What must be done to achieve localization?
It's fairly straightforward. Find experienced people to do the job. Whether this is someone you hired as an employee or a localization service provider to whom the project is being outsourced. Make sure to have the right people for the job. Secondly, be committed and allocate resources accordingly. Whether the localization is done by in-house resources or subcontracted to a service provider, a localization effort consumes time and personnel. A technical expert of the firm, someone who is familiar with the product, its architecture, the programming language and its functionality, needs to be available to the localization resources. Without the product expert, localization will take longer and the risks for error are infinitely higher. Thirdly, be responsive to the questions, feedback, and suggestions from the resources. They have a wealth of knowledge that developers involved in a first-time effort can take advantage of. Finally, be realistic. The source product was not developed in three days, don't expect the foreign language version to be available overnight. Depending on the product and the components that are being localized, a quality localization may take some time.
