LISA: How to get Management Buy-in for Strong Localization Support

Heike Caldwell, Localization Manager, Rockwell Automation. How to get Management Buy-in for Strong Localization Support.

• apply Lean Enterprise principles (is this like Lean Manufacturing)
• (she’s reading right off the slides).
• Use simple language, expect a lot of questions.
• Why not only use English, because your competitors are doing it.
• Rockwell only has a site in English. Globalization in progress.
• Holistic approach. Taking into account business, region, subjects (not labeled on the slide) in a single process.
• (I’m thinking of starting a fire to warm myself. I guess they are scared people are going to fall asleep.)
• LEAN Enterprise, one step below 6 Sigma (look this up).
• (It’s a challenge to figure out how to scale down some of their solutions for RS).
• % of overall sales vs. cost of localization: less than 1%.

(so far the focus seems to be on technical products manuals, technical product marketing. I’m very unsure these approaches apply to an educational product like RS.)

• “we give these vendors so much business that the pricing went down”

(One guys asking a question was from the World Bank, another from the European Commission)

(Who is our localization Czar?)

• The presenter is the only one doing localization full time at Rockwell.

(oh look, some guy in jeans. at this point I’d rather have a parka).