Project boosts business development

August 11, 2022

In the spring of 2021, Lingo set its sights on internationalisation. We began the Passage till Sverige project with the goal of creating an internationalisation strategy for Lingo. This strategy would help to open up new markets, especially in Sweden, and in the future extend to other Nordic countries.

Lingo’s current business activities were analysed and developed by taking the expectations and needs of the international market into consideration. The project centred around developing the services offered by the company and a well-managed growth process.

The Passage till Sverige internationalisation project was divided into the following sections:

1. Digitalisation of customer data and process optimisation

Lingo is transitioning to a new project management system. This helps Lingo’s partners and facilitates the Lingo team’s day-to-day work. The new system allows data to be centralised in one place, which in turn simplifies data management. The system streamlines different parts of the translation process and optimises productivity and efficiency.

It is commonly said that “information is power”. The digitalisation and centralisation of customer data help Lingo to develop customer insight. It allows us to better and more efficiently manage the growth and information brought by the new market.

The project management tool gives Lingo the opportunity and resources for international growth. The system is designed to support growth and internationalisation in the translation sector.

2. The current state of the international customer journey and competition

The goal is to understand how the target market works. What kinds of competitive advantages can be achieved, and which sales channels should be used? Does Lingo already have existing channels, partners, and customers?

Without an analysis of the market situation and an assessment of the competitive situation, it is impossible to decide on a strategic direction and work towards the future.

3. Strategy guidelines

The analysis will help refine strategic priorities and clarify objectives. The strategy is developing and adapts as circumstances change, and we continuously discuss this with our team.

Interaction is important at this stage so that our entire team knows what we want to do, what our goals are and what Lingo’s future looks like.

4. International communication

Internationalisation is not possible without international communication. Localisation isn’t just about translating webpages and other materials into the target country’s language; it includes much more.

When working in a different linguistic and cultural area, you need to be familiar with local customs and culture. How can we best get our message across? What is the target audience and how do we reach them? What social media platforms are significant to us? Is social media usually used in that country and industry? Are there things that cannot be communicated? Do the webpages look “local” enough?

Failure in communication can ruin everything. That’s why careful preparation is important.

5. Quality certification

Quality certification is directly linked to internationalisation. A quality system certificate is an official third-party attestation of the effectiveness of a company’s quality system and it is valid worldwide. Because certificates are internationally recognised, it is possible for foreign customers to verify that Lingo uses certified processes and delivers what is promised.

In the translation field, quality is one of the most important factors. Quality may be challenging to measure or verify, and that is why standard processes are key to a company’s image and brand. Communicating quality outside of the organisation shows that a company is investing in improving its own operations and cares about its customers and their product or service experiences.

Some customers require a quality certificate for collaboration because their own quality assurance system requires it. Nowadays this is a growing trend, exemplified by technology industry companies, which value certification. Certification is useful for both direct-to-customer and partnership models, as it reassures partners that the company has an established service model.

In addition to the benefit of marketing, the certification process is also the development of internal processes. During the certification process, we examine Lingo’s service process and review the company’s readiness for international clients, identifying areas for improvement and making the necessary improvements.

Project impact

The project has short and long-term effects. The project’s effects will be assessed while the project is actively under way and will continue to be assessed after the project has ended. Information is continuously accumulating, and strategically created indicators help to analyse targets.

We have collected information on the following topics:

business turnover and growth
number of domestic and international customers
number of offers and orders
customer satisfaction marketing metrics (e.g. social media, website).

Business development is a continuous process. During the project, preliminary measures will be planned analysed and taken. Given the limited duration of the project, concrete measures will continue after the end of the project. Plans fell into place piece by piece.

As the project progresses, we are prioritising measures that support our chosen development path. Similarly, there are things that don’t happen because they don’t support the planned objectives or because some other situation prevents them from happening.

Global crises have a direct impact on the general financial situation. The COVID-19 pandemic brought its own challenges to the overall implementation of the project. Targets needed to be assessed and our schedules needed to be updated. We focused on things that could be influenced at the time.

Just as the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to die down, Russia invaded Ukraine, causing another global crisis that turned things upside down. The situation can be analysed from many different perspectives, but there is no sure answer to how our economic situation will evolve. We are facing disruption on multiple fronts and business and people are once again required to adapt and innovate.

Where did the project funding come from?

Project funding can be given by a wide range of providers. There are international and Finnish actors that are funded publicly or privately. Various consultancy firms also offer their services.

A company needs to be aware of its own development needs and related objectives. Once brainstorming is complete, the development plan can be used to identify possible project opportunities.

Find out more about applying for Business Development Grant from the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and Environment (ELY). More information can be found in ELY’s site.

Lingo’s development project was implemented between the period of 03.03.2021-30.06.2022. The project was funded by Central Finland’s ELY Centre (Business Development Grant).

We would be happy to tell you more about the project, contact us at lingo@lingo.fi!