Adam Asnes, CEO of Lingoport, joins host Simon Hodgkins on this episode of VistaTalks. Adam brings decades of hands-on experience in software and internationalization, not from a purely linguistic background, but from deep immersion in development workflows. That perspective has shaped Lingoport from its earliest days, and it continues to influence how the company approaches automation, quality, and scale.

From Internationalization Consulting to Product-Led Innovation

Lingoport began at a kitchen table, initially as a consulting firm focused on internationalization for software teams that had few places to turn. As Adam explained, those early projects revealed a recurring problem. Software could be internationalized once, but over time, constant updates introduced drift. Bugs accumulated, encoding broke, and teams ended up paying to fix the same issues again and again.

That inefficiency led to Lingoport’s first product, Globalyzer, and eventually to a broader vision. Localization and internationalization could not remain one-off activities or downstream tasks. They had to become continuous, automated, and visible within the development lifecycle.

Why Localization Breaks at Scale

Modern software teams release faster than ever. Weekly, daily, and even continuous deployments are now common. In that environment, manual file handling, spreadsheet-driven workflows, and disconnected translation steps simply do not hold up.

Adam described a reality many teams recognize immediately. Developers treat localization as another requirement among many. Localization teams are almost always understaffed. When issues appear late, they sit in ticketing systems for months or years because development has already moved on.

The core issue is timing. Localization has traditionally happened after design and development. By then, every change triggers new testing cycles, new bugs, and new delays.

The Shift Left, Starting With Design

Design teams create interfaces, define strings, and establish layout long before code is finalized. Yet localization has rarely been integrated meaningfully at this stage.

Lingoport Localizer changes that dynamic. Instead of waiting until development is complete, localization begins in the design phase and continues throughout development. Designers can preview how layouts behave with the longest target language strings, without needing to speak those languages. Context is captured visually, so translators and language models understand not just the words, but how and where they appear.

This approach replaces guesswork with evidence. Localization becomes demonstrable, reviewable, and aligned with how agile teams already work.

From Figma to Development, Without the Friction

Translated strings are written directly into the software repository using stable keys. Developers do not wait for a handoff at the end of the cycle. Localization assets are ready as the software is being built.

If strings change late, the system detects and processes them automatically. No one has to remember to trigger a new project. The result is a localization workflow that keeps pace with development, without compromising quality or security expectations.

Adam described this as localization becoming a delivered service within software creation, not an add-on after the fact.

Quality at Speed, With Context and Verification

Speed alone is not enough. As Adam emphasized, poorly automated processes break things faster. Context is what makes both human linguists and AI systems effective. Visual references, consistent prompts, and project-level controls dramatically improve first-pass quality.

This is where a collaboration with Vistatec plays a key role. Using Vistatec Verifier, teams can apply AI-powered quality checks to focus attention where it is actually needed. Instead of reviewing everything, reviewers concentrate on flagged issues such as accuracy, terminology, compliance, or tone.

The outcome is a smoother approval process, fewer fire drills, and higher confidence in every release.

A Practical Vision for the Future of Localization

This vision is not about hype or replacing people with automation. It is about aligning localization with how software is truly built today, integrating it into design and development, and giving teams the tools to scale without losing control.

Localization, when done right, earns its place in the DNA of product teams. It becomes visible, testable, and respected as part of the delivery process.

As Adam noted, this shift also elevates localization teams. When they can show their work during a sprint with the same clarity as developers and designers, localization stops being a bottleneck and becomes a strategic advantage.

A Clear Localization Message

Adam Asnes offers a clear message. The future of localization is earlier, faster, and smarter, grounded in real workflows and supported by both technology and human expertise. For organizations building global software products, this is no longer optional. It is how modern development works.