Market expansion, the inter-dependency of worldwide economies, global operations, immigration, workforce mobility worldwide, a global marketplace... the business world is changing faster and more unpredictably than ever before. To stay competitive, businesses need to move with it--to gain the speed, flexibility and resilience to handle whatever the market does next. On a global basis.
At IBM, e-business on demand is more than just a vision for the future. It's a journey we're taking, and it has already yielded great benefits in the ten years since we began our business transformation. Today, IBM is stronger than ever: innovative, profitable and highly competitive. And globalization has been a key component to that business transformation. It drives the way IBM deals with technology, strategy, business practices, corporate culture, languages and multiculturalism.
As a global company, IBM is committed to "following local laws and customs of the countries in which we operate." For examples, IBM marketing and communications materials present information in culturally appropriate ways. Our customers also need to rapidly reach new multilingual and multicultural markets, while minimizing entry costs and economic risks. Customers need products and services that support their languages and cultural conventions - today. Customer and employee self-service applications on the Web need to conform to local laws and customs. Our customers also need to communicate with their own customers, partners and suppliers in culturally appropriate ways in the countries in which they operate. and our tools and technologies need to support our customers in these activities.
Led by Bill Sullivan, Globalization Executive, the IBM Corporate Globalization Team is responsible for helping IBM business units deliver products and solutions that work well in all the major markets in the world. Among many other duties, the Globalization team is responsible for:
- Defining and maintaining IBM's corporate globalization strategy and baseline requirements for conforming to the language laws and local customs of the countries in which we operate.
- Defining and maintaining standards, architectures, processes, and tools for implementing globalization requirements.
- Defining and maintaining the processes and tools for translation of IBM information into different languages and providing functional direction to translation partners.
A growing number of IBM's customers, business partners and ISVs are globalizing, or planning to globalize, their e-business solutions in appropriate languages to support their business expansion worldwide. As an extension to our focused internal mission, we are assisting them in solving any globalization-related issues they may have developing solutions based on IBM products in multiple languages.
If you have any questions on IBM's globalization strategy, or need assistance with globalization activities, feel free to contact us at global@us.ibm.com. |
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