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KTM Ensures Professional Brand Through Consistent Language

Premium Provider in Motorsports Segment Makes Corporate Language a Top Priority

THE PROBLEM

After the Husqvarna Motorcycles brand had become part of the KTM family, the global market leader in the off-road competition segment ultimately entered the premium segment. With a consistent corporate language becoming increasingly important, KTM started a project to introduce both a solution to check and manage terminology as well as a central translation management system.

THE SOLUTION

Since 2011, KTM uses the Acrolinx platform to check terminology, spelling, grammar, and style against pre-defined writing guidelines. During the selection process, the Acrolinx platform stood out with its great performance, which for KTM is crucial when checking large amounts of data.

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Modifications of terminology often face resistance from other departments, especially if the proposals are only coming from the technical documentation department. Therefore, we moved this task into a neutral department that is not directly involved in content creation. Today, KTM considers corporate language a top priority.

We are particularly grateful for the Acrolinx integration with Excel because it is one of the applications we use the most when creating content.

Christian MoserTeam Leader Translation and Terminology, KTM Group

By optimizing content with the Acrolinx AI Platform for Enterprise Content Creation, KTM builds a professional brand, market credibility, and customer retention. In addition, corporate language at KTM has been moved from the technical documentation department to its own team, called Translation and Terminology Management.

Revenue growth and increase of staff clearly demonstrate that business has gone extremely well for the off-road and street motorcycle producer in the last few years. KTM’s products are distributed via 31 sales subsidiaries and 2 joint ventures in Dubai and New Zealand, to more than 2,000 independent dealers and importers worldwide.

With Husqvarna Motorcycles being integrated into the KTM family, the global market leader in off-road racing has ultimately entered the premium segment. This development has put new responsibilities on the company’s agenda, such as a consistent corporate language. “A corporate language features consistent terminology and style,” explains Christian Moser, Team Leader Translation and Terminology at KTM.

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“You can’t sell a premium product with inconsistent brand communication. It doesn’t suit our professional ambition if the product on a flyer has one name, in the user manual another, and in the dealer portal yet another.”

Terminology Checks and Translation Management Go Hand in Hand

Since 2011, the company has used the Acrolinx platform to ensure the quality of their content. While the discussion about terminology was initiated by the technical documentation department, a company-wide project about master data management confirmed that corporate language and translation management at KTM needed more attention. Since product names in the master data, bike descriptions for the website, and catalog copy are managed in several systems, departments often had service providers translate content twice without even realizing it.

To improve this situation, KTM wanted to implement central platforms for translation and terminology management simultaneously.

KTM Considers Corporate Language a Top Priority

The person in charge of terminology and translation management is Christian Moser. “Modifications of terminology often face resistance from other departments, especially if the proposals are only coming from the technical documentation department,” he explains. “Therefore, we moved this task into a neutral department that is not directly involved in content creation. Today, KTM considers corporate language a top priority.”

In the selection process, Acrolinx stood out from the competition in terms of performance and scale, which is crucial to check large amounts of data. Moreover, the decision makers at KTM were impressed by the constant development of the Acrolinx platform and the fast and reliable support, which made the decision easy.

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Seamless Interaction With SDL ProductsKTM manages terminology and translations with SDL Trados, WorldServer, and MultiTerm. “However, even the best terminology management system is a toothless tiger if you can’t control it,” says Christian Moser. This is why Acrolinx and SDL products are interconnected, with Acrolinx checking terminology, spelling, grammar, and style, and MultiTerm managing and maintaining terminology. MultiTerm exports the updated database to Acrolinx on a daily basis so that Acrolinx always refers to the latest terms. Once this step is complete, the content is transferred to the translation management system if necessary.

In addition, the term databases are multiplied for use in the Acrolinx platform within Technical Documentation, PowerParts, and Marketing. Acrolinx and Austrian SDL partner Kaleidoscope have jointly developed an interface for this process. “For editors, the interplay between Acrolinx and MultiTerm runs mostly in the background so that they can fully focus on creating and maintaining their content,” says Michael Arnold, Team Leader Owner’s Manuals at KTM. “Using special administrator profiles, team members responsible for terminology can both receive feedback and benefit from advanced checking functionality.” It just takes one click to check the content in any given document.

Acrolinx allows you to define different checking profiles for specific use cases and assign those profiles to different users. That way, you have one consistent database running in the background that can be divided into custom subject areas.

Michael Arnold, Team Leader Owner’s Manuals, KTM

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An important step to establish a powerful terminology database was appointing terminology commissioners who discuss and release new terms. With Kaleidoscope’s terminology workflow solution quickTerm, the status of each approval process is traceable within MultiTerm. The terminology committee consists of members from all the relevant departments who have the necessary know-how to introduce a sustainable term base.

Errors in User Manuals Compromise ProfessionalismThe first department to use Acrolinx was Technical Documentation. Here, the platform is connected to KTM’s editing system via an existing integration, allowing writers to optimize content in terms of grammar, style, and terminology. Additionally, the Acrolinx platform provides real-time feedback based on AI, helping writers to continuously improve their style and adapt to KTM’s writing guidelines.

Checking terminology within the editing system is just one of several items on KTM’s agenda.

As mistakes in user manuals compromise the company’s professionalism, spelling, grammar, and style are equally important. Now, employees from the Marketing, Parts, Garments & Accessories (PG&A) and Technical Documentation departments check these standards within authoring tools such as Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Office. “We are particularly grateful for the Acrolinx integration with Excel,” Christian Moser says, “because it is one of the applications we use the most when creating content.” The company also considers integrating the Acrolinx platform with KTM DealerNet and other editors. For applications that can’t be connected via existing integrations, KTM uses the Acrolinx Desktop Checker.

The range of content being checked and optimized with Acrolinx includes user manuals, repair and assembly instructions, catalog content for the PG&A department, press material, advertising brochures, and digital communication content. “Acrolinx allows you to define different checking profiles for specific use cases and assign those profiles to different users,” Michael Arnold says. “That way, you have one consistent database running in the background that can be divided into custom subject areas.”

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According to Christian Moser, the benefits of Acrolinx can easily be seen in lower costs, resulting from the integration with the central translation management system. More important, however, is that Acrolinx significantly adds to KTM’s professional and trustworthy public image.

The CompanyThe KTM GROUP, based in Mattighofen, Austria, develops and produces high-performance, ready-to-race off-road and street motorcycles under the brands of KTM and Husqvarna Motorcycles. Thanks to constant innovation and differentiated product design, each vehicle is produced to the highest quality. Spurred on by the passion of their employees, the KTM GROUP has become Europe‘s largest motorcycle manufacturer and is the fastest growing manufacturer worldwide. KTM’s success story stretches back many years and, with over 270 world titles and the market-leading position in the off-road segment, is set to continue with a committed and focused approach on into the future. For more information, visit www.ktm.com.

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