Combining Language Technology and Web Technology to Streamline an Automotive Hotline Support Service

With the progress of information-oriented trade and commerce many companies have recognized that the trade on and with the existing and emerging communication technologies is an essential element for the maintenance of the advantage of competition. Significant business reengineering efforts are underway to taming the complexity of both business processes and computer information systems. The information systems that are needed for tomorrows business must be far more robust, intelligent and user-centered than the data processing systems of today. Businesses that will thrive in the next millennium will also have to overcome the existing language and cultural barriers, particularly in applications operating in an international business environment. This paper summarizes our approach to overcome the language barriers of an online multilingual technical information system of the automotive industry. The employed methodology is based on a combination of language technology and Web technology.