Position Paper on Value of Technical Publications in the Biotechnology Industry

1. Position Paper on
Value of Technical Publications in
the Biotechnology Industry

3. Introduction
This paper presents the importance of qualitative TWB – Leading Technical Documentation
technical publication in biotechnology industry.
Outsourcing Company
Technical publication includes a wide range of
deliverables like white papers, process and TWB is a leading technical publication company
workflow documentation, user guides, online help, with an excellent record of providing unmatched
classroom training materials, reference guides, technical documentation solutions. TWB helps
administration guides, standard operating customers with all their technical documentation
procedures, installation manuals, web-based needs such as creating user guides, administration
training materials, and product demos. guides, process and work flow documents,
installation manuals, configuration documents and
The biotechnology industry has spread over training materials.
several sectors, including health care (medical),
agricultural biotechnology, contract services, TWB works closely with client teams located
bioinformatics, biological engineering, genetics and globally, and assists them in meeting their
others. It forms one of the fastest growing sectors worldwide product announcements and launch
in global economy, and necessitates deadlines. TWB works round the clock with client
documentation of technical processes and teams and help them with quick responses that aid
products. timely distribution of documents around the globe.
Use of products developed in the biotechnology
industry varies from large pharmaceutical industries “Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility
to a kitchen. There is a wide range of products and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more
(machineries, tools, equipments, chemicals, relevant to sustained business than capital or
medicines and drugs, bio-fertilizers, organic labor. And yet knowledge remains the most
pesticides, cheese, dairy products etc.) available. neglected asset of a business. TWB helps you
Hence, it covers a wide range of consumers. This unlock and share your technical knowledge with
is the chief reason for the enormous growth of the the world.”
biotechnology industry.
Along with increasing popularity of biotechnology
products, the complexity of implementation,
usability issues (of the equipments and various
products) and matching international standards
make quality documentation important. The
documentation needs to be simple and
comprehensible to end users, which necessitate
the involvement of technical documentation
specialists in creating qualitative documents.
“TWB believes that technology cannot exist
without being communicated effectively.”
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4. Biotechnology Industry – Technical Publications
Growth of the Biotechnology Industry Challenges and Solutions
At present the Indian biotechnology sector Some of the documentation challenges faced by
comprises more than 350 companies. The sector the industry today include:
has been growing at the rate of 35% - 40% per
annum for the last three years. India is ranked third  Developing comprehensive documents for the
in Ernst & Young’s Global Biotechnology Report non-technical audience
2004, for the number of biotechnology industries in
 Managing large volume of documentation during
the country. India is the largest vaccine producer
the documentation process
and cotton cultivator.
 Ensuring timely availability of quality documents
during product release
“The Indian biotechnology market, valued at INR
 Aligning with international standards of
112.6 billion (US$ 2.86 Billion) in 2007-08, is
projected to hit a CAGR of 30% in near future”. documentation
According to ABLE-Biospectrum survey report Currently, the market is highly competitive, and in
2008 “the Indian biotechnology industry is this context the toughest job is to satisfy the
growing at an impressive annual growth rate of customer. It results into lower profit margins,
about 20%”. keeping implementation cost low. Still a large part
of the cost is connected to maintenance
The following graph shows the technology wise activities. The quality of documentation plays an
growth in the global biotechnology equipment important role during implementation and
market. maintenance. If the documentation is not
satisfying, it needs to be restructured. It will lead
to significant increase in maintenance effort and
total cost.
TWB being a leading technical documentation
outsourcing company provides documentation
solutions with professional quality. The
biotechnology industry is working as a global unit,
which often required modifications to suit the
requirements of a specific organization in
different geographies.
Benefits
Partnering with TWB has extremely benefited many
companies in saving costs and producing
professional documentation along with services
such as:
According to a new technical market research
report “the global market value for  Transforming complex technical data into simple
biotechnology equipment is an estimated $5.5 and comprehensible language
billion in 2009, but is expected to increase to  Protecting technical and commercial data of
nearly $7.3 billion in 2014, for a 5-year newly developed products
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8%.  Providing rapid action for documentation
availability and reduced process complexity
The segment projected to see the largest growth
 Enabling easy update and management of
from 2009 to 2014 is array.”
documents
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5. Value of Technical Publication
Technical Communication for Communication for Different Levels of
Transferring Product Knowledge Technical and Product Knowledge
The purpose of technical communication is to transfer In technical publications, audience is the focal
product knowledge to end users in a comprehensible point. Hence, the style, language, and content must
manner. The strategies of communication and levels vary depending on the type of audience being
of information vary depending on the type of product addressed. It is because every user has a specific
and audience. role in the implementation and usage of the
technology. Therefore, it is important that
documents be created keeping in mind the role of
Providing end users with information about a
the person who will use the document.
product’s operation and maintenance is critical to the
market performance of the product. Hence, the need
for quality documentation is imperative. For example, when you document a software
application designed for highly technical users, it is
sufficient to provide the users with quick reference
In today’s business scenario, technical publications
information to use the application.
are often developed as an afterthought. This usually
results in inaccurate and incomprehensible
documentation, which, in turn, renders the users For users who start without technical or product
incapable of using the products. knowledge, it is important to provide detailed
product information along with instructions on how
to use the product.
Accurate, readily understandable, and quality
documents determine how a product sells in the
market and result in increased customer satisfaction. Attractive Publications as Useful
Marketing Tools
Faulty Assumptions that Result in
Problems in Documentation Besides transferring knowledge, technical
publications are also used for marketing a product.
Before a product is released in the market,
The faulty assumptions listed below result in information about the product needs to be
incomprehensible documents: effectively communicated to the customers.
 Engineers know their products better than anyone Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive
else – due to time constraints and limited marketing collaterals increase the market prospects
resources, many companies assign their of a product and reduce support costs.
documentation tasks to the programmers. This
more often results in the creation of technology-
centered information, while end users require
task-oriented information.
 Documentation of complex applications requires a
longer learning curve for the writer – learning the
product will not be a major obstacle for writers
with the right technical background.
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6. Conclusion
The value of technical publications and the role of documentation outsourcing can be summarized as follows:
 Importance of Biotechnology: The importance and significance of biotechnology can be understood by the
fact that its development and application is associated with almost very field. Advancements in the areas of
biotechnology have exploited a variety of ways for industrial production, thus creating a commercial
environment. In the US alone there are more than 200 such companies including Genentech, Cetus,
Hybritech, Biogen, etc. These companies have been active participants in the research and development of
emerging products. The research and development needs to be supported with extensive documentation of
processes, workflows, and specifications.
 Value of Technical Publications: Technical publications are very essential for transferring product
knowledge to end users. Provisioning of proper material to use the technology and products enables the user
to accept and efficiently use the product. Faulty assumptions about documentation lead to inaccurate and
hard-to-understand material. This also decreases the chances of marketing the products in the global market.
 Role of Documentation Outsourcing: The complexity involved in developing products requires that vendors
and purchasers consider outsourcing their documentation needs to well-established Technical Publications
Solutions providers. Outsourcing technical documentation has helped companies cut costs and at the same
time deliver their products with quality documents.
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7. TWB Services
TWB is India’s leader in technical communication outsourcing and education. TWB offers a complete suite of services that
allows our customers to effectively publish their technical knowledge with their people and processes. TWB’s customers range
from Global 500 – including Cisco, Accenture, McAfee, LG, Samsung, Citrix, SAP, Siemens, AOL, Intel; Indian technology
majors – including Infosys, Wipro; Global defense majors - Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, DRDO, HAL; and exciting technology
startups. TWB's expertise in technical communication ranges from IT Products and Outsourcing, ITES, Banking, Financial,
Aerospace, Defense, Ship Building to Hi-tech Manufacturing, and Discrete and Process Manufacturing.
TWB’s services include:
Technical Marketing Technical Product Documentation Quality
Solutions Documentation Management
 Datasheets
 Administrator’s Guide
 Datasheets  Copy Editing and Proof Reading
 API Document
 Cheat sheets  Managing Writing
 Configuration Guide
 Solution Briefs/Solution Brochures  Editing Services
 Functional Specifications Document
 Presentations –  Layout and Design
Products/Corporate Profile  Installation Manual
 Creating SLAs
 Brochures and marketing collateral  Interface Document
 Web content  Interactive Electronic Technical Business Documentation
Manual (IETM)
 Audio and video scripts
 Maintenance Manual  Business Proposals
 Press releases
 Online Help  Legal Disclaimers
 Direct mail
 Operation Manual  Policy Manuals
 Newsletter design copy
 Product Demo  Style Guide Design
 Sales catalogues
 Product Specifications Document  Template Design
 Sales sheets
 Product Overview Document
 Quick Reference Guide
Business Communication Content Management
 Release Notes
 Short Reports  Requirement Analysis Document
 Single Sourcing
 Proposals  SDK Document
 File Version Control
 Case Studies  Troubleshooting Manual
 Document Naming Conventions
 Lab Reports  User Manual
 Consistent Document Formatting
 Memos  Open Source Documentation
 Data Transformation
 Progress/Interim Reports  Programmers Guides
 Writing for Electronic Media  Functional Specifications Document
 Use Cases Web site Development
Illustrations  Online Help /Context Sensitive Help
 Web 2.0 development
 Troubleshooting Guides
 Graphic Designing  Web content

 Info graphics  Web applications
Qualitative Analytics for
 2D & 3D animation
Decision Support Translation and Localization
 Line drawings and illustrations
Services
 Economic Business Research
Process Documentation
 Industry Analysis  Software Translation Services
 Workflows  Market Opportunity Analysis  Document Translation Services
 Standard Operating Procedures  Competitive Business Analysis  Localization (L10N) Testing
 ISO Documentation  Company & Prospect Profiling  Internationalization (I18N) Testing
 CMM Documentation  Reporting Solutions
 Assessment of Unmet Market Needs Records Management
Deployment and Support  Status and Potential of Technologies
 Document Management Solutions
 Benchmarking of Strategies Vs
 Record Management Storage and
 Installation and Configuration Competition
Retrieval
Guides  Forecasting
 Operations Manual  Sales Force Effectiveness
 Market Assessments
 Competitive Intelligence
 Opinion Leadership
 Emerging Markets - evaluation and
research
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8. TWB Software Tools Expertise
Our technical proficiency inin software and authoring tools includes:
Our technical proficiency software and authoring tools includes:
Unstructured Content XML Structured Editors Multimedia/Authoring
Development
 Epic  Adobe Flash®
 Microsoft Word®  FrameMaker+SGML  Adobe Dreamweaver®
 Adobe FrameMaker®  X-Metal®  Microsoft FrontPage®
 Adobe InDesign®  Adobe Captivate®
 QuarkXPress® Macromedia Captivate
 Adobe PageMaker® Graphics/Animations
 Multimedia/Authoring/
Illustrations  Adobe Flash® Supporting tools
 Adobe Photoshop®
 Adobe Flash CS4 Professional  Adobe Fireworks®  Adobe Flash®
 Adobe Illustrator CS3  Adobe Flex®
 CorelDRAW Online Help  Adobe AIR®
 Microsoft-Expression Graphic  Adobe Dreamweaver®
Designer  Adobe Acrobat®
 Xara Xtreme (Windows & Linux)  JavaHelp
 Microsoft Silverlight®
 CuteDraw  Adobe RoboHelp 7.0
 Adobe Authorware®
 Publisher3D(for animation)  HelpScribble
 Adobe Director®
 Sketsa SVG Editor (for vector  WebWorks Publisher
 Adobe Captivate®
graphics)  PowerCHM
 Trivantis Lectora®
 Techsmith Camtasia  Doc-To-Help
 ASP.NET
 Arbortext IsoDraw (technical  WinCHM
 JSP
illustrations for 2D and 3D)  HelpSmith 2.1.1(Windows)
 JAVA
 Fast-Help
 MadCap Flare Standards
Graphics/Animation  Help-Server
 NVU Help
 SCORM 1.2 / 2004
 Adobe Flash®  AICC
XML
 Adobe Photoshop®  W3C
 Adobe Illustrator®  Section 508
 Adobe Fireworks®  XMetal®  QTI XML
 Microsoft Silverlight®  Microsoft Word 2003®,
 Microsoft Word 2007®
Databases Development and Publishing
tools
CMS/ LMS
 Microsoft Access  XSLT/XSL
 Microsoft SQL Server  EDD
 Sharepoint®
 Moodle
Flowcharting  Joomla,
 WordPress
 Microsoft Visio  Media Wiki
 iGrafx  CMS Builder
 EDraw  Author-it (formerly AuthorIT)
 RFFlow  Alfresco
 Flowbreeze
 Smart Draw
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9. Industries Served
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge-driven industries, helping them meet their markets better. These
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge driven industries, helping them meet their markets better, these
include:
include:
 Banking, Insurance and Financial Services  ITES/ KPO/ BPO
 Consulting and Business Services  Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
 Defense, Aerospace and Hi-Tech Manufacturing  Process Manufacturing and Allied Industries
 Education and Learning  Steel, Ship Building, Construction and Aviation
 IT, ITES  Telecom and Digital Communications
TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:
TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:
The TWB Building US Office:
No: 4062, 19th Main Road, TWB
HAL 2nd Stage, 11701 Norwegian Wood Drive
Bangalore – 560008 Austin, TX 78758
India.
Landmark: Behind Carlton Towers
Telephone: Telephone:
+91.80.40741400 / +1.512.586.8357
+91.80.41256367
Corporate Enquiries:
corp@twb.in
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