How to Choose a Translation Management System

The Localization Impact

Choose a TMS with a Clear, Defensible Process

From needs analysis and vendor evaluation to business case and implementation planning.

A Translation Management System (TMS) can bring together multilingual content workflows by bringing together project management, translation assets, machine translation, AI, quality, collaboration, integrations, reporting, and billing. As localization programs grow, choosing the right system becomes a strategic decision that almost every localization manager will have to go through.

This module provides a structured approach to understanding needs, involving stakeholders, mapping organizational requirements, researching vendors, evaluating tools, and reviewing factors beyond features such as scalability, user experience, security, support, flexibility, and culture.

We will also explore business cases, pricing models, implementation planning, regular performance evaluation, and TMS change or migration, together with considerations about the future of TMSs. The aim is to help localization managers make defensible, practical decisions aligned with business goals.


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 Course Tutor: Veronica Carioni, Senior Localization Manager at Skyscanner
 Course activities
 Life access to contents
 Completion certificate
 When: 10 November 2026 - 18.00 CET
 Duration: 2 h approx. 
 Learn how to assess needs, compare TMS vendors, build a business case, and plan successful translation technology implementation.

Transform localization from a cost center into a growth engine, and make executives listen

Session Agenda

One live session, built around the following agenda.

01 Block

TMS basics

  • ▸ What is a Translation Management System?
  • ▸ Types of TMS: cloud, on-premise, enterprise, and orchestration layers
  • ▸ Core benefits: automation, interoperability, centralization, collaboration, quality, scale, speed, and governance
  • ▸ Main features: translation, content, workflow, integrations, vendor management, QA, reporting, and billing
02 Block

Modern TMS capabilities and integrations

  • ▸ AI-powered features: MT, routing, QA, post-editing, quality estimation, terminology, tone, rewriting, and source optimization
  • ▸ Augmented translation and translation-memory optimization
  • ▸ Connectors and APIs
  • ▸ Workflow automation from project creation through re-import
03 Block

Selecting a TMS

  • ▸ Understand content, formats, language pairs, workflows, integrations, storage, volumes, expertise, engineering support, and budget
  • ▸ Involve stakeholders and capture their use cases
  • ▸ Map technical, business, and functional requirements
  • ▸ Prioritize P0/P1/P2 and must-have/nice-to-have requirements
  • ▸ Use an RFI and research the vendor landscape
04 Block

Evaluating, choosing, and negotiating

  • ▸ Review case studies and customer feedback
  • ▸ Book demos and run realistic trials or pilots
  • ▸ Consider scalability, UX, flexibility, support, security, compliance, culture, and roadmap
  • ▸ Compare subscription, per-license, and volume-based models
  • ▸ Review connectors, development, support, termination, and contract costs
  • ▸ Build a business case connected to stakeholders, company goals, data, KPIs, efficiency, and automation
05 Block

Implementing and evolving a TMS

  • ▸ Assign roles, define workflows, set standards, train users, implement QA, and build dashboards
  • ▸ Evaluate TMS performance regularly
  • ▸ Identify issues across scalability, cost, features, UX, integrations, security, support, and expansion
  • ▸ Plan TMS changes and migrations with stakeholder buy-in
  • ▸ Review resources and define next steps
Summary of the main contents

What You Will Learn

This course introduces TMS concepts and then follows the lifecycle of a TMS decision: understand needs, involve stakeholders, map requirements, shortlist vendors, inspect tools, negotiate, implement, and evaluate.

✓

Explain what a TMS does and distinguish major TMS types

✓

Identify the capabilities and integrations needed for a localization program

✓

Gather requirements from localization and cross-functional stakeholders

✓

Create and prioritize a structured TMS requirements list

✓

Research and shortlist vendors using RFIs, demos, trials, and pilots

✓

Evaluate commercial, technical, operational, and organizational factors beyond features

✓

Build a business case linked to company goals and measurable KPIs

✓

Plan implementation, evaluation, and potential migration

Practical Focus: The aim is to help localization managers make defensible, practical decisions aligned with business goals.

Who is this course for

Who Is This For?

🛠️

Localization Managers

Selecting, reviewing, or replacing a TMS.

🔄

Localization Operations & Project Managers

Managing multilingual workflows.

✍️

Translators & Language Leads

Working with TMS workflows and integrations.

📊

Building the Business Case

Professionals building a business case for localization technology.

Delivered in English. No prior experience is required. Prerequisites are none: no additional software or accounts are needed.

What You Will Need

📚

Requirements

  • ▸ Prerequisites: none. No additional software or accounts are required.
  • ▸ Workload: no additional workload beyond the live session.
  • ▸ Delivery: live online session with Q&A.
⏳

Format & Duration

  • ▸ 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, single session.
  • ▸ Format: one live online session.

Course Resources

  • ▸ Access to the TMS and language-technology resources listed in the course program

Veronica Carioni

Senior Localization Manager at Skyscanner
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About VERONICA
Veronica has years of experience on the client side (buyer side), and currently leads localization at Skyscanner.
Previously, she built and evolved localization teams at Vistaprint from scratch.
Her approach combines quality management, product strategy, and AI implementation, always with a practical perspective: how to select complex technology without losing sight of human and linguistic needs.