Customers: Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software
Faster process keeps pace with innovation at Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software
Tek cuts multi-language localization process from months to weeksThe Client
Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software is a leading provider of customer communications management technology. Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software solutions span the customer relationship lifecycle, from database to delivery, enabling businesses to better connect with their customers, prospects and partners. More than 3,000 organizations around the world rely on Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software for customer communications management.
The Challenge
Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software is committed to bringing innovative tools to its users by continually enhancing its software capabilities. Until recently, Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software launched one major release of its flagship DOC1 software suite each year. But in 2006, the company decided to accelerate the flow of product enhancements by updating DOC1 on a more regular basis.
Launching incremental "Early Availability" releases would not only speed integration of new features, it would also enable the company to get customer feedback on new functionality prior to major releases.
- The primary barrier to this faster release schedule was the
three-month localization process required for each update,
which involved:
- Multi-language localization into French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, International Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean
- Managing 570 resource files for each language, requiring a lengthy processing and evaluation phase
- A time-consuming testing and regression cycle, during which hundreds of resource files had to be transferred back to Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software for each application build
"We needed to find a way to streamline the existing localization process to accommodate more frequent software product releases. Tek were very responsive and helpful in adapting the process to meet our specific needs." DOC1 Product Manager, Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software
The Solution
- Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software turned to Tek Translation for guidance in adapting its localization processes to the Early
Availability release cycle. Tek recommended:
- Turning over control of all building, testing, fixing and bug-regression cycles to the Tek team. This would save time by eliminating the shuttling of resources back and forth between Tek and Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software for build compilation.
- Converting to a binary file environment in which .dll files
could be received for translation, review and validation
and then loaded into the software build environment.
This change would generate efficiencies by:
- Reducing file management costs and errors, limiting file handling to just 46 files per language vs. 570
- Accelerating turnarounds, with .dll files requiring less manipulation within the translation environment
- Ensuring more accurate translations prior to the testing phase, because translators would be able to perform their tasks in a more realistic display context
- By consolidating the software localization process - including builds - and converting to a more streamlined binary file environment, Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software was able to:
- Slash the localization cycle from three months to three weeks.
- Eliminate Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software internal costs of compiling each language build.
- Reduce file management costs by limiting the number of resource files.
