Last week, Common Sense Advisory led a colloquium on Localization Vendor Management Strategies. Hosted by Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, 35 buyers of translation and localization services participated in an open, sometimes rollicking exchange of experiences, opinions, and best practices. The goal of the colloquium was to allow delegates to discuss their strategies and share their experiences — good and bad — in a structured format moderated by our expert analysts, without the pressure of salespeople and without the 50-minute per session constraints of regular conferences.

We organized the event as part of our continuing research into vendor management. To kick off the day, we shared some of our research on the subject and facilitated discussions around presentations by Rosilene Martins (Yahoo!), Chris Duran (Adobe), Katia Azevedo (Xerox Global Services), Shawna Wolverton (Salesforce.com), Janice Campbell (Sun Microsystems), and Eva Klaudinyova (VeriSign). And despite the fact that the event was in California, on a Friday before a holiday, people from as far as Finland (Mika Pehkonen, from F-Secure) joined the group and shared their knowledge.

As the day started, people shared their common concerns: What is the right way to manage localization, the right amount to pay, the right number of suppliers, the right technology to use, and the right level of quality? By the end of the day the group had discussed procurement issues, technology models and how they relate to vendors, the weak connection between authoring and localization structures, team sizes, and vendor selection criteria.

Common Sense Advisory will continue its research into vendor management best practices with a report due out in the coming months. Meanwhile, we may organize a second colloquium on the East Coast and another in Europe in the first week in December to accommodate the many people who wanted to come but who happened to be on the wrong coast. If you are interested in participating or would like to host one, please let us know.