Globalize your On Demand Business

Globalization is the process of making applications work seamlessly utilizing the user's preferred language and culture. It is critical to the creation of a successful e-business, and is a competitive advantage for businesses in a global economy.

What are the characteristics of a globalized application?
A globalized application is the integrated face of a business, as it deals with its customers and collaborators all over the world. The design and usability of a globalized application suits the cultural preferences of users and maximizes customer satisfaction and the effectiveness of the interactions.

Some characteristics of a globalized application:

Visible to the end user:

• Its user interface is in the local script and language and may be selected by users in different regions.
• It is designed according to local cultural and legal conventions.

Invisible to the end user:

• It is based on a single-template but designed to accommodate variations in cultural preferences.
• The design of application is defined by business rules that are customized to the local conventions.
• The components of the application are design-optimized for usage in different geographies – and for optimum performance in the IT infrastructure.
• It contains data that moves among data stores and can be aggregated into a single view of the company for quick response to new business conditions or opportunities.

A globalized application uses and receives data from users worldwide.  Accordingly, it should be designed with Globalization Architectural Imperatives in mind, so that data processing can be localized to the cultural expectations, laws and customs of its users. At the same time, it needs to present a single view of the business to the people on the inside.

There are many types of data in a globalized application; in this article we concentrate on textual data only. Henceforth the term ‘data’ refers only to textual data.

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