Localization Leaders: Meet Cato Networks’ Natascha Riegger

We sat down with Localization Leader Natascha Riegger, Localization Marketing Manager at Cato Networks. Serving businesses in countries all around the world, Cato Networks is a network security company that develops Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technology.

Join us for our conversation with Natascha as she shares how localization made a tangible impact at Cato Networks, when to use AI in your localization process, and ways to overcome the most challenging cultural gaps in foreign markets.

Read the full interview, or watch the videocast below:

Can you just start by telling us a bit about your journey to becoming Cato Networks’ Localization Marketing Manager?

I’m originally from Germany. I studied ethnography and cultural anthropology, which is a specific branch of anthropology that concerns itself with the study of human societies and cultures and their developments.

After graduating, I started working in research, first in a museum and then at a private foundation. I have to say that this experience and background help me a lot in my current work as a localization manager. Because, ultimately, localization is the process of adapting language, images, content, or products to a local culture’s norms and expectations. So after having dedicated years of researching these cultural norms, I do have to say that the knowledge I gained there comes in very, very handy in my day-to-day work as a localization manager. 

After moving to Israel six years ago, I pivoted in my career and started my first experiences in the hi-tech industry with the company Check Point. After Check Point, I joined the localization team at Wix, where I worked for three years. 

About one and a half years ago, I had the opportunity to join Cato to build and implement their localization strategy and process from scratch, which was a really exciting offer. I couldn’t refuse, and I’m glad I didn’t. I’ve been here ever since and it’s been a really exciting journey with still more to come, hopefully.

I’d like to hear more about what localization means for Cato Networks. You mentioned that you got to build their localization from scratch. What role do you think localization plays at Cato Networks and how is your team/department structured?

I’m still the only one in the localization department, it’s still fairly new. But despite that, I do have to say that localization plays a very important role at Cato because we are a big global company with local teams around the world, and therefore customers all around the globe, too.

It’s incredibly important for us to adjust our messaging to reach this global audience. We’re a networking and security company, so most of our content and products can be a bit more complex, which makes it even more important to adjust the content to make sure that it fits the language needs of each market and is understandable to our audience.

In the last year, we’ve slowly increased our localization efforts. Right now, we’re working very closely with our local and regional teams to make sure that we understand the nuances of each region and find the right approach to address these markets, especially because it’s quite new. So that’s where we are now, but we’re growing and becoming more professional each day. And one day I do hope we will have a bigger localization department here. 

Throughout your localization career, you may have found that it can be challenging to gain recognition for localization as a worthy investment. Do you have any tips for how localization managers can establish the value of localization?

Of course, you do come across these challenges every once in a while. Overall, I have to say that I’m quite lucky here at Cato because my management really understands the importance of our localization efforts and the impact that we can achieve by investing in these fields. 

But as a tip, I’m always a big fan of data. I guess that’s also because of my research background. I think a lot of the impacts and improvements we do can be easily displayed and backed up by data. 

For example, last year, we launched quite a big project of multilingual blogs where we implemented a blog in quite a few languages. We adjusted the content to fit each market. Not only are we localizing a lot of articles, but we’re also creating original content with topics and content that are specifically relevant to each region.

It was a lot of work, but it was really satisfying to see how much more traffic we were able to drive from these regions, and how we were able to improve our SEO. And I think having this actual data is great because you can’t really argue with data. 

A lot of things within localization are also kind of just logical. Obviously, you would think that addressing an email in the local language would probably be more effective than having it in English. It’s kind of common sense, but it’s always also good to be able to back up your work and show the improved data, which helps you to make your case and convince people that the financial investment into the localization department is worth it and not a waste of money.

Are there any markets that you found particularly challenging to break into throughout your career, for one reason or another?

If I had to pick a market, I would say I found Korea to be quite challenging. Besides the language barrier and whatnot, I do believe they have a very unique approach to things. And even when it comes to, let’s say, search engine optimization, for example, we can’t just concentrate our work on Google as we do with other markets because they have their own unique platforms that none of us have ever heard of. 

They just do things in a very unique and specific way, and I think a lot of companies in the past already failed to enter the Korean market specifically because it was difficult for them to find the right language that resonates with their local customers.

This is relevant for other markets, too, but especially for Korea, we focus on working with local agencies and our local team to really understand the cultural gaps and discrepancies that we can’t grasp. 

It is the case for many regions, but I personally feel like I’ve never experienced such a big cultural gap as I have with Korea. I think it’s worth investing there and collaborating with local entities.

Let’s talk about AI. We know that AI has exploded and is impacting every industry, including localization. How would you say AI impacts your day-to-day as a localization professional? Do you have any tips on how people can use AI to optimize their localization processes?

Yeah, we’re utilizing AI tools. There’s no denying that AI translations have come a really long way, especially in the past decade. Translations have become much more accurate and of way higher quality. I mean, remember the first days of Google Translate where you just put something in and the results were laughable? So this is not the case anymore.

AI does help us, especially when it comes to localizing large quantities of data that don’t need to be really specific or of very high quality. It makes our work very time-efficient and cost-effective, too.

When it comes to AI and the automated AI processes, they do save our team valuable time and resources. But at the end of the day, I still believe that it can’t be applied to all areas. There is still some content where I believe humans can’t be replaced by AI yet. 

I say yet. Let’s see what happens in another few years. For now, there are still certain nuances that might get lost with AI because it can’t capture certain aspects and insights. I think we still have to rely on humans to provide these insights. I’m excited to see where AI will take us in the future!

Thank you so much, Natascha. I think we’re ready to move on to our fun, rapid-fire questions. So let’s start with our first question, what is your favorite language?

I’ll have to say French. I can’t speak it. I try to, I’ve been learning it for years but I’ve never reached the level of fluency that I would like, but it’s really beautiful. 

What’s your favorite localization tool?

Phrase. 

What’s your favorite place that you’ve ever traveled to?

I would say Vietnam.

And what’s the most successful market you’ve invested in?

By far, Japan.

What’s your localization nightmare? 

I have to say, languages that have right-to-left script. This is what’s always killing me.

And which brand is your localization crush? 

Spotify. It’s a product that I also use almost daily, and every time I open it up I am very excited by how well they localize because I use it in German.

Before we go, are there any localization projects you have coming up at Cato Networks that we should be looking out for?

Quite a few. We’re expanding daily and we’re growing as a company, so we do have a few localization projects coming up. 

We’re going to increase our global presence and add more languages to our site.

I think what I’m the most excited about is our continued partnership with Porsche. They just started their new Formula E season with races all around the world. We’re going to have races in Tokyo and Berlin, so we’re planning localized campaigns for each of these races. This is what I’m most excited about for 2024.

Wow, that’s very exciting! We’ll definitely be waiting to see that.

Thank you again, Natascha, for joining us, sharing your experiences, and teaching us more about what you guys are doing at Cato Networks.

Corinne Sharabi

Corinne is the Social Media and Content Lead at BLEND. She is dedicated to keeping global business professionals up to date on all things localization, translation, language and culture.

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