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TRA at 15: Looking Back and Going Forward

By the time you read this, Tim Rosa Associates (TRA) will have celebrated an important milestone—15 years in business. The company has grown a lot since I founded it in 1991. I started TRA as an independent contributor writing technical documentation for technology companies in the Boston area. From that humble beginning, TRA has become a well-established firm with over 100 technical communicators working for clients around the world. Our project teams define, develop, and deliver complete writing solutions for the technology, healthcare, and financial services industries.

Enough of the sales pitch; that’s not my intention in writing to you. It’s just that after a 25-year career in technical publishing, TRA’s anniversary provides an opportunity to look back, take stock, and think about what lies ahead. Any such reflection is bound to be biased and incomplete, so be sure to email me if you agree or disagree with my estimation.

Back in the 1990s, most technology companies developed desktop applications that ran under Windows, MacOS, or some flavor of UNIX. The technical documentation for these products typically consisted of a printed user’s guide and an online help file linked to the application. For some applications, a quick start guide, system administrator’s guide, network administrator’s guide, installation/configuration guide, and developer’s guide were also needed. Most of these documents were printed, except the online help file and developer’s guide (which needed to be printable).

Fast forward 15 years...most applications are now web-based with help embedded in the user interface and, in the case of hardware, in the device itself. Very little documentation for users is printed. User assistance now includes training videos created with Flash Professional and QuickTime, interactive simulations created with Captivate, and sophisticated natural language applications and search engines that provide quick answers to the most common questions. Users no longer have to read a lengthy written description to perform a task; now they have a full range of interactive media from which to choose. Content remains king, regardless of the medium. While we may have shifted from print to interactive media, clear and informative writing remains essential to help users get their jobs done efficiently.

If you’ve been working in the marketing arena for the last 15 years, there’s been a lot of change here as well. Marketing managers used to spend the majority of their time creating print collateral of all types—white papers, case studies, brochures, datasheets, and ads—in addition to TV/radio commercials and PowerPoint presentations. And, depending on your job responsibilities, you also had to manage tradeshows and regional seminars to raise awareness about your company.

In 2006, marketing professionals still have to juggle many of the same duties, but the seismic shift to online media has introduced a whole host of new media types. Printed materials remain important for select situations, but your company’s web presence has become the central hub of everything you do. Advertising on the right websites drives traffic to your site, hosting webinars creates awareness, and running cost-effective e-marketing campaigns can generate qualified leads to drive sales. While we’ve seen an increase in efforts to measure Return on Investment (ROI) for marketing, the creation of compelling communications that deliver a strong response from the target audience remains at the foundation of everything we do.

Most training programs in the 1990s were classroom-based and instructor-led. Participants would sit in a conference room and listen to a presenter read from countless PowerPoint slides about a company’s product or service. While there might have been limited opportunities to share problems and ideas with fellow attendees, most of that activity was relegated to the morning and afternoon breaks or to the free luncheon included with the training.

In today’s global marketplace, the previous training model has a place, but it is rarely a complete solution. Companies now rely on powerful eLearning solutions that provide complete systems for content management and on web-based applications like Breeze for developing and delivering content to trainees anytime, anywhere. All they need to get started is access to an Internet browser and an authenticated username and password. Training “breadcrumbs” allow users to know exactly what parts of the training they have completed, while online assessments can be scored in real-time, offering trainees the chance to achieve industry certification, demonstrate compliance with a state, country, or international regulation, or receive a promotion. Advanced technologies and innovative approaches make training easier than ever for those organizations committed to sharing their knowledge about products, services, and ideas with customers, partners, and employees.

The U. S. Food and Drug Administration is one of the oldest and most respected consumer protection agencies in the nation. Regulations are in place “to promote and protect the public health by helping safe and effective products reach the market in a timely way and to monitor products for continued safety after they are in use.” (1) Similarly, the mission of the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to “protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.” (2)

While the general spheres of influence of these organizations is large, their charters have grown even broader in light of well-documented governance scandals in the last decade involving pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical device companies, and publicly-traded U. S.-based companies. As a result, we have seen an acronym cornucopia of state, country, and international regulations that apply to organizations relying on computer-based data such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley, Graham-Leach-Bliley, Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70, and lawful interception message systems (LIMS).

Bottom Line

In the first 15 years of TRA, our capabilities have expanded to meet the challenging and ever-changing communication needs of our clients. Creating high-quality products and services, developing brand loyalty, and ensuring customer satisfaction are the keys to your business success. Communicating effectively with customers, business partners, and regulatory entities is essential; high-quality content is required to achieve these goals. At Tim Rosa Associates, we’ve completed thousands of projects over the past 15 years, adding design, production, translation, and interactive services to our core focus on the written word. Coming up with innovative solutions to the biggest business challenges our clients face is what gets me up every morning.

(1) http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/fda101/fda101text.html
(2) http://www.sec.gov/about/whatwedo.shtml