VTS Localization

We successfully localized the product by achieving 100% report translation.

Overview

VTS serves as a unifying hub for Commercial Real Estate (CRE), connecting owners, operators, brokers, and tenants through its platform. This collaborative approach allows stakeholders to capitalize on property opportunities efficiently. Recognizing the need for expansion, VTS sought multilingual support for its primary product. Initially developed without localization, the focus shifted to prioritize key application areas, aligning offerings with incoming customer needs.

Ajackus partnered with VTS to enhance the platform, addressing localization requirements and empowering real estate professionals with an intuitive and efficient tool tailored to industry challenges.

Problem

Multilingual Expansion Challenge

VTS’s core product faced the need for multilingual support to facilitate expansion into North America and other territories. Initial development overlooked localization, prompting a strategic shift to prioritize key application areas for enhanced relevance to incoming customers.

Localization Oversight

In the initial stages of development, VTS encountered an oversight regarding localization. Recognizing this gap, efforts were redirected to address key application areas crucial for global relevance and effectiveness.

Strategic Development Focus

With an aim for expanded market presence, VTS strategically prioritized essential application areas. The goal was to swiftly align product offerings with the diverse needs of new customers, ensuring a more effective and tailored user experience.

Solution

Addressing Process Gaps

Identifying missing infrastructure, Ajackus focused on VTS’s process gaps. The translation and development processes, closely intertwined, lacked robustness. We initiated changes, directing translators to daily tasks and introducing a streamlined branching process for new localization work.

Enhancing Development Pace

Ajackus tackled VTS’s development hurdles, stemming from the slow pace and the absence of automated translation tools. Weekly translator schedules resulted in a minimum 4-5 day turnaround time. We transformed the process, enabling agile localization with daily translations and efficient new branching processes.

Bridging Technical Gaps

VTS faced technical gaps in non-localized product areas, particularly in reporting and emails. Excel reports posed challenges in maximizing native localization features, while PDFs required careful handling to avoid disruptions from varying string lengths. Ajackus employed pseudo-localization to identify and address these issues.

Pseudo-Localization Solutions

To catch problems in the localization process, Ajackus utilized pseudo-localization. This method verifies a product’s readiness for translation by visually simulating the UI without creating actual translations. For instance, “Account Settings” becomes [!!! Àççôûñţ Šéţţîñĝš !!!], aiding in identifying translation-related issues.

Email Testing Solutions

While email development posed no issues, Ajackus addressed testing challenges, particularly with event-driven emails triggered at regular intervals. We introduced a command utility, allowing QA members to trigger emails in desired languages, restricted to lower environments. Subsequently, a user-friendly UI streamlined email rendering and testing.

Results

Through strategic process enhancements and addressing technical gaps, we achieved a significant milestone for VTS: all reports and emails at VTS now seamlessly translate into a user’s preferred settings. This accomplishment has markedly improved user experience with accessible and comprehensible information, fostering heightened client satisfaction and engagement.