Ajackus embedded 8 specialised engineers with VTS’s product team to transform their localisation infrastructure, enabling the enterprise real estate platform to support 12 languages and expand into 5 new international markets within 6 months.
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How VTS Reduced Localisation Turnaround by 80% and Expanded into 5 New Markets
Services
Web App Development
Team Augmentation
Technologies
80%
Faster Localisation Turnaround
12
Languages Supported
5
New Markets in 6 Months
Overview
Executive Summary
Client Overview
The Challenge
Project Goals
Our Approach
Results and Impact
Frequently Asked Questions
Executive Summary
The Problem
VTS’s rapid international expansion was stalled by a localisation bottleneck: 4–5 day translation cycles, no automated workflows, and untested localised features reaching production. Development velocity and market entry timelines were both at risk.
The Solution
Ajackus embedded 8 specialised engineers into VTS’s teams within 2 weeks, building automated translation pipelines, a pseudo-localisation testing system, and comprehensive QA tooling—transforming weekly translation cycles into daily sprints.
The Result
Localisation turnaround dropped from 5 days to 1 day (80% reduction), 500+ UI components were localised across 12 languages, zero localisation bugs reached production, and VTS expanded into 5 new international markets within 6 months.
Client Overview
VTS is a leading commercial real estate platform that transforms how landlords and brokers manage properties and deals. The platform centralises critical data and workflows, enabling real estate professionals to make faster, data-driven decisions about their portfolios.
With backing from top-tier investors and rapid market expansion plans, VTS needed to deliver enterprise-grade solutions that scale across global markets while maintaining local relevance through comprehensive localisation—a fundamentally different challenge from their core product development.
| Industry | Commercial Real Estate (PropTech) |
| Platform Scale | Billions of sq. ft. under management |
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
| Expansion Scope | 5 new international markets in 6 months |
| Team Model | 8 Ajackus engineers embedded with VTS |
The Challenge
THE BOTTOM LINE
VTS needed to rapidly scale their engineering team with specialists who understood both enterprise software development and localisation complexities—without slowing down their core product roadmap.
VTS’s rapid growth into international markets created significant technical and operational challenges that threatened their expansion timeline.
Core Pain Points
- Localisation bottlenecks: Each translation cycle took 4–5 days, severely delaying feature releases for international markets.
- No automated workflows: Translation management was entirely manual, creating processes that couldn’t scale with the pace of product development.
- Untested localised features: There was no systematic way to test localised features before production, leading to bugs that eroded user trust in new markets.
- Tightly coupled processes: Translation and development were intertwined, meaning localisation work blocked core feature releases—and vice versa.
- Coverage gaps across modules: Reporting modules, email templates, and PDF generation had not been localised, creating an inconsistent experience for international users.
Project Goals
The project focused on transforming VTS’s localisation capabilities from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage, enabling rapid international expansion without compromising development velocity.
| Goal | Success Criteria |
|---|---|
| Accelerate localisation cycles | From 4–5 day weekly cycles to daily sprints |
| Automate translation management | Replace manual processes with CI/CD-integrated pipelines |
| Comprehensive localised testing | Zero localisation bugs reaching production |
| Maintain platform stability | No regression in existing features during localisation work |
| Enable rapid market entry | Support for 12 languages including RTL |
| Scale engineering capacity | 8 engineers fully productive within 2 weeks |
Our Approach
Ajackus embedded 8 specialised engineers directly into VTS’s teams, achieving full productivity within 2 weeks of onboarding. The team was responsible for building automated localisation infrastructure, implementing comprehensive testing, and ensuring every platform feature could seamlessly support multiple languages at enterprise-grade performance.
Automated Translation Pipeline
The first priority was replacing VTS’s manual translation processes with an automated pipeline integrated into their CI/CD workflow. This included Crowdin API integration for translation management, branching strategies that enabled parallel localisation work without blocking core development, and continuous localisation workflows that transformed weekly cycles into daily sprints.
Pseudo-Localisation System
The team deployed a pseudo-localisation system that identified layout and rendering issues before actual translations were applied. This simulated text expansion of 30–40% (critical for languages like German), tested character sets including accents and special characters, prepared for RTL language support, and validated format strings across all templates. This approach alone identified 100+ potential localisation issues before they could impact production.
Module-by-Module Technical Implementation
The team systematically addressed coverage gaps across the platform:
Reporting Module
Maximised Excel’s native localisation features while handling complex data structures, ensuring reports rendered correctly across all 12 supported languages.
PDF Generation
Implemented dynamic layout adjustments that accommodated varying string lengths across languages—critical for documents where German text might be 40% longer than English.
Email Template System
Built a command-line utility for testing event-driven emails in multiple languages, plus a user-friendly interface for email rendering and testing across all supported locales.
QA Automation and Developer Tooling
The team created 200+ automated tests specifically for localisation features and built a custom testing framework that was adopted by VTS’s entire QA team. Developer tools for localisation testing and automated quality checks for translations ensured consistent quality at scale.
Results and Impact
The augmented team successfully transformed every aspect of VTS’s internationalisation infrastructure, delivering dramatic improvements in localisation speed, quality, and market reach.
80%
Faster Localisation Turnaround
100%
Translation Workflow Automation
60%
Faster Feature Deployment
500+
UI Components Localised
200+
Automated Tests Created
0
Localisation Bugs in Production
Operational Improvements
- Localisation turnaround reduced from 5 days to 1 day—an 80% improvement that unblocked international feature releases.
- 100% automation of translation workflows that were previously entirely manual.
- 60% faster feature deployment to international markets through decoupled localisation processes.
Technical Achievements
- Successfully localised 500+ UI components across the platform with support for 12 languages including RTL.
- Created 200+ automated tests and a custom testing framework now used by VTS’s entire QA organisation.
- Pseudo-localisation system caught 100+ potential issues before they reached production—zero localisation bugs in production after implementation.
Business Impact
- Enabled VTS’s expansion into 5 new international markets within 6 months of engagement.
- 30% increase in international user adoption driven by a fully localised, polished experience.
- 45% reduction in localisation-related support tickets, reducing operational overhead.
- NPS score of 9 from VTS’s internal development teams for the augmented engineers.
Staff Augmentation Success
- 8 specialised engineers integrated and fully productive within 2 weeks of onboarding.
- 100% retention rate throughout the engagement with seamless team integration.
- Comprehensive knowledge transfer enabling VTS to maintain all systems independently post-engagement.
Why It Worked
Specialists, Not Generalists
Bringing in engineers with specific localisation and i18n experience—rather than general web developers—meant productive output from week one.
Pseudo-Localisation First
Testing with simulated translations before real ones caught 100+ issues cheaply, proving that prevention is far more efficient than debugging in production.
Decouple to Accelerate
Separating translation workflows from core development eliminated the mutual blocking that had slowed both teams.
Frequently Asked Questions
How quickly can Ajackus embed engineers with an existing team?
Ajackus typically provides pre-vetted, specialised engineers within 1–2 weeks, with full productivity achieved within the first sprint. For VTS, 8 engineers were integrated and fully operational within 2 weeks of engagement start.
What is pseudo-localisation and why does it matter?
Pseudo-localisation replaces text with accented, expanded versions (e.g., “Account Settings” becomes “[Āççôûñţ Šéţţîñĝš]”) to simulate how translated text will look before actual translations are applied. It catches layout breaks, truncation issues, and character encoding problems early—when they’re cheap to fix.
How does staff augmentation differ from outsourcing?
With staff augmentation, engineers integrate directly into your existing team, using your tools, processes, and communication channels. They work as embedded team members rather than as an external vendor delivering a separate workstream. This enables faster onboarding, better alignment, and genuine knowledge transfer.
Can Ajackus handle enterprise-grade localisation across RTL languages?
Yes. The VTS engagement included full RTL language preparation, character set testing for accents and special characters, text expansion simulation for languages like German (30–40% longer than English), and format string validation—all automated through a custom pseudo-localisation engine and 200+ automated tests.
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