1. Top 5 Trends
In Global Web Operations
WHITE PAPER
© 2011 Lionbridge

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BACKGROUND
Lionbridge and Gatepoint Research invited 973 selected executives with
responsibility for global web operations to participate in a survey designed to
identify key trends in operational web practices. Respondents were heavily
weighted toward large organizations, with 82% coming from the Fortune 1000.
63% of the respondents were Director level and above, and 36% were VP level or
higher. The survey covered the people, process and technology components of
operational web practices.
Why You Should Read This
++ Understand the top 5 trends impacting global web operations
++ See how your company compares to others
++ Influence strategic and budgetary decision-making
Who Should Read This
++ CIOs, CMOs
++ VPs of Global Web Operations
++ Marketing VPs responsible for global digital product or corporate campaigns
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Definition: Global Web Operations
Trend #1: Increasing Number of Languages
Trend #2: Increasing Focus on Cycle Time Reduction
Trend #3: Moving to a Single, Global Web Content Management Platform
Trend #4: Growing Complexity of Global vs. Local
Trend #5: Increasing Budgets
Summary
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DEFINITION: GLOBAL WEB OPERATIONS
There are a number of different terms companies use to describe the operational
activities involved in preparing and publishing digital content for global markets.
We define Global Web Operations as all of the activities involved in localizing,
instrumenting, optimizing and publishing content, assets, and pages on global
digital platforms.
We include all of these elements in the definition because, in an operational context,
they are highly intertwined and iterative. They are also components in an inherently
common process. If you are not familiar with all of the terms used, here is a quick
description:
++ Localizing – translating or trans-creating text and audio, selecting appropriate
images for each market, and deconstructing source content from various formats
++ Instrumenting – applying appropriate tracking tags and codes to ads and
landing pages to track a campaign’s performance
++ Optimizing – using search engine marketing to optimize content for targeted
keywords and track rankings and engagement so people can find and interact
with your content
++ Digital platforms – company controlled websites PLUS partner sites, social
networks, mobile apps, email providers, display ad platforms, search platforms, etc.
TREND #1: INCREASING NUMBER OF LANGUAGES
Most economies in the developed world are growing at extremely slow rates,
causing companies across industries to focus on global markets for revenue
growth. Even retailers that have traditionally been focused on their home countries
are aggressively expanding into new markets. The impact on global web operations
is the need to add new languages increase processes in an environment of six or
more languages. The chart below provides a snapshot of the number of languages
our surveyed companies support today, with 43% already at that level and 6% in
the 20+ languages.
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Distribution of Survey Respondents by # of Supported Languages

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TREND #2: INCREASING FOCUS
ON CYCLE TIME REDUCTION
We found a large variance in cycle time performance in our survey (see histogram of
company performance below). We define cycle time as follows:
++ Begin – Source content and assets are received from Marketing or an Agency
to begin the localization and production process
++ End – All localized content and assets are in production
The distribution is roughly bimodal with high performing companies centered
around two weeks, and slower performing companies requiring two months to fully
complete a cycle. From a marketer’s perspective, two months is an eternity.
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We dove deeper into those companies performing at the two month mark, and their
responses made it clear they know they need to address it. They scored “increase
speed to market of global content” as their #1 pain point with a score of 4.1/5, with
5 being “critically important.” Marketing will push harder and harder to reduce cycle
time as it faces increasing pressure to perform in digital channels.
Cycle Time Distribution
Avg. Cycle Time in Days
%ofCompanies

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TREND #3: MOVING TO A SINGLE, GLOBAL WEB
CONTENT MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
Most large organizations are dealing with a hodge podge of legacy web content
management (WCM) systems that can vary by division, by country, and by
language. The WCM space has matured to the point where organizations should
standardize on a single global platform to streamline the execution of global
campaigns and minimize IT operational and maintenance expense. Our survey
found that roughly 34% of companies are in the midst of a global WCM platform
decision or deployment over the next year or so.
TREND #4: GROWING COMPLEXITY
OF GLOBAL VS. LOCAL
Corporate Marketing wants to ensure a consistent global brand message, while
each local marketing operation strives to adapt Corporate’s campaigns to maximize
its own results. The Global Web Operations team often finds itself thrown in the
middle between global consistency and local optimization, and the pain it causes
is clear in our survey. These objectives ranked #1 and #2 among our survey
respondents. (You can see the other top responses below.)
Indeed, nearly all of the shifts happening in consumer behavior will only make this
challenge worse (mobile, social, user generated content, SEO, etc.).
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TREND #5: INCREASING BUDGETS
Most organizations are increasing their investment in global web operations to
support the demand to grow global revenue through increased digital marketing
activity and performance. New digital channels (e.g., social, mobile), increased rich
media demands, shorter cycle times, and increased competition drive the need for
process and technology investments. 77% of our surveyed companies are making
this increased investment, with many increasing it by 30% or more. Given that the
core drivers for increasing these budgets are slowing developed world economies
and the shift to digital marketing, we see material budget increases continuing for
global web operations for the foreseeable future.
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SUMMARY
These five trends in global web operations reflect the high level findings from
our survey. Many companies have already requested a private conversation to
benchmark how their company compares to their peers, so we have developed a
Global Digital Benchmark service for that purpose. Please reach out to us at
www.lionbridge.com/moreinfo if you are interested in learning more.
ABOUT LIONBRIDGE
Lionbridge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIOX) is a leading provider of product
development, testing, and globalization services. Lionbridge combines global
resources with proven program management methodologies to serve as an
outsource partner throughout a client’s product and content lifecycle. Organizations
in all industries rely on Lionbridge services to increase international market share,
speed adoption of global products and content, and enhance their return on
enterprise applications and IT system investments. Based in Waltham, Mass.,
Lionbridge operates across 26 countries, including India, China, and Poland, and
provides services under the Lionbridge and VeriTest® brands.
Corporate Headquarters
Lionbridge
1050 Winter Street
Waltham, MA 02451 USA
www.lionbridge.com
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