Localization is a very important part of a go-to-market strategy for any business that wants to go global.

Do you know that a survey on 8,709 consumers in 29 countries found out that 76% of consumers prefer purchasing products with information in their own language? ~ CSA Research

Solid localization strategy

Many businesses around the world face challenges when it comes to translating and localizing their products and content. These processes are often seen as costly, time-consuming, and complex. In addition, calculating the return on investment (ROI) for these activities can be difficult. As a result, localization programs are often launched very late in the process.

Subscription-based translation services to the rescue! Let’s discuss this solution, especially if your business falls into the category of struggling with localization. We’ll go over the challenges you are facing, highlight the benefits, and explain how this subscription model represents the future of localization for your business.

Let’s get into it!

 

How Have Translation Services Changed Over Time?

Let’s talk about how translation services have changed over the years. We’ll start by explaining how traditional models work, why they can be challenging, and what led to the creation of subscription-based models. Let’s get started.

 

How Traditional Models Work

Say your company needs to translate its entire digital product with its software app, landing pages, help and marketing content into multiple languages. Your internal team will first have to send all the content to the LSP (Language Service Provider), wait for a quote, approve it, and then wait again for the translation to be completed. This process can be cumbersome and lengthy, especially if updates are needed frequently.

So, this is a typical process of traditional models.

Illustration showing the typical process of traditional models.
Illustration showing the typical process of traditional models.
Traditional translation services have typically operated on a per-word or per-project pricing model. As you saw in the example, businesses contact an LSP, who then provide a quote based on the number of words and the scope of the project. Once the quote is approved, the translation work begins. This model often involves several Initial steps, including:

  1. First contact and quote generation
  2. Project approval
  3. The hand over of the most recent content (which often is still a work-in-progress)
  4. Kick-off meeting

The above steps are just the beginning. Organizing a localization project in this manner entails additional meetings during the translation process with Q&A sessions, as well as the need to coordinate deliveries and wrap up the project.

 

Why Traditional Models Are Challenging

As you can see, the entire process of traditional models can be challenging for businesses. Let’s look at some other of these challenges:

High Costs

If you operate an e-commerce business with thousands of product descriptions, you might encounter high expenses if you’re using the traditional model. Why? The traditional model operates on a per-word basis, which can significantly increase costs when you have a large amount of content.

Lengthy Processes

In the traditional model, the steps from initial contact to project completion can be time-consuming. As a result, you may experience delays in receiving your translated content, particularly if your project involves multiple languages. For instance, if your marketing team requires urgent translations for a global campaign, you might encounter frustratingly slow progress in this process.

Unpredictable Pricing

A tech company launching new software updates across different regions might struggle with unpredictable translation expenses. Why? Because it is difficult for businesses to budget accurately when costs can vary significantly from one language to another, which is typical for traditional models.

Note:

In the past, translation was a 100% human job. Every piece of content had to be manually translated by professional translators, which naturally took more time and effort. Only in recent years has “Post-editing” of machine translation (MT) output become an alternative.

But even this method still operates within the same traditional processes and tools as human-only translations, thereby limiting the expected benefits. The improvements in speed and cost savings have not been as notable as many had hoped.

 

What Led to Subscription Models

Now that you have an idea of how traditional models work and why they are challenging, let’s discuss what led to subscription models.

 

Scalability

In today’s business landscape, content creation happens at a rapid pace, and companies require equally rapid localization. They need a tool or solution that can support their growth in terms of scalability (delivering content quickly, regardless of its size) and language combinations (providing a simple and fast way to add new languages for localization). This demand has driven the development of subscription-based translation models.

For example, a global retail chain launching new products in multiple countries would need a scalable solution to quickly translate product descriptions, marketing materials, and user guides. As businesses expand and produce more content, the demand for scalable translation solutions increases. Companies need a model that can grow with their needs.

 

Flexibility and Continuous Localization

A tech startup releasing frequent software updates and new features would benefit from a flexible translation model that can handle continuous changes without delays. Traditional models often can’t keep up with the fast-paced changes in modern software development systems.

A news website, for instance, needs to publish articles in multiple languages as soon as they break, so they would require a system that supports continuous localization. Businesses must keep their content updated in real-time across multiple languages and regions, which traditional models struggle to support.

 

What Are the Advantages of Subscription-Based Translation Services?

Now that you understand how subscription-based translation services came about, you need to know the benefits of using this subscription model.

 

How Subscription Models Provide Scalability and Flexibility

As we have said so far, subscription models are designed to cater to ongoing translation needs and frequent content updates without the hassle of quoting and approving each project. This means businesses can continuously translate their content without interruptions.

For example, an e-commerce platform that regularly adds new products can quickly translate product descriptions and marketing materials as part of their subscription plan, often for changing language combinations. Similarly, a tech company releasing frequent software updates can keep their user guides and help documents current in multiple languages in sync with source version prepared by tech writers.

Let’s look at a real-world example showing a business that uses this subscription model.

Case Study: How ALN Africa Scaled Legal Document Translations

ALN Africa's website
ALN Africa’s website

ALN Africa, East Africa’s largest full-service law firm, faced challenges in translating complex legal documents across multiple languages. Their traditional methods led to delays and inaccuracies. By adopting TextUnited‘s subscription-based services, ALN Africa optimized and simplified their translation process, handling large volumes of multilingual legal documents productively. This allowed their legal teams to focus on providing top-notch legal advice and services. Check out the case study.

 

“The interface is quite user-friendly, thus it makes it easy to navigate. The speed and efficiency are commendable in comparison to other translation tools. The machine translation, it is quite efficient and fast. AI use with the option of getting a human to assist. Turning the documents to Word doc is also super helpful.” ~ Feedback from ALN Africa

 

Why Predictable Pricing Helps Manage Budgets

One major advantage of subscription-based translation services is the predictable monthly fees. These help businesses manage their spending by eliminating surprising costs related to fluctuations in translation demand. For example, a multinational corporation that regularly updates its internal training materials can benefit from predictable pricing, even if it decides to add a new language to its translations.

Subscription models eliminate the need for quotes and approvals for each project. This reduces clients’ administrative burden, allowing them to focus on core business activities and not handle multiple invoices after each transaction.

Subscription models usually include storage for old translations, access to terminology management, and other AI-related systems, so businesses do not have to manage them themselves.

Let’s look at another real-world example of a business benefiting from this predictable pricing.

How Rosenbauer Benefited from Predictable Pricing

Rosenbauer's website
Rosenbauer’s website

Rosenbauer, a global leader in firefighting technology, initially used a time-consuming and costly manual translation process. By shifting to TextUnited’s subscription model, they integrated their translation workflows across various departments, including marketing, engineering, and technical documentation. This transition not only reduced their time to market but also saved costs and improved workflow transparency. Check out the case study.

“We were able to reduce the time-to-market with simultaneous quality assurance with the involvement of various partners or subsidiaries in our process. The overall effort of repetitive tasks was reduced, transparent workflow and thus gained security, and of course, we have saved translation costs, but that was a pleasant side effect. Résumé: The translation platform meets our requirements.” ~ Markus Dobler, Head of Technical Documentation

 

How Do AI and Human Expertise Work Together in Translation Services?

In terms of speed, AI (Artificial Intelligence) has made it possible for translations to be provided instantly. Say goodbye to delays. Now, the time it takes to get your content to market will be greatly reduced. Your business will be able to meet tight deadlines and keep up with fast-paced content production schedules. All this is possible now because of AI.

If your business needs to update content frequently and in real-time, this AI functionality would greatly benefit.

But there’s a catch—even as AI has advanced translations, human translators still have a crucial role to play. AI can struggle with nuances, technical jargon, and industry-specific terminology, which are crucial in maintaining the translation’s quality and integrity.

So, what role do human translators play here? They review and refine the AI-generated translations, making the necessary adjustments to ensure the final product is accurate and contextually appropriate. This helps overcome target language barriers, ensuring the translation suits the intended audience.

This combination of AI and human expertise results in very high-quality translations that can meet your business standards.

To take advantage of this, you need a supervised AI translation tool like TextUnited, which integrates AI technology with human expertise in an easy-to-use eco system, to deliver the best of both worlds.

 

Why are Subscription Models the Future of Localization?

From all we’ve discussed, you now know that subscription models are designed to support continuous localization efforts, allowing businesses to keep their content updated in real time. Let’s quickly look at some more points that show why subscription models are the future of localization.

Scalability

We already saw that subscription models allow businesses to scale their translation efforts up or down based on their needs. For example, during a product launch, a company might need extensive translation services, whereas during routine operations, the need might be lower. Subscription models provide this flexibility to adjust accordingly without renegotiating terms for each project.

Simple access to Advanced Technologies like NLP, AI, and tools like Translation Memory and Terminology Systems

Subscription models often come with access to advanced translation tools and technologies. These include machine translation, translation memory, terminology management, and integrations with content management systems (CMS). Such tools support continuous localization by automating and simplifying translation workflows. Having a solid localization strategy helps your business manage these tools and processes, providing a better experience for your global audience.

 

What’s Next?

We discussed why subscription-based translation services are the future of localization, the challenges of traditional translation models, and the advantages of subscription services, including scalability, flexibility, predictable pricing, and the integration of AI and human expertise. We also discussed how subscription models support continuous improvements and adaptability.

If you’re ready to simplify your next translation project and optimize your localization strategy, visit TextUnited’s documentation for more information or start your free trial today.

Additional Resources

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