Blog

Interview with our CEO, Russell Haworth: How a modular approach to AI can help you scale faster and control localization costs

You’ve probably heard this pitch before: “All you need is the right tool—and your localization challenges disappear.”

Yet, for many teams, the story goes something like this: You invest in a platform. You train your people. You adjust your processes.

And yet, you’re still fighting the same old battles:

Rigid workflows that don’t fit the way your team works.
Quality that’s not where you need it to be.
Bespoke workarounds that take time to build and time to implement, driving up budgets and costs.

All too often, “one-size-fits-all” turns into “one-size-fits-none.” So, we’re taking a different approach.

We sat down with Russell Haworth, Acclaro’s CEO, to talk about why tools alone aren’t enough—and how we help teams to solve real localization problems with the right mix of people, process, and technology.

Meet Russell Haworth

Russell built his career in technology and digital transformation—not in translation or localization. With more than two decades leading B2B software and data companies, he has a track record of helping businesses apply technology to deliver measurable results. His personal experience living and working across four continents taught him how culture and language shape the way businesses connect with people around the world. And, what pulled him into this industry was the chance to combine his love of technology and his background in international business.

“I’ve experienced firsthand how language and culture impact business success. In our increasingly interconnected world, effective communication across different languages and cultures is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity,” Russell says.

Today, he’s leading Acclaro’s shift toward modular, tech-enabled problem-solving localization services—helping businesses scale faster and smarter by using the right tech at the right time to solve real business challenges.

Here’s our interview with Russell.

Why a big platform may not deliver the ROI you’re promised

Q: Russell, what’s the real problem with these “all-in-one” solutions?

The problem is that most platforms are built to solve generic problems, not YOUR specific localization challenges. You think you’re buying a tool that will fix everything, but what you’re really buying is someone else’s workflow.

While many AI or localization platform vendors promise to simplify everything, the reality is more complicated. In the end, you are forced to adapt to their way of working. And you may be paying for features you don’t need—while still missing some capabilities that matter to your team.

While customization is a potential solution to these problems, building custom fixes to accommodate your workflows or handle your content types can take more time and budget than you planned for.

And the biggest miss may be that the expensive platform may not actually deliver the outcomes you paid for. At least not out of the box.

You might improve one part of the process, but if the rest still slows you down, you’re not really getting ahead. That’s why we believe in building ecosystems that you can use to take on your business challenges—step by step, with clear outcomes. Working with do-it-all AI platforms may mean you’re paying more than you need. On the other hand, we’re positioned to help you find the right mix of tech solutions and services that optimizes outcomes and budgets.

Flexible by design: How our ecosystem solves real problems

Q: Russell, you’ve said Acclaro is building an ecosystem, not a platform. What do you mean by that?

When we talk about an ecosystem, we’re talking about modular services, both human and machine, that plug into the way our clients already work. We’re not trying to replace existing systems—we’re building tools that fit into them and make them better.

At the heart of this approach is what we call MicroServices.

These are targeted solutions, designed to solve specific problems—like AI-powered quality estimation, content handling and file processing, or workflow automation. (You can read about top use cases for MicroServices in this recent blog post.)

You don’t have to replace your current tech stack or commit to a single tool. You just choose the services you need that map to the discrete and distinct business problems that you have, and our team will help you plug them into your systems, your workflows, and your business goals.

“Think of them like Lego bricks,” Russell explains. “You pick the pieces that solve your biggest challenges, and we snap them together in a way that works for you. On the other hand, if you don’t work with a partner on a custom AI solution, you may end up with a system that never fully meets your objective.”

What’s included in the ecosystem today

Our current building blocks include:

AI-powered quality estimation to help you decide what’s safe for MT—and what needs a human touch.
Augmented AI translation and post-editing that improves quality before content ever reaches a linguist, by combining your linguistic assets with LLM-powered translation.
AI-powered terminology amendment and style guide optimization for more consistent, on-brand
Flexible plugins and integrations that connect directly to your systems—whether that’s a CMS, a TMS, or a custom platform.
AI source content cleanup for higher-quality AI translation output.

And because these services are modular and continuously improving, you benefit from faster onboarding, fewer workarounds, and more control over how you scale.

We’re not here to sell you one big, heavy platform. We’re here to help you build the right solution for your business—one piece at a time.

Why the future belongs to flexible, outcome-driven solutions

Q: AI is on everyone’s radar. What’s your take on where it’s going?

AI is moving fast—faster than a lot of teams can keep up with. So are the tools and platforms built around it. This is driving a desire for flexibility.

We’ve seen it in the market already. For example, platforms like Phrase, a partner of ours, are shifting their positioning from “TMS” to “connective tissue.” We’ve also seen leading brands, like Marriott, Stripe, and Adobe, move toward in-house light translation platforms.

“The companies that will come out on top are focusing on pragmatic, applied AI—testing new models, validating real-world results, and integrating AI where it actually delivers value,” Russell says. “But we’re not here to push AI for the sake of it. We’re here to help you use it intelligently—as part of a strategy that scales with your business.”

That’s exactly what our modular ecosystem is designed to do.

How our approach helps you hit real-world KPIs

Q: What’s the real-world impact for teams that go this route? What results can they expect to see?

At the end of the day, our clients care about results. That’s why everything we build is designed to help you improve the metrics that matter.

In the real world, our approach yields four key advantages. The first is more speed.

Our modular services and AI-powered workflows help you move content through the localization process faster—without cutting corners on quality.

For example, we piloted AI Language Quality Assurance (LQA) using Anthropic’s AI model with customized prompts using our client’s quality framework. All LQA results were deemed comparable to human review, and the pilot saved the customer 60% on LQA efforts.

You can also expect higher quality with less manual work. Tools like AI-powered quality estimation make sure that linguists only spend time reviewing what they need to review.

For example, our GenAI-powered Fuzzy Match optimization has shown up to 80% improvement in translation segments, reducing the time and effort needed from human linguists.

The third big advantage is cost control. Our ecosystem helps you save time, reduce manual effort, and get more value from the tools and assets you already have—without locking you into expensive platform contracts.

For example, one of our clients, a worldwide name in IT, cut localization costs by more than 50% with our AI-powered workflows.

And finally, a modular approach encourages operational simplicity. When your localization program runs on modular services that plug into your existing systems, you spend less time fighting your tools and more time getting content to market.

Whether you’re handling high-volume product content, customer support, or marketing campaigns, our ecosystem keeps your teams focused on what matters: delivering great content to every market, faster.