5 Everyday Tasks Translation Agencies Waste Time On (And How to Fix Them)

Do you know what happens inside a translation agency every day?
It looks super fancy from the outside: “Wow, they translate into 20 languages, they must be so smart!”

But if you sit inside the office or peek into their inbox… it’s a jungle.
Emails everywhere. Spreadsheets crashing. Clients calling. Vendors pinging on WhatsApp.

And the funny thing? They’re not wasting time on actual translation.
Nope. They’re wasting time on small admin tasks that eat up hours and hours.

Let’s break down the 5 big everyday time-wasters that I’ve seen agencies struggle with, and why they matter.

1. Chasing Project Details

Ask any project manager what slows them down the most, and you’ll hear the same story: “The client sent me the files, but I had to go back three times to clarify the brief.”

It usually starts like this:

• The client sends an email with source files, but half the reference material is missing.
  
• The deadline is vague: “We need it ASAP.”
  
• No mention of whether the text needs localization, transcreation, or just straight translation.
  
• Sometimes, even the source files aren’t the final versions.
  

What happens next? The PM spends hours emailing back and forth: “Is this the final file?” “Can you confirm the target languages?” “Do you need certification?” All the while, deadlines are shrinking, translators are waiting, and stress levels are climbing.

Why does this happen?

• Clients don’t always understand how translation workflows work.
• Agencies don’t set clear project intake processes.
• Everyone assumes “we’ll figure it out later.”

Hidden costs

• Delays: A one-day delay in clarifying project details often snowballs into a week lost.
  
• Errors: If the wrong file gets translated, the agency either absorbs the cost of rework or delivers late.
  
• Vendor frustration: Translators who start with incomplete instructions waste time and lose confidence in the agency.
  

One PM shared that they once received 16 different versions of a single brochure file from a client. Without a clear intake form, they spent two full hours just figuring out which version was the “real” one. That’s two hours that didn’t go into planning, quality, or client care, just file detective work.

How to fix it

• Standard project intake forms: Before any work starts, clients fill in a structured form with fields like languages, final files, deadlines, and references.
  
• Client portals: Instead of attachments scattered across emails, use a portal where clients upload and confirm final versions.
  
• File validation tools: Automatically check file formats and completeness before the project is accepted.

Getting the project details right at the start doesn’t just save time; it prevents a chain reaction of delays, errors, and unhappy vendors.

2. Manual Vendor Management

Imagine this: a new project comes in with five target languages. The PM now has to find the right translators. What do they do?

• Open a spreadsheet of vendors.
• Filter by language pairs.
• Manually check who has the right specialization.
• Send individual emails asking about availability and rates.
• Wait for replies.
• Negotiate back and forth.

By the time they confirm vendors, half a day is gone. Multiply that across ten projects in a week, and you have a PM burning 15–20 hours just finding translators.

Why does this happen?

• Agencies store vendor data in static spreadsheets.
• They fear switching to new systems, worried about data migration.
• Vendor relationships are managed by memory instead of process.

Hidden costs

• Time wasted: PMs spend more time hunting translators than managing quality.
  
• Wrong matches: Under pressure, PMs sometimes assign work to whoever replies first, not always the best choice.
  
• Lost opportunities: Time wasted on vendor admin is time not spent winning new clients.

An agency doing 40 projects a week with 12 PMs found that vendor coordination consumed 25–30% of their PMs’ time. That’s almost 3 full-time roles dedicated just to emailing translators.

How to fix it

• Vendor portals: Translators update their own profiles (rates, specializations, availability). PMs don’t have to chase details.
  
• Smart vendor matching: TBMS systems can auto-suggest the best vendor based on past performance, availability, and rates.
  
• Pre-approved pools: For recurring clients, pre-assign vendor pools so PMs don’t start from scratch every time.

Vendor management should be two clicks, not twenty emails. Agencies that automate this save their PMs from drowning in inboxes.

3. Late or Messy Invoicing

For many agencies, invoicing is an afterthought. The project is done, delivered, and out of mind, until someone remembers: “Did we ever send the invoice?”

Why does this happen?

• PMs focus on delivery, not billing.
• Invoices are created manually in Word or Excel.
• Data is scattered across emails, spreadsheets, and CAT tools.

Hidden costs

• Cash flow gaps: If a project finishes June 1, but the invoice isn’t sent until June 20, and the client is on Net-45, the agency won’t see the money until August.
  
• Borrowing: Many agencies bridge this gap with credit cards or loans, eating into margins.
  
• Reputation damage: Clients see messy invoicing as a red flag. If an agency can’t manage its own money, how reliable are they?

One LSP admitted that they once had $250,000 in receivables simply because invoices hadn’t been sent. Projects were delivered months earlier, but no one had closed the billing loop.

How to fix it

• Automated invoicing: Link invoicing directly to project completion.
  
• Client-specific templates: Many enterprises reject invoices for small details like missing PO numbers. Having templates avoids rejections.
  
• Payment tracking dashboards: Monitor overdue payments like you monitor project deadlines.

Invoices aren’t paperwork; they’re revenue. Delaying them delays the entire business.

Awtomated makes this easier by creating invoices automatically once a project is completed. This way, agencies don’t have to worry about missing or delaying them.

4. Endless Status Updates and Reporting

“How’s the project going?” might be the single most common (and most time-wasting) question in agency life.

PMs spend hours answering emails from clients, updating sales teams, and compiling progress reports for managers. A single project might generate:

• Daily “quick updates.”
• Weekly client reports.
• Internal progress summaries.

It’s not unusual for a PM to spend 30% of their time just writing emails about the project, instead of moving the project itself forward.

Why does this happen?

• No shared visibility across teams.
• CAT tool data isn’t connected to project management tools.
• Clients don’t have self-service dashboards.

Hidden costs

• Burnout: PMs feel more like customer service reps than project managers.
  
• Client frustration: If they’re always chasing updates, they lose confidence.
  
• Sales tension: Sales teams can’t promise new work if they don’t know where existing projects stand.

One mid-sized agency realised that across 8 PMs, they were spending 100+ hours per week just on manual reporting. That’s the equivalent of hiring two extra staff members, but with no added value.

How to fix it

• Client dashboards: Give clients real-time access to project status (files, deadlines, word counts).
  
• Automated notifications: Set up triggers for milestones, e.g., “Translation completed, review in progress.”
  
• Auto-generated reports: Weekly reports pulled directly from TBMS data, not manually written.

Transparency should be built into the system, not produced by PMs manually.

5. Paying Vendors the Hard Way

At the end of every month, agencies scramble to pay dozens or even hundreds of vendors. Here’s how it usually looks:

• Collect invoices from translators by email.
• Match them with POs manually.
• Input amounts into banking portals one by one.
• Pay international vendors through costly wire transfers.

A single vendor payment may only take 10 minutes, but when you have 50 or 100 vendors, it adds up to days of wasted time.

Why does this happen?

• Agencies don’t integrate payments with TBMS or accounting software.
• No bulk payment system in place.
• Cross-border payments require manual checking and high fees.

Hidden costs

• Delayed payments: Vendors leave when agencies consistently pay late. Losing good translators means quality and delivery suffer.
  
• Ops team overload: Admin staff spend more time as accountants than as growth enablers.
  
• Extra fees: International transfers add unnecessary costs.

One European LSP serving Asia regularly paid 100+ freelancers monthly. The finance team spends 3 full days every month on payments. After automating, that went down to a few hours.

How to fix it

• TBMS + accounting + payment platform integration: Payments are triggered automatically when invoices are approved.
  
• Bulk payments: Use platforms like Wise or Payoneer to pay multiple vendors at once.
  
• Auto-matching: Invoices are automatically matched with project POs, reducing human error.

Vendors are the backbone of any agency. Paying them quickly and efficiently isn’t just goodwill; it’s essential for survival.

With Awtomated, agencies can process vendor payments in bulk and on time, without relying on manual spreadsheets.

Conclusion

Here’s the secret: agencies don’t need to hire more PMs or work longer hours.
They need to automate the boring stuff.

• TBMS handles vendors, invoices, and tracking.
• TMS organises translations.
• Accounting + payment apps manage money flow.
• Client portals reduce email chaos.

Agencies that adopt these save 20–30 hours per week.
That’s one extra PM working full-time, without paying for one.

So next time you see your PM drowning in emails or your spreadsheet crashing… ask yourself:
“Are we running a translation business, or are we babysitting Excel?”Because the truth is: translation agencies don’t need to waste time.
They just need better tools.