Communication by technical translation

Information & Communication – Feature

By Joel Mckay

Lost in translation is a phrase no businessperson wants to hear – it can often lead to cold sweats, headaches and, worst of all, big losses.

But one Vancouver-based technology company says it doesn’t have to be that way anymore, and that losing potential business clients due to language barriers is about to become a thing of the past.

Goodboog Inc. fancies itself a global virtual catalogue for firms and professionals, importers and exporters, looking to trade wares beyond the communicative confines of their region.

First established in 2004, goodboog is 100% online offering clients the ability to publish information and product catalogues in 25 languages, effectively shattering language barriers that previously hampered doing business abroad.

The way it works is companies and business professionals upload their business information and product lists (including pictures, prices and quantities available) to goodboog’s virtual catalogue, where they can connect with potential clients.

“The concept is that by having this platform people are able to connect to each other instantly. They’re instantly able to see products, instantly able to source products,” said Michael-James Pennie, goodboog’s CMO and director of business development.

The virtual catalogue is a series of categories that begins with dividing products from services, and further sub-dividing them into specific categories that showcase products via catalogue cards. Each product a company sells is one catalogue card, and goodboog makes money by charging its users for the cards.

“The end product we’re selling is the virtual catalogue publisher. We’re saying you can have a web presence in 25 languages,” he said.

Ten cards will cost you $99, while 1,000 will be around $499 and prices include additional services such as hosting, virtual business cards, banner ads and company profiles.

In addition to having your company information published and indexed in 25 languages, professionals can also communicate with one another using 4,000 common, pre-defined question and answer phrases.

“So people initially are able to start the conversation no matter what language they’re in, before investing in like say, an intermediary or a translator,” said Pennie.

Right now, companies still need to manually translate the information they upload, but goodboog hopes to have a third-party translator that clients will be able to access online within a couple of months.

The second feature that goodboog provides its clients with is a network of channel portal marketing partners in 90 countries.

The company also uses social applications such as Facebook and Twitter to promote its virtual catalogue through clients and reach a much wider audience.

Pennie went on to say that goodboog is already developing partnerships with ISPs around the world, and he said even B.C.’s Ministry of Economic Development is interested in their application.

Right now, the company is focused on setting up those partnerships and fine tuning its technology so that it can be a one-stop-shop for any business around the world. Although he admits goodboog still has a long way to go, Pennie is optimistic about the future.

“I’m going to be very audacious when I say this, but we really want to be the number 1 global business platform on the Internet.”

From BCTech 2008