Steps to achieve Software Localization

Modern business and service providers are open to the global audience of several billion. But there is a barrier in the form of language, culture, and ethnicity between them. Here comes the role of localization. According to modern surveys, 71.4% of Fortune 500 companies today localize their software to reach a massive audience in the market. Why do they localize software? The simple answer to this is that approximately 72.1% of people spend time on the internet surfing in their native language.

Moreover, 52.6% of the population has a mindset that accepts information in the local language irrespective of price. Facts say that every dollar you invest in software localization returns you $25 as an outcome to your efforts. Now, the question here is how exactly is one to achieve software localization? Have a look at the following steps to get the answer:

1. Plan and research for localizing your software: 
Research is the key to software localization. Do not dive into foreign waters without knowing their depth. Estimate the cost of localization of your software and match it with your budget. Do not forget the ROI of better localization. Coming to the coding part of the software, always make sure that you leave extra space in your software. Make your original software flexible for localization into other languages. Avoid cutting corners when it comes to the content on your website. Keep an eye on the Content Delivery Network (CDN) of your software because site speed will contribute to your ranking and visibility on the search engine.

2. Choose your team for working on this task:
Build a rock-solid localization team for your software. Choose the professionals with correct sets of skills that include knowledge of the subject, slangs and local vocabulary of the target language as well as the source language. Include the translators with primary technical and computer language-related expertise in your team. Further, you will also need marketing advisors, responsible project manager, skilled technicians, etc. The best way to find a perfect team is to approach any professional translation company that provides localization services.

3. Decide the appropriate Translation Management software:
After selecting the team, have a look at your Translation Management Software (TMS). Perfect software will get your work done in a limited time. Automation is the primary purpose of such software. Choose a TMS with an inbuilt API that gives accurate and quick localization through automation.
Moreover, the TMS is a platform for collaboration of your team members as they can leave messages, tags, pictures, screenshots and share problems and progress related to the software localization over TMS. TMS also plays the role of project manager for you. Therefore, select the best TMS.

4. Get your software localized:
Now comes the actual work, i.e. localization of your software. Keep an eye on the preferences of the target audience and their local language as well as culture. Set proper codes for the local preferences while designing your software. This will make changing the dates and time, measurements, currencies, and number formats easier. Also, ask your programmer if they have added Unicode (UTF-8) to your entire software. This helps to provide a unique symbol to all the characters that can be applied to most languages throughout the world.

5. Plan and implement SEO strategies:
Your software ultimately serves your business marketing. And this statement describes the importance of SEO for your software. ASO (App Store Optimization) strategy is also essential in case you are planning for the app version of your software. Research about the best search engines as well as app stores and SEO & ASO strategies for these platforms. Ask your localization team to incorporate these strategies to get higher rankings and visibility on their SERP.

6. Quality Assurance:
Never miss this step at the end of this whole full-length process of localization. Test your software for localization and linguistics by hiring local testers who test your software entirely, right from vocabulary to SEO as well as ASO strategies. This step ensures that your localized software gives the best experience to the users. 

Takeaway
Software localization is a time-consuming process and requires a lot of brain-storming. But never think of missing the steps mentioned above when you are targeting the international market. It adds value to your firm and brings valuable customers to your business.

Get your software localized by one of the leading translation companies, Lingual Consultancy. We offer translation, transcription, software localization, website localization, etc in over 250 languages covering all the major Indian, Asian, European, Latin American and African Languages.