Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Using OTM globally and regionally – Part 2 – Currencies

OTM is aimed at promoting regional business as well as operations on a global scale. In addition to using worldwide reserve currencies, OTM also provides an easy facility for working with numerous other currencies.

This means that every LSP can decide in which currencies to offer services and in which currencies freelancers should be paid. It is possible for these to be different currencies. OTM enables the use of any of the 34 convertible currencies currently listed by the European Central Bank (see the following table).

Currencies usable in OTM (status November 2009)
EUR EURO RUB Russian rouble
USD US dollar TRY Turkish lira
JPY Japanese yen AUD Australian dollar
BGN Bulgarian lev BRL Brasilian real
CZK Czech koruna CAD Canadian dollar
DKK Danish krone CNY Chinese yuan renminbi
EEK Estonian kroon HKD Hong Kong dollar
GBP Pound sterling IDR Indonesian rupiah
HUF Hungarian forint INR Indian rupee
LTL Lithuanian litas KRW South Korean won
LVL Latvian lats MXN Mexican peso
PLN Polish zloty MYR Malaysian ringgit
RON New Romanian leu NZD New Zealand dollar
SEK Swedish krona PHP Philippine peso
CHF Swiss franc SGD Singapore dollar
NOK Norwegian krone THB Thai baht
HRK Croatian kuna ZAR South African rand

Within a project, quotes and invoices for customers as well as payments for freelancers can be calculated in one or more currencies. The currencies are converted using the latest daily rates. This ensures that project managers always have a clear overview of the price and costs of each project.

Example: A Brazilian agency works for an US customer and generates its quote and invoice in US dollars, but prefers to pay its local freelancer in Brazilian real.

Using OTM globally and regionally – Part 1 – Languages

1) User interface
The OTM user interface is currently available in English, German and Spanish. Further full localisations in other languages will follow.

2) Communication with end customers and freelancers (resources)
Creating documents such as quotes, invoices, credit notes and email communication is currently possible in the languages English, German and Spanish.

From mid-January 2010, we will also be increasing the number of communication languages by a further 10. In addition to document and email texts, this also regards the GUI of the respective customer service pages.

3) Limitations in the pilot phase
At the beginning of the pilot phase, we will initially only be including pilots that work with the three abovementioned languages. We kindly ask all others to patiently wait a little while longer until the system is ready for their languages.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

For those who have or have not ...

We´re happy to announce a new OTM feature. You can set up and publish your own OTM website. We´ll provide several design templates to choose from. The URL is a subdomain and would take the format "mylanguageservice.qtn.net"
The website will include the following pages, with members each deciding which individual pages they would like to publish:
  • HOME
  • Services / Short Profile (if desired)
  • Request Form
  • Testimonials (if desired)
  • Client List (if desired)
  • Terms & Conditions (if desired)
  • Freelancer Application Form (if desired)
  • Contact
You don´t have to worry about HTML coding, each page is easy to edit (wordprocessor principle) in your OTM administration back end.

Your OTM website provides full integration of all the necessary forms and CRM items you need to successfully communicate with your customers.

For those who already run a website, it might be an interesting prospect to set up a second one.

LSP.net promotes your OTM website in internet search engines!

No extra cost for this service! This feature is included in the OTM license.

Sample OTM microsite: http://myls.qtn.net/home.html?lang=en