A couple of weeks ago Author-it announced a new partnership with Lionbridge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIOX) the world’s leading translation and localization service provider.

The same week I attended the Localization World conference in Santa Clara, CA and had the opportunity to speak with many clients, partners, and analysts about the partnership. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

While many can see the huge advantages in Author-it working together with Lionbridge to optimize the localization process for common clients, it was less clear what value this partnership would bring to the market at large.

For those of you familiar with the localization marketplace and technology, it has been clear for some time that the efficiencies realized by Translation Memory technologies, which were considerable, are now reaching their limits. In these lean times, organizations are now looking for the next leap in efficiency.

Some think this will come from managing and automating the localization workflow. I am convinced that while this may provide some improvements, they will not be significant, and will be largely due to the inefficient way in which people currently create and manage the source content.

I believe real efficiencies come from looking upstream to the point of content creation. The objective here should be to improve the consistency and reuse of content. This focus reduces the number of words requiring translation with obvious downstream savings in localization costs. The Nirvana in this process is achieved by fully integrating the authoring and translation process into a seamless end-to-end solution. By doing this, we eliminate the need for a separate localization workflow and automate the publishing process, thereby eliminating costly post translation Desktop Publishing.

We regularly see our clients exceed 70% content reuse across their publications, which corresponds directly to the word count needing translation. Just last week I read a presentation from HP where they have achieved 82-90% reuse on their various User Guides for Enterprise Servers using Author-it. Not only do they get the reduction on translation cost, but similar reductions in internal review cycles, and the virtual elimination of DTP, which in many cases represent 30-40% of the entire localization budget. These are significant savings!
So you may be asking now, why would Lionbridge want to partner with Author-it if doing so will reduce the cost of localization so significantly?

Firstly, localization is a competitive market as I am sure you all know – driven by positioning from SDL, organizations are being bombarded with ‘competitive opportunities’ to significantly reduce their overall expenditure.  Players like Moravia and TDC are jumping on the pursuit with strategic partnerships and acquisitions of efficiency producing technology.  Localization is changing fast for better or worse.  Creating intelligent long term alliances with ‘best practice’ solutions like Author-it allows Lionbridge to re-establish market leadership and better compete against the combined solutions of the top 10 localization vendors.

Secondly, the larger reality is that even with significant process efficiency, companies generally do not reduce their spend on localization. Instead, they get more value and more content at the same cost. This means expansion into new markets or localization of more products.  Indeed the localization industry has seen almost 50% growth over the last five years in spite of productivity tools like XML, Translation Memory and Machine Translation technologies reducing bottomline costs.  The business reality is there is just too much content to translate – finding more efficient ways to address this problem opens the translation flood gates.  While a ‘type of work’ shift occurs, it seldomly results in a net loss of revenue.

What the partnership does create for both companies is the visible thought and solution leadership that separates us from the competition, which shows our joint clients that we are innovative and can produce an industry beating efficiency for the complete end-to-end global content cycle.

I am extremely excited about taking our partnership forward, about out-performing our joint competition and about engaging our clients together with a solution offering such significant and compelling ROI.
Feel free to leave me your comments or questions.

Paul Trotter
Founder and CEO
Author-it Software Corporation

Posted by Paul Trotter, Founder and CEO, Author-it Software Corporation

One of the most striking issues facing our clients is how to extend Author-it’s collaboration further across their organisation.

The ubiquity of Word, PDF and email means these tools are a familiar, and therefore de facto, method to share and check content everywhere, but they offer poor methods for groups to collaborate.  I know Word and PDF both have review and collaboration features and I’ve seen some brave efforts to actually make these functions work.

After all, the thinking goes, if Word and Adobe Reader are on every desktop it’s easy to distribute a file and allow 50 people to comment directly in the document.

But this doesn’t scale - it’s a simple as that.  No matter how sophisticated your SharePoint system, or the forceful personality of your project manager, amalgamating and approving the comments from more than a few people is an arduous and error-prone task for the people responsible for managing the review process.  There’s either the comments from 50 people in one document (not pretty), or 50 documents with comments from one person.

So how to solve the problem? How to continue using a document distribution method that everyone is comfortable with, but keep the granular control and consistency that Author-it provides.  All without making the review process more difficult or timeconsuming.

We decided the best way to achieve these goals was to start where people are familiar (Word and PDF) and use this document as an entry point to Author-it.  That is, automatically create links to the relevant Author-it content directly within the Word or PDF file.

When a reviewer wants make changes or suggestions to any part of the document they simply click the link next to that section.  This opens the relevant Topic in Author-it for the reviewer to begin making changes immediately.

Because the review is now taking place directly in the original content source, all of the standard Author-it content controls, workflow, reuse, and release functionality applies.

The Word or PDF file no longer become the platform for collaboration, a task neither perform well.  Instead the Word and PDF file remain what they should be, a distribution and publication format, now with added benefit of linking directly to the original (controlled) source with proper collaboration.

As per I’ve created a short video http://www.author-it.com/videos/collaboration/Collaboration%20Plus_demo.swf to outline workflow and a few business cases.  Please check and let me know what you think.  This functionality will be freely available to all Author-it users but requires some scripting skill to configure for your own domain and database details.

(Just a summary for people unfamiliar with Author-it - software licencing is concurrent.  This means the Windows software can be installed on any number of PCs (the web version, obviously, doesn’t need installing on any user’s computer).  The software is smart enough to know who you are and configure functionality appropriately.  That is, no separate ‘review’ or ‘lite’ copies are required - if you are a reviewer the ‘advanced Author-it functions’ are automatically switched once you have logged in.)

Posted by Matt Armstrong, Sales Director, Asia Pacific, Author-it Software Corporation

Cross the Solent to the Isle of Wight and you may feel as if you have stepped back in time! The Isle of Wight is one of the best kept secrets in the UK when it comes to areas of outstanding natural beauty. If you like sailing, walking and cycling as much as we do then the Isle of Wight is definitely one to put on your list of places to visit. I also have it on good authority that the golf is pretty good too, but I haven’t been bitten by that particular bug just yet!

Martin and I have fallen so much in love with the Island that last summer we bought a property in Cowes, gave it a complete make over and we are now letting it out for sailing regattas and family holidays. For more information have a look at our Regatta Cottage website (created using Author-it of course!).

Posted by Amanda Caley, Director, Content Chameleon, Author-it Certified Consultant”

With a background in education I’ve been interested in a number of blogs and articles that have come up over the past few months regarding ‘open source collaboration’ for instructional material.  Anyone who has used a wiki knows the general idea: ubiquitous, collaborative authoring by motivated experts un-encumbered by geographic location or commercial constraints.  In some areas, though, a wiki is a very poor choice.  Its egalitarian nature, informality and generally more limited formatting becomes the other edge of the sword.  The ‘heat/light’ ratio changes and users lose confidence in the quality of information.
Beyond the hype of open source (Free software!  No vendors!) lies the real beauty – altruism and belief that information should be shared.  There are some amazing projects by universities to enable professors and industry experts to collaborate on curricula for a wide range of disciplines, from electrical engineering through to agriculture husbandry.  A baseline of material was provided and users can contribute, extend and filter to meet their needs.  Schools and universities are then free to incorporate this curricula into their own programmes.
Here at Author-it we have a large community of intelligent users that have taken the core Author-it software and solved some very complex problems.  We get to hear about it but the information often stays locked inside peoples’ heads or drifts around the user community as anecdotes and rumour.  So, in keeping with the spirit of open source we have made the (very purple) ‘Using Author-it’ guide available as an open source project.  Our own product Author-it Live provides the ubiquitous, collaborative authoring interface via a standard web browser, to anyone, anywhere.  With our long experience in the documentation and publishing industry we believe quality and accuracy are critical and shouldn’t be sacrificed just to get web-based collaboration.  Author-it Live’s controlled workflow ensures that all articles go through peer-review before being made ‘live’.
At this early stage a small group of users will be contributing articles, and this community will grow.  The evolving ‘Using Author-it’ guide will be made available online, and for the old school ‘curl up on the couch with a cup of tea’ people, a regular update to the hard copy will be found on Amazon. (update - the ‘Using Author-it’ guide has sold out already, sorry.  More copies on their way to Amazon’s warehouse early next week)

I’d be interested in feedback from readers about the strengths, weaknesses, joys and disappointments of your own open collaborative efforts…
Posted by Matt Armstrong, Sales Director Asia Pacific, Author-it Software Corporation

Are you interested in looking at the exhibitors at the upcoming WritersUA event at the Westin Seattle but haven’t registered for the event?

Did you know you can get Complimentary Admission for the Exhibition at the Conference for Software User Assistance  on Tuesday, March 31st from 3:45-5:15 pm however you must RSVP by 5:00 pm Friday 20th March. Details are:

Send an email to Shannonm@WritersUA.com with a Subject line of Exhibition. Include your name in the message body. You will receive an email confirmation or call them on 206 774 9294

And make sure you stop by the Author-it booth to say hi to the team!

Posted By Kathy Howes, Marketing Manager, Author-it Software Corporation

A really effective way of managing your review comments in Author-it is to create a number of standard review topics, using your usual ‘review’ style. These standard review topics should containing the questions that you are always asking of your reviewers and notes to yourself or other authors in your team. For example:

Please can you provide more information.
Is this correct?
Insert a screenshot here.

So that you can easily search for these topics the titles should have a prefix, for example RT: or if you work with a team of authors then you may want to prefix with your initials. For example:

AC: Please can you provide more information.
JH: Please can you provide more information.

When required these review topics can be inserted as an embedded topic.
Posted By Amanda Caley, Director, Content Chameleon, Author-it Certified Consultant

While we watch the unemployment rate surge, I think we also need to spare a thought for those who are ‘fortunate’ to keep their jobs. In many cases not only are they being asked to accept reduced hours and pay but also to work harder, produce greater results, find cost savings and most importantly generate additional revenue.

But with reduced resources and budget constraints how do you meet these challenges?

Over the past few months we have been addressing this very question with our clients and it has made us think really hard about the ways in which we can help. Over a decade in the market has given us the confidence and experience to know that we can literally double writer productivity, half costs and improve sales efficiency where Author-it is used for sales proposal management. It’s very satisfying to know that these kind of improvements make a large difference in a recessionary market. But having said all of that; even with real ROI evidence, it can be challenging to get budget approval where executive mandates demand large scale cuts.

To meet this challenge head on, we’ve developed two ‘Stimulus’ packages, the Author-it Enterprise Pack and the Author-it Starter Pack. These packages bundle software licenses, support/upgrades and implementation services, including training. They are designed to get companies up and running quickly so that you can start delivering ROI almost immediately. By bundling, we’ve been able to deliver a substantial discount and we are also offering payment plans and subscription pricing options to assist in driving an Author-it initiative through budget approval.

We believe these packages deliver exceptional value and will support your strategies for productivity, cost cutting and sales efficiency. Take a look at the packages here, let us know what you think.

Best,
Steve

Posted by Steve Davis, President, Author-it Software Corporation

Hello, I’m Kendra Carter, an Author-it consultant and trainer here at Author-it Software Corporation. I’ve been an Author-it user for the past nine years now, and I have to say, I am so proud to see how the product continues to grow and expand its content reuse and single sourcing strategies. With the release of 5.2 and structured authoring, clearly Author-it continues to keep up with what’s next in the content management industry.
Speaking of keeping up, how are your Author-it skills? Would you like to learn more about using Author-it . . . for free?!
Attend a free Author-it training at DocTrain West! We’re offering a one-day Author-it basic training post-conference, Friday, March 20, 2009 from 8:30-5:00. This two-part training begins with basic authoring techniques and single-source strategies that make Author-it the leading product for content reuse; it concludes with training on our new, highly anticipated structured authoring option. We’ll talk about best practices for implementing structured authoring on Author-it content. We’ll first put our designer hat on and look at implementing structured templates using the new Author-it Structure Builder. We’ll discuss how to write rules and how to give authors helpful examples and tips on following the rules. Then, we’ll put our author hat on and learn how to create content based on structure rules and what steps to take to verify that content “validates” against these rules. Existing Author-it users—in case you’re wondering, you can impose structure on previously structured content! We’ll talk about how you can implement structured authoring on existing content and helpful tips for doing so.
This training would also be helpful for any existing v4 customers who are wondering whether they should upgrade to Autohr-it 5. You’ll get to see the new interface and it’s many features.
I promise you won’t need to know much about using Author-it before training. Just sit back and watch as I explain and demo basic Author-it functionality. Take the complimentary student materials and exercises home with you to try on your own time. And, feel free to ask any product-related questions as we go.
So, join me for our DocTrain West post-conference training. Be sure to bring your laptop if you would like to follow along. Here’s some more information on the session.
Hope to see you there!
Posted by Kendra Carter, Author-it Senior Consultant, Author-it Software Corporation, kcarter@author-it.com

It has been an interesting start to 2009. It is clear that the financial crisis continues and the world awaits the outcome of President Obama’s stimulus package to see how this will affect the US and global markets. As many commentators have hypothesized; while access to credit is a real issue, it is the consumer coal face where change will start. Changes in consumer spending flow through the entire business ecosystem from B2C through to the B2B sector.

So in a market such as this, how do you drive forward?

I think the answer to this question lies in how businesses are affected and are subsequently seeking to deal with the crisis. The effects are first felt in a reduction in sales revenues. This is a natural market reaction to a crisis – ‘hunker down’ mentality. This leads to additional emphasis on sales execution and a review of costs.

At Author-it we have been heavily focused on these issues in our client and prospect discussions. That is; how can Author-it help our clients with sales execution and how can we cut their costs? Obviously there is an investment to be made in purchasing and implementing Author-it, so we have been ruthless in presenting our case for real dollar cost savings above other gains. Here’s some scenarios to illustrate this point:

Issue: Authoring teams (of all persuasions) are under significant pressure. Teams are being asked to do more with less people and still expected to complete projects on time.
Solution: Author-it allows 40% + gains in authoring efficiency through advanced reuse, single sourcing and multi-output publishing. More output from less.

Issue: Authoring teams are becoming a distributed mix of permanent employees and contractors. This makes collaboration, authoring, edit review and approval very difficult.
Solution: Author-it Live allows web based, ‘anywhere, anytime access’ to content for authoring, review and publishing. Huge time and efficiency gains.

Issue: Localization budgets are under pressure but there is still a requirement to sell in global markets and therefore deliver localized content.
Solution: Author-it Localization Manager can cut localization costs by more than 50%. This is a real cash saving.

Issue: Sales teams need to produce more revenue. This means more sales proposals and therefore more administrative load.
Solution: A number of clients (and us of course) use Author-it to generate custom sales proposals at a small fraction of the time and effort required using traditional methods. This means better quality, compliant proposals and an increased chance of sales success.

Issue: Authoring applications are siloed meaning it is difficult or impossible to leverage content assets across an enterprise.
Solution: Author-it is an enterprise authoring and content management application. Its ease of use and intuitive UI means it can be used by all business units allowing content to be shared and reused throughout an enterprise. Huge efficiency gains across the enterprise.

The above scenarios focus on addressing the core issues many companies are experiencing right now that is how to; cut costs and increase revenue. I believe it is by focussing on ROI and these key areas that both software purchasers and vendors can come together and mutually work through the worst effects of the current market.

Posted by Steve Davis, President, Author-it Software Corporation

If so, there are a few presenters at the Peer Showcase who will cover Author-it topics that you should check out. Char James-Tanny, who has over 25 years experience as a technical writer and is an Author-it Certified Consultant, will be presenting  “Using Author-it Xtend to analyse content reuse across product families“.

Rhonda Bracey is also an Author-it Certified Consultant, and Rhonda will be presenting on Monday at the General Sesssions. Rhonda’s topic will be Techniques For Reviewing a User Interface.

Sue Heim, a technical writer for over 20 years and a long time Author-it user, is presenting “Using Author-it Xtend and Localization Manager to reduce costs“.

And also Mary Connor, will be presenting “Integrating Flash-based Simulations/Tutorials into Web-based Help Using Single-sourced Content from an Author-it Library”

In the Emerging Skills section, Charlene Kingston Crow, a long time Author-it client will be presenting “Using Microsharing Tools Like Twitter to Build Better UA” which is topical for a lot of people right now. The Author-it team will of course be there so make sure  you stop by to say hello at Booth 10 and see demonstrations of the latest Author-it release 5.2 and products. BTW, if you haven’t yet registered for WritersUA you can still do so via their website and you can browse the full agenda online.

Posted by Kathy Howes,Author-it Marketing Manager, Author-it Software Corporation