10th Jul 2007 13:00
Less than a quarter of American companies are able to offer aconsistent online customer experience in multiple languages, accordingto a study by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Global InformationManagement specialists SDL. £ Compared to European marketers, half as many American marketerssay that their brand values are well represented in all of theirsupported languages. As a result, only 24% of US marketers say thattheir customer experience is consistent across all languages, comparedto 54% in Europe. £ 35% of the survey's total respondents cited language andtranslation issues, while another 35% cited cultural differences, asthe main barriers to effectively managing in global markets. £ "Companies transitioning to a global model--especially companiesbased in the US--aren't confident that their brand's values areconsistently represented across all the languages that they support,"wrote Forrester Consulting. "It is necessary, then, for marketers toadopt consistent technologies and processes across regions and todevelop core skills for brand consistency and content management whenthey expand to new local markets." £ "It appears that globalization has been a double-edged sword forAmerican businesses," said Chris Boorman, CMO at SDL. "While theInternet has removed boundaries between markets, the need for culturaland linguistic awareness is more pressing than ever." £ "The fact that so few US companies have effectively managed theirbrands internationally - despite acknowledging foreign culture as sucha big stumbling block - reveals a real pessimism on the part ofAmerican business," explained Boorman. "US enterprises accept thedifficulties presented by foreign markets, but seem unwilling to makethe strategic decisions that are imperative for success in globalcommerce." £ "European companies have been much more optimistic about the roleof international brand management," Boorman continued. "And thenumbers speak for themselves: almost a third of the European companiessurveyed expect to generate over half their revenue outside theirnative country." £ About SDL £ SDL (London Stock Exchange: 'SDL') is the leader in globalinformation management (GIM) solutions that empower organizations toaccelerate the delivery of high-quality multilingual content to globalmarkets. Its enterprise software and services integrate with existingbusiness systems to manage global information from authoring topublication and throughout the distributed localization supply chain. £ Global industry leaders rely on SDL to provide enterprise softwareor hosted services for their GIM processes, including Audi, Bayer,Best Western, Bosch, Canon, Deutsche Bank, Kodak, Microsoft, MorganStanley, Reuters and SAP. SDL has implemented more than 400 enterpriseGIM solutions, has deployed over 140,000 software licenses across theGIM ecosystem and provides access to on-demand translation portals for10 million customers per month. Over 1000 service professionalsdeliver consulting, implementation and language services through itsglobal infrastructure of more than 50 offices in 30 countries. Formore information, visit www.sdl.com. Copyright Business Wire 2007Related Shares:
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