For Verztec, it just rolls off the tongue

Translation and localisation business is now its bread and butter.文件倉 By Teo Si JiaTHE world is its oyster and for local start-up Verztec, it doesn't matter if it is of the Belon, Kumamoto, Virginia, or the Olympia variety. The localisation specialist knows how to whip it up to suit the palate of even the most insular of tastes.Verztec is a global content consulting company with services that fall into three categories: communication, education and publishing. Besides developing content, designing communication materials and publishing them on different platforms, it also provides localisation services to translate and tweak the content to fit the targeted locales.But Verztec was not always a localisation company. In 2003, when it was incorporated and when the Web was in vogue, its founder and chief executive officer Nicholas Goh had envisioned the company as his answer to the dotcom start-ups."I started a company doing mainly system integration as well as Web development work during the dotcom days," said Mr Goh.He soon found the host of services it provides lacking. Clients whose websites he had developed returned asking if he could professionally translate its materials and contents to other languages, a request that had stumped him. The company did not have the people or the resources to tackle the task then. But the seeds of the idea were planted and the company made the conscious decision to gear itself for a transition.Ten years on, the translation and localisation business is now its bread and butter. It charges a translation rate that is based on the volume of materials that the customer has and the turnaround time required to adapt it for the targeted market.The company is also seeing growth in its simultaneous interpretation segment for international conferences and press briefings, spurred by the promotion of Singapore as a meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions venue.It added a feather to its cap in 2009 when it was appointed the official translation company for the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit for all its conferences, workshops and meetings here."Over the years, we have established a number of high-lying and low-lying fruits," said Mr Goh.He classifies its revenue generators into the "need-to-have", mandatory materials that are produced come rain or shine, such as annual reports and customer letters; and the "nice-to-have", such as websites that are localised to test the water in new markets. Together, they carry the company through good times and bad.Verztec has also built up its repertoire and progressed from supporting mainly the Asian languages in its early days, to even the Scandinavian, Middle Eastern, Western European and Latin American tongues after obtaining its ISO certification in 2007. Today, Verztec supports a third of the Fortune 500 companies in their global communication needs in over 60 languages and across 26 industries."Many of our clients are American and European brands, but today, they are looking at new markets to increase their revenue streams. They are also looking at new markets to get more business. Increasingly, in this part of the world, we're working with their Asian offices," he said.At home, Verztec also serves the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. It facilitates the SME's efforts to regionalise or globalise, with China, Thailand, Vietnam and Germany存倉often their top picks.Verztec hires translators with a level of proficiency in their languages and experience in different industries. They come from around the world, often with a full-time job or retired from one of the relevant industries.Skilled translators"We call them skilled translators because these people come with domain knowledge," said Mr Goh. "So for the financial services clients, we work with financial copywriters who came from companies such as Bloomberg," he explained.The rationale behind the hiring process is that it is more efficient to hire as per need than to have staff who are proficient in the languages in question as well as knowledge of the relevant industries on the payroll at all times. The cost savings can then be passed on to the customer, said Mr Goh.He is aware of the risks involved in hiring on an ad hoc basis, but said "the success around the business is to build the contacts and to have the available contacts when it is not raining".It gets in touch with its global network of translators through the Web portal Xtranet. "The Verztec Xtranet was developed in the very initial years of the business. It enables our project management teams and vendor management teams to get access to a whole global network of vendor partners that we recruit through different channels."It puts the transcriber, voice professional, translator, interpreter, agency, copywriter and technical writer of a project on the same page, quite literally.Another factor that Mr Goh attributes to the company's success is building the base of it on processes, not people, in order to sustain through time. "We have developed something called the Verztec Learning Management System that allows us to document processes in various departments, all the way from staff induction to handling a project through Verztec Xtranet for our project managers," he said. When new employees join, they are put through the programme to master the basics and workflow.Verztec's global reach is matched by its own appetite. Currently, the firm has a headcount of 46 in Singapore and 150 around the world in its regional offices in London, New York, Tokyo, Xiamen, Seoul and Bangkok.The group has plotted an ambitious expansion chart in which it aims to grow the total revenue from all its offices to $50 million by 2017 and $100 million by 2020, half of which will be contributed by its Singapore operations. Its Singapore office, one of its better-performing markets along with Thailand and the US, raked in $1.5 million in profits and $7.5 million in revenue last year.Over the next three to five years, Verztec plans to create more touchpoints across the world. In the US, Mr Goh hopes to have offices in the East Coast, West Coast and the central region to operate across the different timezones.Verztec is also eyeing a slice of the Middle Eastern pie with its plan to go into Abu Dhabi. In Asia, it wants a stronger presence in Laos and China. The firm is even entertaining thoughts of entering Russia should the business climate be more conducive.Mr Goh estimates that Verztec will need to have 500-600 people around the world eventually."We are still very small in the industry that we are in. We have companies that are operating on a similar service level as us and they have a market capitalisation of about US$1-2 billion, so we still have a long way to go."teosj@sph.com.sg自存倉