1. Position Paper on
Value of Technical Publications in the
PC and Server Industry
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3. Introduction
This paper presents the value and need for qualitative
TWB – Leading Technical Documentation
Technical Publications in the outgrowing PC and
server industry; to market the products with a higher Outsourcing Company
value proposition.
TWB is a leading technical documentation company with
Technical publications created in the PC and server
an excellent record of providing unmatched technical
industry include a wide variety of materials such as
documentation to many major multinational companies.
user guides, white papers, datasheets, cheat sheets,
reference guides, installation manuals, and product
demos. TWB is the ideal choice for leading manufacturers of
computer peripherals, desktops, notebooks, and servers.
TWB helps customers with all their technical and
These materials transfer processes and procedures
marketing documentation needs such as datasheets,
involved in using the latest technology, engineering,
cheat sheets, product summaries, press releases, and
operation, and upgrading of the products and related
brochures.
software.
TWB works closely with client teams located globally,
Global markets are showing positive trends, and the
and assists them in meeting their worldwide product
overall worldwide PC and server shipment revenue
announcements and launch deadlines. TWB’s
has reached billion dollar figures. Growth in the
documentation services enable customers launch their
industry has also invited a bigger competition among
products with world-class documentation.
the industry-leading enterprises.
Every product that is shipped must be packaged with
supporting product documents. These documents are
used by home and enterprise purchasers, and hence, “Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility
must be presented in a professional and easily and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more
comprehensible format. relevant to sustained business than capital or labor.
And yet knowledge remains the most neglected
asset of a business. TWB helps you unlock and
With continuously increasing product models and fast share your technical knowledge with the world.”
track product launches, the time to document the
products is constrained. For timely completion of the
documentation work, most companies outsource their
documentation requirements. Outsourcing such
requirements also involves steps to protect Intellectual
Property and Non-disclosure of data of products that
are not yet released to the market. TWB ensures that
business-critical data is secured using well-structured
business policies.
“TWB believes that technology cannot exist
without being communicated effectively.”
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4. PC and Server Industry – Technical Publications
The PC and server industry is one of the most
Challenges and Solutions
competitive in terms of technology and costing. There
are no other products that are so technologically
sophisticated. The industry produces products that are
deployed in companies ranging from small and medium Some of the greatest documentation challenges that
businesses to large enterprises. most companies in the industry face today include:
“Once again, the PC market shows its  Timely availability of quality documents during
resiliency,” - Loren Loverde, program director product release
IDC Worldwide Trackers.  Cost cutting in a multi-vendor business
environment
 Managing large volumes of documentation for new
products releases
From a sharp decline in unit shipments in the year 2009,
the market is expected to increase the pace of growth in
2010. There would be a significant year-on-year growth
in shipment volumes in key segments in various The PC and server manufacturers rely on business
geographies. The growth in emerging regions will also collaterals and product documentation for sales and
lead the way with double-digit growth by 2013. marketing, and also for reduction of support costs.
TWB provided documentation solutions for worldwide
audience as well as internal global sales and
The growth in the industry after a brief period of fall in marketing teams.
global sales is also accompanied by stringent cost-
cutting measures. Technical publications, being an
integral part of product development has significant Marketing PC and server products in different
focus on the cost-cutting process. geographical regions also means providing
documentation in multiple languages. Most of the
companies prefer single sourcing as a solution, by
Companies are looking forward to expanding their creating content in one language and translating it as
markets globally, with customer centric business models. and when required. TWB provided content ready to be
For selling their products, these companies need sales translated to multiple languages.
and marketing materials. Such materials provide product
specifications, accessory details, and services and
support information. It is sometimes difficult to manage high volumes of
documentation requirements for upcoming product
releases on time. As a result, most of the
documentation requirements are outsourced to TWB
for quality and on-demand technical publications.
Benefits
Association with TWB has immensely benefited a
leading manufacturer of PC and server products in
saving costs and producing professional
documentation along with services such as:
 Transferring complex technical data into easily
understandable language
 Protecting technical and commercial data of newly
developed products
 Providing knowledge and content management
solutions, single sourcing, and data migration.
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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 point.
product knowledge to end users in a comprehensible Hence, the style, language, and content must vary
manner. The strategies of communication and levels of depending on the type of audience being addressed. It
information vary depending on the type of product and is because every user has a specific role in the
audience. implementation and usage of the technology.
Therefore, it is important that documents be created
Providing end users with information about a product’s keeping in mind the role of the person who will use the
operation and maintenance is critical to the market document.
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
In today’s business scenario, technical publications are sufficient to provide the users with quick reference
often developed as an afterthought. This usually results information to use the application.
in inaccurate and incomprehensible documentation,
which, in turn, renders the users incapable of using the For users who start without technical or product
products. knowledge, it is important to provide detailed product
information along with instructions on how to use the
Accurate, readily understandable, and quality documents product.
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
The faulty assumptions listed below result in product is released in the market, information about
incomprehensible document: the product needs to be effectively communicated to
the customers.
 Developers know their products better than anyone
else – due to time constraints and limited resources, Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive
many companies assign their documentation tasks to marketing collaterals increase the market prospects of
the programmers. This more often results in the a product and reduce support costs.
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
 Price Competitive Growth in the PC and Server Industry: Growth of companies in the PC and server industry
is driven by providing latest technology at an affordable price. The PC and server manufacturers portray a global
presence and need technical publications that can be used in different geographies. Marketing these products
require supportive business collaterals and product documentation.
 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: Companies that want to reduce product development costs have
outsourced their documentation needs to well-establish Technical Publications Solutions providers. Outsourcing
the documentation work 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
TWB is India’s leader in technical communication outsourcing and education. TWB offers a complete suite of services that allow
our customers to effectively publish their technical knowledge with their people and processes. TWB’s customers range from
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 –
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.
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,
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.
Defense, Ship Building to Hi-tech Manufacturing, and Discrete and Process Manufacturing.
TWB’s services include:
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 – Products/Corporate  Layout and Design
Profile  Installation Manual
 Creating SLAs
 Brochures and marketing collateral  Interface Document
 Web content  Interactive Electronic Technical Manual
(IETM)
Business Documentation
 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
Competition  Record Management Storage and
 Installation and Configuration Guides
Retrieval
 Operations Manual  Forecasting
 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:
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:
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:
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 / +91.80.41256367 +1.512.586.8357
Corporate Enquiries: corp@twb.in
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