RWS unveils a Forrester Consulting study showing a potential 212% ROI over three years from combining AI-powered language technology with expert linguistic services.

The study uses Forrester’s Total Economic Impact framework and was commissioned by RWS, released in September 2026.

Titled The Total Economic Impact of RWS: Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By RWS's AI-Powered Language Intelligence Platform And Expert Services, the report analyzes financial and non-financial benefits.

It highlights a transition from manual to automated processes, integrating translation memory, machine translation, automation, and self-service as localization maturity grows.

Financial benefits include translation savings, faster international launches, improved project management efficiency, and reduced quality validation costs, with added gains in brand voice consistency, governance, security/compliance readiness, and visibility.

Non-financial benefits cited encompass stronger brand voice consistency, governance, security and compliance readiness, and greater visibility into translation activity.

Overall benefits include translation savings, avoided revenue loss, efficiency improvements, reduced third-party validation costs, faster international launches, better project management, and improved governance, security, and compliance readiness.

Key takeaway: value comes from integrating AI with human expertise, not treating them as separate investments.

The modeled organization realizes $21.7 million in localization-related benefits against $6.9 million in costs, yielding a net present value of $14.7 million.

Over three years, the composite entity achieves $21.7 million in benefits and $6.9 million in costs, for a net present value of $14.7 million and an ROI of 212%.

The study’s three-year localization program results in a net present value of $14.7 million and an ROI of 212%.

The study uses a composite technology company with global reach and over $30 billion in annual revenue, expanding multilingual content to 32 languages by Year 3.