Cloud technology and web-based applications have made a significant impact on the localization industry, levelling the playing field between large and smaller Language service providers (LSPs). LSPs who leverage cloud technology can be more competitive. The ‘content explosion’ has also driven the need for on-demand translation services, and taking advantage of cloud technology is the most strategic option for translating large volumes of content securely and in real-time.
Software integration plays an important role in achieving a centralised localization management structure. The MemSource Cloud connector developed to integrate with KantanMT will ensure greater control and productivity in localization and translation workflows.
To acknowledge the connector’s release, I caught up with, David Canek, CEO of MemSource Technologies and Tony O’Dowd, KantanMT’s Founder and Chief Architect to get their thoughts on the impact of cloud software integration in the localization industry.
MemSource recently developed a connector to integrate KantanMT and MemSource Cloud, can you explain how the connector works and what this will mean for its users?
[David] Yes, we have developed a connector that lets all of our 10 thousand users very easily select KantanMT as their preferred MT engine for their MemSource Cloud translation projects. The connector is part of our 3.8 release and available as from 3 November 2013. The KantanMT integration supports all of our Machine Translation features, including our post-editing features, specifically the post-editing analysis.
[Tony] The team at MemSource have developed a straightforward mechanism to integrate Machine Translation services into their cloud platform. The MemSource community of LSPs and professional translators can easily select KantanMT as their preferred Machine Translation engine. Integration between both platforms using this new KantanMT connector will boost translation productivity, reduce project costs and improve project margins for the MemSource community.
This partnership is a great example of synergy between two related businesses within the translation industry. How do you think integration will create value for clients and the industry?
[David] Machine Translation has become an integral part of the human translation process and so we found it a logical step to integrate an innovative player in the Machine Translation scene, such as KantanMT.
[Tony] KantanMT combines the speed and accuracy of traditional Translation Memory with the speed and cost-advantages of Machine Translation into a single seamless platform. The current economic climate indicates the localization industry can be certain of only two things – that margin erosion and price compression will continue to put pressure on LSPs to operate with higher levels of efficiency while lowering overall costs.
MemSource and KantanMT customers will benefit from achieving economies of scale when they integrate Machine Translation directly into their existing translation workflows. KantanMT scales effortlessly with business demands and growth, and KantanMT members will benefit from increased profitability as greater volumes of client data are processed. This helps LSP’s achieve higher levels of operational efficiency while also delivering cost savings to their customers.
There is a lot of buzz around “moving to the cloud” in the tech world, particularly for translation and localization services. As a supplier of both cloud and server translation technology, have you noticed any preference for one over the other, which do your clients prefer and why?
[David] Our clients just like us prefer the cloud version of any technology, including MemSource technology. Therefore, we really focus on providing MemSource Cloud and it is only a question of time when we discontinue offering MemSource in the server option.
[Tony] Progressive companies cannot ignore the financial and operational efficiencies the cloud delivers. The cloud helps organisations achieve economies of scale through reduced capital costs, which are often associated with the investment and maintenance of a technology infrastructure. Combine this with new pricing models like lower monthly subscription fees, which are replacing large upfront software license fees, operating on the cloud ensures a competitive business. This is even more so in the localization industry where the translation of ‘big data’ from the content explosion has increased the need for on-demand localization and translation services. The cloud’s multi-tenant architecture offers LSPs a flexible solution for efficiently managing large volumes of data.
In your opinion, what will the integration of these technologies mean for the future translation industry in the short and longer terms?
[David] Machine Translation has become mainstream technology and will soon have the same importance as Translation Memory in the localization industry. We have believed in this vision right from the start of developing MemSource. This is why we have pioneered the post-editing analysis and other features in MemSource that bring Machine Translation to the forefront and seamlessly integrate it with existing technologies such as Translation Memory.
[Tony] In the short-term, the technology with the greatest impact in the translation industry will be the availability of high speed, on-demand Machine Translation services. It will be used as a tool to boost translator productivity, reduce project costs and improve margins. In using the KantanMT connector, LSPs can integrate Machine Translation into their translation workflows quickly and easily, immediately offering improved services to their clients.
Over the longer-term, like MemSource, KantanMT believes there will be a continuous push to blend Machine Translation and traditional Translation Memory systems into one seamless service. At KantanMT, we’ve made significant progress on this vision by fusing traditional Translation Memory with advanced Machine Translation into the KantanMT platform, and also through the recent development of predictive segment quality estimation technology called KantanAnalytics™.
Thank you, to both David and Tony who gave up time from their busy schedules to be interviewed.
There are still a couple of weeks left to take advantage of the KantanAnalytics™ feature. KantanAnalytics™ is available for ALL KantanMT members until 30th November. When the offer ends it will become an Enterprise Plan only feature.
For more information about the KantanMT Enterprise plan please contact Aidan (aidanc@kantanmt.com)