Saludos, Amigos: Rising Opportunities in Latin America

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Saludos, Amigos!Rising Opportunities in Latin America

Fabiano CidManaging Director, Ccaps

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Agenda

– A new world order• How do we fit in?• How do we benefit from it?

– A new localization order• What are our advantages?• How to overcome our difficulties?

– A potential emerging power • How do we get there?

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Crisis, What Crisis?

The world is crumbling down.

– The rich economies are now at the epicenter of the crisis

– Emerging economies as potential superpowers

– No longer G7, but G20

– Brazil remains strong

But…

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What Do the Experts Say?

“The macroeconomic structure of best practices adopted by [Brazilian President] Lula seven years ago demonstrates that the country can cope with this crisis.”

Jim O’Neill, Head of Global Economic Research

Goldman Sachs

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What Do the Experts Say?

“For now, the Brazilian economy is healthy and the crisis has not hit the country so hard.”

Simon Clift, Chief Marketing Officer

Unilever

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What Do the Experts Say?

“In Brazil, we are still hiring people and maintained our goals to have a two-digit growth in sales.”

Steve Rusckowski, Executive Vice-President and CEO

Philips Healthcare

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What Do the Experts Say?

“Besides China, Brazil is the beautiful lady in the party when we talk about emerging markets.”

Oscar Clarke, General Manager

Intel Brazil

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What Do the Experts Say?

“This is the man. I love this man!”

US President Barack Obama on President Lula

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What’s Your Secret?

No idea, sorry...

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Here Are a Few Ideas:

1) Reserves of $200 billion still untouched six months after the crisis exploded

2) Competent and regulated banks with low exposure to risk

3) Absence of credit and real estate bubbles, with a high potential for growth in these sectors

4) Strong domestic market with growing purchase power

5) World’s “greenest” energy matrix, while the country is no longer dependent on imported oil

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Here Are a Few Ideas:

6) Political stability with democracy enthroned as a national asset

7) Economic stability; imperfect yet predictable regulatory system

8) Largest food exporter, guaranteeing volumes of external sales in any scenario

9) Diverse external market, with buyers from all over the world; goods and commodities of growing added value

10) The same projections that point to stagnation abroad forecast a GDP growth in Brazil for 2009

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My Personal Experience

Ccaps– 70% growth in 2008

– 2009 Q1 remains steady

– More staff, increased revenue

– More projects in the pipeline

milengo– Brazilian Portuguese as Tier 1

– Represents 40% of our revenue today

– Increasing demand for PTBR projects

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Perfect Timing

It’s time for a new regional group– FIGS, CCJK, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia

– The power of Regional Language Vendors (RLVs)

– Regional to global players

– The LatAm potential

– Still ROW though

– What can we do?

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Leverage Benefits, Reduce Drawbacks

Attractive factors– Pricing

• Exchange rates

– Time zone– Cultural similarities– Local knowledge

Reasons for concern– Reliability– Scalability– Capability

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LatAm: Regional Power

How to establish this new force:– Join forces

– Create marketing exposure• Events, associations, collaterals

– Bring the attention of the industry• Articles, PR, case studies

– Convince the think tanks

– Do not enforce misleading concepts

– Word hard and continuously

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Cutting the Middle Man

Bypass your MLV– Reach direct clients

• Who is chasing them?• Show them that “Yes, we can!”

– Learn from those who did it

– Professionalize your approach

– Abandon the “colonized” pattern

– Take risks

– Sell together

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The CID Approach

COLLABORATION

INNOVATION

DETERMINATION

My Very Own Solution

C

I

D

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Collaboration

Crowdsourcing

– Successful examples• Google, Facebook and Sun Microsystems

– LSPs are lagging behind

– Crowdsourcing as (an additional) service

– Implement it in your workflow

– Bring in the good, drop the bad

– Stand out from the crowd

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Collaboration

Alliances

– Successful examples• milengo, LCJ, Translated in Argentina

– My own case study

– Find your ideal partners

– Establish your goals and expectations

– Share experiences and knowledge

– Be flexible!

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Innovation

TAUS Market Analysis:

1. Translation automation

2. Language data sharing

3. Community translation

4. Open translation platforms

5. Localization and support convergence

6. Continuous translation

7. Personalization

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Innovation

1. Translation automation

– How innovative is it, really?• Started in the 17th (!!!) century• The Georgetown Experiment (1954)• Statistical MT vs. Rule-based MT

– LSPs and translators still reluctant

– It is here to stay; deal with it

2. Language data sharing

– How to share what you do not own?

– Own it then!

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Innovation

3. Community translation

– Crowdsourcing

4. Open translation platforms

– Why would one ignore them?

– New Brazilian Spelling TM Compliance Tool

http://www.ccaps.net/agreementchecker/en.html

5. Localization and support convergence

– Telephone interpreting

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Innovation

6. Continuous translation

– Pricing-based model is outdated

– What are the choices?

7. Personalization

– Specialize (domain, industry, product)

– Give them what they want

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Innovation

Hard to innovate in terms of technology

– Difficult access to funding

– Hard to convince investors

– Simple lack of skills

Try other areas then!

– Customer service

– Pricing structures

– Project management

– Use your imagination

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Determination

Just do it!

– Think as an entrepreneur, not as a translator

– Hire a Production Manager

– Collect your best practices

– Improve your methods

– Streamline your processes

– Attend conferences, seminars, road shows

– Listen, read and learn

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Determination

SELL! SELL! SELL!– Clients will not come knocking on your door– Use your knowledge of the region– Market yourself and your company– Find the right price to buy and sell – Put on a global face with a local soul– Seize today’s opportunities– Do not be afraid of success– You can make it!

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Thank you!

Fabiano CidCcapsfcid@ccaps.net

www.ccaps.net