Your Localization Setup Won't Scale. Here's How to Fix It, with Nicola Calabrese

In Part 2 of his solocast series, Undertow Founder Nicola Calabrese gets practical about building a localization program that actually works as you grow. If you're still copy-pasting translations into your CMS or relying on scattered Google Docs, this one's for you.
Nicola breaks down the four pillars every scalable localization program needs:
🎯 Strategy: aligning localization with your business goals, prioritizing markets, and making smart budget decisions
👥 People: why AI doesn't replace the humans who make localization work, and the roles you need on your team
⚙️ Technology: the tech stack that saves your marketing team from hours of manual work, from translation management systems to automation and task management
📋 Processes: how documented workflows keep things running smoothly and make onboarding new languages (or new team members) way easier
He also walks through how to build a business case for investing in localization, including how to calculate the real cost of having your sales reps spend their time translating instead of selling. Spoiler: there's a lot of money left on the table.
One of the most useful parts of this episode is the minimum viable experience framework. When you enter a new market, you can't localize everything on day one. Nicola explains how to map the customer journey and pick the assets that matter most, from your top-performing Google Ads to the onboarding emails your new users will actually read.
You'll also hear about:
🔗 How translation management systems connect with your CMS, code repo, and help center to create a single source of truth
🤖 Where AI really adds value in localization workflows (hint: it's not just translation)
🧩 Emerging roles like AI workflow specialists and AI-aware linguists
📊 How to maintain quality as you scale, through content segmentation and keeping humans in the loop
The bottom line? AI is a copilot, but it still needs a captain. A scalable localization system is part people, part tools, part governance, with AI amplifying the whole thing, not replacing it.
Whether you're just getting started with localization or looking to level up your current setup, this episode gives you a clear framework to work with.
🎧 Missed Part 1? Go back and listen to "AI Is Changing Localization and Here's What Matters" for the full picture.
This is The Multilingual Content Podcast, powered by Undertow. We create and manage localization programs for B2B SaaS companies so they can grow globally.