The Nimdzi Lessons in Localization series highlights the largest, most innovative, and most successful globalization programs in the world.
A lesson by Gabriel Karandysovsky
About Philips
Philips (the shortened form used for Koninklijke Philips N.V., or Royal Philips) is a Dutch multinational health technology company with a long history. Founded over 100 years ago, in 1891, Philips is focused on improving people's health and well-being and enabling better health outcomes for their users. Philips employs some 80,000 employees across 120 different nationalities. According to the Philips 2020 annual results report, 64% of its revenue comes from outside of North America, underscoring the importance of other international markets to its operations. Coupled with the fact that Philips is a multicultural company, there’s generally a strong appreciation for localization across the organization.
We talked in detail to the five senior members of the Philips localization team — Paul Geurten, Dulce Carrillo-Woltman, Bernd Kruse, Nadja Nonnen, and Maxime Baltazar — about the company’s localization operations and how Philips is pivoting in 2021 and beyond.
TL; DR
Being locally relevant: While the company has been doing localization for a long time, there has been a realization that Philips still has a lot to gain by being even more locally present for their customers across the globe.
In the name of centralization: The localization operations at Philips are amid an ongoing centralization effort that includes processes, best practices, and information sharing. The goal is to place localization at the very heart of product development and better leverage the knowledge gained over decades of localizing for global audiences.
Digital transformation affects the tech stack too: A shift towards agile product development methods involves more traditional content creation and delivery methods. As a direct result of the evolving needs of internal teams, the localization team at Philips has decided to change their TMS and centralize more of its localization and transcreation work.
Fast facts:
Included in this lesson in localization
- Localization at Philips: an overview
- Culture
- Organization
- Languages
- Project management and decision making
- Supply chain
- Quality control
- Technology
- Interesting initiatives
- The Localization Squad
This has been a preview. The full report can be accessed online by Nimdzi Partners.
Who should we feature next?
Special thanks to the whole Philips localization team: Maxime Baltazar, Global Procurement Manager; Paul Geurten, Content & Translation Enablement Tribe Leader; Dulce Carrillo, Localization & Translation Product Owner, Digital Marketing; Nadja Nonnen, Content Manager & PO, Domestic Appliances; Bernd Kruse, Sr. Manager Translation & Validation, Health Systems for sharing a valuable lesson in localization.
This Lesson in Localization was prepared by Nimdzi's Chief Operations Officer, Gabriel Karandysovsky. If you wish to learn more, reach out to Gabriel at gabriel@nimdzi.com.
