Comtec Translations, a UK‑based translation and localization company, has won Best Use of AI in the agency category at the inaugural National Digital Awards, held in Birmingham on Friday, 22 May.
The award recognizes Comtec’s approach to using AI in the delivery of localization services: applying technology carefully, where it adds value, while keeping expert human linguists at the centre of quality, terminology, tone of voice and market nuance.
For Comtec, the challenge was not simply whether AI could make translation faster or more cost-effective. It was how a localization business could respond to AI without losing the human expertise that clients rely on when they trust an agency with content in languages they often cannot read themselves.
That thinking has shaped the development of Comtec’s AI-led services, including Pronto, its self-service AI translation platform, and MTAP, its machine translation with automated post-editing service. It also sits alongside Comtec’s wider range of localization options, from AI-led workflows through to machine translation with human post-editing, human review and fully human-led translation.
Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, Comtec works with clients to match the right level of AI and human expertise to the content, audience, risk level and market. In some cases, AI can support speed, consistency and cost-efficiency. In others, human post-editing, specialist review or fully human translation remains the right choice.
Across these service levels, linguists remain central. They help shape client-specific terminology, tone of voice, style preferences, regional language rules and quality standards, ensuring that localization decisions are guided by linguistic expertise rather than generic AI output.
The approach reflects Comtec’s wider values as a family-owned, independent localization agency and the first UK translation company to achieve B Corp certification. As a B Corp, Comtec has been open with its linguist community about the impact of AI on the industry and has sought to develop AI-led services in a way that supports clients while respecting the role of professional linguists.
The thinking was also shaped by Comtec’s own research. In early 2025, the company published The State of AI in Localization, drawing on 812 responses from linguists, agency professionals and people who commission translation. The research explored AI adoption, quality concerns, governance gaps and the pressures felt by the linguist community, helping to inform Comtec’s approach to AI-led localization.
Sophie Howe, Chief Executive of Comtec Translations, said: “We’re really pleased to win this award because of what it recognizes. AI is changing the translation industry very quickly, but for us the answer was never to remove linguists from the process. It was to think carefully about where AI adds value, where human expertise is still essential, and how we can combine the two responsibly.
“Our linguists sit at the heart of everything we do. They help us protect terminology, tone of voice, quality and cultural nuance, whether a client is using an AI-led workflow, human post-editing or a fully human translation process. As a B Corp, this matters to us. We want to adapt to new technology, but in a way that is transparent, ethical and respectful of the people whose expertise makes high-quality localization possible. This award tells us that the approach we have taken is the right one.”
Comtec’s AI-led services have already helped clients improve turnaround times, reduce costs and create more consistent multilingual content, while preserving access to expert human review for content that needs it. The company continues to develop its services around the principle that AI should support, not replace, professional linguistic expertise.
About Comtec Translations
Comtec Translations is a family-owned, independent translation and localization agency based in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. The company works with a network of more than 4,000 specialist linguists across over 200 languages and supports UK and international organizations with translation, localization, transcreation, interpreting, subtitling and multilingual content services.
