Legacy Issues — Inheriting the Systems of Yesteryear in The Digital Age

In our fast-paced, digitally driven world, adaptability is often what sets a successful business apart from the rest. And where information travels in the blink of an eye, expansion into new, multilingual markets is now more simple and streamlined than ever. But as with most things, if you start out too fast — without the correct contingencies in place — you’ll find yourself hampered down the line.

Today, most businesses are inheriting legacy issues from outdated programs and software, most of which contain important documentation and protocols that need to be retained. Because the rapid acceleration of digital connectivity has rendered much of the older tech obsolete, many a company is left scrambling to upgrade and overhaul.

Legacy systems are often inextricably woven into a business’s daily routines and processes. So relied upon have they become, and for so long, that even a small change can cause a disruptive ripple effect throughout the company. There are other considerations to be mindful of, too:

An overhaul will likely put your business on the back foot for a time, hampering your ability to meet impending deadlines or respond to industry fluctuations with agility. This is not to mention how daunting an entire overhaul can seem if you’ve made the decision to handle the upgrade internally.

Just as a system needs to be upgraded to meet new technological demands, so too does documentation need to be translated to keep up with international acquisitions and company growth. This includes translating old software into new languages, revising said documentation, as well as adapting your company’s internal training programs to reflect the above changes. Following this, a roll-out to all of your multilingual markets needs to happen, taking extra care to ensure that the software and documents are tailored to each location so that nothing is lost in translation.

Translation should not be an afterthought. The overriding issue is that most manufacturers believe that language can be bolted on at the end. This is an incorrect belief that will harm your business’s scalability. Instead, companies should think in terms of Global Content from the outset. By engaging with a Global Content Partner like Rubric from the start, these expenses and issues can be avoided.

A Global Content Partner will help you achieve your global strategy goals by creating a solid framework from the outset. By guiding you through key content decisions when moving operations into unfamiliar territory, a Global Content Partner can protect you against any issues that arise from miscommunication, too.

With Rubric, you’ll have the ideal Global Content Partner to alleviate much of the stress that comes with necessary system overhauls. Get in touch with us and let’s get started on delivering strategic, goal-orientated Global Content for your business today.

In our guide Best Practices for Business Transformations you will learn how to make the most of your translated content in times of change.