Case Study: City of Seattle improves language access and cuts translation costs with Smartcat

How centralizing translation services can help build more inclusive communities: a City of Seattle case study

The City of Seattle needed a better way to manage translation and language access as demand surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its previous decentralized process led to duplicated work, inconsistent terminology, and inefficient use of resources, creating barriers for immigrant and refugee residents. Seattle turned to Smartcat, a cloud-based enterprise language AI platform, to help centralize its translation services.

Using Smartcat, Seattle created a central hub for document translation, translation memory, glossaries, QA tools, and streamlined supplier management for more than 50 community reviewers. The result was 1,000 hours saved annually in project management time, a 17% reduction in translation expenses, and more consistent, equitable communication across departments. Smartcat also helped Seattle improve workflows, support local workers, and deliver language access more efficiently.

City of Seattle

Peggy Liao

Language Access Program and Policy Specialistat City