Lessons Learned in Globalizing a Corporate Website

Web Marketing Team

August 2010Guillermo Corea Julio LealDirector Web Marketing Sr. Manager Localization

Convey information in the cultural, linguistic, and business context of Ciena’s targeted international audience

Expand the brand

Languages, other than English, experiencing a much faster rate of growth on the Web

Localized versions of Ciena.com will demonstrate Ciena’s commitment

Providing support to local offices

Why was a “truly” globalized website needed?

Competitor snapshot & overall findings

COUNTRIES

LANG MAIN NAV

TIER 1 SUB-NAV

PRODUCTS/ SOLUTIONS

COMPANY COMMUNITY FLASH/ VIDEO

COMPETITOR 1 82 36

COMPETITOR 2 65 19

COMPETITOR 3 13 11

COMPETITOR 4 24 8

Main navigation tends to be customized for global sites

Solution content is more heavily translated than product content

Sites tend to link to English for detailed product information

Translation of Flash/video/image content is inconsistent on sites that translate that type of content

Work with local/regional teams to determine key objectives and priorities

EMEA, APAC, and CALA have different priorities and needs. They know their markets so listen to them!

Regions sell different products in some cases

Regions market to different segments (Ex: in Ciena’s case, it could be government entities, MSO, mobile operators, service providers, etc)

Other priorities may exist

Identify priority languages/countries/sites

Where are you trying to grow your business?

Where can you create efficiencies for your sales, support, hr, etc., teams by expanding your web content?

Where do you have in-country support for your translations, reviews, and web maintenance?

Do the translation costs justify the potential new market and customers?

Is a localized web presence relevant in all your target countries?

Determine if you’re going with a country or language approach (e.g. ciena.com.mx or ciena.com/spanish)

Ciena follows a country approach

Ability to easily duplicate content across different domains

Swap out select content (contact info, event and news highlights, etc)

Example:

Launching separate sites for Mexico and Argentina, but from a CMS perspective, the same content is feeding both sites

Develop a domain strategy for new sites and identify the resources who can help implement it

What domains do you already own?

What domains can you obtain?

Who is in charge of purchasing your domains and managing your dns settings?

Do we want to support URLs in native characters (ie, Cirylic for Russian website)?

The Ciena Languages

Phase I

European French

German

Japanese

Brazilian Portuguese

Latam. Spanish

Russian

Phase II

European Spanish

Canadian French

Polish

Arabic

Korean

Italian

Resources employed by Ciena

“It takes a village…”

Web Content Manager

Sr. Manager Localization

Director of Web Marketing

Content reviewers

Web development agency

International search engine marketing vendor (TBD)

Translation agencies

Selecting translation vendors

Familiar with TMS

Able to accommodate to corporate rates

Experience and good references

Multilingual and multimedia capabilities

Translation test: Compulsory and optional material

Dedicated team

Selecting reviewers

Identify the different content types

Find a good balance between availability and quality

Use 1 or 2 reviewers per language maximum

Consider external reviewers as an extension of your company

Quality has a price. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys!

Think simple. The ideal reviewer might be closer than you think.

Select and implement a TMS; integrate with your CMS

Prior to TMS implementation, 11 country sites managed manually

Sites averaged 5 pages and it was a constant struggle to keep them updated with current or accurate information

The TMS needed to serve the Web team and the Translation team

It will serve as a corporate translation repository, not just for the Web

All teams will be able to levarage from each other

Approach

Hybrid model that creates a centrally-managed program that brings together corporate and in-country representatives from the outset

Website rollout plan

Goals for each country

Establish common metrics

Delivery timetables

Centralized content; Decentralized control

Standardization on Unicode

Local detection/selection system (ex: visitor from France get French)

Local specific style sheets

Technology

Clickability Global Brand Management + Globalization Management System

Automatic link between content management and content localization

TMS Implementation Issues

Major product launch during the implementation

Redirects and testing domains during development

Communication between vendors

Single-batch submission vs Multiple-batch submission

False expectations

User Experience

Global brand guidelines consistent in design and culturally sensitive

Ex: Templates that account for text expansion in Asian languages

Appropriate language selection framework

Allow users to select their preferred language

Unified global user experience

Global content model – different levels of content scope

Corporate – applies to all regions

Regional – specific to a region

Local – specific to a country

Content publishing plan

What will be published and where? (product/services offered in specific markets)

What will be localized? (value of localization for specific markets)

Content

Content production process

Who, how, by when/how often

International Search Engine Marketing

Social Media (Twitter, Facebook tabs, PR)

Content (con’t)

Content to keep in mind

Images

Flash

Videos (dubbing or subtitling)

Promo boxes

Taglines: ‘the network specialist’

Financial information and reports

Global Gateway

Ciena worldwide to change to worldwide + globe icon

Globe icon on upper right corner

Clicking on globe opens up a separate page

Gateway page divided by 3 regions (Americas, EMEA, & APAC)

Information will be displayed as follows:

Country – language (both in native language)

Example – Polska - Polski

Ordered by alphabetical order

Figure out where to start

Audit source content and map to regional priorities

Identify “universal” or “core” content that’s applicable across regions (corporate info, high level solutions info, etc)

Start with a group of “core” content

Begin making decisions about country-specific content deeper into the sites

Phase it in and stick to a schedule

Web globalization is a process, it can’t be done overnight

Phase it in by country, language or both…whatever makes the most sense in terms of objectives and resources

Create a schedule for each phase even if it’s an estimate

The schedule will shift, but try to stick to it as much as possible

Designate owners for all steps and processes

…And enjoy the ride!

Thank You

Guillermo Corea

Director Web Marketing

gcorea@ciena.com

@memocorea

Julio Leal

Sr. Manager Localization

jleal@ciena.com

@leal_julio