What Is Online Translation Management?

What Is Online Translation Management?

Imagine having access to all of the advantages of a full-scale translation management system, anytime you needed it and no matter where you were in the world. That’s the beauty of using online translation management tools.

There is no software to install. And hardware or software compatibility issues are a thing of the past.

Instead, online translation management enables anyone with an internet connection to sign in and start working immediately — without worrying if they have all the tools they need. As a result, businesses and linguists can:

• Increase efficiency
• Reduce costs
• Ensure a high-quality outcome

In short, online translation management makes the translation process frictionless. And that helps businesses expand into new markets quickly and with confidence.

Managing Translations in the Cloud vs. On Premises

Many companies, especially those in industries with strict data requirements, have traditionally opted to use on-premise translation software solutions — which can run on their own servers and behind their own firewalls. The perceived security this provided outweighed the challenges companies faced when translating in this environment.

Yet technology advances have simultaneously strengthened cloud-based security infrastructure and made it more accessible to businesses large and small. And many are ditching on-premise solutions for cloud-based ones.

The advantages are numerous. Here are five primary advantages of using a cloud-based translation management system:

1. Accelerated integration process — There’s no need for on-site installation and configuration, so integration is quick and seamless. New features are released virtually and automatically, which means everyone involved in the translation effort is always working on the most up-to-date software available.
2. Access is secure and remote — Localization is, by nature, global: people from all over the world, across many different time zones, work together to translate and localize content so that it can be released to new markets. For the best results, the translation process should be global as well. And secure remote access makes this possible for even the most security-conscious industries.
3. Increased collaboration — Onboarding (and offboarding) key stakeholders and linguists is made easy in an online environment. Because all work is saved, synced, and shared within the platform in real time, it’s easy for businesses and the linguists working on their content to stay on the same page.
4. Communication is centralized — All communication can be done within the online platform. There’s no worry that someone was left off an email chain or that questions were left unanswered because they were never received by the right person.
5. Easy to incorporate new technology — The ability to leverage new technologies that encourage automation and analyze key translation metrics offers businesses a key advantage in a highly competitive environment. Online translation management systems make it simple and more cost-effective to incorporate new technologies into your workflows.

Online Translation Management Tools Produce High-Quality Work

An online translation management system provides everything translators need to do their job well — and does away with cluttered inboxes and endless email chains. That means linguists can spend less time figuring out what’s needed for a given project and more time focusing on the small yet critical details that transform a good translation into an excellent one.

• Visual context allows translators to preview their translations wherever they will live before delivering them
• The translation memory, updated in real time, ensures consistency and eliminates double work.
• Brand assets — such as the glossary and style guide — live online and can be accessed without leaving the translation interface
• Automated quality checks catch easy-to-make and easy-to-miss errors (including spacing issues, number formatting, tags, and spelling) as linguists translate content
• Dynamic content, HTML, and formatting are transformed into placeholders or tags that translators can move, insert, or delete without having to deal with any coding themselves
• Auto-save provides peace of mind that no work will be lost due to a poor internet connection or system malfunction

Smartling’s translation management system enables world-wide businesses to continuously deploy multilingual content so that brands like Butterfly Network can translate 75,000 words in 10 days.

The benefits of using an online translation environment are endless. But in short, it eliminates the time-consuming, manual tasks that sometimes, unfortunately, can take center stage in a traditional, on-premise translation environment. And therefore, it allows everyone who manages the translation pipeline to focus on producing high-quality work that will resonate with new markets.