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Power of partnerships
- 1. Vendor Management The Powerof Partnership Bob Donaldson Carson Strategy Group ALC Annual Meeting, Boston, May 2013
- 2. @ALC_US #ALCconf Most organizations willshrink or disappear in the long term; only a third of excellent companies remain excellent for decades, as economic, political, social, and technological change continue to accelerate, and competitive pressure grows more intense. Scott Keller & Colin Price December, 2011
- 3. @ALC_US #ALCconf Industry Trends • Transitionfrom “Project Orientation” to “Content Stream” orientation • Increasing integration of MT at all levels • Increasing emphasis on velocity rather than price or quality • Increasing reliance on global SLV partners rather than freelancers? • Where is the Business Model Innovation?
- 4. @ALC_US #ALCconf Tyranny of theUrgent Promise of Technology + Explosion of Volume = Customer Expectations
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- 6. @ALC_US #ALCconf Where is theOpportunity?
- 7. Trans -lator Edit & QA PM/VM TechnologyFixes Everything Integrated TMS,TEnT& VMS Trans- lator Edit & QA Collaboration Platform Vendor Portal Customer Portal PM/VM
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- 9. @ALC_US #ALCconf Technology Dialectic (Proposed) •Process emerges from chaos – Limited by existing technology • Technology emerges from need – Informed by process “pain points” • Resistance to change emerges from fear – Entrenched role in old processes • New process emerges as fear is overcome – True innovation is a form of change management
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- 11. Avenues of Innovation Volume Value MT/PE $Community Raw MT V T Technology Promises: • Workflow Automation • Machine Translation • Open Markets • Virtual Teams • Community Translation
- 12. @ALC_US #ALCconf Technology Dialectic(Alternate) • Processemerges from chaos – Limited by existing technology • Technology emerges from need – Informed by process “pain points” • Resistance to change emerges from fear – Entrenched role in old processes • Technology is forced to conform to old process – True benefits of innovation are never realized
- 13. @ALC_US #ALCconf Example: Overhead (50%+ 10%) • Redundant layers of “project management” – Client, MLV, SLV • Redundant layers of quality assurance – Client, MLV, SLV, Translator • Most “innovation” ignores this redundancy • Technology provides two competing options: – Centralize platform and use freelancers only – Reinvent processes and leverage SLVs
- 14. @ALC_US #ALCconf Freelancers: Business asUsual • Average of almost 300 needed – How many per language? – How to evaluate? – How to manage capacity? – How to manage quality? – How to manage tools & training? – How to manage task assignment (at volume) • Lower cost often cited as rationale, but … – Common current practices do not scale
- 15. @ALC_US #ALCconf Partnership: Breaking theModel • SLV aggregates demand – Eliminates MLV capacity management problem • SLV manages freelancers – Recruitment, Evaluation, Training, etc. – Reduces MLV vendor management effort • MLV manages client – Understanding the value – Understanding the expectations • But what about quality? … and COST?
- 16. @ALC_US #ALCconf Aligning Cost &Value • Automation (Reduces cost) – File management & preparation – Leveraging of linguistic resources • Delegation (Shifts cost to SLV) – Project management – Translator assignment – Quality assurance* • Verification (Builds trust) – Service level agreements – Quality control *
- 17. @ALC_US #ALCconf Power of Partnership •Frees MLV to focus on delivering client value – Innovative service offerings – Value pricing – Assumption of risk – Upstream services • Frees SLV to focus on core competency – Quality, Capacity, Evaluation, Tools, Training, etc.
- 18. @ALC_US #ALCconf Keys to Success •Focus on value – What value does MLV deliver to end client? – What value does SLV deliver to MLV? – How can the value be described and verified? • Relationships built on trust – How does the MLV earn the client’s trust? – How does the SLV earn the MLV’s trust? – What does “Trust but Verify” mean in this context? • Division of labor – How can duplication of effort be eliminated?
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