When Robert Pfremmer looks at the world, he sees the entire globe. In other words, when he thinks of production, distribution, or marketing, he sees globalization as just another business process. After all, to integrate domestic and global business, organizations need to implement processes and technologies to support global markets and deliver benefits to end users. Doing this outside of the home region or language simply means building processes and technologies that support successful output to the language and location. Simple shouldn’t be confused with easy.

The technical side has certainly become easier, though he admits the change management and human performance issues continue to derail the most technically sound projects. Pfremmer points to the recent strides made in globalization capabilities, and credits standards such as LISA’s OSCAR with easing large-scale implementations.

The localization industry has to deal with a number of standards, many of which are not directly translation-related but can affect the success of the project - for example, SCORM for learning objects, AICC for the aviation industry, and the EU’s IVD directive for medical devices. Despite this additional layer of complexity, Pfremmer sees standards as a necessary aspect of content structuring content for deriving the business value needed. Pfremmer’s LISA article, Standards: Signposts Along the Way, elaborates on these issues.

At Documentation and Training West, Pfremmer will present Velocity Translation Portal: On-Demand Localization Marketplace for a Global Community.