Translation Services and Software in the Cloud How LSPs Will Move to Cloud-Based Solutions By Donald A. DePalma and Benjamin B. Sargent
Translation in the Cloud By Donald A. DePalma and Benjamin B. Sargent Copyright 2013 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America. Published by: Common Sense Advisory, Inc. 100 Cambridgepark Drive Cambridge, MA 02140 USA +1.978.275.0500 info@commonsenseadvisory.com www.commonsenseadvisory.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Permission requests should be addressed to the Permissions Department, Common Sense Advisory, Inc., 100 Cambridgepark Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140, +1.978.275.0500, E-Mail: info@commonsenseadvisory.com. See www.commonsenseadvisory.com/en/citationpolicy.html for usage guidelines. Trademarks: Common Sense Advisory, Global Watchtower, Global DataSet, DataPoint, Globa Vista, Quick Take, and Technical Take are trademarks of Common Sense Advisory, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Information is based on the best available resources at the time of analysis. Opinions reflect the best judgment of Common Sense Advisory s analysts at the time, and are subject to change.
Translation Services and Software in the Cloud i Table of Contents Topic... 1 Previous Research on Cloud-Based Translation... 1 Findings... 2 What Translation in the Cloud Means in This Report... 2 Survey Methodology and Demographics... 3 Many Respondents Have Tried Translation Services in the Cloud... 4 Submitting, Retrieving, or Reviewing Translation Jobs Online... 5 Dealing with Money: Bidding, Invoicing, and Paying... 5 Respondents Execute Tasks on Cloud-Based Software... 7 The Basics: Translating, Editing, and Proofreading (TEP)... 7 Management: Overseeing Projects and Enabling Collaboration... 8 Business Intelligence: Monitoring Projects and Analyzing Data... 9 Computer-Aided Translation Software Moves to the Cloud... 11 Respondents Compare Cloud-Based and Installed Solutions... 12 The Survey Showed Preferences for What Respondents Want in the Cloud... 14 What s Keeping People Away from Translation in the Cloud... 15 Summary: What Buyers and Their Suppliers Are Doing in the Cloud... 17 Analysis... 18 Should Language Service Providers Move to the Cloud?... 18 Overcoming Objections to the Cloud... 18 The Cloud Addresses Operational, Collaborative, and Location Pains... 19 Most LSPs Will See Economic Benefit in Cloud-Based Solutions... 20 LSPs Will Shift Production and Transaction Logging to the Cloud... 21 Providers Will Find Translation Tools Migrating to the Cloud... 21 LSPs Must Offer Easy Access and Self-Service in the Cloud... 24 Cloud-Based Software Adoption Will Vary by LSP Type... 26 It s Time to Get on Board... 29 Implications... 31 About Common Sense Advisory... 32 Future Research... 32 Applied Research and Advisory Services... 32 Figures Figure 1: Adoption of Job Submission, Retrieval, and Review in the Cloud... 6 Figure 2: Uptake of Bidding, Invoicing, and Payment in the Cloud... 7 Figure 3: Translating, Editing, and Proofing on the Cloud... 8 Figure 4: Movement of Administrative Functions onto the Cloud... 9 Figure 5: Progress of Monitoring and Business Intelligence... 10 Figure 6: Use of Online Translation Tools... 12 Figure 7: Experience Using Translation Tools in the Cloud... 13 Figure 8: Feature Preferences for Translation Tools in the Cloud... 15 Figure 9: Current Users Face Obstacles to Increased Usage... 16 Figure 10: Some Issues Have Kept Other Users Away from the Cloud... 16 Copyright 2013 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.
ii Translation Services and Software in the Cloud Tables Table 1: Where LSPs Will See Benefits in the Cloud... 22 Table 2: How LSPs Approach Transactional Portals... 26 Table 3: How Different Types of LSPs Approach Technology... 28 Copyright 2013 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.
Translation Services and Software in the Cloud 1 Topic Have you ever shared a spreadsheet in Google Docs? Played your music from icloud? Or used Salesforce or LinkedIn to manage relationships? Then you ve used the cloud. In various forms it has been part of our business and personal lives for the last decade. Not surprisingly, translation tools and services have found their way to the cloud. While everyone talks about the cloud, we wanted to find out what they mean by it and who is doing what. Common Sense Advisory conducted a survey with 257 buyers and suppliers of language technology and services about their experiences with translation offerings that were not installed on their own computers or networks. In this report we share what they told us. In our survey, we defined the cloud very broadly. We included all kinds of offpremise solutions, ranging from hosted systems to software-as-a-service to private and public clouds to web-based portals at language service providers. This definition follows the general use of the term that we have observed in the language services sector. Our survey discovered that many buyers and suppliers have used cloud-based technologies to buy, perform, review, or manage translation. However, we also found that most respondents were not convinced that these systems are ready for prime time. The report includes three sections: 1) Findings, in which we outline the results of the survey; 2) Analysis in which we discuss what those results mean to language service providers considering software solutions in the cloud; and 3) the Implications, where we highlight the impact of the cloud. Previous Research on Cloud-Based Translation Common Sense Advisory has long studied the cloud in its various forms as a deployment alternative. We explored the evolution of cloud-based software, defined its characteristics, and outlined growth pains (see The New Vortex around TMS in the Cloud, Feb10; Translation Technology in the Cloud, Jun10; and Cloudy with a Chance of TMS Outage, Dec09, respectively). We reviewed the cloud in our typology of LSP types (see Tech-Savvy Language Service Providers, Aug10). Copyright 2013 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.