Internationalization Case Study:
"You Can't Touch My Code"

Summary

Bridge360 delivered a local language turnkey solution to a Fortune 50 global manufacturer, enabling the smooth implementation of a large mission-critical mainframe application into Asian factories.

The Customer

The client, a Fortune 150 system integrator, is a major supplier of information technology products and services to both public and private sector clients. The systems integrator was supporting a Fortune 50 global manufacturer for this project.

The Challenge

The manufacturer's growth plans included building new plants throughout Asia, as well as standardizing the software used in existing Asian plants. The manufacturer was relying on its key system integrator to make it happen.

The mission-critical manufacturing software used at the majority of the manufacturing sites included a number of different systems. One such system, a mainframe-based application with decades of refinement and optimization, needed to be usable by a pool of Asian workers with limited or no English skills. While this application already had support for single-byte languages such as Spanish and German, this was the first time the integration team had to tackle a project involving multi-byte Asian languages. The timeline for the project was months, not years, leaving little room for error. It had to be done right the first time, and quickly. This led to the integrator contacting Bridge360, a specialist in global software solutions.

Early on in the engagement with the client, it was clear this was very different than most internationalization projects. "As soon as they told us 'You can't change our code,' we knew this was going to be fun but challenging," recalls Brenda Hall, CEO of Bridge360.

The Solution

The project spanned a year of consulting, planning and implementation in which Bridge360 and the client worked closely together. The project involved four phases - assessment, tool selection and vendor qualification, implementation and knowledge transfer.

The Result

Despite the aggressive schedule and numerous challenges along the way, Bridge360 delivered. The system was being delivered on time so factories could open and users could be productive in their native languages.

Download the complete case study here.