The Language Services Market: 2013

Transcription

1 The Language Services Market: 2013 An Annual Review of the Translation, Localization, and Interpreting Services Industry By Donald A. DePalma, Vijayalaxmi Hegde, Hélène Pielmeier, and Robert G. Stewart

2 The Language Services Market By Donald A. DePalma, Vijayalaxmi Hegde, Hélène Pielmeier, and Robert G. Stewart Copyright 2013 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America. Published by: Common Sense Advisory, Inc. 100 Cambridgepark Drive Cambridge, MA USA No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Permission requests should be addressed to the Permissions Department, Common Sense Advisory, Inc., 100 Cambridgepark Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140, , info@commonsenseadvisory.com. See for usage guidelines. Trademarks: Common Sense Advisory, Global Watchtower, Global DataSet, DataPoint, Globa Vista, Quick Take, and Technical Take are trademarks of Common Sense Advisory, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Information is based on the best available resources at the time of analysis. Opinions reflect the best judgment of Common Sense Advisory s analysts at the time, and are subject to change.

3 The Language Services Market: 2013 i Table of Contents Topic... 1 Demand... 3 Market... 5 The Supply-Side Participants in Language Services and Technology... 5 The Composition of Language Service Providers... 6 The Size and Shape of the Language Market in The Language Market Follows Global Trends... 9 North America and Europe as a Whole Continue to Grow The Global Pool of LSPs Continues to Expand Suppliers Introductory Notes to the Lists in this Section Observations on the Top 100 Global LSPs in The Largest Suppliers in Nine Major Regions of the World Africa Asia Europe Eastern Europe Northern Europe Southern Europe Western Latin America and the Caribbean North America Oceania Services Language Services Include More than Just Translation and Interpreting The Written Word: Translation and Related Services The Spoken Word: Interpreting On Site and Remotely The Revenue Composition of the Language Services Market The Fastest-Growing Language Services and Technologies Heavily Populated Areas of the Language Services Market Benchmarks The Main Signs of Business Health How Clients Contribute to the Revenue Line Earnings by Client Show Differences by Company Size and Region The Top Three Clients Often Account for a Lot of Business How Project Management Relates to Revenue The Importance of Salespeople to Revenue Generation Benchmarks Allow LSPs to Gauge Their Performance Trends Methodology About Common Sense Advisory Future Research Applied Research and Advisory Services Figures Figure 1: Variables in the Language Service Provider Market... 7 Copyright 2013 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.

4 ii The Language Services Market: 2013 Figure 2: Language Services and Technology Market, 2009 to Figure 3: Growth in Global Trade, 2005 to Figure 4: Global Language Services Market Share by Region Figure 5: Most LSPs Have Two to Five Employees Figure 6: The Shape of the Language Services Market Figure 7: The Distribution of Language Service and Technology Revenue in Figure 8: Fastest-Growing Services from 2010 to Figure 9: Gross Profit Margins Reported by LSPs in 2011 and Tables Table 1: Language Services Share by Region, 2013 to Table 2: The Distribution of LSPs in Each Region Continues to Change Table 3: Quick Access List of the Top 100 (Short Forms of Names) Table 4: Quick Access to the Regional Lists (Short Forms of Names) Table 5: The Top 100 LSPs in Table 6: The Top Five LSPs in Africa Table 7: The Top 30 LSPs in Asia Table 8: The Top 20 LSPs in Eastern Europe Table 9: The Top 25 LSPs in Northern Europe Table 10: The Top 20 LSPs in Southern Europe Table 11: The Top 35 LSPs in Western Europe Table 12: The Top 15 LSPs in Latin America Table 13: The Top 30 LSPs in North America Table 14: The Top LSPs in Oceania Table 15: The Range of Translation Services Table 16: The Range of Localization and Engineering Services Table 17: The Range of Interpreting Services Table 18: Translation and Interpreting Technology Table 19: The Range of Translation Services for Media Applications Table 20: Language Services and Technology Market Segmentation Table 21: Fastest-Growing Services from 2010 to Table 22: Changes in Competitors by Service from 2011 to Table 23: Changes in Specialization by Service from 2011 to Table 24: Average Revenue by Company Size in 2011 and Table 25: Revenue per Employee by Company Size in 2011 and Table 26: Average Number of Clients Reported in 2011 and Table 27: Average Revenue per Client by Size of LSP in 2011 and Table 28: Average Revenue per Client by Region in 2011 and Table 29: Average Revenue Generated by Top Three Clients in 2011 and Table 30: Number of Project Managers per LSP in 2011 and Table 31: Average Revenue per Project Manager by Company Size 2011 and Table 32: Average Revenue per Project Manager by Region in 2011 and Table 33: Number of Salespeople per LSP in 2011 and Table 34: Number of Salespeople per Region in 2011 and Table 35: Average Revenue per Salesperson by Company Size in 2011 and Table 36: Average Revenue per Salesperson by Region in 2011 and Copyright 2013 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.

5 The Language Services Market: Topic Anyone who wants to be successful with global business needs to adapt his or her message to each country, culture, language, currency, and legal system. Translation, interpreting, and localization services support these adaptations. For the ninth year, Common Sense Advisory conducted an annual study of the state of the language outsourcing market. We also examined the sector that provides specialized technology to automate the critical operations that make translation, interpreting, and localization reproducible and cost-effective business processes. Based on a survey of more than 1,000 suppliers, this report updates our ongoing research into the supply side of the market. It includes the following sections: Demand an introduction to the role language plays in global trade, diplomacy, and other aspects of international life. Market an overview of the language services and technology market, revenue estimates, the distribution of services, and forecasts for the sector. Suppliers a discussion and listing of the leading suppliers in the global and regional markets for language services and technology. Services an overview of the services and technologies offered by suppliers in this sector and estimates of each category. Benchmarks a discussion of revenue, client, project management, and sales operations metrics for language service providers. Trends a discussion of the state of the market for language services and technology and how it will evolve over the coming five years. Methodology a description of the process that Common Sense Advisory follows in producing this report. Copyright 2013 by Common Sense Advisory, Inc.