In today's global market where both the market and the infrastructure are so complex, there are many steps which you have to undertake to finish one web project. It's a process that involves writing the content, defining the site structure and setting up necessary modules. In the end you also have to make sure that everything works, and is executing perfectly.
Now, let's talk about global demand involving hundreds of web projects, where the amount of time you invest in each task will be compounded. The number of languages, pages, words per page, resources involved and various time zones, will be greatly increased. There are certain processes where you must keep track of each and every update on the website, and in the spreadsheet. You must also copy and paste the changes or updates in the content and send it to the translation provider. You will then have to wait for them to email it back. It is very difficult to avoid manual errors which you can expect when there are so many processes involved.
There are may manual labor tasks which can distract you from focusing on the most important or critical task. The best solution for these kinds of problems is through automation and optimization of both your development workflow and business processes. This is the best way to avoid redundant and tediuos tasks which will ultimately make the whole process both more efficient and effective.
Below are some of the best practices to optimize your workflow:
- Applying Integrated Content Management System and Content Translation Module: There are various CMS and translation modules available like Drupal and Google. Usually, most of the sites have content that is scattered all over the place, which is not only hard to manage, but when a user visits the site they may not be satisfied with the end result. So, when you have your content integrated with a content translation module, it allows you to regularly update existing contents and translations with little interference. It also uploads the documents or files directly related to your customers.
- Deploy a cloud based staging environment: There are many cloud based staging environments available to help and identify existing problems before you move on to production. Today, it has become much more convenient than it was previously to stage your site to be tested, before deploying it to the production environment. As a result, you can easily identify the issues or bugs and rectify them, without the pressure of customers live on the site.
- Automation of Processes, Document Generation, restore & backup and other complex processes can also be automated:
There are several complex tasks like Automatic content Translation which can quickly convert the content into another language based on the location very quickly, This will save you from long, error prone, manual labor hours. CMS like Drupal has the capability to incorporate such automations which will make your workflow more efficient. Machine transalation workflow is a quick and cost effective approach. Basic translation workflows are good for startups, but once you start serving globally then automation is the only way to satisfy your customers globally.
You can gain good control over your system once all of the small, moving parts of the content managed is based in a single system. It becomes easier for you to ensure everything is working and moving in the right direction while at the same catering to the direct needs of your customer.