Multilingual services - the way ahead in publishing outsourcing
Multilingual publishing needs can be looked at in two ways. The first is core services required by multilingual publishers and the other, support services required by corporate firms.
Tweet-- The opportunity in multilingual publishing offshoring is estimated to be around $2 billion according to a ValueNotes study. This is around 20% of the total market in English language services.
From an outsourcing perspective, multilingual publishing needs can be looked at in two ways. The first is core services required by multilingual publishers and the other, support services for the multilingual publishing requirements of corporate firms. Though not on a large scale various publishing services vendors are now offering multilingual services in segments like STM/Academic, Educational, Magazines and Newspapers. Languages other than English that are gaining traction include French, Spanish, Japanese and German amongst others.
The STM / Academic segment is largely catered to by the Indian vendors with most providing composition or design services. However, multilingual STM publishing has limited scope for offshoring higher value services and skill based editorial services like content editing, proof reading etc to India due to lack of linguistic capability.
In the Educational publishing space there is significant potential in the content localization space, which involves adapting the published content to the cultural context of the country or region. In the corporate space opportunities exist in the area of translation and localization of training manuals, product catalogs or user manuals. There are a large number of magazines published in local languages in Europe, which offer a huge opportunity in providing composition and design services to countries like Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland.
The page rates for multilingual publishing are twice that for English language thus for most Indian vendors this move will also help balance out the rapidly falling rates of the commoditized services in the more mature segments. It will also give them the capability to provide end-to-end services to their publisher clients.
According to Aradhana Kolhatkar, analyst at ValueNotes, “Although multilingual offshoring to India is far off on the maturity horizon, the move has begun. An emerging opportunity along with the growing ambition of Indian vendors implies that the capabilities that do not exist today will be acquired in near future”. ValueNotes expects acquisitions in the multilingual space especially in European or Hispanic geographies, by large and mid-sized India based vendors.
ValueNotes is a leading provider of research and information in the outsourcing industry. “The opportunity in multilingual publishing” is covered in detail in the March update of the report “Offshoring in the Publishing Vertical”.
Notes to Editor
ValueNotes Database is a leading provider of business intelligence and research, with expertise across selected domains and types of customer needs. Working with clients across the globe we have significant understanding of international markets.
The ValueNotes Outsourcing Practice is one of the largest information providers on the outsourcing industry. Our Outsourcing Practice uses a comprehensive, analytical framework providing fresh insights into the fast emerging and yet, complex outsourcing space. We extensively track the outsourcing space in-depth through a regular analysis of news and events and continuous primary research and contact with the industry.
To learn more about the ValueNotes Outsourcing Practice, see samples, order reports, or provide us with your feedback on this research, please go to www.valuenotes.biz or write to bporesearch@valuenotes.com. You can also call us at 91 20 2588 1164 / 65