How to Escape the Transactional Trap: Shift Left
Refocus your efforts to where the key decisions get made
The Olympics motto, Citius, altius, fortius (Faster, Stronger, Higher), has an unofficial replica in the localization industry: Faster, Cheaper, Better.
For most companies, localization starts spontaneously, as a result of a new customer request or partnership arrangement. Over time, it morphs from a chaotic, haphazard endeavor to become a structured, reliable function, led by a seasoned expert. During this transition, the easiest way to demonstrate progress is by achieving faster localization turnaround, cheaper word rates and better quality.
When the primary focus of localization success centers on efficiency, every business scenario is viewed through the same lens. The system that enabled a faster, cheaper and better way to localize can throttle innovation and ultimately settle as a pure transaction tax on global product delivery. Complaints such as “localization is delaying our Marketing launch” or “sales leaders are unhappy with the translation quality” tend to reinforce the endless cycle of transactional problems and solutions.
Eventually, the law of diminishing returns takes effect. You can chase efficiencies, cut costs and strive for ever-improving quality, yet there is a point where the returns on these efforts begin to shrink.
At this point, the natural conclusion is to consolidate teams, outsource the work or downsize.
There is an alternative path that is better for localization teams and far better for company success: shift left.
Shifting left means moving closer to where primary, strategic decisions happen. It represents an intentional, directional shift of focus for localization teams to position themselves earlier in the company planning cycle, towards the start of the product development process, and at the heart of the marketing strategy.
Why Shift Left?
When localization teams are consumed by operational matters, they develop muscles that help overcome upstream flaws. Localization team heroics are characterized by managing exceptions, handing breaking changes and devising ingenious technical solutions for poorly formatted or unlocalizable content. By shifting left, the focus of this behavior must switch to a global-by-design approach.
When companies embrace a true, global-by-design approach, they stand to capitalize on their internal capabilities and accelerate their international growth. Localization teams can spearhead this change by taking a seat at the table. Consider these three elements of the shift:
Strategy
How can the company strategy (and that of, product / marketing / sales teams) be strengthened through a global-by-design approach?
Global DNA
What does a truly global company DNA look like? What would need to change? How would the change by noticed?
Synergy
How well aligned are current companies priorities on the international opportunity?
For localization teams, shifting left represents a profound change from a long-standing perception as a cost center to becoming a growth driver. While every cost center has a ceiling in its potential efficiency, there is no limit to the potential impact of a growth driver. The measures of success of revenue, user experience and customer satisfaction are entirely aligned with company growth and success.
Any localization team that may be concerned for their future viability or security should be considering how they can shift left. The potential gains are compelling:
New, interesting career paths
Greater visibility among senior leadership
Recognition and promotion opportunities
Ability to influence international customer experience
Team growth and specialization
How to Shift Left
Shifting left isn’t just a philosophical shift - it requires a practical rebranding of the function. The literal name of a team can inadvertently typecast their activities. Consider the possibilities of a “Global Product Development” or “International Experience” team, compared to a “Localization” team.
I previously wrote about How to Rebrand Your Localization Team, and it’s worth examining the central idea of the rebrand: business impact. It’s essential to determine exactly how your localization team can drive positive business impact. After all, a localization team sitting inside Marketing will find it challenging to improve internationalization coding standards in the Engineering team.
The easiest way to align on business impact is to review the goals and KPIs of your parent organization or closely-aligned stakeholder. Which of their goals can be influenced by improvements in the international experience or delivery?
It’s much easier to take a seat at the leadership table when you speak the language of the executive suite. This is the benefit of adopting business metrics as the focus for the localization team. It represents a profound change in approach for stakeholder engagement. Rather than simply delivering upon requests, determine what their actual needs are instead.
For example:
Your content marketing lead has requested for a new campaign landing page to be localized into 20 languages.
Their true need is not localized landing pages, it’s qualified leads and global pipeline.
By understanding the underlying need, it’s possible to pivot the conversation towards strategic solutions. Such an alternative approach may look like this:
Historically, in-market sales teams have been unhappy with the relevance of core content campaigns and tend to create their own content, leading to duplication and waste. We suggest a combination of transcreation and local content creation for our top 5 markets, in partnership with in-market sales teams. We’ll measure the lead conversion rates against previous benchmarks.
Sometimes, it’s not so straightforward to find a project that allows for a more strategic approach. A powerful way to uncover needs and foster collaboration is to host an International Customer Journey workshop with your cross-functional stakeholders.
A practical, table-top exercise can be revelatory for all parties. Start by mapping each stage of the customer journey, from Awareness to Expansion, and identify the drivers, priorities, challenges and opportunities at each stage. Ask the question: where do we spend most of our time, and is it aligned with potential impact? Similarly, where do we spent most of our budget?
The very act of talking about the international customer experience, with product, engineering, marketing or sales stakeholders is a wonderful air-clearing exercise. Rather than focusing on individual bugs or project delays, it shifts the conversation to where it matters most: the customer. Stakeholders will naturally see and understand the deficiencies, gaps and opportunities that exist, opening the door to collaboration and future inclusion.
Of course, it should be noted that before any shift left, the localization operations must be highly efficient. If budgets are routinely overrun and projects run late, it’s difficult to embark on a conversation around strategy.
The rapid onset of new localization technologies and AI solutions represent a turning point in localization teams shifting left. New emerging solutions can ensure the optimal point of cost, efficiency and quality can be achieved more consistently. As technology replaces human effort for workflow management, project coordination and quality assurance, freed-up resources can be redirected towards the new business opportunities.
A Call to Action
Shifting left is a journey, not a task or a slogan. It demands considered and careful planning and execution to reposition localization away from a transactional, operational machine to a true driver of customer and revenue growth.
Step 1: Re-frame your Role and Rebrand your Impact
Stop being a problem solver and start being a growth enabler. Your leadership team doesn’t just want translations, they want qualified leads, global paying customers and happy international users. Re-evaluate how your team is perceived and positioned. Start using the language of senior leadership, not simply descriptions of throughput and efficiency.
Step 2: Engage Upstream & Identify True Needs
Don’t just deliver on requests; understand the underlying business needs. Find entry points to engage senior stakeholders and join early business and product planning. This proactive engagement is how you can secure your seat at the table and shift towards and early, long-term focus.
Step 3: Accelerate with Technology
Think about this transformation as less of a ‘big bang’ and more an iterative process. While technology can help achieve optimal localization efficiency, look for how emerging technology can unlock growth, improved experiences and personalization. Start small, run experiments and measure the results. Shifting left requires a roadmap with a continuous cycle of engagement, planning, execution and measurement.