Forem: Bojana Vojnović

Software localization: full guide

Bojana Vojnović — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 11:09:32 +0000

The software will work fine for everyone when the user interface is in English. This is one of the biggest misconceptions we've normalized with globalization.

Anglo-centrism became a golden standard in the tech industry during its development. But we're witnessing the rise of localization.

The Tech industry is developing at high speed in markets all over the world. The digitalization of all industries in almost every country is following, with more than 80% of businesses having running strategies to become digital-first businesses.

However, understanding the user interface in a foreign language is easy for everyone.

A language is not the only thing that needs to be adapted in software- otherwise, you'd need a simple software translation.

Why is software localization important?

Not everyone masters English. Not everyone is fond of using this language either.

Let's think about the following example.

Your target customers are accountants in a country where English is not a native or working language. They're working with domestic companies only.

On this occasion, it's highly probable accountants won't have a high level of English language.

If you want your CRM for accountants to get adopted, you'll need to have a user interface in the accountants' native language.

An additional obstacle to software adoption in non-tech niches is low digital literacy among workers.

In the EU, just 54% of the population that's fit to work have basic digital skills, while in LATAM countries, more than 60% of the population is without it.

Considering all this, it's not shocking to hear that 70% of buyers prefer to buy a product or service that offers all information about it in their native language.

So when you're entering a new market, consider cultural preferences and context.

Some may be fine with English. Yet, most will need not only the user interface in their mother tongue but also documentation and training sessions.

What exactly is a software localization

Software localization is a process of adaptation of the software to the new local market. This localization process takes into consideration linguistics, cultural and market context.

If needed, sometimes certain features can be created for a specific market.

The software localization process includes:

☞ translation of all text inside the user interface and

☞ adaptation of design if needed.

Software localization examples

Netflix localization example

One of the best-known examples of successful software localization is Netflix.

This streaming platform is available in more than 27 countries. In every country they entered, they went through a localization process.

They adapt dubs, subtitles offering, and a user interface for maximized user experience. However, this is what most streaming services offer in every country.

Creating local content actually differentiates Netflix from other streaming services in every local market.

In Netflix's case, it means creating series and movies in every entered country with local resources within the local culture.

Yes, they make the content popular in the country of origin, but they also gradually place it in other country markets. This means they have more interesting and mixed content than any other streaming platform.

This localization strategy brought them steady growth of 33% per year.

Spotify localization example

Another streaming platform that conquered the global market with a software localization strategy is Spotify.

Localization of content, in their case music, thematic playlists, and software translation, is a huge stack in Spotify's global success.

They define it as "Designing for Belonging". As their design manager, Nora Ahlenius, says that by localizing images, we can help people feel that they belong and that Spotify is a better choice.

The idea is the following: when a user sees an image and name of the playlist in its own language and local cultural context, it'll feel seen and validated.

In practice, it means there would be a Happy Hits playlist everywhere, in every country. However, it'll contain a different choice of songs and visuals to represent that feeling in every country.

The benefit for Spotify and Netflix comes from local users finding familiar content on their platforms, while at the same time, global users are finding new content they would have never found without them.

Myself included. For example, I would never casually stumble upon series and movies from Peru and Chile on any streaming service in Balkan.

These examples show that software localization is far more than a basic translation of the content inside the user interface.

It needs to feel like it is created from locals to locals.

How's software localization done

Software localization is a complex process. It includes various departments and processes.

To learn more check the original post.

How the Cloud Is Helping Call Centers Go Remote

Bojana Vojnović — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 13:49:07 +0000

Cloud services are changing work as we know it. I researched how’s that influencing demand for specific developer skills and language knowledge. Here’s what I found out.

Remote work is here to stay. And cloud services are making it a reality for all kinds of companies.

One of the industries that’s seeing some of the biggest benefits from a cloud-based solution? Call centers. While a call center might not seem like a candidate for working from home, it’s the future.

If you’re a developer looking to grow your skills and choose the right language for you, continue reading to understand how a cloud-based call center works and why you should take a part in this cloud computing wave.

What are cloud services?

Cloud applications run on an internet server instead of a local machine. You might use cloud applications like Google Docs or Dropbox every day.

Cloud technology is everywhere, from popular software to social media. It’s revolutionizing business and improving customer expectations. Perhaps most importantly for developers, it’s one of the fastest-growing job fields.

Cloud applications have plenty of user benefits. For example, customer data can be available on every computer. A cloud platform has better processing power than a single computer. And cloud computing can bring different systems together in unified omnichannel communication.

Cloud application types

Depending on the company’s needs and the size of their IT department, they can decide to go with different cloud application types, which can slightly influence your work and the languages you need to use.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS), consumer-facing applications that store and compute data in the cloud. Examples include Microsoft 365 and Salesforce.

Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), services that sell storage and basic data processing in the cloud. Examples include Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

Platform-as-a-service (PaaS), complete solutions that can run software in the cloud. Examples include Heroku and Google App Engine.

Types of cloud infrastructure

Depending on the company where you lend your job you may meet with different types of infrastructure used for clouds. Becoming familiar with these types of infrastructure can help you specialize and focus on the skills and languages that matter most.

In general, there are three possibilities:

Public cloud computing is available over the internet. It’s the most common type of cloud computing. Think of the providers like Google and their applications like Google Drive, Google Docs, etc. Even though they are called public, they are secure and not everyone can access your data, just the ones with permission.

Private cloud computing is stored on infrastructure only available to one organization. This type is most similar to on-premises infrastructure. It’s the most common in corporations.

Hybrid cloud computing is a system that uses both public and private methods. This is the usual solution for companies who want to start with public cloud computing for external communication, but they keep the private one for internal communication.

How cloud services are changing how businesses work

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted how we work. The pandemic has made many employees work from home, and the shift looks like it’s here to stay.

Many small businesses and startups were able to switch to work-from-home easily. But large corporations have faced challenging obstacles. One of the biggest barriers? Allowing employees access to data securely.

For companies that used to store data on intranet systems, cloud services are a welcome solution. Employees can use the cloud to access company resources. For example, remote workers can see customer relationship management systems that used to be only on office computers.

This explosion in cloud services has meant more job opportunities for cloud developers. Whether you prefer architecture, security, app development, or support, there are more positions available now than ever before.

What cloud-based service changes for call centers

Call centers have even more complex needs than most businesses. Since employees’ primary work is taking incoming calls or making outbound calls, a reliable phone system is a must.

That’s why a cloud-based call center is a great choice. A cloud-based phone system can handle all kinds of call center operations. From intelligent routing of customer calls to data syncing to advanced interactive voice response, and more. And because of these shifts, call centers are now in greater need of developers than ever before.

There are a number of reasons why call centers are moving to cloud-based solutions. Some of the benefits include:

Better customer experience, including short hold times, since customer data is connected in a single system. Unified data is especially true with a CRM integration.

More economical install and maintenance. Businesses will save time and money with cloud-based call center software over an on-premise system.

Easier scaling with a digital system. Whether you need to receive more inbound calls or add another call center agent (or 100), a cloud-based system can scale faster.

Higher agency productivity since agents can respond to and answer customer calls more quickly.

Extensive integrations across systems like email, live chat, and more.

Easier for mobile so that agents can deliver great customer support without needing to be at their home workspace.

What this means for developers

If you’re becoming a developer, cloud programming has huge opportunities for you.

Brushing up on your cloud development skills can further your career. From troubleshooting at a call center to developing an innovative cloud solution, cloud dev is the future.
To start, you’ll want to learn at least one of the top five languages for cloud computing:

ASP.NET is a server-side web development framework. You’ll use it to design interactive web applications and services.

Java is unique in that it’s a platform-independent language. You can run it across different systems, making it a great choice for many cloud applications.

PHP works with various database management systems and runs smoothly on different server types and operating systems.

Python is used across dozens of fields, including data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. If these specialties interest you, Python is a great starting place.

Ruby is a popular programming language in cloud computing. It has 60,000 libraries and frameworks to help you develop.

Finally, developers interested in cloud computing should study cloud security. Security is critical today and will only become more important as the cloud computing industry grows.

Cloud computing is here to stay. It’s revolutionizing every industry, but few are seeing as many changes as call centers. A cloud call center can ensure a great customer experience every time.

Developers can prepare for the surge in cloud computing. Brush up on relevant languages, study the architecture, and keep learning stronger security practices.

Chatbot Analytics: Essential Metrics & KPIs to Measure Bot Success

Bojana Vojnović — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 21:51:04 +0000

Interaction with customers is essential for most businesses, especially online ones. Automating at least a part of this interaction using chatbots can be a great solution — if done right, of course.

There is no question that chatbots are taking over most on-site interactions. For example, 69% of consumers prefer to use chatbots on account of the speed at which they can communicate with a brand.

However, simply setting up chatbots is not enough to ensure customer satisfaction. There is an absolute need for constant monitoring and work on perfecting chatbots to ensure that the goals of the company are met. This is where chatbot analytics can be your best ally since they can help measure the performance relative to a predefined objective.

Still, the question is what should you be focusing on when it comes to chatbot analytics?

So why are chatbot metrics so important?

We need to keep in mind that your company’s work, when it comes to developing a chatbot, doesn’t end once your bot goes live. The latest data shows that 88% of companies now prioritize customer experience in their contact centers. Clearly, chatbots are as important when it comes to customer satisfaction.

For most, however, it boils down to ROIs, 57% of businesses agree that chatbots deliver large returns on investment for minimal effort. By measuring KPIs such as total leads generated, total issues resolved or cost per issue visa chatbot analytics businesses can compare their performance with other channels.

Now that we know a bit more about why we need chatbot analytics, let’s find out which metrics and KPIs are most deserving of your attention.

Chatbot user metrics that need to be on your radar

As we have mentioned customer experience needs to be one of your main goals and tracking chatbot user metrics can help you get there. KPIs, on the other hand, will enable you to monitor and if needed improve the response time, conversion rate, and efficiency enhancement.

Here are the essential chatbot user metrics you need to keep an eye on:

· Total user interactions - these are a direct reflection of the impact the chatbot is having and the quantity of the data it is exposed to.

· Active users - this is a good way of measuring the actual success and overall popularity of the chatbot.

· Engaged users - these users are the ones that actually communicate with the chatbot sending and receiving messages.

· New users - this metric captures the overall success of any newly launched chatbot campaign.

· Bounce rate - is the number of users who enter your website and leave without interacting with your chatbot. This might not be related to the effectiveness of your chatbots, but rather to the design and content of your website which you can address if you see that the bounce rate is too high for comfort.

Bot metrics are just as valuable

Bot metrics help us understand and measure the performance of our chatbots. And they are instrumental in helping us improve on customer experience. These are just some of the main ones you must keep track of:

· Goal completion rate - enable you to measure the success rate of a given action performed through your chatbot, whether it is clicking on a CTA button link or ad, completing a form, or making a purchase. For each one, you need to have clear indicators of success.

For example, understanding how to run chatbot ads can lead to new user interaction with your brand on Facebook. And monitoring the success of this interaction and of your chatbot can be crucial for ironing out any potential problems that are preventing goal completion.

· Retention Rate - unlike the bounce rate that measures the number of users who leave your website without interacting with it, this rate measures the percentage of users that return to the chatbot in some time frame. This particular metric is extremely valuable for gaining insight into customer preferences.

You certainly can’t overlook the ever-important conversion metrics

You simply need to know whether the investment in chatbots has been worth it for your company or not. This is precisely where conversion metrics and KPIs come in and here are the main ones to check:

· The need for human takeover - human takeover is something you want to avoid when creating chatbots, but it is quite necessary for customer satisfaction. If your chatbot cannot provide the desired answer often customers are transferred to human agents.

There are also customers who prefer not to interact with chatbots at all. Knowing the percentages for both of these options is necessary to determine whether you should keep on using a chatbot or revert to live chat.

· The length of the conversation - simple - you want users to get help for their issue, but it shouldn’t last so long as for them to give up entirely.

Knowing this metric can help you address this particular issue. It is essential that your chatbot be capable of maintaining a conversation and engaging your user.

When it comes to chatbot analytics the metrics and KPIs that you need to monitor depend largely on your business goals and practices. However, the bottom line is, it’s the success and effectiveness of your chatbot that counts.