In March, I celebrated 10 years working with XML. I originally came to XML as an eLearning developer at Element K. I was looking for the structure and flexibility that XML could provide in storing eLearning content. Since then, I've come to appreciate the many other benefits that come with XML.

While even small implementations using XML can show immediate benefits, real business savings and advantages often require large-scale implementations with relatively long return periods.

• Reduced localization costs
• Re-use and re-purposing of content
• The ability to publish to a number of output formats

In order to realize these savings, large global companies will want to use an XML content management system (CMS), carefully plan the migration to XML authoring, and analyze their existing content for re-use opportunities.These projects obviously require a broad, coordinated plan within the whole organization– not just within  a Technical Publications group.

These investments do pay off. We recently heard that one of our clients had saved around 30% on the translation of over 45 million words for a major equipment launch.