Access Business Analytics
Listen to This Blog
2020 disrupted nearly every human activity on the planet. The pandemic, lockdowns, and economic consequences blocked the expected growth in language services that we forecast for that year (“The Language Services Market (2021)”). In stark contrast, 2021 was a year of recovery for most of the language services and technology companies that responded to the survey for the 18th CSA Research Global Market Study. They got back on track from the pandemic body slam, optimized and rethought their businesses, and increased revenue as their clients themselves recovered and got back to business. Companies on our annual list of the largest providers showed significant improvement year over year (“Rankings of the Largest LSPs in the World (2022)”).
Our global ranking of the 100 biggest businesses in the sector includes 103 firms, counting ties. We base these rankings on our annual survey of providers with revenue and business data supplied by the companies themselves – and validated by their executives. Our seven regional lists add 68 firms, for a grand total of 171 ranked LSPs and langtech companies.
Here is a timeline showing the 10 largest providers for 2021 and their journey since 2005 to their present positions. The colored lines indicate LSPs that appeared on the Top 10 list at least 10 times. Some changed their names since our first study in 2005, typically due to mergers and acquisitions. For example, RWS Holdings grew substantially by acquiring SDL in 2020 – both companies appeared on our first ranking in 2005. Earlier in the timeline are scattered names of other LSPs that appeared in the Top 10 for just one or a few years.
This timeline highlights only the most visible companies in the sector. Keep in mind that there are thousands of other language service and langtech providers in our database, each with its own story. Two reports, “Who’s Who in Language Services and Technology (2022)” and “The Market Landscape for Language Services (2022),” tell you more about the 171 firms in our rankings and describe their role in helping commercial, governmental, NGOs, and other entities deliver multilingual content and user experiences for global and domestic multicultural markets.
Our annual Global Market Study focuses on revenue, where companies earn it, and what assets they need to deliver language services. Let’s follow the money:
The language industry serves organizations across the entire spectrum of commercial, governmental, NGO, religious, and other human activities. Here are three drivers rooted in the last few years that will continue over the coming year or two:
LSPs continue to evolve as they grow and consolidate. CSA Research has plotted their journey outsourcing business processes like translation and interpreting to become a more strategic role managing transformations, locale-specific knowledge, and enabling processes and technology for organizations operating globally. As they move from being a business process outsourcer (BPO) to this new role of knowledge process outsourcer (KPO) or global content strategy provider (GCSP), they will become even more essential partners to businesses and governments operating internationally and in domestic multicultural environments.
Finally, we’re keeping the survey for our Global Market Study open until August 31st so that we can fill out the sample for a few regions and vertical specialties. If you haven’t already taken the survey, you can take it by clicking this link. Completing it will take about 30 minutes. We’ll send you our report on “Tempered Optimism, But Improved Results for LSPs” for taking the survey. We will also enter you into a drawing for three respondents to win a sales-centric workshop for your company.
Chief Research Officer
Focuses on market trends, business models, and business strategy
Some people feel that using artificial intelligence (AI) to interpret human speech is a curse becaus...
Every CEO knows they must develop three core elements to business management: a mission statement th...
Will GenAI enable LSPS to become strategic global content service providers (GCSPs)? We first descri...
Multimedia, transcribed audio, and AI-generated content in all the world’s digital languages join m...
Done right, website localization involves extending brand voice and all its attributes to leverage c...
When competing with large language service providers, small and mid-sized LSPs can feel at a disadva...
Posts by CSA_Research