Expanding your business into international markets is a major undertaking and the process presents huge challenges
There is a mind-boggling array of CMS systems to choose from and each system has different capabilities, not only in the way that they manage an organisation’s digital assets, but also the way they are configured to handle a company’s translation requirements.
Content Management Systems (CMS) allow organisations to store and manage information (text, images, video and other data) for use in their sales, marketing and operational publications, regardless of the format or device. This allows for centralised operational control over a company’s assets which allows for consistency and efficiency – particularly for large organisations with large volumes of data to manage and many staff involved in the management of this data.
We’ve worked with clients and agencies using a multitude of CMSs and during this time we’ve identified the most common systems and the most suitable translation integration procedures for businesses who want to localise their websites and mobile apps.
Below are some of the most common systems that we are asked to provide translation integration for.
Demandware
Demandware is a public eCommerce merchant headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 2004 but has since expanded to offices in France and Germany. Demandware has expertise in delivering content management and ecommerce solutions to organisations in the fashion, health and beauty and sporting goods sectors.
Demandware powers more than 160 retailers across more than 665 sites around the globe including Adidas, Clarins, Fila, Lacoste, Lancome, Mothercare, Puma, Quicksilver, L’Oreal and Ugg, Australia.
Demandware supports an extensive set of pre-built customised integrations for a variety of applications. These approved extensions, referred to as “Demandware LINK Cartridges”, are available from the Demandware LINK Marketplace – described by Demandware as a “one-stop-shop for pre-built integrations to Demandware Commerce.”
Sitecore
Sitecore provides enterprise CMS and marketing automation solutions for medium to large enterprises. Sitecore’s CMS software is built on Microsoft .NET 3.5/4.0. Content can be stored as XML or .NET objects and Sitecore can use either Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle Database for its database storage. Sitecore requires sites to run on a Windows server.
We’ve developed a solution that allows you to connect your Sitecore application to our translation management system, STREAM – allowing you to send content for translation, receive quotes, translate the content using the highest quality human translation and review and finally, publish the multi-language content onto your international website.
Hybris
Hybris is one of the best-known e-commerce platforms in the world, powering a huge number of the world’s largest retail brands. Recently acquired by the large German software provider, SAP, the Hybris platform is ideal for global omni-channel retail operations. Toppan Digital Language offers the ability to connect your Hybris-powered website to our proprietary workflow management tool, STREAM, using our custom API.
Adobe Experience Manager
Adobe Experience Manager (formerly known as Adobe CQ), is an enterprise web content management system that is developed and sold by Adobe Systems. Originally developed by Day Software, an organisation based in Switzerland, the platform became an integral component of Adobe’s marketing suite when the company acquired Day in 2010. Since then the product has been integrated into Adobe’s Marketing Cloud.
Adobe Experience Manager is designed and marketed specifically to large companies with substantial and often global infrastructures. The system combines web content management, digital asset management, and social collaboration to deliver a solution that allows large companies to manage large amounts of information and complex, detailed workflows.
Venda
Venda is one of the world’s largest providers of SaaS (software as a service) eCommerce technology with a huge array of clients from Tesco and TK Maxx to Conde Nast and the Universal Music Group. The system is leased to many Fortune 1000 companies based on a monthly fee and in return, the system is fully managed and supported with clients receiving the latest updates and functionality as part of their Venda subscription.
IBM WebSphere Commerce
IBM WebSphere Commerce (WebSphere Commerce Suite) is a software platform framework for eCommerce, including marketing, sales, customer and order processing functionality in a tailorable, integrated package. Large retailers choose IBM WebSphere Commerce do business directly with consumers (B2C), with businesses (B2B), indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models), or all of these simultaneously. WebSphere Commerce is a customisable, scalable and high availability solution built on the Java – Java EE platform using open standards, such as XML and web services.
Magento
Magento is a professional open-source eCommerce solution that offers merchants complete flexibility and control over the look and feel as well as functionality of their eCommerce store. Magento offer a community version which is free to use, but also offer an enterprise edition which includes the support of an expert team of Magento consultants.
When Magento was released in 2008, it transformed the eCommerce market. In a period of 18 months, Magento surpassed one million downloads and now records billions of dollars of transactions worldwide by tens of thousands of merchants. Purchased by eBay in early 2011, it continues to be the fastest growing ecommerce platform in the world.
There are lots of reasons why Magento is so popular. It has a range of features which are important to businesses operating ecommerce stores locally and internationally
WordPress
For blogs, smaller sites or corporate websites without the requirement for large scale eCommerce functionality, WordPress is often the obvious choice. The system is widely used with some studies estimating that up to 20% of the world’s internet sites are powered by WordPress. The system has a huge community which users can access for support but one of the main reasons why it is so popular is because not only is it free to use, but the WordPress marketplace includes many free-to-use plugins which can help site owners integrate almost any required function.
Toppan Digital Language offers a full integration with WordPress using WPML which allows to translate every page, post, category, tag, menu and string on your site using the best human translator through our translation management API, STREAM. Contact us for more information or read more about best-in-class WordPress website localisation.
Kentico
The Kentico web content management system is used on more than 16,000 websites in 90 countries. Running on ASP.NET and SQL Server, it is a common choice for medium to large organisations who require a robust solution with multi-lingual functionality built into their CMS – but also clients who are concerned with maintaining semantic relationships between different types of content and data sets. We are able to integrate Kentico into our translation management software, STREAM.
Drupal
Many of our clients use Drupal to manage their website content. Drupal is one of the world’s most popular open source content management systems and is used by a huge range of high-profile companies including Sony Music, NBC Sports, CBS News and the New York Observer, among others.
The flexibility and extensibility of the Drupal platform make it a good choice for blogs, corporate websites and ecommerce stores. The platform has a huge community and lots of modules and themes available for free.
We’re able to integrate your Drupal website into our translation management workflow platform, STREAM. This will allow you to manage your translation projects more easily, saving time and money in the long term.
EPiServer
What makes EPiServer a good choice for online retail operations is its ability to connect a retailer’s ecommerce and digital marketing activity. The platform connects the two to deliver unique online experiences across multiple channels and devices.
EPiServer powers tens of thousands of websites globally. Built on the .NET platform, the software has lots of support with over 600 partners globally to help brands deliver the right message, at the right time to the right customer.
Oracle ATG Web Commerce
Oracle is a global leader in enterprise software. It’s the world’s second-largest software company and enterprise software accounts for almost 75% of sales.
While known for its databases, Oracle is still a contender in the web content management system market. The company’s aggressive acquisition strategy has meant that it has been able to start to offer many more services and technologies to support them – which include business data management, supply chain management, ecommerce and social media marketing services, amongst others.
TYPO3
TYPO3 is, along with Drupal, Joomla! and WordPress, among the most popular content management systems worldwide, however it is more widespread in Europe than in other regions. The biggest market share can be found in German-speaking countries. TYPO3 is particularly popular for website localisation as it is available in more than 50 languages and has a built-in localisation system.
