Why Lucyol?

1. Strong and exclusive specialization in IT and Telecom

Lucyol is probably the most specialized IT translation and localization provider for French. For us, unlike many of our competitors, IT is not just one field among many others. It's our business. In an industry where the worst rub shoulders with the best, what actually sets up apart is that our professional translation experts actually understand what they are translating.

2. Reputation and track record second to none

We have provided translation and localization services to some of the world's most prestigious companies. We have also been selected as a preferred IT-specialized localization vendor by some of the largest internationalization (I18N) and globalization (G11N) groups. Please take a few moments to review our references. You may find that we provide services to most of your business partners, customers and competitors.

3. Unconditional commitment to offer the best quality/price ratio

All localization vendors promise low prices, high quality and on-time delivery, but how many keep those promises? At Lucyol, we put our clients' mantra of faster, cheaper, better at the heart of our customer-focused approach. All our staff are employed on performance-related contracts. Our goal is to exceed customer expectations every time, and our impressive 96% customer retention rate clearly shows our success.

4. Highly specialized and dual-skilled resources

In the localization industry, it is not unusual to see projects assigned to non-specialist translators whose native language is not the target language. Needless to say, all our projects are entrusted to native-speaking language specialists. Here again, we clearly go one step further than our competitors:

• We always refuse applications from translators offering more than one target language (which happens frequently).
• We only accept translators who have a strong technical background in one or more specialist fields. They are often specialists not only in IT or telecommunications, but also in particular areas of those two fields (security, networking, operating systems, databases, etc.).
• All our resources undergo a very strict selection process. Fewer than 5% of the freelance translators who complete our tests are added to our database, which is probably the lowest proportion in the localization industry (the remaining 95% continue working - but for less demanding localization providers). This small number is spread throughout the various specialized sectors, which means that unlike most of our competitors, we do not claim to have a database with "thousands of translators". Our translators are chosen because they actually understand what they are translating - and that's the main difference. For most of our competitors, the need to optimize the use of resources means that it is not unusual for one of their translators to work on a medical document on Monday, a legal document on Tuesday and an IT document on Wednesday.

5. Dedicated teams

When a customer chooses to entrust us with long-term projects, we set up a dedicated team of highly product-specialized and experienced translators. They are carefully selected based on their track record on similar projects and on their particular technical skills and expertise on the customer's specific products. Naturally, this additional selection process supplements, rather than replaces our standard vendor certification program. Customers may even approve each translator if they so desire. Once the team has been set up, they are assigned to all projects for this customer, which ensures perfect consistency throughout the project and from one project to another, and also perfect knowledge of all requirements and particularities of the customer. This is how we manage to satisfy even the most demanding customers.

6. A relationship built on trust with both customers and contractors

Unlike many of our competitors, we consider both customers and contractors as business partners. Consequently, our specialized translators give us the best because we treat them as real partners. In addition, our reputation for excellent payment policies (quite unusual in the localization industry) and ethical business practices increases our access to the most competent, specialized professionals available in each particular area of IT and Telecom.

7. Virtually no competitors

From the outset, our goal has been to be the only French localization provider for customers seeking the most specialized services at the best price. Over the past few years, many prominent localization providers went bankrupt (for lack of specialization) or were acquired by the "Big Three". Today, only three types of localization vendors remain:

• Small SLVs (Single-Language Vendors), with similar rates to ours, but no specialization (most are happy to win new clients, even if they can only provide a mediocre service). We do not treat such companies as competitors, as the services they provide are in no way comparable to ours. We would go so far as to say that they are not even in the same business as Lucyol.
• Medium-sized MLVs (Multi-Language Vendors), which tend not to be specialized, and merely sub-contract their work to SLVs for the numerous languages they offer. Generally, a brief look at the foreign-language versions of their Web site is enough to show that most of them do not live up to their claims. Moreover, their rates are significantly higher than ours.
• Large MLVs (the largest international globalization providers), which charge prohibitive rates, because they subcontract all work to their in-country partners (SLVs). Lucyol is the preferred French partner of many of them. However, to cut costs, they do not hesitate to split the same project between multiple vendors, with disastrous consequences in terms of consistency. Indeed, we consider that top quality can only be achieved if the same team handles all projects. By eliminating one intermediary and choosing Lucyol as your provider for French, you will enjoy consistently high quality at the best price (our rates include only production and project management - no additional costs).

Taking all this into account, we consider we have no competitors in our market segment (i.e. IT specialization and French).

8. Smart use of state-of-the-art technology

We employ the most sophisticated and up-to-date technology available to enhance productivity and optimize workflow, to lower costs and to improve quality and consistency. This technology includes translation memories, third-party and customer-proprietary tools, in-house developed project management and productivity tools, DTP tools, etc.