Top 5 Trends In Global Web Operations

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© 2011 Lionbridge

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BACKGROUNDLionbridge and Gatepoint Research invited 973 selected executives with responsibility for global web operations to participate in a survey designed to identify key trends in operational web practices. Respondents were heavily weighted toward large organizations, with 82% coming from the Fortune 1000. 63% of the respondents were Director level and above, and 36% were VP level or higher. The survey covered the people, process and technology components of operational web practices.

Why You Should Read This + Understand the top 5 trends impacting global web operations + See how your company compares to others + Influence strategic and budgetary decision-making

Who Should Read This + CIOs, CMOs + VPs of Global Web Operations + Marketing VPs responsible for global digital product or corporate campaigns

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Definition: Global Web Operations

Trend #1: Increasing Number of Languages

Trend #2: Increasing Focus on Cycle Time Reduction

Trend #3: Moving to a Single, Global Web Content Management Platform

Trend #4: Growing Complexity of Global vs. Local

Trend #5: Increasing Budgets

Summary

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DEFINITION: GLOBAL WEB OPERATIONSThere are a number of different terms companies use to describe the operational activities involved in preparing and publishing digital content for global markets. We define Global Web Operations as all of the activities involved in localizing, instrumenting, optimizing and publishing content, assets, and pages on global digital platforms.

We include all of these elements in the definition because, in an operational context, they are highly intertwined and iterative. They are also components in an inherently common process. If you are not familiar with all of the terms used, here is a quick description:

+ Localizing – translating or trans-creating text and audio, selecting appropriate images for each market, and deconstructing source content from various formats

+ Instrumenting – applying appropriate tracking tags and codes to ads and landing pages to track a campaign’s performance

+ Optimizing – using search engine marketing to optimize content for targeted keywords and track rankings and engagement so people can find and interact with your content

+ Digital platforms – company controlled websites PLUS partner sites, social networks, mobile apps, email providers, display ad platforms, search platforms, etc.

TREND #1: INCREASING NUMBER OF LANGUAGESMost economies in the developed world are growing at extremely slow rates, causing companies across industries to focus on global markets for revenue growth. Even retailers that have traditionally been focused on their home countries are aggressively expanding into new markets. The impact on global web operations is the need to add new languages increase processes in an environment of six or more languages. The chart below provides a snapshot of the number of languages our surveyed companies support today, with 43% already at that level and 6% in the 20+ languages.

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Distribution of Survey Respondents by # of Supported Languages

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TREND #2: INCREASING FOCUS ON CYCLE TIME REDUCTIONWe found a large variance in cycle time performance in our survey (see histogram of company performance below). We define cycle time as follows:

+ Begin – Source content and assets are received from Marketing or an Agency to begin the localization and production process

+ End – All localized content and assets are in production The distribution is roughly bimodal with high performing companies centered around two weeks, and slower performing companies requiring two months to fully complete a cycle. From a marketer’s perspective, two months is an eternity.

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We dove deeper into those companies performing at the two month mark, and their responses made it clear they know they need to address it. They scored “increase speed to market of global content” as their #1 pain point with a score of 4.1/5, with 5 being “critically important.” Marketing will push harder and harder to reduce cycle time as it faces increasing pressure to perform in digital channels.

Cycle Time Distribution

Avg. Cycle Time in Days

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TREND #3: MOVING TO A SINGLE, GLOBAL WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT PLATFORMMost large organizations are dealing with a hodge podge of legacy web content management (WCM) systems that can vary by division, by country, and by language. The WCM space has matured to the point where organizations should standardize on a single global platform to streamline the execution of global campaigns and minimize IT operational and maintenance expense. Our survey found that roughly 34% of companies are in the midst of a global WCM platform decision or deployment over the next year or so.

TREND #4: GROWING COMPLEXITY OF GLOBAL VS. LOCAL Corporate Marketing wants to ensure a consistent global brand message, while each local marketing operation strives to adapt Corporate’s campaigns to maximize its own results. The Global Web Operations team often finds itself thrown in the middle between global consistency and local optimization, and the pain it causes is clear in our survey. These objectives ranked #1 and #2 among our survey respondents. (You can see the other top responses below.)

Indeed, nearly all of the shifts happening in consumer behavior will only make this challenge worse (mobile, social, user generated content, SEO, etc.).

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TREND #5: INCREASING BUDGETSMost organizations are increasing their investment in global web operations to support the demand to grow global revenue through increased digital marketing activity and performance. New digital channels (e.g., social, mobile), increased rich media demands, shorter cycle times, and increased competition drive the need for process and technology investments. 77% of our surveyed companies are making this increased investment, with many increasing it by 30% or more. Given that the core drivers for increasing these budgets are slowing developed world economies and the shift to digital marketing, we see material budget increases continuing for global web operations for the foreseeable future.

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SUMMARYThese five trends in global web operations reflect the high level findings from our survey. Many companies have already requested a private conversation to benchmark how their company compares to their peers, so we have developed a Global Digital Benchmark service for that purpose. Please reach out to us at www.lionbridge.com/moreinfo if you are interested in learning more.

ABOUT LIONBRIDGELionbridge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIOX) is a leading provider of product development, testing, and globalization services. Lionbridge combines global resources with proven program management methodologies to serve as an outsource partner throughout a client’s product and content lifecycle. Organizations in all industries rely on Lionbridge services to increase international market share, speed adoption of global products and content, and enhance their return on enterprise applications and IT system investments. Based in Waltham, Mass., Lionbridge operates across 26 countries, including India, China, and Poland, and provides services under the Lionbridge and VeriTest® brands.

Corporate HeadquartersLionbridge1050 Winter StreetWaltham, MA 02451 USAwww.lionbridge.com

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