Position Paper on

Value of Technical Publications in the Telecommunications Software Industry

Introduction
This paper highlights the value and need for quality technical documentation in the Telecommunications Software Industry. Technical publications include a variety of documents such as user guides, installation manuals, release notes, service routing guides, operations guide, hardware documents, API documents, and training materials. In 2009, the telecommunication industry showed a slow growth. However, the industry is poised for a meteoric growth in the coming years with implementation of new technology and reforms. According to Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA), the industry will experience a significant growth in the next three years due to the increasing demand for telecommunication products and telecommunication applications. In this ever promising market scenario, characterized by fierce competition, mergers, innovation and new products, only effective marketing of products will determine the successful market performance of a company. Accurate and quality documentation of the telecom applications will ease the development and use of telecom products. Moreover, high-class marketing communications can lend unimaginable power to a company to compete and succeed in the market. Hence, it boils down to the fact that a quality documentation process is an indispensable part of an organization aspiring to succeed in the Telecommunication Software Industry.

TWB - Leading Technical Documentation Outsourcing Company

TWB is a leading provider of Technical Publication Solutions and is known for excellence in providing documentation services to many leading companies. TWB helps customers with all their technical documentation needs such as creating user guides, administration guides, process and work flow documents, installation manuals, configuration documents, and training materials. TWB works closely with client teams located globally, and assists them in meeting their worldwide product announcements and launch deadlines. TWB works round the clock with client teams and help them with quick responses that aid timely distribution of documents around the globe. Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more relevant to sustained business than capital or labor. And yet knowledge remains the most neglected asset of a business. TWB helps you unlock and share your technical knowledge with the world.

TWB believes that technology cannot exist without being communicated effectively.

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Telecommunications Software - Technical Publications

Growth and Penetration of the Telecommunications Software Industry

Telecommunications Software industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and is said to become the second largest in the global market by 2010. According to a market analysis by NASSCOM, telecom industry is the second largest in the world

Challenges and Solutions

Some of the documentation challenges that most companies in Telecommunication Software industry face today include:

Providing accurate and clear information Providing proper documentation on time during product release or launch Managing the documentation process using the right tools Besides development, telecommunications software development involves testing, implementation, and maintenance of the developed software. This process of development and maintenance requires accurate support documentation to aid knowledge transfer and business performance. TWB provides technical documentation solutions that are at par with the industry standards, and within the budget. A major part of the cost that is incurred by a telecom company is due to application maintenance. Only accurate and easy-tounderstand documents can simplify the maintenance processes, thereby reducing the costs involved. TWB provides documentation solutions for creating maintenance and process documents that are accurate and easy-to-use.

"Mobile data will be the primary engine of growth, seeing revenue increase by 15% to $223 billion," notes Leslie Arathoon, vice president of research at Pyramid Research. Globally, the telecommunication industry contributed around 3.7$ trillion in 2009. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimated that in 2008 there were 4.01 Billion subscribers, as compared to the 1.41 Billion subscribers in 2004. The above statistics show a 23.2% compounded growth. With telecom industry cutting across every other industry and all facets of life, the demand for innovative telecom applications will continue to grow. The companies that have proven documentation process in place will help develop telecom products faster and market them quickly. The inter-dependency of telecom applications and telecom products necessitate fool-proof documentation to perform well in the telecom market. The trade group expects the worldwide telecom market to grow to US$4.6 trillion by 2011, compared to about $3.9 trillion in 2006. About $1.3 trillion of the 2011 market will come from the U.S., the TIA said.

Benefits
Partnering with TWB has extremely benefited many companies in cutting costs and producing professional documentation. Use of technical publication benefits the telecommunication software development in:

Simplifying presentation of technical and complex data Increasing the product value for marketing and usage

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Value of Technical Publications

Technical Communication for Transferring Product Knowledge

The purpose of technical communication is to transfer product knowledge to end users in a comprehensible manner. The strategies of communication and levels of information vary depending on the type of product and audience. Providing end users with information about a products operation and maintenance is critical to the market performance of the product. Hence, the need for quality documentation is imperative. In todays business scenario, technical publications are often developed as an afterthought. This usually results in inaccurate and incomprehensible documentation, which, in turn, renders the users incapable of using the products. Accurate, readily understandable, and quality documents determine how a product sells in the market and result in increased customer satisfaction.

Communication for Different Levels of Technical and Product Knowledge

In technical publications, audience is the focal point. Hence, the style, language, and content must vary depending on the type of audience being addressed. It is because every user has a specific role in the implementation and usage of the technology. Therefore, it is important that documents be created keeping in mind the role of the person who will use the document. For example, when you document a software application designed for highly technical users, it is sufficient to provide the users with quick reference information to use the application. For users who start without technical or product knowledge, it is important to provide detailed product information along with instructions on how to use the product.

Faulty Assumptions that Result in Problems in Documentation

The faulty assumptions listed below result in incomprehensible document:

Attractive Publications as Useful Marketing Tools

Besides transferring knowledge, technical publications are also used for marketing a product. Before a product is released in the market, information about the product needs to be effectively communicated to the customers. Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive marketing collaterals increase the market prospects of a product and reduce support costs.

Developers know their products better than anyone else due to time constraints and limited resources, many companies assign their documentation tasks to the programmers. This more often results in the creation of technologycentered 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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Conclusion

Importance of Telecommunications Software: The importance and significance of telecommunication software engineering is evident from the fact that telecommunication is currently the largest mode of communication. 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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TWB Services
TWB is Indias 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. TWBs 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. TWBs services include:

Technical Marketing Solutions

Datasheets Cheat sheets Solution Briefs/Solution Brochures Presentations Products/Corporate Profile Brochures and marketing collateral Web content Audio and video scripts Press releases Direct mail Newsletter design copy Sales catalogues Sales sheets

Technical Product Documentation

Business Communication
Short Reports Proposals Case Studies Lab Reports Memos Progress/Interim Reports Writing for Electronic Media

Illustrations
Graphic Designing Info graphics 2D & 3D animation Line drawings and illustrations

Datasheets Administrators Guide API Document Configuration Guide Functional Specifications Document Installation Manual Interface Document Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM) Maintenance Manual Online Help Operation Manual Product Demo Product Specifications Document Product Overview Document Quick Reference Guide Release Notes Requirement Analysis Document SDK Document Troubleshooting Manual User Manual Open Source Documentation Programmers Guides Functional Specifications Document Use Cases Online Help /Context Sensitive Help Troubleshooting Guides

Documentation Quality Management

Copy Editing and Proof Reading Managing Writing Editing Services Layout and Design Creating SLAs

Business Documentation
Business Proposals Legal Disclaimers Policy Manuals Style Guide Design Template Design

Content Management
Single Sourcing File Version Control Document Naming Conventions Consistent Document Formatting Data Transformation

Web site Development

Web 2.0 development Web content Web applications

Qualitative Analytics for Decision Support

Economic Business Research Industry Analysis Market Opportunity Analysis Competitive Business Analysis Company & Prospect Profiling Reporting Solutions Assessment of Unmet Market Needs Status and Potential of Technologies Benchmarking of Strategies Vs Competition Forecasting Sales Force Effectiveness Market Assessments Competitive Intelligence Opinion Leadership Emerging Markets - evaluation and research

Translation and Localization Services

Software Translation Services Document Translation Services Localization (L10N) Testing Internationalization (I18N) Testing

Process Documentation
Workflows Standard Operating Procedures ISO Documentation CMM Documentation

Records Management
Document Management Solutions Record Management Storage and Retrieval

Deployment and Support

Installation and Configuration Guides Operations Manual

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TWB Software Tools Expertise

Our technical proficiency software and authoring tools includes: Our technical proficiency inin software and authoring tools includes:

Unstructured Content Development

Microsoft Word Adobe FrameMaker Adobe InDesign QuarkXPress Adobe PageMaker

XML Structured Editors

Epic FrameMaker+SGML X-Metal

Multimedia/Authoring
Adobe Flash Adobe Dreamweaver Microsoft FrontPage Adobe Captivate

Macromedia Captivate Graphics/Animations

Adobe Flash Adobe Photoshop Adobe Fireworks

Illustrations
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Adobe Illustrator CS3 CorelDRAW Microsoft-Expression Graphic Designer Xara Xtreme (Windows & Linux) CuteDraw Publisher3D(for animation) Sketsa SVG Editor (for vector graphics) Techsmith Camtasia Arbortext IsoDraw (technical illustrations for 2D and 3D)

Multimedia/Authoring/ Supporting tools

Adobe Flash Adobe Flex Adobe AIR Adobe Dreamweaver Adobe Acrobat Microsoft Silverlight Adobe Authorware Adobe Director Adobe Captivate Trivantis Lectora ASP.NET JSP JAVA

Online Help
JavaHelp Adobe RoboHelp 7.0 HelpScribble WebWorks Publisher PowerCHM Doc-To-Help WinCHM HelpSmith 2.1.1(Windows) Fast-Help MadCap Flare Help-Server NVU Help

Graphics/Animation
Adobe Flash Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe Fireworks Microsoft Silverlight

Standards
SCORM 1.2 / 2004 AICC W3C Section 508 QTI XML

XML
XMetal Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007

Databases
Microsoft Access Microsoft SQL Server

Development and Publishing tools

XSLT/XSL EDD

CMS/ LMS
Sharepoint Moodle Joomla, WordPress Media Wiki CMS Builder Author-it (formerly AuthorIT) Alfresco

Flowcharting
Microsoft Visio iGrafx EDraw RFFlow Flowbreeze Smart Draw

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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 Consulting and Business Services Defense, Aerospace and Hi-Tech Manufacturing Education and Learning IT, ITES ITES/ KPO/ BPO Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Process Manufacturing and Allied Industries Steel, Ship Building, Construction and Aviation 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

No: 4062, 19th Main Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560008 India. Landmark: Behind Carlton Towers Telephone: +91.80.40741400 / +91.80.41256367 Corporate Enquiries: corp@twb.in

US Office: TWB
11701 Norwegian Wood Drive Austin, TX 78758

Telephone: +1.512.586.8357

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