Montana World Trade Center

About the client

The Montana World Trade Center® is a program of The University of Montana operating in cooperation with universities throughout the state. The Center's purpose is to help Montana businesses establish or strengthen their international commercial capabilities. The Center works to develop the untapped international trade opportunities for the state and region.

Although nearly 300 World Trade Centers operate worldwide, the Montana World Trade Center is unique in its relationship with The University of Montana. Integrating the extended resources available through the university system, MWTC provides a higher, more personalized level of service than that typically received through World Trade Center membership. Compiling and analyzing information obtained through the World Trade Centers Association, governmental organizations, professional networking, and comprehensive research, MWTC trade specialists can be an invaluable extension to your organization.

Results

"The Montana World Trade Center (MWTC) needed a multilingual website driven by an affordable content management system so we could build relationships for our members with businesses located around the World," said Arnie Sherman, Director, MTWC.

"Globalization Partners did a great job working within our budget. By using the Ektron CMS, GPI gave us a great set of features including the capability for non-technical staff to update the website daily, as well as giving us the ability to add language versions easily."

About the project

The Montana World Trade Center (MWTC) needed a new website with a set of features and functionality useful for a membership organization. Especially important was the ability for the new site to be easily updated via a content management system by nontechnical staff. In addition, since the MWTC's primary goal is to develop international trade opportunities for the state and region, the site needed to be available in other languages including Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Spanish.

The primary requisites for the new site were:

• Multilingual
• Better lead generation
• Better search engine optimization
• Non-technical staffs' ability to easily add and edit content
• Automated approval processes for content contributors
• Automated translation workflow for language versions
• Subscriptions, Web alerts, & Memberships
• Schedule content to go live and expire
• Internal search of content and library assets
• Membership users and groups
• Advanced Web Calendar Module
• Web Forms Module
• Within a membership organization's budget

GPI worked with MWTC staff closely from scoping the project to approving designs and feature sets, through localization and website testing. GPI provided comprehensive design, development and translation, as well as CMS deployment and hosting for the new multilingual website.

The services included:

• Website Design and Development
• Glossary Development
• Translation and Copy Writing
• Graphics and Multimedia Localization
• CMS deployment with Ektron CMS400.NET
• CMS training and support
• Global Search Engine Marketing (country-specific SEO)
• Website Testing

The new website runs using Ektron's CMS400.NET. The MWTC selected GPI as their multilingual website developer for several reasons including:

• GPI's own Award winning site (12 Design Awards in 2006)
• Project management expertise
• Documented step-by-step process
• Strength in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish languages
• Experience and certification with an affordable web content management system, the Ektron CMS400.NET