The Hindu Business Line : Lionbridge Tech expanding operations in India

Chennai June 8 US-based Lionbridge Technologies is expanding its Indian operations, the company is adding space at its Mumbai and Chennai facilities besides setting up an office at Bangalore.

It also plans to raise headcount in Chennai to about 1,000 from 250 by end of 2008, according to Mr Robin A. Lloyd, Vice-President and General Manager, Lionbridge. The Chennai facility currently does content development, software testing and application development work for Lionbridge's local and overseas clients.

"We also plan to start offering account management and design services from India next year and are looking to set up an office in Bangalore," he told Business Line.

Growing demand

The expansion is expected to support the growing demand for content development and localisation services, which include technical writing, e-learning and instructional design. Lionbridge builds software platforms that enable translation of content into European and Indian languages. However, there is lack of professional translators in India to do this kind of work, Mr Lloyd said.

To create such a talent pool, it plans to tie up with training institutes and universities in India to start certificate courses in professional translation. These postgraduate courses are likely to extend from a few months to a year. As opposed to existing courses on translation that focus mainly on the nuances of language, these would focus on areas such as creating software for translation and using specific tools and processes to carry out objective translation.

The company is also developing next generation `help' applications for its overseas clients. These involve creating user manuals and other related documentation that is made available on the product itself, unlike now where one needs to download `help' from a CD/website or receive as a booklet.

Mobile learning solution

Lionbridge is pilot testing a mobile learning solution for telecom manufacturers that would enable engineers to seek and receive critical information while working on site. For instance, one could download on to the mobile phone, instructions (pictures or audio visual) on how to repair a broken switch, said Mr Lloyd.

Another solution involves using the i-Pod to expose young employees to business-critical issues like discrimination, compliance training, client confidentiality and fair practices. Fifteen-minute long modules on these topics can be downloaded and listened to on the i-Pods.

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