Boosting Your AI Pivot: How Language Industry Leaders Can Accelerate Growth with XcelerateAI
A few years ago, talk of meaningful and everyday useful artificial intelligence felt theoretical, for sure, but distant “someday.” Today, it’s deployed in various forms and unavoidable. From translation and localization to interpretation, every part of the language industry is reshaping itself around AI.
“The topics that we were discussing last year in future terms, as hypotheses, are reality now”
said Olga Blasco during the Boosting Your AI Pivot session. That speed of change, she noted, has caught even seasoned professionals off guard.
AI is no longer a buzzword; it’s the new infrastructure. The question isn’t if to pivot – it’s how to do it effectively, sustainably, and without losing your business identity.
That’s where strategic frameworks like XcelerateAI come in – combining deep industry understanding, technology insight, and hands-on consulting to help companies move from uncertainty to acceleration.
From Localization to Intelligent Global Content: A 40-Year Evolution
AI didn’t appear overnight. As Páraic Sheridan recalled, it’s been a long road:
“I remember buying this book in 1987 at the Computer Museum in Boston – The AI Business: Commercial Uses of Artificial Intelligence. That’s where it all started for me.”
From those early days to his work on search technology and neural machine translation, Sheridan has witnessed several “AI revolutions.” Each wave followed the same pattern: skepticism, hype, experimentation, and finally, practical integration.
In 2012, he and his team coined the term “global intelligent content,” describing the intersection between global content services and intelligent tooling. More than a decade later, that intersection has become the core of modern localization – where AI and human expertise merge to deliver scale, quality, and speed.
The lesson? Today’s AI pivot isn’t an entirely new movie. As Sheridan quipped,
“We’ve seen this movie before… and that’s relevant to what we’re seeing now.”
Want more insights? Watch full session:
The New Reality: High-Value Professional Services
AI has redefined what professional services mean in the language industry. According to Olga Blasco,
“Anything that is human intervention in AI-generated content it’s becoming more of a sniper activity, what it means is that sometimes the intervention is very surgical and minimal, but still very necessary”
This precision work: editing, validating, certifying – transforms human linguists into quality controllers of intelligent systems. The model shifts from price-per-word to value-based outcomes: delivering brand reach, compliance, and market speed rather than just translated words.
Blasco urged companies to stop “selling translation” and start “selling outcomes.” In other words, clients aren’t buying words anymore – they’re buying trust, efficiency, and business impact.
The Business Imperative: Why Waiting Is Risky
The temptation to “wait and see” with AI remains strong. But as Sheridan warned,
“We’ve now reached a point where the innovators have experimented, run their pilots, evaluated results… The next cohort of early adopters stand to benefit from that experience – and now is a good time to make that jump.”
According to our analysis – based on recent industry conversations and available research data – we’ve seen that around 40 percent of language service providers (LSPs) saw revenue declines in 2023, with growth mostly driven by acquisitions, not organic performance. In short: the market is moving, whether you are or not.
Those that adapt strategically, with a clear AI roadmap and measurable business goals, are setting themselves apart as trusted, tech-enabled partners.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the AI Transition
Every transformation has winners and laggards. Olga Blasco summarized it simply:
- The Good: Companies that have “future-proofed the business” by adopting AI to enhance their service mix and margins.
- The Bad: Solid players “showing slow reflexes” and risking their client accounts by hesitating or investing in tech they can’t sell.
- The Ugly: Firms seeing revenues “cut in half” and forced to restructure.
Yet Olga’s optimism remains unshaken:
“I’m a realist, but I put a lot of attention on the opportunities… rather than just the threats.”
For leaders, that mindset shift – from fear to opportunity – is the first step toward resilience.
Beyond Translation: New AI Opportunities in Multimedia and Data
While translation remains core, Páraic Sheridan sees massive growth potential in multimedia.
“The landscape of tools for video and voice content has really been transformed, and that opens up a whole realm of potential for LSPs.”
AI dubbing, voice synthesis, and multilingual video production are becoming accessible and profitable. These services not only expand revenue streams but also create new partnerships in e-learning, marketing, and entertainment sectors.
But there’s a hidden catalyst beneath all of it: data. Sheridan emphasized,
“It’s really important right now to develop a strategic approach to managing data… Anybody who’s not paying close attention to data infrastructure and governance is missing a huge value driver.”
Avoiding the Hype Trap: How to Implement AI Strategically
For every success story, there’s an AI pilot that went nowhere. The problem, Páraic explained, often isn’t the technology itself but poor validation.
“It’s amazing how many times I’ve seen people build solutions for what they believe the problem to be, without proper market validation.”
This is where disciplined frameworks like XcelerateAI can make the difference. Instead of chasing trends, the approach aligns business strategy, technology selection, and go-to-market execution.
A successful AI pivot follows four simple rules:
- Start with customer discovery – understand what your clients actually need.
- Validate use cases through pilots – small, data-driven experiments.
- Measure outcomes – define KPIs that prove value.
- Align technology with sales and marketing – ensure the story matches the solution.
The goal isn’t to move fast and break things; it’s to move smart and scale sustainably.
Avoiding the Hype Trap: How to Implement AI Strategically
One recurring theme across the session was collaboration – through consulting, partnerships, or mergers and acquisitions.
Olga Blasco pointed to recent moves like TransPerfect’s acquisition of Unbabel, which helped accelerate AI capabilities. She also noted a trend toward “joining forces with a friendly equal” – companies of similar size pooling expertise to scale together.
Strategic M&A or partnership decisions allow LSPs to close skill gaps quickly and offer AI-enhanced services without reinventing the wheel. As Páraic Sheridan added, there’s nothing wrong with “standing on the shoulders of giants” when it comes to technology alliances.
The XcelerateAI Model: From Discovery to Deployment
Many companies struggle with where to start. The XcelerateAI model provides a structured pathway for that journey – designed to reduce risk and deliver measurable progress.
- Lightning round Assessment: Analyze your current strategy, tech stack, and market position.
- Discovery: Identify client needs and untapped opportunities through research and workshops.
- Action Plan & Execution: Design a tailored roadmap for AI adoption and market differentiation.
- Validation & Optimization: Review results, adjust KPIs, and embed continuous improvement.
It’s flexible enough to serve both full-scale engagements and short, focused consultations. Or, as Blasco described it, sometimes:
“All it takes is a couple of hours of discussion to validate a decision.”
Be Bold, Get Data: The Leadership Mindset for 2025
When asked whether the industry is moving fast enough, Olga Blasco didn’t hesitate:
“We always need bold thinking.”
Being bold doesn’t mean reckless. It means being proactive; experimenting, learning, and adapting before the market forces your hand.
As Sheridan concluded, data and strategy now go hand in hand. The businesses that win won’t just use AI tools – they’ll build intelligent systems that continuously learn from their clients, content, and performance metrics.
The AI pivot isn’t optional anymore. It’s your competitive advantage.
Ready to Accelerate Your AI Pivot?
If your organization is re-evaluating its growth strategy in this new AI landscape, now is the time to act. Frameworks like XcelerateAI can help you connect strategy, technology, and execution – transforming uncertainty into opportunity.
👉 Watch the full “Boosting Your AI Pivot” session to hear directly from Páraic Sheridan, Olga Blasco, and Dave Ruane, and discover how your company can lead the next wave of intelligent globalization.
