Economic and Design Issues as Seen on Google

The most consistent driver of the market over the last year has been the falling dollar. U.S. interest rates are generally regarded as the biggest factor that affects the greenback. When rates move higher, the dollar usually attracts interest whereas falling yields will cause investors to seek better returns elsewhere, say the market. As a result, when the U.S. dollar underperforms as it is these days, it pushes up commodity prices as well as stock prices. Speaking of rising stock prices, Google reported net income in the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to $1.64 billion, or $5.13 a share, from $1.29 billion, or $4.06 a share, in the same period last year. Net revenue rose to $4.38 billion from $4.04 billion. Shares of Google rose $21.10 to $551.01.

One outcome that often follows earning reports such as these is companies get back to the business of hiring people, which is really good news in the face of all the jobless recovery talk. Finding the right Googler, as Patrick Pichette puts it, is the priority, and it seems likely those jobs will include its Google Apps business, and mobile phone services which are areas receiving heavy investment.

The success of computer services companies like Google can often be tied back to an equation that includes the success of their UI/UE, and in this area Google is an interesting case study. UI/UE, when boiled down to its most granular level, can be defined as design and architecture. Everyone can imagine the Google home page; big logo, search box. Simplicity at its finest but not what would be considered a design masterpiece. Design was never the primary concern when developing the site. When Marissa Mayer, "keeper" of the Google homepage since 1998, mentioned to founder Sergey Brin that he might want to do something to spiff up the brand-new homepage for users, his response was almost poetically eloquent: "I don't do HTML."

The other night I took my seven year old daughter to a workshop at her school. Part of the evening was spent in the library where I saw a poster with the headline, “Don’t be a Googlehead”; Google is everywhere. The message was when it comes to research there are better options to find documented, more academic information for their projects. This makes sense, of course, because while their search algorithms receive a lot of attention, Google makes the vast majority of its sales from online advertising, a market that has struggled over the past year. But two important indicators of advertising market health improved: The number of paid clicks, which include clicks on ads served on Google sites and its partners, rose 4% from the previous quarter and 14% from the same period last year. This is the other part of that success equation; having a strong business model and being great at it.

Google seems to be heading in the right direction and are saying the worst of the recession is over and we’re hopeful we’re on a permanent road to recovery.

GlobalComm Strategists as Key Leaders and Innovators

After the Global Economic & Investment Forum I attended last week my mentor walked me out to my car. He is a retired bank CFO and was interested to know who I think the target audience of this blog is and what it is I want them to take away from it. Let me begin by saying that I was flattered to know that he was reading my blog. And secondly, he is not the first to wonder about this, sometimes I wonder myself.

The world we live in forces business leaders to deal with an enormous amount of demands; globalization, technology, the financial crisis, economic recession, downsizing and competition. But in the global communications industry, we sometimes find it hard to visualize the long term impact of these demands beyond what they mean to our own revenues each month. To ignore these demands is a very dangerous game to play, though, and in our ever-more competitive industry those of us who have a wider vision and adapt to shifting global trends will be the ones that not only survive but prosper.

One thing my mentor understands very well is we are in the middle of a seismic shift in the balance of economic power – a shift brought on in part by surging energy costs, huge budget and trade deficits in the U.S. and the redistribution of global wealth. One result is energy producing nations are taking their proceeds and becoming a main source of merger and acquisition activities and purchaser of goods and services.

Don’t believe me? Recently, Saudi Arabian Basic Industries completed the over $11 billion acquisition of one of our clients, GE’s Plastics division. It was at the time the largest ever acquisition of a U.S. company by a Middle Eastern company. We still enjoy a relationship with the new company SABIC Innovative Plastics and the success story of how they relied on our people, processes and innovation to help guide the cost effective delivery of the new brand in 12 languages and in record time is one I’ll save for another day.

In more recent news, Etihad, Abu Dhabi's flagship air carrier, stole the show at the Paris Air show this week by purchasing rights that, if exercised, would equal the largest engine order on record in commercial aviation at more than $14 billion. GE Aviation was one of the big winners inking $3.9 billion in orders from Etihad. I’ve had the pleasure of having many discussions with folks from GE Aviation who contend the international language of aviation is English; I wonder if this will change their minds?

Let’s imagine for a moment that it does and GE Aviation decides it wants to manage some portion of their global communications in a multi-lingual, multi-cultural way. Some of the decisions they would need to make would impact how they create, localize and deliver their content. To start with they would need to develop a strategy that considers classification and storage procedures, review processes to ensure regulatory and legal compliance and design standards that accommodate multiple languages. Additionally, they would need to develop best practices and vendor strategies for internationalization, translation, quality review and document compilation activities that address subject matter & language pair expertise, predictive capacity planning and pricing models. When it comes to distribution of the content, it is probably important for them to simplify how their people find and share information and multi-lingual content in a secure environment, perhaps customization and personalization is a priority and certainly they will want a delivery model that facilitates electronic and physical media. Finally, transaction accounting and metrics on activity will need to be considered.

And herein lies the disconnect for my mentor, and indeed many multi-national organizations; financially they understand the business case for ‘going global’ but what it takes to get there seems too daunting. They can’t believe that there is any way to organize the activities described above in a repeatable way to produce positive business outcomes. And even the promise of technology isn’t enough because technology is simply an accelerant to the process. And that is the problem; there is no secret recipe to the process. Each is unique and dependant on where organizations find themselves dealing with demands such as globalization, technology, the financial crisis, economic recession, downsizing and competition.

Our industry ought to be as aware of global economics as any other, but most get caught up in their own demands and become blind to the bigger picture. As the title of Marshall Goldsmith’s book tells us, what got you here won’t get you there. Business leaders aren’t looking for better ways to do the old job, they are looking for a vision that solves the demands they face today and the people, processes and innovation to take them there.

So what is it I hope readers take away from my blog? There is a huge opportunity for companies to drive growth with global communications - due to the unwinding of the world’s economic framework perhaps a bigger opportunity than ever. But as GlobalComm strategists we need to prove ourselves not just as business service providers, but also as key leaders and innovators of business development process – doing things faster, more efficiently and more cost effectively.

Economic BRIC Heavyweights

The BRIC countries, which represent the world’s major emerging markets, find themselves emerging as world economic heavyweights. They have benefitted from a combination of a talented low-cost workforce, good global economic conditions and favorable currency exchange rates to produce great products and services which are relatively inexpensive. The resulting economic growth has added wealth to these countries which make them attractive markets to sell products into. Brazil, in particular, has maintained a practical economic policy and tight controls over inflation and increasing foreign reserves to become an important global monetary player.

Today, the United States is in a very different fiscal position. Due to huge budget and trade deficits, it finds itself relying on uneasy foreign creditors who are starting to question an investment strategy of accumulating even more dollar assets. The resulting downfall of the dollar may be only a matter of time. So is it goodbye U.S. Dollar (USD), hello International Monetary Fund (IMF)?

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said Wednesday Latin America's largest country will offer $10 billion in financing to the IMF to help support credit availability for emerging market countries. The $10 Billion is less than 5% of Brazil’s foreign exchange reserves which is a relatively small amount of outstanding U.S. Treasuries. On the other hand, Russian foreign currency reserves, which represent the third largest reserves in the world, are up over $8 Billon to a total of $410 Billion. As much as a third, or $140 Billion, is held in U.S. bonds. The Russian central bank has announced some of that money may be moved to IMF bonds. Who would have thought 20 years ago that monetary decisions in Brazil of whether to invest in U.S. Treasuries would move the needle in the value of the USD? It is truly a brave new world.

What all of this indicates, I contend, is the growing importance of short and long term sales strategies that includes emerging markets. To win in emerging markets companies need to fundamentally rethink how they communicate. I recently met Don DePalma in Berlin and the back of his business card provides some pretty clear guidance. He has a quote from Willy Brandt, the former German Chancellor, which reads, “If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying from you, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen” (then you have to speak German).

Now, I don’t need to establish how smart Don is as he is the author of Business Without Borders: A Strategic Guide to Global Marketing and the Chief Research Officer for Common Sense Advisory. But this quote, on this card, handed out at a Localization Conference in Germany is the perfect example of what global marketing tries to achieve. Don has hit the trifecta here, found a message that is relevant to the subject, is personal to the country and is even multi-lingual. A quote from a German Chancellor speaking to the need for multi-lingual communications in order to conduct business in global markets; Brilliant!

A company who’s Marketing Communications successfully sells into global markets will face different challenges as they move to Operations Communications. These address service relationships and contractual obligations. I participated in a discussion last year focused on Brazil, who again in particular, has some of the most complicated regulatory and compliance requirements when it comes to conducting business in their country. So the strategy moves from a process able to deliver targeted, unique multi-cultural messages to a one that places a priority on consistent authoring practices, translation management and content reuse. Technology can help with all of these concerns.

These BRIC countries find themselves dealing with the realities of the new global economy and we can all learn from their experience. To take advantage of their new opportunities they are thinking differently than ever before. As global communication strategists we need to help our clients do the same. We need to think differently about how we develop growth strategies to take advantage of opportunities in emerging markets.

iPod Theory: Simplifying the Complex

Cool, like iPod cool or iPhone cool, has been a key to Apple’s continuance as the essential accessory. But there’s more to success than just being cool, and Apple understands this perhaps better than anyone. Their consumer-centric development model is at the center of what I call the iPod Theory; an innovation strategy of simplifying the complex.

A major part of my theory is the idea that process is more important than quality. And I’m not suggesting quality is not important, actually it’s critical, but where most companies are trying to develop products for today’s consumers, Apple is asking what the markets of the future are?

To illustrate, let’s take my dad for example, he was born in the 1930’s before the television was invented. And like most people his age he is still confused by the remote control for his TV. But you know what my dad can do? With no training whatsoever, he is able to collect, store and catalog music and movies on his computer using iTunes and sync them to his iPod with no trouble at all. What Apple has accomplished is taking a very complicated process to one that is deceptively simple. My dad can’t take a picture on his camera and email it. But he can download my mom’s favorite new movie to watch on her iPod while flying to see her grandkids; amazing.

So, Apple has created a whole new population of people, in this case those who aren’t computer savvy, and made an entire world of media available to them. They did this not by trying to improve the quality of the movies or music that already existed, rather they identified a constraint to the consumption of these movies and music and eliminated it – by simplifying the complex.

As global communication strategists our challenge is the same. The process by which communications are created, localized, deployed and measured is complicated. According to Common Sense Advisory, companies claim that 90% or more of their content should be managed in multiple languages; 20+ languages in the EU alone. Forrester Research, though, states only 10% of companies have a global content solution in place that protects brand identity, reuses content locally, and localizes content for regional audiences. That’s a whole lot of people who could use some help.

With all of the quality-driven solutions in the marketplace today, why do so few companies have a strategy in place that unifies these activities on one platform? I believe it’s because too many consultants are focused on the wrong things, instead of asking what the solution of the future is, like the iPod, they are trying to convince companies they have a better remote control. To bring about change, meaningful change, the fundamental approach needs to shift the focus from addressing one element of the global communications supply chain, say language translation, to a comprehensive business infrastructure that makes everything easier and delivers excellence and value along entire GlobalComm process – an innovation strategy of simplifying the complex.

Competitors will continue to challenge the iPod and iPhone on the cool front, but Apple has made a nice living understanding the value of co-innovation – another pillar of my iPod Theory we’ll leave for another day. But, because they have so successfully simplified the complex, my dad has developed a trust with Apple that will keep him happy and loyal. In that same way, global communications technologies will continue to develop, but our clients trust us to keep them up-to-date and help solve issues related to the entire GlobalComm value stream.

Localization World & The GlobalComm Lifecycle

Localization World is the conference for global business know-how, the heart of which is the latest information on trends, processes, technologies and influences that shape the world of localization. Traditional tracks at the conference include an introduction for companies that need to localize content, but are unsure where to begin and expertise for launching and maintaining a worldwide website.

This year, though, is different and Localization World which is being held in Berlin is introducing a new track for Global Business Best Practices. We are proud to have been selected, along with Mercer, to kick off the inaugural track with a discussion of how we have worked together to increase their speed of business; an experience that provides practical insights for anyone interested in venturing into or growing their presence in international markets.

Most people can identify immediately with language translations as an important part of a global communication strategy – so much so that many think global communications is synonymous with language translations. What Localization World aims to do with this new track is explore the other critical elements of a comprehensive global communications strategy that includes authoring, design and layout concerns, deployment methods and of course, localization.

This, in my opinion, is a significant move in the right direction for Localization World; one in which they shift from an inward view of issues facing the localization community to an outward look at the challenges facing enterprises. The goal is to begin to ponder the larger question of how do multi-national organizations shape global business models to create an independent and integrated supply chain that delivers value over the long term.

Steve Faigen, who played a major role in helping create the book, Creating Value Through People: Discussions with Talent Leaders, will represent Mercer at Localization World and discuss how they have begun to answer that question. By putting together a broad team within Mercer that includes Marketing, Knowledge Management, Design and in-field Consultants Mercer has done the heavy lifting required to reinvent their global communications supply chain. The early results show significant cycle time improvements, cost reductions and perhaps most importantly, a newfound ability to provide targeted multi-lingual custom documents to current and prospective clients.

Localization World has realized that to fully deliver on new opportunities presented by globalization, companies need help connecting all the elements of the global communication lifecycle. And we’re honored to have the first swing in Berlin.

GlobalComm Growth Strategies

If you’re like me you’ve been ignoring your 401(k) statement for quite a while now. During tough times like these often ignorance is bliss. But as growth strategists, we can’t ignore what’s going on in the economy if we want our clients to not only survive the current conditions, but thrive.

A recent presentation at a Global Economic & Investment Forum I attend looked to the past for insight into the future. One conclusion was the possibility of today’s market recovery resembling the times following the 1973-1974 recession. During that time interest rates were high and the fear of inflation led commodity prices and land values to shoot up. The aftermath of the spending for the Vietnam War and the Great Society, along with OPEC gaining strength weighed the economy down for years. Finally, in 1980-1981 Paul Volker broke inflation with sky-high rates and the U.S. Dollar rebounded. So, it wasn’t until a long 9 years later, in 1982 that the S&P 500 finally pushed above and remained above its pre-recession high from 1973.

We might see similar things this time around but current budget deficits and the global nature of the economy change the dynamics in a serious way. Nouriel Roubini, the thoughtful yet persistent bear of the past couple of years, has some thoughts that are provocative as opposed to the old news about banks that we’ve all heard. Roubini and Ken Roboff offer a more broad perspective on the impact of our actions to address the housing, corporate and financial crisis. Future inflation, government borrowing, taxes and the value of the dollar are somewhat easy to predict, but it is more challenging to contemplate how currencies, commodities and foreign markets will react in this environment.

How does all of this information help us position our clients for success? While the specific tactics for each need to be defined, the governing strategy seems clear:

First, if we expect a drag on growth in advanced economies such as the U.S. and EU, business leaders will look to emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil for expansion. For global communications this increases the importance of an infrastructure to quickly create, localize and deploy communications to new markets for product introductions.

Secondly, at a time when cash is king, the flexibility to capitalize on currency exchange rates will provide an advantage. I don’t know that I want to square off with a CFO in a discussion of fundamental factors that determine currency values. But I do think any CFO can embrace a strategy and platform that enables them to switch product and service providers anywhere in the world with little or no cost or downtime.

A recent conversation I had with a Sourcing Manager with one of our multi-national clients centered on this topic. One of the established products this company manufactured and serviced was gaining success in new areas of the world. Support documentation for the product was complicated, took a long time to produce and was expensive to localize for each new global market. One solution to lower the cost was to take advantage of technologies and services provided in a country where the exchange rate was more attractive than their current arrangement; effectively producing over 20% savings immediately with no other effort. The amazing part of this story is that the efficiency would be gained not by moving the work from the U.S. to India, but from Europe to the U.S. due to the relative weakness of the U.S. Dollar to the Euro. So, if we follow the money in this real-world example, a company looks to new markets for growth, in this case the Middle East, and benefits from low-cost providers in regions around the world (surprisingly in the U.S.).

So as we navigate our clients through these tough times it’s good to know we have options on the sales/growth side and the expense/cost side. My hope is today’s recovery doesn’t take 9 years. There’s no doubt that when it does recover, though, the world economy will look very different than it ever has. As global communications strategists we are at the center of it all of and our ideas help our clients thrive today and position them for continued success in the future.

Swim with the Swimmers, Bike with the Bikers and Run with the Runners

When I’m not solving the world’s global communication problems, I like to swim, bike and run. I have completed over 25 triathlons including two Ironman races. Please don’t think this means that I am particularly talented or fast at any of the activities. One of my best friends though, Andy Rumsey, is a gifted and accomplished triathlete. In 2007 he qualified for the Ironman Championship held annually in Kona, Hawaii which places him among the best endurance athletes in the world.

Triathletes have somewhat of a ‘jack-of-all-sports, master-of-none’ reputation. This is true because most train in a way that makes them adequate triathletes able to finish a race, but not great swimmers, bikers, or runners. Swimming for example is a highly technical activity. Great swimmers will devote years to training many times a week, year round doing specific drills and sets to develop their stroke. Triathletes like me are really only interested in being efficient enough to swim the race distance without exhausting ourselves before the bike and run portions. To battle this Andy employs a training tactic he calls, “swim with the swimmers, bike with the bikers and run with the runners”. By training with the best of each sport he sharpens his technique and speed; a strategy that makes him elite at each discipline.

This strategy works for global communications too, just replace swimming, biking and running with creating, localizing and deploying. Many companies today, whether it’s a marketing agency, language service provider or print vendor, are trying to be a jack-of-all-trades by providing products or services that are supposed to handle the entire global communication lifecycle. Agencies are being urged to elevate their game. The results, as you can imagine, aren’t championship level.

Multi-nationals, whether they know it yet or not, need to transform their business model to deliver excellence and value along the entire global communication supply-chain. The challenge they face is connecting all of the key stakeholders around the world to facilitate the type of collaboration I’m describing. To do that, they need process and technology experts that enable them to partner with companies great in each discipline. As Tom Friedman sums up nicely in The World is Flat: “We (society) are taking apart each task and sending it around to whomever can do it best”.

The organizations we work with who have jumped in the water are realizing amazing results: acceleration of cycle times, reduced costs, improved productivity and a level of localization in each market that is beyond their wildest expectations. The common triggering event for each of these companies was to change the way their global communication supply chain worked to let the partners they value do what they do best. Technology lets them do this.

Andy is having a great season again so far this year, has set a personal best in a half-Ironman distance race already, and if he keeps this pace will certainly qualify for Kona again. His experience is a valuable lesson. No matter what advances are made in technology, equipment and techniques, he is able to quickly and easily adopt them because his strategy enables him to compete with the best-of-the-best.