(BOSTON) – Twice annually, independent market research firm CSA Research surveys the attitudes, intentions, and perceptions of the CEOs of language service and technology providers. Available now, the 2019 mid-year business confidence survey results are based on data from 100 CEOs from the 193 largest global and regional LSPs about revenue, volume of demand, and employment plans for the first half of the year as well as expectations for the second half, and the entire year. This year CSA Research correlated the confidence survey responses to its annual Global Market Study and included CEOs’ biggest challenges and predictions for the year.  

Responses to CSA Research’s mid-year business confidence survey show that language industry providers remain optimistic on increasing revenue and profitability. However, just as with other industry sectors, external factors such as the escalating trade war and Brexit, combined with intrinsic industry concerns such as automation and lower rates, have begun to erode confidence. CSA Research anticipates a small reduction in its earlier forecasts of 4+% growth from 2019 to 2020, but expects language industry growth to still exceed that of the overall economy.

The survey revealed that companies that forecast revenue growth for 2019 deliver comparatively less pure human translation than those anticipating either no growth or a decrease. Comments Paul O’Mara, CSA Research data scientist and lead analyst on the report, “Interestingly, LSPs that envisage a decrease in 2019 revenue do 95% of their work as pure human translation, while those companies expecting growth rely on humans alone for only 80% of their translation work. In short, MT increases the scalability of LSPs, allowing them to deliver more words with less human activity.”

Included in the Report

•    Actual results and expectations of revenue
•    Volume of customer demand
•    Employment plans
•    LSP CEOs’ biggest challenges 
•    LSP CEOs’ perspective on M&A
•    Nine correlations between revenue and various aspects of operations, technology, and markets. 

CSA Research’s 2019 business confidence report turns primary data into insights to help LSP leaders benchmark their performance and compare their sense of the market against that of peers and competitors. Language technology vendors also benefit from a better understanding of the needs of their LSP customers and are thus able to refine their offerings and provide relevant solutions. 

The report is available to CSA Research members here. Non-members can register to receive a complimentary copy of the "Recommendations" section of the report.

About CSA Research

CSA Research is an independent market research company helping companies profitably grow their global businesses and gain access to new markets and new customers. Its focus is on assisting its clients to operationalize, benchmark, optimize, and innovate industry best practices in globalization, internationalization, localization, interpreting, and translation. http://www.csa-research.com | @CSA_Research

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