Localization is more relevant than ever, but what’s really important is how we define the purpose of the localization function in the months to come.
As global companies scale faster, launch more frequently, and experiment more aggressively with AI, the traditional framing of localization as an execution layer is breaking down.
In our recent webinar, leaders from Notion and SurveyMonkey joined Kevin O’Donnell, Global Growth Advisor at Global10x, to explain why they have deliberately reframed their localization roles and what that shift has unlocked across their organizations
What emerged was not a single new job title or org structure, but a shared mindset: localization teams earn influence when they stop optimizing for activity and start optimizing for outcomes.
In this blog, we’ve collected some of the most interesting and valuable takeaways from the discussion. For more information and in-depth insight, you can also watch the full recording here.
Localization teams are hitting diminishing returns by optimizing the wrong thing
Kevin O’Donnell opened the session by naming a pattern many teams recognize immediately. Localization problems tend to repeat themselves year after year.
“We need to localize more, we need to localize faster, we need to localize with better quality or cheaper.”
The issue is not that these goals are wrong. It’s that they are operational metrics disconnected from what the business actually tracks.
“If your CEO says, ‘How are we doing in Brazil?’ they don’t want to know what your error rate looks like for translations. They want to know what your net revenue retention is, or your customer satisfaction or your monthly active users.”
The risk of staying in this operational loop risks stagnation as well as inefficiencies. As Kevin put it, there comes a point where additional efficiency investment delivers negative returns. At that stage, continuing to optimize operations can actively block strategic progress.
Rebranding only works if the work actually changes
Both Notion and SurveyMonkey shared that their decision to rebrand was not cosmetic. It followed a realization that the scope of their work had already outgrown the meaning of the word “localization.”
Mercedes Krimme, Head of International Experience at Notion, described the shift plainly.
“We were really operationally heavy. We were only focused on translation, and it just felt like project management and ops.”
The rebrand to ‘International Experience’ was intentional, but Mercedes was clear that naming alone does very little unless the team actively frees up time and mental space for strategic work.
“The rebrand doesn’t do too much if you’re not actually working towards this North Star of unburdening yourself from ops and moving yourself forward.”
At SurveyMonkey, Julia Cassidy took a slightly different approach. Rather than removing localization from the title, she expanded it to Global Experience and Localization
“I wanted to look at it as an expansion of the remit rather than a complete shift, because I do think we need both.”
In both cases, the naming followed the mandate, not the other way around.
Business impact becomes visible when teams align to business metrics
A consistent theme across the panel was the shift away from localization-specific metrics toward shared business measures.
Kevin framed this as the defining difference between cost centers and growth partners.
“When you’re operating as a growth driver, your measures of success look more like what they look like to a marketing or product team. Revenue growth, user experience, engagement.”
Damian Fernández, International Experience Optimization Manager at Notion, reinforced this shift from a quality perspective. Instead of asking whether quality “passes” or “fails,” his team focuses on where quality matters most.
“Instead of asking is this good quality or bad quality, the way we think is: where does quality matter most right now?”
That reframing allows the team to prioritize markets, surfaces, and investments based on user impact and business goals rather than uniform standards.
As Damian mentioned later in the discussion:
“Your success metrics are your partners’ success metrics.”
Localization earns influence by engaging earlier, not louder
The panelists also noted that influence often came from earlier involvement, rather than just “louder” advocacy, with Kevin describing successful teams as those that “zoom out” instead of simply accepting incoming requests.
“They don’t have a pattern of accepting the work that shows up for them every day. They look earlier in the cycle at what matters for their stakeholders.”
Mercedes shared how this played out at Notion, particularly as AI entered the product roadmap.
“Product and engineering teams working with LLMs were really only testing and thinking about quality in English.”
That gap created an opportunity for the International Experience team to step into AI quality evaluation, transcription accuracy, and multilingual model behavior. Over time, that work led to greater visibility and proactive collaboration.
“We’re now seeing proactive A/B testing come to us. That return on investment showed up about a year and a half later.”
Persistence, not instant buy-in, was the common factor.
Quality is becoming contextual, not absolute
One of the most practical evolutions discussed was how teams are adapting quality frameworks to better reflect business context.
Damian explained why the team deliberately chose the word “optimization” rather than “quality.”
“Quality management tends to be associated with rigid frameworks and exhaustive metrics that don’t always say much to the business.”
Instead, Notion evaluates quality in context. Market maturity, content criticality, and user volume all shape how much effort is applied and where.
Success is measured through outcomes such as conversion uplift, engagement, and reduced friction rather than abstract scores.
Julia also shared a concrete example from SurveyMonkey’s growth work. In high-intent areas of the product experience, the team identified elements that assumed U.S.-specific norms and expectations. After removing those assumptions, the impact was immediate.
“We removed some US-centric elements from high-converting areas of the experience, and we saw a 70% increase in signups.”
Rather than hyper-localization, the focus was on removing friction that didn’t resonate globally.
Evangelization works best when it is rooted in empathy
Rather than advocating for localization directly, Kevin recommended reframing conversations around customer experience.
One tactic he repeatedly sees succeed is a customer journey workshop.
“You’re not showing up with a list of 20 defects. You’re walking through the journey together from the lens of the international customer.”
This approach builds empathy, aligns priorities, and naturally shifts discussions away from word counts and turnaround times toward business impact.
For teams struggling to get executive buy-in, it offers a low-risk way to change the conversation.
The mindset localization leaders need for 2026
When asked what matters most looking ahead, the panelists did not point to a specific tool or technology.
They pointed to the mindset.
“Don’t get too caught up in keeping up with all the little innovations,” Julia advised. “Stay grounded in where you want to get to.”
Mercedes underlined the importance of this pragmatic approach;
“Sometimes you just have to say yes instead of no. Even if the teams come to you with an Excel sheet.”
And Damian summarized the challenge ahead succinctly.
“Any team now has the autonomy to create multilingual content instantly. We have to show that we are best equipped to design the right workflows to connect language decisions with business outcomes.”
What this means for localization teams right now
For teams navigating similar transitions, the lessons from this discussion point to a few practical shifts.
- Clarity matters more than volume. Teams that align their work with product and growth metrics gain relevance because they speak in terms the business already values. This does not require perfect attribution. It requires choosing a small number of signals that reflect customer outcomes and using them consistently.
- Influence grows with timing. Localization teams that engage earlier in planning cycles tend to be invited into broader conversations. Over time, this changes how the function is perceived. The work becomes less about reacting to requests and more about shaping decisions that affect customer experience across markets.
- Quality decisions benefit from context. Applying the same standards everywhere is rarely effective. Teams that tailor effort based on market maturity, content criticality, and growth goals are better positioned to show impact where it matters most.
- Internal storytelling is a leadership skill. Walking stakeholders through real customer journeys, sharing wins in familiar forums, and framing language decisions in terms of experience helps others understand why localization choices matter.
Taken together, these shifts help teams move closer to the center of how global decisions are made. They also make it easier to connect language, experience, and growth in ways that resonate across functions.
For localization leaders looking ahead to 2026, the opportunity is not to do more work. It is to make the work easier to understand, easier to align with, and harder to overlook.
