How big is the localisation industry?
Estimates vary, depending on how you define it. Based on annual surveys of members’ and other players’ activities, the Localisation Standards Industry Association (LISA) puts current industry sales in the region of US1.5-2 billion a year. Half of this is accounted for by the top ten software publishers and hardware manufacturers. However, this figure does not include localisation in sectors outside IT, e.g. medical devices, banking, insurance, retailing, airlines and the many other industries where in-house applications are localised ‘on the side’.
