Part 2: Translation and Wireless

You're now integrating translation facilities into your CRM services. How does your translation software work?
In the beginning, language translation software was done word-to-word. It was used mainly for documents, such as the translation of a newspaper article. Now even in chat sessions, translation is still word-to-word, with some grammatical assistance. The objective is to translate your words into every day language that's not too rigid. Word-to-word translation will never be 100% grammatically accurate, but grammatical technology helps to fix it.

In speaking to that, what accuracy levels are you achieving?
Right now the translation software for Romance languages is at 60-70% accuracy. That's barely acceptable, but it's better than nothing. It's good for travel, emergency situations, and short communication. It works best if you don't make your text complicated and you keep your message short. Additionally, it helps to be aware, for translation purposes, of the differing formal syntax between languages. As far as Asian languages go, we're not there yet. But the technique can only get better. In a year or two, we hope to get Asian languages up to 85-90% accuracy. It needs to get that much better before being used for business.

Even with translation software and CRM technology, isn't it difficult to market to consumers in another location?
Having a local presence in those cities helps. It is difficult wherever you go - it's hard to sell products to a new market. At KnowEx, we have a partner who does consulting or sales in that area. From the beginning, we've been interested in Asian markets, and have had a Hong Kong partner. We will resell the CRM technology to the Asian markets using their help to develop a sales and support approach.

Looking now at wireless technologies, what is the most challenging market?
Mainland China. It's the biggest market with the most potential. But they're not yet trained to buy things on the Internet. People are used to using cash, not credit cards. The security for an Internet payment system is still a big issue. China is 12-24 months behind us.

And where do you see the future of this technology?
I see a lot of features being added: audio, video, radio, and TV. Wireless will allow you to add everything onto one device. For example, you would be able to watch part of a newscast on your phone, and finish it on your television at home. KnowEx's goal is to build CRM software designed for the future, to work on any standard. KnowEx looks to create products that work around the world until (hypothetically) every telephone becomes a telephone with a color television color addition. Then it will be easy to interpret text and to create a better CRM system.

Continued...