Independent research firm Common Sense Advisory releases MarketFlex report to guide LSPs in TMS evaluation and selection 

Translation Management System (TMS) facilitate the rapid development, day-to-day management, and publishing of multilingual content by organizing and coordinating work process in the complex, distributed supply chains of the US$37 billion-dollar language services industry. Selecting the right translation management technology can mean the difference between growth and stagnation for language service providers (LSPs). Choosing a TMS to manage the myriad business, process, and linguistic functions is complex, especially considering future trajectories of both the software developer and the LSP.

Independent market research firm Common Sense Advisory (CSA Research) recently released “MarketFlex for Business-Oriented TMS,” the latest in it’s MarketFlex™ series of research reports and the industry’s first thorough analysis of commercial “business-oriented” TMSes that support the needs of LSPs. The report evaluates both the software system and the development company that supports it.  

Building on a decade of research and analysis of the sector, this MarketFlex report includes an analysis of market dynamics as well as individual assessments to highlight strengths and concerns with each vendor’s offering. To produce this report our analysts evaluated 375 factors for each solution, organized into 20 scoring areas, weighted and balanced in a complex scoring algorithm for the following TMSes: 1) AIT Projetex; 2) Alpha CRC LTC Worx; 3) LSP.net OTM; 4) Plunet BusinessManager; 5) RR Donnelley MultiTrans; 6) Wordbee Translator; and 7) XTRF. Data was gathered and validated in December 2015 and January 2016. The analysis represents a snapshot in time.  

Comments Ben Sargent, senior analyst at Common Sense Advisory and TMS expert, “MarketFlex reports give technology buyers an in-depth view of where products and vendors are positioned in the market today, and which vendors are likely to grow market share in the future. Understanding the market position and trajectory of the major solutions helps technology buyers select systems that will survive the test of time, saving money and headaches in the future.”  

Methodology:

CSA Research’s evaluation of these solutions and their suppliers draws on data from five collection methods:

• TMS Live. This online tool documents the current features and functions in each platform. When vendors update their platform with new features, we conduct a conference call and demo to vet the new data. In November and December 2015, CSA Research added or updated the records of 24 TMS solutions in TMS Live, including all solutions evaluated in the current analysis.
• Live product demos. Analysts participated in live product demos for each product from its respective company in December 2015.
• Executive interviews. In January 2016, analysts conducted interviews with one or more executives from each participating vendor.
• Website, news, conference visibility, and social presence. Analysts reviewed corporate, industry, and news websites to identify the level of industry participation, information available, and engagement channels for prospects and customers.
• Branded and unbranded search engine results. CSA Research performed extensive searches to determine the online visibility of the solutions when LSPs research TMS and business management topics in the Google search engine.

MarketFlex™ is a data visualization with written assessments and analysis of competing software solutions in a specific category of language technology. CSA Research evaluates each system and vendor along two axes, “product viability” and “company sustainability.” The resulting scores provide data coordinates for plotting the solutions onto a grid, showing relative market strengths and weaknesses.   

For more information about Common Sense Advisory’s research on TMS or to use TMS Live, visit www.commonsenseadvisory.com.  

Members of the media may request a complimentary copy of “MarketFlex™ for Comprehensive TMS” or preview the TMS Live tool by contacting: Melissa Gillespie, Melissa@commonsenseadvisory.com, +1 760-522-4362.

About Common Sense Advisory  

Common Sense Advisory is an independent market research company helping companies profitably grow their international businesses and gain access to new markets and new customers. Its focus is on assisting its clients to operationalize, benchmark, optimize, and innovate industry best practices in translation, localization, interpreting, globalization, and internationalization.
For more information, visit: http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com or www.twitter.com/CSA_Research.