginning of a difficult journey. The following steps of a successful business strategy are entering new markets and promoting your product internationally. 

To expand your business, you must constantly improve and update your product to meet frequently changing market demand. It means you always have to translate and localize new content. Continuous localization can help reduce the time and funds spent updating your content across all your global websites. Localization should be done simultaneously with development or, even better, during the design phase. Thus once the new component is ready for release, there are no possible delays, and it can be released in multiple languages simultaneously. 

WHAT IS CONTINUOUS LOCALIZATION?

Localization is adapting content to a specific country, city, or town. Therefore you will likely need to consider various things, such as:

  • Multimedia content (photos, videos, etc.)
  • Translation and intonation
  • Units of measurement (length, width, etc.)
  • Currency
  • And more, depending on your specialization and target audience.

Modernization is an essential part of modern products. When it comes to localization, new content usually needs to be translated monthly, weekly, or even more frequently. This can seem daunting if your localization process is still prepared. The exchange of files and translations from translation agencies is no longer possible. Under such conditions, the release date depends exceptionally on the translation team. However, it is still possible to regain control over the localization process and release dates.

Continuous localization is the best way to integrate translation working processes into agile software development circuits to ensure impeccable delivery of multilingual content. Rather than adding an independent localization working process to present the agile software development process, the localization team works with content while the development team makes it accessible.

BENEFITS OF CONTINUOUS LOCALIZATION

  1. Teamwork

Continuous localization, being correctly executed, nearly always leads to high team efficiency, more cooperation, faster time to market, and lower risk than conventional approaches can reach. Constant integration keeps teams tightly connected. Translators are not anymore just passive receivers of localization sets. They can actively cooperate with development teams. Now, the localization working process is no longer a disabled one.

With that, every translator can participate in some meetings. Nevertheless, a localization manager can represent the translators and control the flow of information between the teams. Translators and analysts should know what characteristics the developers are working on, and translation suggestions should be fed back to the development team.

  1. Shortened release circuit

When localization is performed along with development, both teams can minimize the overall time to market for their products. It is essential in times of instant reward and constantly reducing product life cycles.

  1. Faster access to the market

Teams can remove the delay between development and localization by setting a continuous localization process. It indicates that products can be available in all markets simultaneously rather than fading out over weeks or months.

Instead of starting a product in one market and only after in others one at a time, continuous localization permits localization to move together with development, indicating products are localized along with each sprint.

To rephrase, your localized content is ready to be released anytime. The profit is apparent: with a shorter amount of time. You get localized products to market faster with greater consistency and overall congruence, thereby getting a better return on your investment. 

  1. Impeccable cooperation between teams

The localization team can cooperate closely with designers, developers, and retailers in one place. For example, localization plugins for design tools help translators understand the user interface and contextual limitations so they can produce accurate, high-quality text.

  1. Shortened development circuit

Developers profit from continuous localization with less manual content sharing with the localization team. They can focus on initial problems and ensure products and new features are delivered exactly on time.

  1. Decrease localization defects at the stage of development

Implementing localization into the development working process in the early stages lets teams fast and freely verify that the design works correctly in all target languages. Minimizing localization defects at the development level decreases the risk of confusing, misinforming, or offending customers with your multilingual interface.

  1. Optimized working processes

Continuous localization decreases the complicacy of a translation plan, while localization management software liquidates tiresome processes. 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON CONTINUOUS LOCALIZATION

Ensuring global growth is one of the critical moments that today’s business must weigh. Though, localization can be, and often is, the biggest problem.

Proper product localization can be very challenging, but the main reason why it can be a problem is that companies need to understand that localization must be continuous. This also applies to product localization as well as localization of all your content.

Providing your product in multiple languages ​​is just a minimum you can do. With a consistent approach, localization and development occur at the same time. Translators and localization managers know what other departments are working on and can negotiate translations and any related issues in advance. This ensures that translation delays do not hamper your next release.

For continuous localization to be successful, you need localization software that works as a database of translation keys and has all the features you need for effective team cooperation. Thus, you ensure that different departments in your company and your suppliers remain on the same page when they cooperate and work on a project.

To succeed globally, you also need interesting content that engages people and converts them into customers. And this content should be constantly updated.

Customers will most probably visit your website, exchange an email, and check and read posts on social media. They can interact with your chat and read the documentation provided. Also, a client or customer will cooperate with your company in many ways, not just the product.

To sum up, localization goals are spectacular. It is not about the process – it’s a story about new users, advanced solutions, and business growth.