Position Paper on Value of Technical Publications in the Telecom Hardware Industry

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

3. Introduction
This paper presents the value and need for quality TWB – Leading Technical Documentation
Technical Publications in the Telecom Hardware
Outsourcing Company
Industry.
TWB is a leading technical publisher with an
Technical publications include a wide variety of
excellent record of providing unmatched technical
documents such as user guides, online help, white
documentation to many major companies.
papers, reference guides, administration guides,
standard operating procedures, installation
manuals, and product demos. TWB is the ideal choice for leading vendors of
Telecom Hardware products. TWB helps customers
with all their technical documentation needs such as
The telecom hardware industry has experienced
user guides, administration guides, installation
enormous changes in the last few decades, and the
manuals, process and workflow documentation,
pace of its evolution is increasing. This increasing
configuration documents and training materials.
pace of innovation has altered the traditional
telecommunications market model. No market
research could have predicted the billion-dollar TWB works closely with client teams located globally,
market for cell phone ring tones, for example, and assists them in meeting their worldwide product
because the concept had no precedent. These announcements and launch deadlines. We work
changes necessitate documentation of the updated round-the-clock with client teams and help them with
processes and workflows, along with the creation of quick responses that facilitate timely distribution of
user manuals for the product, and product-specific documents around the globe.
configuration documents.
“Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility
According to MAIT (Manufacturing Association of and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more
Information Technology), the hardware and relevant to sustained business than capital or
networking industry is growing at over 40 percent labor. And yet knowledge remains the most
annually. This indicates that there is tremendous neglected asset of a business. TWB helps you
potential for technical documentation in the telecom unlock and share your technical knowledge with
hardware industry. the world.”
Despite the rapid growth of the Telecom Hardware
Industry, the use of the telecom products makes
quality documentation important to both the
vendors of these hardware products and those
organizations that purchase them. The
documentation needs to be simple and
comprehensible to end users, which necessitates
the involvement of technical documentation
specialists in the creation of documents relevant to
this industry.
“TWB believes that technology cannot exist
without being communicated effectively.”
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4. Telecom Hardware Industry – Technical Publications
Growth and Penetration of Telecom Challenges and Solutions
Hardware Sector in India
India has become one of the fastest-growing mobile
markets in the world. The mobile services were Some of the greatest documentation challenges
commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the that most companies face today include:
initial 5–6 years, the average monthly subscribers
additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only. In  Lack of documentation during a product release
December 2002 the total mobile subscriber base or launch.
stood at 10.5 million. As of July 2009 the total mobile  Managing large amount of information for new
subscribers base stands at 441.66 million. product releases.
 Applying cost-cutting measures while serving
India has positioned itself as one of the front-runners many vendors.
of the rapidly growing Asia Pacific Region. This is
due to a series of ambitious and positive economic
Building a telecom network requires huge capital
reforms aimed at deregulating the economy and
investment. Cost-cutting measures play an
stimulating foreign investment.
important function in increasing capital gains for
companies. TWB provides technical documentation
India’s liberalized FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) solutions that are at par with the industry
policy allows up to a 74% FDI in Telecom Industry standards, and within the budget.
with up to 100% FDI in the manufacturing of telecom
equipments.
Creating and maintaining documents specific to this
“India's mobile subscriber base is expected to industry involves enormous capital investment in
grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) labor and technology. TWB provides
of 18.3 percent, from 2007 to 2013, reaching a documentation solutions for creating and
penetration rate of 53.4 percent by end-2013.” maintaining product and process documents.
Today telecom is one of the most popular and The telecommunication industry is undergoing a lot
widespread communication technology on the planet, of modifications and reforms which requires a lot of
with an estimated 4.6 billion subscriptions globally. documentation. These changes have to be
documented and revised frequently. TWB provides
continuous support to update product documents
regularly with changing technology advancements.
Benefits
For a leading telecom hardware manufacturer,
association with TWB has benefited them
immensely in saving costs and producing
professional documentation along with:
 Transferring complex technical data into easily
understandable language
 Protecting technical and commercial data of
newly developed products
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5. Value of Technical Publications
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
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.
The faulty assumptions listed below result in Before a product is released in the market,
incomprehensible documents: information about the product needs to be
effectively communicated to the customers.
 Developers know their products better than
anyone else – due to time constraints and limited Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive
resources, many companies assign their marketing collaterals increase the market prospects
documentation tasks to the programmers. This of a product and reduce support costs.
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 Importance of Telecom Hardware: The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest
growing in the world and India is projected to become the second largest telecom market globally by 2010.
Thus the need for good quality documentation arises.
 Value of Technical Publications: Technical Publications are very essential for transferring product
knowledge to the 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 reduces the changes to be made for marketing the products in the
global markets. On the other hand, good documentation is clear, easy to read and simple to understand. It
helps the user operate and maintain the system with ease. Good documentation allows products to be used
effectively.
 Role of Documentation Outsourcing: The complexity and growth involved in the telecom hardware sector
requires that companies look at outsourcing their documentation needs to well-established Technical
Publications Solutions providers. This helps the company 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 in 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
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:
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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