As Philips Healthcare was preparing to launch its newest advanced defibrillator/monitor, it wanted to ensure a high-quality user experience for its non-English speaking as well as English speaking customers. Key to that was accurately localizing the software, the voice prompts and remaining user interface for markets around the world.

1. Adopting a Test Center
Approach to Launch High-
Tech Medical Equipment
As Philips Healthcare was preparing to launch its newest
advanced defibrillator/monitor, it wanted to ensure a
high-quality user experience for its non-English speaking
as well as English speaking customers. Key to that was
accurately localizing the software, the voice prompts and
remaining user interface for markets around the world.
Philips Healthcare is a long-standing user of SDL software
localization solutions but for this project, the company
wanted to take a new approach to ensure efficient, cost-
effective localization while satisfying stringent regulatory
requirements. Working through the SDL testing center in
Colorado, this global leader was able to translate its new
device into 21 languages in record time and ensure while
still meeting the highest levels of quality.
Language
www.healthcare.philips.com
Headquarters: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Size: 37,000 employees in over 100 countries
Net sales (2013): EUR 9.5 billion

2. Case Study | Philips Healthcare 2
The challenge: Efficiently localize the new
product’s software, voice and user interfaces.
Increasingly, many countries’regulatory bodies will only accept
medical devices that are translated into their native language. As
a truly global leader, Philips Healthcare has incorporated software,
voice and user interface localization into its standard processes.
Over the years, Philips Healthcare has used a range of SDL
solutions and services for software & voice verification and
translation. As Tim Paiva, Senior Learning Products Developer,
Emergency Care Solutions, for Philips Healthcare explains, “We
work with SDL because of its translation expertise including
in-country contacts, infrastructure to support localization, know-
how working with multiple companies and best practices when it
comes to language technologies.”
Philips Healthcare uses SDL Passolo for its software localization. SDL
translators are often sent screenshots or brought on site to directly
validate the software’s translation. This approach largely serves
the company’s purposes, but for this project it needed to conduct
localization and verifications quicker, at a lower cost and with less
involvement from its internal resources. It also needed to maintain
standards of high-quality localization.
According to Curt Freeman, a senior software engineer responsible
for localization within the Emergency Care Solutions division at
Philips Healthcare,“It’s a time-consuming and painstaking process
to pick and catalog the right screenshots for review when working
with a device you’re not yet fluent in yourself. While it’s valuable to
work side-by-side with expert translators from SDL, bringing them
in-house is not always practical and can be expensive. And whether
we’re sending screenshots or working with in-house translators,
time and costs can quickly add up when we run into technical
issues with the device being validated.”
Because Philips Healthcare was localizing the integrated
defibrillator/monitor for 21 languages – eight of which it had
never translated the UI before, it needed a new approach. At the
recommendation of SDL consultants, Philips Healthcare decided
to take advantage of SDL’s testing center of excellence to speed up
on-site localization and verification of its new software.
“We grasped the value of
centralized testing of our software.
In addition to keeping our latest
device and testing equipment
in one location, the approach
would enable us to shave time
and costs while maintaining our
commitment to quality.”
Tim Paiva,
Senior Learning Products Developer,
Emergency Care Solutions
for Philips Healthcare

3. Case Study | Philips Healthcare 3
The solution: Pairing software localization with
on-site verification
Philips Healthcare felt the test center was the perfect choice
for localizing and verifying its newest device. Already using
SDL Passolo and SDL Translation Management System (TMS),
the company appreciated being able to seamlessly work these
solutions into the process.
“We grasped the value of centralized testing of our software. In
addition to keeping our latest device and testing equipment in one
location, the approach would enable us to shave time and costs
while maintaining our commitment to quality.”recalls Paiva.
The local SDL team led the project, working together with the SDL
testing center.They set up a customized testing lab while Philips
Healthcare brought an SDL employee up to speed on the equipment.
Combined with centralized localization in the testing center,
translators were able to easily view previously verified strings along
with ones that needed rework to ensure the best localization
possible.“Working with the testing center means SDL translators
could deliver an extremely high level of quality when it came to
localization because they were seeing strings in context within the
device,”explains Paiva.
The local SDL team led the
project, working together with
the SDL testing center. They
set up a customized testing lab
while Philips Healthcare brought
an SDL employee up to speed
on the equipment.
40% reduction
in overall
project time
Saved over
50% in project
costs

4. Case Study | Philips Healthcare 4
SDL (LSE: SDL) allows companies to optimize their customers’experience across the entire
buyer journey. Through its web content management, analytics, social intelligence, campaign
management and translation services, SDL helps organizations leverage data-driven insights to
understand what their customers want, orchestrate relevant content and communications, and
deliver engaging and contextual experiences across languages, cultures, channels and devices.
SDL has over 1,500 enterprise customers, over 400 partners and a global infrastructure of 70
offices in 38 countries. We also work with 72 of the top 100 global brands.
Copyright © 2014 SDL plc. All Rights Reserved. All company product or service names referenced herein are properties of their respective owners.SDL_cs_Philips Healthcare_EN_A4
For more information, visit www.sdl.com
The result: Streamlined localization,
verification and high levels of quality
From the start, Philips Healthcare saw the benefits of SDL’s global
structure. The SDL team in Germany collaborated with the US-
based testing center consultants. The in-market support was
invaluable and Philips Healthcare was able to keep the project
moving across time-zones.
By using trained testers and formalized testing processes, less
involvement was required by Philips Healthcare. In fact, the
company estimates that the time taken for testing verification was
reduced by about 35%.
And because the SDL test lead had a view across all languages,
it was possible to achieve high levels of localization quality and
consistency at lower costs. The group of translators working
together at the test center quickly developed a tracking system to
ensure consistent terminology during localization. According to
Freeman,“While this happens during in-house projects, the test
center and team lead approach streamlines the process, providing
a convenient way to achieve consistent translations.”
Paiva estimates that Philips Healthcare realized over 50% in cost
savings by using SDL Passolo in combination with the test center,
not to mention time gains.
The future: Ongoing success
“Pairing SDL Passolo and the testing center is a best practice that
significantly helps improve localization quality because translators
are testing the software for both functionality and language in
context. SDL helped us meet our quality, cost and international
software release targets”says Paiva.
“With SDL, we have a process that yields high quality translation
possible in a cost-effective and streamlined way,”concludes Freeman.
Key benefits
• Saved over 50% in project costs
• 40% reduction in overall project time
• Maintained high quality of translations
• Easily pinpointed translation
consistency issues
• Centralized the testing process in a
controlled environment
• Less involvement required by Philips
Healthcare employees
The company
estimates that
the time taken for
testing verification
was reduced by
about 35%.