What are the best practices for internationalizing products during R&D?

2 Design for localization

Localization is the process of adapting your product to the language, culture, and standards of a specific market. To make localization easier and faster, you need to design your product with localization in mind from the beginning. This means avoiding hard-coding texts, images, symbols, formats, or functions that are specific to one market or language. Instead, you should use external resources, such as files, databases, or APIs, to store and manage your localizable content. You should also use international standards, such as Unicode, ISO, or W3C, to ensure compatibility and consistency across different platforms and devices.

3 Choose the right tools and frameworks

Internationalizing products during R&D requires the use of various tools and frameworks that can help you create, manage, and deliver your localized content. Depending on your product type, scope, and complexity, you may need tools for translation, testing, quality assurance, version control, or deployment. You should choose the tools and frameworks that best suit your needs, budget, and objectives. You should also consider the integration, scalability, and security of your tools and frameworks, as well as the availability and support of the developers and vendors.

4 Collaborate with local experts

Internationalizing products during R&D is not a one-time task that you can do by yourself. It requires ongoing collaboration and communication with local experts, such as translators, reviewers, testers, or consultants, who can provide you with valuable insights and feedback on your product. You should involve your local experts early and often in your R&D process, and establish clear roles, responsibilities, and expectations for each team member. You should also use effective tools and methods for sharing information, resolving issues, and tracking progress.

5 Test and validate your product

Testing and validating your product is an essential part of internationalizing products during R&D. It helps you ensure that your product works properly and meets the quality standards and expectations of each market. You should test and validate your product at different stages of your R&D process, such as design, development, localization, or deployment. You should also use different types of testing and validation methods, such as functional, linguistic, cultural, or usability testing, to identify and fix any errors, bugs, or inconsistencies in your product.

6 Monitor and improve your product

Internationalizing products during R&D is not a static process that ends with the launch of your product. It is a dynamic process that requires continuous monitoring and improvement of your product. You should collect and analyze data, such as user feedback, reviews, ratings, or metrics, to measure the performance and satisfaction of your product in each market. You should also update and optimize your product regularly, based on the data, trends, and changes in your markets. You should also seek new opportunities and challenges for expanding and enhancing your product in new or existing markets.