What's at stake when you don't have a localisation strategy?

We all learn from good and bad examples, that's pretty much a fact and, the same principle applies to the world of business and organisations.

We are back in the localisation theme. The localisation process goes through several stages, and these moments are documented in the several localisation maturity models. 

The overall conclusion is that most companies and organisations go through four maturity levels before reaching the ideal point.

There are five localisation maturity phases, therefore we must bear in mind an important warning: companies go through the LMM phases at different speeds, often being more advanced in one aspect than in others. In other words, an organisation can be at Phase 3 when it comes to technology deployment, but at Phase 2 in terms of process isolation.

Among the leaders, no one is aware of the importance of localisation, ultimately affecting the budget allocated to this essential strategy.

But what happens when there is no localisation strategy in the company or organisation?

Its absence may be the perfect way to understand its decisive importance.

In true, some companies and organisations that do localise do not have an existing clear strategy. We are talking about something more usual than you think and that you should avoid:

companies creating content without having a real content localisation strategy.

What are the symptoms of the lack of a localisation strategy?

There is no point in "crying over the spilt milk", that's true, but it might still make sense to list the symptoms of an organisation with no localisation strategy.

1. Among the leaders, no one is aware of the importance of localisation, ultimately affecting the budget allocated to this essential strategy.

2. There is indifference among the leaders and confusion among the employees. As a result, there is more misunderstanding, generated by the fact that few or no one really knows what roles they should play.

3. One thinks day by day and there's no long-term planning. As a consequence, the increased risk of localisation being regarded, by the people involved in it, as another task and not as a project requiring full and daily application.

4. Moreover, a company or organisation that does content localisation without any kind of strategy becomes disorganised. Everyone works by the wrong principle "every man for himself".

5. Little or nothing is done to implement a localisation strategy and the idea that it is not necessary to change what is being done prevails.

Localisation strategy, an essential task.

Having said that, it is time to reaffirm the decisive importance of implementing a content localisation strategy. The way you do it may vary, of course, but the ultimate goal is unique:

to face globalisation as a central purpose in your company or organisation, therefore a fundamental part of the marketing plan to launch products or services.

Implementing a strategy becomes a journey- you remember the localisation maturity model, right?

there are milestones that help you stay on the right track.

• The strategy should help to make localisation a faster process
• The strategy should make clear what goals are intended to reach.
• The strategy should be based on a well-defined workflow

As a footnote, always keep in mind that: you should understand in which phase of the localisation maturity model your company or organisation stands, because that will help you make the right decisions to continuously improve until you reach the sweet spot, Phase 5.

This text was not written by a native English speaker, but by a language lover. However, all our language services are always provided by native speakers.

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