Work
The plan meets reality. Here’s what we do.
A deadline moves. The next batch gets bigger. The workflow that served one team has to serve several. These examples show how we build and run localization operations around the work our clients need to get done.
01 · Urgent communication · Retail
The operation changed. The message had to follow.
A retailer needed to communicate a warehouse closure following a government decision. Customers in several markets needed to understand what the closure meant for their orders. The work arrived over a weekend.
What needed to happen
Translate the customer email and website banners into eight languages. The update needed to explain the disruption clearly across markets, with the most urgent languages needed on Sunday.
How we responded
We coordinated the translators on Sunday and delivered the translations in batches as they were ready, working from the client’s email and banner copy.
What changed for the client
The customer email and website messages were delivered across eight languages on Sunday. The client had the translated copy to explain the disruption to customers across those markets.
When an operation changes, localization becomes part of making that change happen. People, priorities and delivery have to move together.
02 · Programme setup · Financial services
The first projects made the next one easier.
A financial services client had several batches of legal and regulatory content to translate. There was overlap between them. How the work was sequenced would shape the effort needed for the larger batch.
What needed to happen
Deliver the programme with consistent terminology and make good use of the content the client was already paying to translate.
How we responded
We put two projects ahead of the larger batch. Their approved translations built the translation memory for the work that followed. In parallel, the team developed glossaries and a style guide, and resolved questions with the client in a shared query log.
What changed for the client
The larger batch started with approved language assets already in place. Reusable translations reduced the work to repeat and brought the estimated cost substantially below the original budget.
The early deliveries helped build the operation. Their value carried into the next project through the tools, terminology and decisions the team could reuse.
03 · Connected workflow · Retail group
The content stayed in the client’s system.
A retail group wanted to request and receive translations from its own content environment. As the work grew across brands, departments and languages, that connection needed to keep supporting the operation.
What needed to happen
Give internal teams a straightforward way to request translations and receive completed content, with fewer manual handoffs between systems.
How we responded
We worked with the client’s IT team and a development partner to connect its content environment to Kobalt’s production workflow. The integration evolved to automate project creation, route content and bring completed translations back into the client’s system.
Request in the client’s CMS
The team submits content from the environment it already uses.
Create and route the project
The integration connects the request to the production workflow.
Translate and check
Linguists work with shared memories and terminology. Checks follow the configured workflow.
Return the completed content
Translations flow back into the client’s CMS.
What changed for the client
Internal teams could request translations and receive them in their own CMS. The workflow supported multiple brands and departments, with less manual file handling as the operation expanded.
The connection evolved over years of use. Project creation, content routing and scheduling were refined as the requirements changed.
Your operation will have its own story.
Bring us the deadline, the market or the workflow that needs to work better. We’ll start with what your business needs to achieve.