ATC UK LANGUAGE SERVICES INDUSTRY SURVEY AND REPORT 2021

英国ATC语言服务产业调查和报告2021年

2021-11-08 13:54 Nimdzi Insights

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Introduction It has been an eventful year, a year firmly focused on recovering from the global pandemic. It has also been a year filled with new opportunities, with many language service companies (LSCs) opting to make bold decisions to correct course, innovate, and invest in what has been the foundation of their success prior to the pandemic — their human capital and technology. The goal set by the ATC Board for this year’s industry report was to present an accurate snapshot of the state of the language services industry in the United Kingdom at a time when we collectively want to turn the page after the turbulent events of the past 18 months and look for inspiration and guidance from our peers and fellow industry professionals. The data gathered for this report show that, although the ATC members were not unaffected by the impact of the pandemic, language service companies have weathered the storm and have largely done things right, both by their clients and their employees. Recovery will surely remain the keyword for the months to come. Business owners and decision makers are focusing on stabilizing growth and rethinking how to improve the positioning of their companies. Our industry will continue to be at the forefront of enabling access to content to millions of people across the globe and, as such, there will be no shortage of clients looking for the professional services of a language service company. For this year’s survey, we redesigned the questions to match the topical issues in the industry. Improvements were made with an aim to balance out user experience while offering participants engaging and relevant questions. In all, more than 5,000 data points from 115 questions were collected with this year’s survey. It is our pleasure to present to you this report, and we hope you will glean valuable insights from it and that it inspires you to prepare your business for what is yet to come. The resourceful and the bold are the ones who will lead the pack in our new reality. Raisa McNab, CEO, Association of Translation Companies with the Nimdzi Insights Research Team Information contained in this report Methodology The 2021 ATC survey collected information from respondents on their companies’ performance for the year 2020. Revenue, growth figures, rates, and employee numbers are for 2020. Business challenges and strategies were analyzed for the current year 2021. Data collected in the 2021 ATC survey is anonymous and no identifying details are disclosed throughout the report. The only exception to this is when referencing revenue data collected during the Nimdzi 100 research in early 2021 where language service companies participating in the research explicitly agreed to the publication of their revenue figures. In addition to the data collected in the 2021 ATC survey and Nimdzi’s own data on trends in the language services industry, the ATC and Nimdzi Insights partnered with Adaptive Globalization in order to bring to you insights into UK salaries for key localisation roles, factors that have been influencing them, and related trends. Executive Summary 1. More than half of companies recorded positive growth The negative effects of the pandemic notwithstanding, 56% of companies reported various degrees of growth in 2020. Two years ago, 67% of companies reported growth figures, so this represents a slight decrease. However, considering the circumstances, this is a very encouraging figure. 2. The market for language services in the UK is growing We estimate the current size of the language services market in the UK at between GBP 1.5 and 1.7 billion. This is up from the GBP 1.35 billion we estimated two years ago. The UK is the largest single-country market for language services in Europe. 3. Almost half of language service companies expressed concerns over Brexit In this year’s survey, 47% of respondents reported worries over future effects of Brexit while 20% stated that they are already experiencing negative effects from it. 4. Continental Europe is the strongest revenue generator for language service companies in the UK The data show that by the size of the revenue stream, the EU is the strongest revenue generator for language service companies in the UK. This is in line with findings from other Nimdzi studies, which indicate that the EU is the largest driver of localisation demand in the world. 5. Language service companies in the UK felt the impact of COVID-19 The data show that UK businesses were not unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 60% of respondents highlighted a decrease or loss of existing business and more than 40% reported that they saw a suspension or termination of work from clients or government contracts. However, these data points only tell half the story. 40% of survey respondents also reported that their profitability increased in 2020, while an additional 31% said that their profitability stayed level with the previous year. These figures are a byproduct of the pandemic, as lockdowns and meeting restrictions significantly decreased expenses for travel, in-person events, and office space. 6. Gross margins and prices remained stable The average gross margins came out at 47% for translation services and at 34% for interpreting services, which is well in line with the global average. Prices for language services remained stable as well, as more than half of respondents reported. This is a great indicator, especially if we consider economic forces such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit that could have impacted this part of the business. 7. Work-from-home is here to stay Almost 80% of businesses have a positive view on remote work. In fact, more than one-quarter of respondents are considering offering a work-from-home option to their employees beyond the pandemic, while only 7% plan to resume full onsite operations. 8. Is the UK a language technology hotbed? Almost two-thirds of businesses in the mid-market segment of the UK develop their own proprietary technology. This is higher than the figure for the largest language service companies in the world (56%). On the other hand, only 46% of respondents are offering machine translation (MT) related services, whereas the global figure is much higher (72%). 9. Creative industries are the #1 source of work for UK SMEs 67% of survey respondents are active in creative industries, including marketing and advertising, making this segment of the market their number one source of work. This trend is further confirmed if we look at the main services offered by survey respondents: 69% list subtitling and 54% list copywriting and transcreation as part of their service portfolio. 10. Global trends trickle down to the SME market in the UK In a direct comparison with global trends identified for the largest language service companies in the world, the results show that some of these have trickled down to the small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. For instance, like their colleagues around the globe, more than half of respondents have seen an increase in requests for remote interpreting. 40% of survey respondents stated that MT is not a revenue driver for them — which is in line with global findings. And one-third of companies confirmed that they are increasingly receiving requests for services from the field of media localisation, such as subtitling for corporate training videos. Respondent Company Profile This report reflects the established mid-market companies in the United Kingdom: the core audience of the Association of Translation Companies. Today, the ATC has over 210 member companies, about 85% of which are UK-based and 15% are overseas companies with a connection to the UK market. In 2021, the ATC survey received 51 valid responses from individual language companies active on the UK market. Participants by geographic location 84% of survey respondents are headquartered in the UK. Just under 12% are based elsewhere in Europe (all in EU member states, or countries currently involved in accession negotiations), and just shy of 4% are located outside of Europe. Respondents by size category Of our survey respondents, only 2% reported revenues exceeding 50 million pounds in 2020, while 4% reported revenues between GBP 10 million and 50 million. More than 90% of all survey respondents reported revenues under GBP 10 million, and 55.3% reported revenues less than GBP 1 million. These small to medium-sized providers make up the majority of the ATC’s members as well as the UK market. That said, there are a number of large companies based in the UK that did not take part in this year’s survey. Most notable is RWS, whose acquisition of SDL earlier this year made it the biggest company in the world at the time of writing. Other companies, such as Iyuno Media Group, Voice and Script International (VSI), ZOO Digital Group, Spark, Capita Translation and Interpreting, and THG Fluently, all reported revenues in excess of GBP 10 million in 2020. However, their figures haven’t been considered in the graph above, which only shows the size of companies that participated in the survey. The following graph shows how the shares of each revenue bracket is affected if these additional, large UK companies are considered: Women-run language service companies An interesting figure in this year’s survey is that 37% of language service companies that participated are run by women. This is well above average compared to other industries. For instance, on a global level, only 20% of the largest language service companies are women-run (source: The Nimdzi 100). Looking outside the language services industry figures are even lower. For example, only 2.6% of the Fortune 500 have female CEOs. However, although the share of companies with female CEOs is high, these companies are not generally the giants in the industry. The woman-run companies in our survey make up just 12.6% of the total revenue of all surveyed companies. The 10 largest language service companies in the UK While the majority of this report is based on data gathered via the ATC industry survey, the following table is based on revenues reported in the 2021 edition of the Nimdzi 100. The table ranks the top 10 largest language service companies in the UK, based on revenues from the latest financial year. After buying SDL for GBP 809 million in 2020, RWS is the new number one on the market — not only in the UK but also worldwide. Since the completion of the deal, RWS shareholders now own about 70.5% of the combined company and SDL shareholders the remaining 29.5%. The deal closed on November 3, 2020, after the end of RWS’ financial year 2020 (September 30, 2020), which is why, technically, both companies still need to be considered separately for their 2020 financial years. However, to better reflect the reality of the market, we consolidated the 2020 revenues of both companies in the ranking below. Source: Nimdzi Insights, based on the figures reported in 2021 Nimdzi 100 (converted to GBP), including updates from annual reports and the latest market research Revenue and Growth Of the total revenue from surveyed companies, 90.8% was generated by companies based in the UK. About 9.2% was generated by companies with headquarters in other European countries, and a tiny share was generated by companies based in Asia (0.00044%) and Africa (0.00018%). No companies from the Americas or Oceania participated in this study. Growth between 2018 and 2020 If we tally up the revenues of all companies that participated in our survey and compare the consolidated figures across the years, then there was a notable decrease over the latest financial period. The following graph is based on the total revenues for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020 that participants reported in this year’s survey. While the data show that between the years 2018 and 2019, the combined revenue of all language service companies in this year’s survey increased by 10.4%, revenues dropped by almost the same figure for these companies (-10.7%) between the financial years 2019 and 2020. A likely reason for the dip in combined revenue is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data show that in 2020, UK language service companies were affected much the same way by the pandemic as their colleagues around the globe. On an individual company level, some businesses had a notable decrease in business and revenue, whereas others thrived. Overall, the UK market actually fared better than the global industry. The average growth rate of UK companies on an individual level (versus the growth of the revenue of all companies combined as displayed above) was 14% for the latest financial year. This is higher than both the global 2020 average (7.9%), and the UK 2019 average (9.9%). However, these figures only tell part of the story. The percentage of companies that experienced a net positive growth in 2020 was lower than for previous years: just 56% of companies experienced net positive growth in 2020 (in 2019 this was 67% of companies). So, despite seeing overall growth in the industry, almost half of our survey respondents left 2020 in a worse position than they entered it. Overall, larger companies that took the survey appear to have been hit harder by the 2020 pandemic year. The decrease in growth rates is largest for companies with revenues in excess of GBP 4 million. Market size Taking the above into consideration, we estimate the current size of the language services market in the UK at between GBP 1.5 and 1.7 billion. This is up from the GBP 1.35 billion we estimated two years ago. While the total revenues of all respondents decreased by about 10% in the latest financial year (2019-2020), revenues had increased by the same figure in the previous period (2018-2019). Adding to this, data from the Nimdzi 100 show that the largest language service companies in the UK market definitely grew in 2020. Looking at the ranking of the top 10 in the UK market, these companies alone reached more than GBP 1.1 billion in 2020. On its own, we estimate the UK to be the largest single-country market for language services in Europe, pulling ahead of Germany and France. Productivity How productive a company is can be calculated by dividing its revenue by its total number of full-time employees. Looking at the productivity of the respondents to our survey, the average revenue per employee in 2020 was GBP 79,941. The highest productivity reported was GBP 175,106 per employee, whereas the lowest was at GBP 5,193. In general, companies with higher revenues reported higher levels of productivity. This is different from the global average, where companies in the mid-revenue segment had the highest productivity levels. That being said, as highlighted above, the majority of the ATC members fall into the mid-market revenue bracket. Interest in mergers and acquisitions is on the rise Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been on the rise over the last year and a half. It is likely the pandemic has spurred business owners to be more receptive to opportunities to invest or sell. What’s more, our industry is attracting outside interest from private equity firms and venture capital firms who are looking for deals. Especially since the mega deal that saw former rivals RWS and SDL join forces at the end of November 2020, news of new M&A deals as well as investment have been flooding the market almost weekly. As the deals of the recent months illustrate, we are fundamentally in a seller’s market. Looking at the companies in this year’s ATC UK survey, more than half (57.7%) are interested in either buying other companies or receiving offers from potential buyers. Only one-third report that they are not thinking about M&A at all. Top services and verticals in the market In this year’s survey, we asked companies to select the services and verticals they operate in. The results show that the services most commonly provided by language service companies in the UK are translation and localisation (96%) and subtitling (69%). Copywriting, transcreation & content creation, publishing, and desktop publishing (DTP) & graphic design share third place (54% each). Fourth place went to machine translation and post-editing, onsite interpreting, remote interpreting, and transcription, with 46% of survey respondents providing these services. While the results for translation and localisation as well as subtitling are similar to those reported by the largest language service companies in the world for the Nimdzi 100, the figures for MT-related services differ significantly. What the data show is that although there is some appetite for MT among the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, this segment of the market is not heavily focused on it. To illustrate, while only 46% of respondents to the ATC survey offer MT-related services, 72% of the largest language service companies in the world do so. A possible explanation for this can be found when we look at the main verticals that SMEs in the UK market operate in. According to this year’s survey, the most prevalent segments for the ATC members in terms of industry participation (not revenue) are creative services (67%) and technology (63%). Within the creative services market, translation and localisation services (65%), publishing (45%), and desktop publishing (DTP) (45%) are the most provided services. How is this related to MT? Simply put, MT is mostly geared towards handling large volumes in regulated industries, which is where most of the large players focus their efforts. Creative industries, on the other hand, require more…well…creativity, something that MT is not well-suited for. It makes sense that creative services are a segment where the small to medium-sized players in the industry can shine by offering boutique services with more customer service and attention to detail – something the largest language service companies in the world often lack. That being said, within the field of technology, the data show that the most requested services are machine translation and post-editing (78%). This is closely followed by publishing (75%), subtitling (71%), desktop publishing (71%) and remote interpreting (71%). Highly regulated industries such as life sciences (61%), legal (59%), financial services (57%), education (51%), and healthcare (39%) are the other key revenue sources for language service companies in the UK according to our survey. As for healthcare and life sciences, 96% of respondents report providing translation and localisation services, with multiple respondents emphasizing virtual remote interpreting (VRI). Machine translation and post-editing were the second-largest revenue sources in life sciences (61%) with subtitling (59%) being the third. The remaining key verticals were manufacturing (59%), media (57%), hospitality (49%), automotive (43%). When looking at these data it is important to bear in mind that these results represent a numerical count, showing how many players offer a certain service or operate in a certain vertical. They do not reflect the market share by revenue. Business challenges and opportunities 2020 was a year like no other before. The global COVID-19 pandemic impacted language service companies of all sizes in one way or another, whether it was a decrease or increase of business, a shift to remote work, or a stronger focus on technology. While this is the result of the last 18 months, we wanted to know what lies ahead and asked survey respondents what the biggest challenge they are facing in 2021 and beyond is. Interestingly, 28% of companies reported that their biggest challenge in the next year will be to keep up with the growth they achieved over the last financial period. In addition, an equal number of language service companies (16% each) listed recruitment, consistent sales and marketing, and keeping up with technology trends as the next biggest challenges they are facing. Wider market research by Nimdzi has found that, for many language service companies the pandemic exposed blindspots, but also fuelled innovation, accelerated the use of technology, and created new opportunities. For many market players, all of this translated into a need to restructure their business — whether it was streamlining internal operations, offering different services, entering new client verticals, or using new technologies. Particularly the shift to remote operations required many businesses to step up their technology game, which is both costly and (initially) time intensive. Keeping this overarching trend in mind, it is not surprising that challenges like recruitment, sales and marketing, and keeping up with technology trends are among the top-of-mind challenges of language service companies in this year’s ATC UK survey. In fact, 12% of respondents also reported restructuring their business as the most important change of 2020. When asked about current market trends and opportunities, 21% of respondents named machine translation (and post-editing) as both a trend and an opportunity they are seeing in the UK market. This is followed by remote services, such as remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI), but also ecommerce and e-learning (12%). All of these trends are aligned with global market trends reported by the largest language service companies around the world, as detailed by Nimdzi in the 2021 edition of the Nimdzi 100. Where the clients are We asked survey respondents to indicate the percentage of their revenue derived from customers based in different parts of the world. The results show that, on average, almost half of a UK language service company’s revenue comes from domestic clients (44.3%). The rest of their revenue originates in continental Europe (26.1%) and North America (21.9%), followed by Asia (6.3%), and Australia and New Zealand (0.9%). It is worth noting that not much has changed in this regard over the last two years. Compared to 2019 figures, there is only a slight decrease in revenue coming from the domestic market (-3.4%), the rest of Europe (-4.4%), and the rest of the world (-1.6%). The loss of revenue from these three regions seems to have shifted to revenue being generated from clients based in North America (+6.3%) and Asia (+3.4%). Brexit Brexit came into effect on January 31, 2021. Yet, there is still a lot of uncertainty around it. In this year’s survey, 47% of respondents reported worries over future effects of Brexit while 20% stated that they are already experiencing negative effects from it. The two main challenges, which close to one-third of respondents listed in direct relation to Brexit, are acquiring new talent and a decrease in work as a result of clients moving away from the UK. The third challenge companies reported was a lack of visibility into how the shifting regulations will affect them in the future. Dissecting the data in more detail, it stands out that both the language service companies that reported that Brexit is already having a negative impact on their business and the ones that still expect Brexit to negatively impact them in the future are also the ones which derive more than one-third of their revenue from clients located in the EU. LSCs for whom North America is the second strongest client market after the UK predominantly stated that Brexit has not affected their business. These takeaways are based on the answers of all respondents, regardless of company size. Using this approach, unsurprisingly, the UK appears to be the biggest client market for the ATC members. However, if we do consider company size and look at the total revenue of all respondents and then calculate the percentage of revenue derived from different parts of the world, the data tell a different story. Namely, that the EU is the strongest revenue generator for language service companies in the UK. This is in line with findings from other Nimdzi studies, which found that the EU is the largest driver of localisation demand in the world. Bringing this back to concerns over Brexit, it stands to reason that language service companies that depend on clients in the EU for a large portion of their revenue stream are also the ones that are either already experiencing challenges due to Brexit or fear that Brexit will negatively impact them in the future. For companies in this group, the UK still remains the second strongest revenue generator, followed by North America. On the other end of the scale, language service companies that were not affected by Brexit generate most of their revenue in North America, with the UK being in second place and clients from the EU only representing the third strongest revenue stream. Impact of COVID-19 The data show that UK businesses were not unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 60% of respondents highlighted a decrease or loss of existing business and 41.3% reported that they saw a suspension or termination of work from clients or government contracts (37% and 4.3% respectively). These figures were relatively consistent across all company sizes. Interestingly, although fewer large companies reported a decrease in work, the same revenue group also stated that they eliminated jobs due to decreased workloads. What stands out from the data is that 100% of companies that reported cash flow issues or an increase in expenses as a result of COVID-19 were small companies with revenues of less than GBP 1 million. (In fact, all reported revenues below GBP 500,000). A shift to remote work In addition to the effect on volumes of work, and subsequently revenue, three-quarters of respondents reported a shift to remote work as a result of the pandemic. Digging deeper into this topic, the results show that the vast majority (79%) of language service companies have a positive view on remote work, while almost 14% of respondents reported security concerns (9.9%) or technical challenges (3.7%) related to the work-from-home (WFH) model. 25.9% of respondents are considering offering a WFH option to their employees beyond the pandemic, whereas 7.4% want to return to onsite operations. Increased profitability Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity. 40% of survey respondents reported that their profitability increased in 2020, while an additional 31% said that their profitability stayed level with the previous year. These findings are similar to the global trend reported in the Nimdzi 100, where 45.5% of the largest language service companies in the world recorded an increase in profitability over the latest financial period and 35.6% retained their profitability levels. This increase in profitability comes as no surprise when the side effects of the lockdowns are considered, i.e. no or very little travel, reduced need for office space, and no in-person events. All of these byproducts of the pandemic translated into a decrease in expenses which in turn increased profitability. This theory is further confirmed when we take a closer look at the decrease in expenses companies reported. Decrease in expenses Close to three-quarters of respondents confirm that they had a decrease in travel expenses. An additional 12.5% each stated that they had fewer expenses from events and meetings, as well as office maintenance. How do SMEs in the UK relate to global market trends? The focus of the ATC and of this report are the SMEs in the language services industry in the UK. So while the focus remains on the trends that are shaping the business of these language service companies, we were curious to see how SMEs in the UK relate to global trends Nimdzi identified in our wider market research. The below graph shows the consolidated level of agreement with each trend we inquired about. Let’s hone in on the takeaways we can gather from this graph. 40% of survey respondents stated that MT is not a revenue driver for them. This is in line with the global trend for large language service companies. Nimdzi’s research shows that, on average, LSCs only derive between 7-10% of their total revenue from MT-related work. Furthermore, as identified through surveys and interviews with market players, the majority of language service companies in the global market predominantly offer MT because it is a service their clients are requesting. While about a third of UK language service companies agree with this statement, close to 40% disagree. One possible explanation may be that LSCs do not want to be left behind by their competitors — and so they round out their offering with MT-related services. Like their colleagues around the globe, more than half of respondents (54%) have seen an increase in requests for remote interpreting. This is not surprising given that lockdowns and safety measures significantly restricted people from meeting in person. A trend among the largest language service companies in the world is that they are increasingly moving away from transactional work, to focus on master service agreement (MSA) based business instead. However, our research has found that this trend is not necessarily true for companies in the small to mid-market segment. The results of our survey here show that, indeed, for 42% of SME players in the UK the majority of their work is transactional. That being said, 41% of survey respondents also report that they are moving away from transactional work. What this shows is that we might be at the beginning of a larger trend, as the move away from transactional work has started to trickle down to some language service companies in the mid-market segment. As the needs of buyers are becoming more complex, large language service companies across the globe are pivoting and adapting to meet those requirements, for example, by diversifying their language service portfolio, as well as adding adjacent services to their offerings. Consequently, they are becoming “corporate service providers” or rather business partners to help clients expand their international business. In the ATC UK survey, 40% of respondents state that they have started diversifying their service portfolio. This is a high percentage considering that the majority of respondents are in the small to medium-sized range, and on a global scale the trend of service diversification is mostly true for the largest language service companies in the market. A possible explanation could be that the pandemic created a need for language service companies of all sizes to add new services to meet the changing needs of their clients, as a number of language service companies reported during interviews. That being said, 71% of survey respondents also stated that they are focusing on their core competencies, which is in line with the global trend. Nimdzi’s research has found that the smaller players in the market (which make up close to 80% of the industry) tend to focus on specific verticals and services covering niche needs within the market. There will always be a need for these boutique language services. However, boutique language service companies will need to highlight their value proposition and show how they contribute to the supply chain. Quality and price are no longer sufficient positioning strategies. Another trend that is not new but certainly accelerating is that demand for media localisation has started to trickle down to smaller, traditional language service companies. This is mostly due to the rise of video content, which is booming in almost every segment of the industry. The trend was accelerated further by the pandemic, when businesses around the world pivoted to remote operations and moved their onboarding and other corporate training to pre-recorded videos with captions and/or subtitles. About one-third of the ATC members who responded to the survey confirm that they are experiencing this trend, while an equal amount disagree with the statement and another third neither agree nor disagree. One of the most hyped services for the language service industry in recent years has been language data for AI, which is the last trend we inquired about. More than 80% of respondents to the ATC survey said that they are not receiving requests for data-for-AI services, such as data tagging, data annotation, and data collection. This indicates that, at least for now, this is not a trend that has trickled down to the SME segment of the UK market. Pricing trends in the UK Data gathered in this year’s survey show that for both translation and interpreting prices remained stable. This is a good indicator, especially considering economic forces such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit that could have impacted this part of the business. There is slightly more evidence that prices increased marginally in the interpreting sector, as a larger proportion of companies reported prices increasing and fewer companies reported prices decreasing. However, the overwhelming response is that prices have stayed the same. That being said, a few participants reported that they reduced their prices over the latest financial period in an attempt to keep up with the competition. In the translation market, close to one-quarter of respondents (24.5%) tried this approach, whereas only 13.8% of businesses offering interpreting services did the same. Gross margins by line of business Gross margin is the difference between revenue and cost of goods sold (COGS) divided by revenue. In language services, this typically means the percentage that the language service company keeps after being paid by the client and paying the linguists. Most companies reported higher margins for translation services than interpreting services — about 10-15% higher, on average. Margins for translation services ranged from 20% to 77%. The average margin was 47.1%. There was little differentiation in profitability of large and small language service companies when it came to translation services. In fact, the two companies that reported the highest and lowest gross margins happened to report almost the same revenue for 2020. Margins for interpreting services ranged from 10% to 67%. The average margin was 33.5%. As with translation services, there was little differentiation in profitability of large and small language service companies when it came to interpreting services. Companies with revenues below GBP 1 million reported virtually the same margins, on average, as companies with revenues greater than GBP 1 million. The averages for gross margins are very much in line with global averages, which are 40-50% for translation and 30-40% for interpreting services. Staffing and hiring trends in the UK The below graph shows which roles are covered by full-time, in-house employees within companies of different sizes in the UK. The data show that there is only a minor difference between companies with revenues below and above GBP 1 million when it comes to employing in-house project managers. Seeing as project management can be described as the core service that language service companies provide, it is no surprise that project managers are on top of the hiring list for language service companies of all sizes. There is a wider gap between the smaller and the larger players in the UK market when it comes to the amount of sales people and linguists on staff. The data show that close to 20% more large language service companies (90.5%) employ sales people than the smaller players (71.4%) in the market. On the surface, the explanation for this difference could simply be that companies with larger revenues can afford to hire more in-house staff. However, other studies by Nimdzi Insights have found that companies with designated sales teams typically grow faster and achieve higher revenues. While there does not need to be a direct correlation, it is interesting to note that where the data points overlap is that companies with larger revenues tend to have sales teams. When it comes to in-house linguists, the figures look similar — close to 20% more companies with revenues above GBP 1 million (61.9%) directly employ linguists as opposed to businesses below GBP 1 million (42.9%). The figures reported in the survey are unusually high when compared to the global industry standard. Especially the largest players in the global language services market, for instance those in the Nimdzi 100, work almost exclusively with freelancers. That the figures for in-house linguists are so unusually high among respondents to the ATC survey might simply be reflective of the survey’s target audience: the medium sized language service companies. When it comes to having linguists on staff, it is exactly the mid-segment that typically stands out. The top and the bottom of the hiring chain When asked which roles increased in importance and/or number over the last two years, the survey respondents listed roles in the areas of sales (54.8%), project management (52.4%), and marketing (40.5%) as the top three. On the flipside, when asked about the roles that decreased in importance and/or number over the same period of time, respondents named interns & students (48.0%), and technology, software engineers/solution architects (28.0%) as the top two. Sales, project management, and account management shared the third position in this category (20.0%). Salaries in the UK: an overview of trends Question: Andrew, what stands out to you when you look at how salaries have been evolving in the language services space over the past few years? Andrew: Salaries in our industry have improved faster than the national averages in all countries with large economies, very much across the board. With the rise in demand and the rise in competition from tech companies we have seen improvements of over 18% in basic salaries for like-for-like roles since the start of 2018, with the rate of improvement being highest in big cities like London, Warsaw, Dublin, New York, and Munich. This goes for roles both in operations and sales, but it applies in particular to entry and mid-level roles such as project managers and business development managers. Question: How do salaries in the UK compare to other countries? Andrew: UK salaries are largely in line with comparable roles in other European countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands. However, they are still significantly smaller than those offered in the US. For example, a project manager in London with three years of experience will earn circa £30,000 - £32,000, in Berlin it will be €32,000 - €38,000, but in New York they will earn between $65,000 - $80,000. That is as much as a 35-45% difference between project managers in the UK and those in the US. That being said we are seeing the fastest wage growth in what were formerly low-cost centres such as Poland and Spain due to the rise in competition over labour. Question: Are companies in the UK competitive enough when wanting to attract talent for key roles in sales or production? Andrew: In short, when looking on the vendor side in our industry, there are no major outliers in terms of competitive salaries. Most companies pay roughly in line with each other (obviously some higher and some lower), with really no stand-out great payer or awful payer. However, there are a few “danger areas” where the industry is struggling to attract or retain talent and those are: Question: The COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit are two events that have had an effect on the UK language services industry. Have they had an effect on salary levels, however? Has there been any adjustment to salaries or do you anticipate one? Andrew: Not yet. We haven’t seen an unexpected rise in salaries (beyond the upward trend already mentioned) just yet. However, we do expect difficulties to increase, especially over the coming weeks and months as we experience the first wave of freshly graduated students not based in the UK who cannot relocate to the UK without a visa. Demand is increasing and we are seeing more requests for UK nationals or those with rights to work in the UK without a visa. As this demand continues to increase — due to an increasingly limited talent pool — we do expect salaries to rise, particularly for operational staff. Question: When looking at salaries in the UK, what regional differences stand out? From your perspective, do companies have a harder time attracting talent due to the disbalance in salary levels in different regions? Andrew: London stands out as the most expensive place. Salaries in London and the surrounding areas are 15%-25% higher than most other places in the UK. The further north or west you go, the more salaries drop, with lowest salaries being found in parts of Scotland, Wales, and around Leeds. Companies generally do not struggle to recruit at the lower levels despite the regional salary differences because most companies will try to go for graduate-level talent to fill their roles. However, it does become an ever-increasing challenge the more senior the talent search becomes. Technology Technology creates an opportunity for all language service companies regardless of their size, and these days the use of technology has become commonplace. This is confirmed by the data from this year’s survey. Of the respondents to the ATC UK survey, 91% use a translation management system (TMS) and 70% a business management system (BMS). This is no surprise, as both types of technologies have become a staple in language service companies’ translation and localisation management workflows. Next in line is terminology management, with 70% of respondents reporting use of specific tools to manage term bases and glossaries. QA tools and machine translation (MT) solutions are used by more than half of the companies that participated in this study. As digitalisation continues, volumes increase, and client needs become more complex, the use of technology will become ever more important. Proprietary technology There is a wide range of solutions to choose from, but many language service companies still opt to develop their own technology, especially custom solutions to manage translation workflows. What’s more, there is an ongoing battle between cloud and desktop platforms that makes it more difficult for language service companies to decide which solution to use. What stands out is that the majority of UK mid-market segment respondents (64%) develop proprietary technologies. This figure is higher than for the largest language service companies in the global market. For instance, in the Nimdzi 100 survey only 56% of respondents reported that they develop their own proprietary technology. The responses are indicative of a market that continues to mature in its relation to technology. As language service companies grow in size and their operations become more structured, they realize the need to automate and optimise the management of repetitive tasks in order to focus the time of their personnel in other value-add areas such as customer service. UK language service companies seem to be especially well-equipped to tackle this new reality of technology becoming central to the localisers’ jobs. Almost three-quarters of respondents have their own business management systems (71%), and 57% use their own proprietary translation management system. That the number of language technologies has been on the rise is nothing new. For instance, Nimdzi’s Language Technology Atlas listed 660 individual tools in 2020 and more than 770 tools in 2021. Preferences in machine translation brands Machine Translation (MT) remains a subject of high interest among localisation providers and buyers from all over the world, and the UK localisation market is no exception. When asked about the types of technology trends that have the greatest impact on their business, the majority of respondents named machine translation — for various reasons, such as clients demanding it, fears over the effect on rates, and integrating MT into internal workflows. Respondents to the ATC UK survey state that, on average, 21% of their projects utilise MT. 58% of respondents utilise MT on less than 20% of their projects, while one-quarter of respondents use MT for between 20-50% of all their projects. The use of MT in 50% or more of projects was reported by 17% of respondents. Judging by the responses, language service companies tend to use well-established MT providers such as Google and Microsoft. Similar results can be observed in the US where the adoption of MT seems to have taken off more rapidly. The solutions by Amazon and DeepL are gaining their share of the market. In a segment of the language technology market that is flush with a variety of well-established solutions, developing their own in-house solutions for MT is something that is becoming somewhat of a tall order for language service companies. The areas where language service companies can add value when it comes to MT-related services is in helping to educate their clients, helping them select the best engine for their needs, and being flexible and savvy enough to efficiently implement them in their existing workflows when their client asks for it. What lies ahead? In the grand scheme of things where business is becoming increasingly global and digitized, events such as the global pandemic or Brexit are arguably but relatively minor blips on the radar. Yes, they are affecting the immediate fortunes of both clients and language service companies, but it’s more important than ever before to look ahead. While short-term the focus remains on course-correcting and ensuring that their businesses endure, it is crucial language service companies remember that, in the long-run, what will make the difference is investing into the level of customer service. Nimdzi’s research shows that while on-time delivery and quality is what clients expect, what they want is their language service companies to become strategic partners to their global growth. Focusing on the “service” part of “language service” may very well require a conscious shift of the mindset for some. As localisation is becoming an increasingly key cog in the global strategies of their organizations, client-side localisation directors are looking for allies, both internally and among their LSCs. With the market incredibly balanced, with language service companies offering practically the same services at comparable rates, what will make them stand out is cultivating the human touch. What language service companies’ clients want is to sleep well at night. They want to look good in the eyes of their bosses. The data point towards the UK continuing to play an important role in the global language services market. Despite the adverse effects of the pandemic and Brexit on some, UK companies have by and large been able to turn the corner and get back to pre-pandemic growth levels faster than others. While the big UK language service companies may be the ones stealing most of the headlines, what truly stands out in this year’s survey is the robust and scrappy mid-market segment which makes up the bulk of the UK language services industry. Companies have largely been pushing the right buttons, focusing on their areas of expertise and making smart use of language technology to service their clients. Technology such as MT is indeed no longer disruptive. It has become accepted. With seemingly little else on the horizon that can shake up traditional localisation workflows, the way forward for language service companies lies in continuous investment into technology, and supplementing it with a healthy dose of premium customer service. UK language service companies could very well have a small head start.
导言 这是多事的一年,这一年坚决侧重于从全球大流行病中恢复。这也是充满新机遇的一年,许多语言服务公司(LSCs)选择做出大胆的决定,纠正航向,创新,并投资于它们在大流行之前取得成功的基础——人力资本和技术。 今年的ATC董事会设定的目标的行业报告是提供了一个精确的快照的状态语言服务行业在英国的时候我们集体想翻页后动荡的过去18个月的事件,寻找灵感和指导从我们的同行和其他行业专业人士。为本报告收集的数据表明,尽管ATC成员没有受到疫情的影响,但语言服务公司经受住了风暴,其客户和员工在很大程度上都做了正确的事情。 复苏无疑仍将是未来几个月的关键词。企业主和决策者正集中精力稳定增长,并重新思考如何改善他们公司的定位。我们的行业将继续走在使全球数百万人能够访问内容的前沿,因此,将不会缺少寻找语言服务公司的专业服务的客户。 在今年的调查中,我们重新设计了问题,以符合业内的热门话题。改进的目的是平衡用户体验,同时为参与者提供参与和相关的问题。在今年的调查中,总共从115个问题中收集了5000多个数据点。 我们很高兴向你们提交这份报告,我们希望你们能从中获得宝贵的见解,并激励你们为未来的业务做好准备。在我们的新现实中,足智多谋和大胆无畏的人将引领潮流。 RaisaMcNab,Nimdzi Insights研究团队翻译公司协会首席执行官 本报告所载资料 方法学 2021年ATC调查收集了受访者关于其公司2020年业绩的信息。收入、增长数字、利率和员工人数都是2020年的。分析了2021年的业务挑战和战略。在2021年空中交通管制调查中收集的数据是匿名的,在整个报告中没有透露任何可识别的细节。唯一的例外是,引用2021年初Nimdzi 100研究期间收集的收入数据时,参与研究的语言服务公司明确同意公布他们的收入数据。 除了在2021 ATC调查和收集的数据Nimdzi语言服务行业的数据趋势,ATC和Nimdzi见解与自适应全球化为了使你洞察英国工资本地化的重要角色,影响它们的因素,以及相关的趋势。 执行摘要 1.超过一半的公司录得正增长 尽管有大流行的负面影响,56%的公司报告2020年实现了不同程度的增长。两年前,67%的公司报告了增长数字,所以这一数字略有下降。然而,考虑到这种情况,这是一个非常令人鼓舞的数字。 2.英国语言服务市场不断增长 我们估计,目前英国的语言服务市场规模在15亿至17亿英镑之间。这一数字高于两年前估计的13.5亿英镑。英国是欧洲最大的单一语言服务市场。 3.近半数语言服务公司对英国脱欧表示担忧 在今年的调查中,47%的受访者表示担心英国脱欧对未来的影响,20%的人表示他们已经受到了负面影响。 4.欧洲大陆是英国语言服务公司最大的收入来源 数据显示,从收入流的规模来看,欧盟是英国语言服务公司最大的收入来源。这与Nimdzi的其他研究结果一致,即欧盟是全球本地化需求的最大推动力。 5.英国的语言服务公司感受到了COVID-19的影响 数据显示,英国企业并未受到COVID-19大流行的影响。近60%的受访者强调了现有业务的减少或损失,超过40%的受访者表示,他们看到客户或政府合同的工作暂停或终止。 然而,这些数据只说明了一半。40%的受访者还表示,他们的盈利能力在2020年有所提高,另有31%的受访者表示,他们的盈利能力与前一年持平。这些数字是大流行的副产品,因为封锁和满足限制显著减少了旅行、亲自活动和办公空间的费用。 6.毛利和价格保持稳定 翻译服务的平均毛利率为47%,口译服务为34%,与全球平均水平相当。超过一半的受访者表示,语言服务的价格也保持稳定。这是一个很好的指标,特别是如果我们考虑到COVID-19大流行和英国脱欧等经济力量可能会影响这部分业务。 7.在家工作将继续存在 近80%的企业对远程工作持积极态度。事实上,超过四分之一的受访者正在考虑在疫情之后为员工提供在家工作的选择,而只有7%的受访者计划恢复全面的现场运营。 8.英国是语言技术温床吗? 在英国,近三分之二的中端市场企业开发自己的专有技术。这比世界上最大的语言服务公司(56%)还要高。另一方面,只有46%的受访者提供机器翻译(MT)相关服务,而全球这一数字要高得多(72%)。 9.创意产业是英国中小企业的第一工作来源 67%的调查对象活跃于创意行业,包括营销和广告,使这部分市场成为他们的头号工作来源。如果我们看一下调查对象提供的主要服务,这一趋势就进一步得到证实:69%的人列出字幕,54%的人列出文案和转写作为他们服务组合的一部分。 10.全球趋势影响到联合王国的中小企业市场 与世界上最大的语言服务公司的全球趋势进行了直接比较,结果表明,其中一些趋势已经渗透到英国的中小企业。例如,与全球各地的同事一样,超过一半的受访者发现远程口译的需求有所增加。40%的受访者表示,MT并不是他们的收入来源——这与全球调查结果一致。三分之一的公司证实,他们越来越多地收到来自媒体本地化领域的服务请求,比如为企业提供字幕服务 被申请人公司简介 这份报告反映了英国成熟的中端市场公司:翻译公司协会的核心受众。今天,ATC拥有超过210家成员公司,其中约85%位于英国,15%是与英国市场有联系的海外公司。 在2021年,ATC的调查收到了51份来自活跃在英国市场的独立语言公司的有效回复。 按地理位置分列的参与者 84%的调查对象的总部设在英国。不到12%的企业总部设在欧洲其他地方(都在欧盟成员国,或目前正在进行入盟谈判的国家),不到4%的企业总部设在欧洲以外。 按规模类别分列的答卷人 在我们的调查对象中,只有2%的人在2020年报告收入超过5000万英镑,而4%的人报告收入在1000万至5000万英镑之间。超过90%的受访者称收入低于1,000万英镑,55.3%的受访者称收入低于100万英镑。这些中小型供应商构成了ATC的大多数成员以及英国市场。 尽管如此,还是有很多英国的大公司没有参加今年的调查。最引人注目的是RWS,它在今年早些时候收购了SDL,使其在撰写本文时成为世界上最大的公司。其他公司,如Iyuno Media Group、Voice and Script International (VSI)、ZOO Digital Group、Spark、Capita Translation and Interpreting、THG Fluently等,在2020年的营收均超过1000万英镑。然而,上面的图表中并没有考虑到他们的数据,图表只显示了参与调查的公司的规模。 下图显示了如果考虑到这些额外的大型英国公司,每个收入等级的份额将受到怎样的影响: 妇女经营的语言服务公司 今年调查中一个有趣的数据是,参与调查的语言服务公司中有37%是由女性经营的。这远远高于其他行业的平均水平。例如,在全球范围内,只有20%的大型语言服务公司是由女性运营的。如果不考虑语言服务行业,这个数字甚至更低。例如,财富500强中只有2.6%的ceo是女性。 然而,尽管拥有女性首席执行官的公司比例很高,但这些公司通常都不是行业巨头。在我们的调查中,女性经营的公司仅占所有被调查公司总收入的12.6%。 英国最大的10家语言服务公司 虽然本报告的大部分数据是基于ATC行业调查收集的数据,但下表是基于2021年版Nimdzi 100报告的收入。该表格根据最近一个财政年度的收入,列出了英国十大语言服务公司。 在2020年以8.09亿英镑购买SDL后,RWS不仅在英国,而且在世界范围内成为市场上新的第一名。自交易完成以来,RWS股东目前持有合并后公司约70.5%的股份,SDL股东持有剩余29.5%的股份。该交易于2020年11月3日完成,也就是RWS 2020财政年度(2020年9月30日)结束后,这就是为什么从技术上讲,两家公司仍需要被单独考虑其2020财政年度。但是,为了更好地反映市场的现实,我们将这两家公司2020年的收入合并在了下面的排名中。 来源:Nimdzi Insights,基于2021年Nimdzi 100报告的数据(转换为英镑),包括年度报告和最新市场研究的更新 收入和增长 在受访公司的总收入中,90.8%来自英国公司。总部设在其他欧洲国家的公司约占9.2%,而总部设在亚洲(0.00044%)和非洲(0.00018%)的公司所占份额很小。没有来自美洲或大洋洲的公司参与这项研究。 2018年至2020年期间的增长 如果我们把所有参与我们调查的公司的收入加起来,并比较历年的合并数字,那么在最近的财政期间有显著的下降。以下图表基于参与者在今年的调查中报告的2018年、2019年和2020年的总收入。虽然数据显示,在2018年至2019年期间,今年调查中所有语言服务公司的总收入增长了10.4%,但在2019年至2020财年,这些公司的收入下降了几乎相同的数字(-10.7%)。 合并收入下降的一个可能原因是COVID-19大流行的影响。数据显示,2020年,英国语言服务公司受到疫情影响的方式与全球各地的同行大致相同。在单个公司层面上,一些业务的业务和收入显著下降,而另一些业务则蓬勃发展。总体而言,英国市场的表现实际上好于全球行业。 在最近的一个财政年度,英国公司在单个层面上的平均增长率(与以上显示的所有公司合并后的收入增长相比)为14%。这高于2020年全球平均水平(7.9%)和2019年英国平均水平(9.9%)。 然而,这些数字只是故事的一部分。2020年实现净正增长的公司比例低于前几年:2020年只有56%的公司实现了净正增长(2019年为67%)。因此,尽管该行业出现了整体增长,但我们的调查受访者中有近一半的人在2020年的情况比他们进入时更糟。 总体而言,接受调查的大型公司似乎在2020年大流行年受到的打击更大。对于收入超过400万英镑的公司来说,增长率的下降幅度最大。 市场规模 综上所述,我们估计目前英国语言服务市场的规模在15亿至17亿英镑之间。 这高于我们两年前估计的13.5亿英镑。虽然所有受访者的总收入在最近的财政年度(2019-2020年)下降了约10%,但收入在前一时期(2018-2019年)增加了相同的数字。此外,来自Nimdzi 100的数据显示,英国市场上最大的语言服务公司在2020年肯定有所增长。看看英国市场前十名的排名,仅这些公司在2020年就超过了11亿英镑。 就其本身而言,我们估计英国将超过德国和法国,成为欧洲最大的单一国家语言服务市场。 生产力 一家公司的生产效率可以用它的收入除以全职员工的总数来计算。看看我们调查的受访者的生产力,2020年每个员工的平均收入是79,941英镑。报告显示,最高的生产率为每名员工175,106英镑,而最低的为5,193英镑。 一般来说,收入越高的公司报告的生产率水平越高。这与全球平均水平不同,在全球平均水平中,中等收入领域的公司生产率水平最高。话虽如此,正如上面所强调的,大多数ATC成员都属于中端市场收入。 人们对合并和收购的兴趣正在上升 在过去的一年半里,并购(M&A)一直呈上升趋势。疫情可能促使企业主更容易接受投资或出售的机会。更重要的是,我们的行业正在吸引正在寻找交易的私人股本公司和风险投资公司的外部兴趣。特别是自从前竞争对手RWS和SDL在2020年11月底达成大规模交易以来,新的并购交易和投资的消息几乎每周都在市场上泛滥。正如最近几个月的交易所显示的那样,我们基本上处于卖方市场。 在今年ATC英国的调查中,超过半数(57.7%)的公司对收购其他公司或收到潜在买家的报价感兴趣。只有三分之一的公司报告称,他们根本没有并购的想法。 市场上的顶级服务和垂直行业 在今年的调查中,我们要求公司选择他们经营的服务和垂直行业。 结果显示,英国语言服务公司最常提供的服务是翻译和本地化(96%)和字幕(69%)。文案撰写、跨创和内容创作、出版、桌面出版和平面设计并列第三(各占54%)。第四名是机器翻译和后期编辑、现场口译、远程口译、抄写,46%的受访者提供这些服务。 尽管在Nimdzi 100调查中,翻译、本地化和字幕翻译的结果与世界上最大的语言服务公司报告的结果相似,但与mt相关的服务的数据存在显著差异。数据显示,尽管英国的中小企业(SMEs)对MT有一些兴趣,但这部分市场并不是非常关注它。举例来说,在ATC的调查中,只有46%的受访者提供与mt相关的服务,而世界上最大的语言服务公司中有72%这样做。 一个可能的解释可以发现,当我们看看中小企业在英国市场的主要垂直行业。 根据今年的调查,就行业参与度(而非收入)而言,ATC成员最普遍的领域是创意服务(67%)和技术(63%)。在创意服务市场中,翻译和本地化服务(65%)、出版(45%)和桌面出版(45%)是提供最多的服务。 这和MT有什么关系?简单地说,MT主要是为了在受监管的行业中处理大量的业务,这是大多数大型企业集中精力的地方。另一方面,创意产业需要更多的……嗯……创造力,这是MT不太适合的。在创意服务领域,中小企业可以通过提供更多的客户服务和注重细节的精品服务而大放异彩,这是有道理的,而这正是世界上最大的语言服务公司往往缺乏的。 话虽如此,数据显示,在技术领域,最需要的服务是机器翻译和后期编辑(78%)。紧随其后的是出版(75%)、字幕(71%)、桌面出版(71%)和远程口译(71%)。 根据我们的调查,严格监管的行业,如生命科学(61%)、法律(59%)、金融服务(57%)、教育(51%)和医疗保健(39%)是英国语言服务公司的其他主要收入来源。在医疗保健和生命科学领域,96%的受访者表示提供翻译和本地化服务,多名受访者强调虚拟远程口译(VRI)。机器翻译和后期编辑是生命科学的第二大收入来源(61%),字幕翻译(59%)位居第三。 其余的关键垂直行业是制造业(59%)、媒体(57%)、酒店(49%)和汽车(43%)。 当我们着眼于这些数据时,我们必须牢记这些结果只是一个数值,即显示了有多少玩家提供了特定的服务或在特定的垂直领域中运营。它们没有反映出按收入计算的市场份额。 商业挑战与机遇 2020年是前所未有的一年。2019冠状病毒病(COVID-19)全球大流行以这样或那样的方式影响了各种规模的语言服务公司,无论是业务减少还是增加、转向远程办公,还是更注重技术。虽然这是过去18个月的结果,但我们想知道未来的情况,并询问受访者,他们在2021年及以后面临的最大挑战是什么。 有趣的是,28%的公司表示,他们明年最大的挑战将是保持上一个财政年度实现的增长。此外,同样数量的语言服务公司(各占16%)将招聘、持续销售和市场营销以及紧跟技术趋势列为它们面临的第二大挑战。 Nimdzi进行的更广泛的市场研究发现,对于许多语言服务公司来说,疫情暴露了盲点,但也促进了创新,加速了技术的使用,并创造了新的机会。对于许多市场参与者来说,所有这些都转化为业务重组的需要——无论是精简内部运营、提供不同的服务、进入新的垂直客户领域,还是使用新技术。特别是向远程操作的转变,要求许多企业加快他们的技术游戏,这既昂贵又(最初)时间密集。 在今年ATC英国的调查中,考虑到这一总体趋势,难怪招聘、销售和市场营销等挑战,以及跟上技术趋势都是语言服务公司最关注的挑战。事实上,12%的受访者还表示,重组业务是2020年最重要的变化。 当被问及当前的市场趋势和机遇时,21%的受访者认为机器翻译(和后期编辑)是他们在英国市场看到的趋势和机遇。紧随其后的是远程服务,如远程同声传译(RSI),以及电子商务和电子学习(12%)。所有这些趋势都与全球最大的语言服务公司报告的全球市场趋势一致,正如Nimdzi在2021年版的《Nimdzi 100》中所详细描述的那样。 客户在哪里 我们要求调查对象说明来自世界各地客户的收入占其收入的百分比。结果显示,平均而言,英国语言服务公司近一半的收入来自国内客户(44.3%)。其余收入来自欧洲大陆(26.1%)和北美(21.9%),其次是亚洲(6.3%),以及澳大利亚和新西兰(0.9%)。 值得注意的是,在过去两年中,这方面没有多大变化。与2019年的数据相比,来自国内市场(-3.4%)、欧洲其他地区(-4.4%)和世界其他地区(-1.6%)的收入略有下降。这三个地区的收入损失似乎已经转移到来自北美(+6.3%)和亚洲(+3.4%)客户的收入。 脱欧 英国脱欧于2021年1月31日生效。然而,围绕它仍存在许多不确定性。在今年的调查中,47%的受访者表示对英国脱欧的未来影响感到担忧,而20%的受访者表示,他们已经受到了英国脱欧的负面影响。近三分之一的受访者认为,两大挑战与英国脱欧直接相关,一是获取新人才,二是客户离开英国导致工作减少。企业报告的第三个挑战是,缺乏对变化的法规将如何影响它们未来的可见性。 详细解剖数据,它突出的语言服务公司报道,Brexit已经对他们的业务产生负面影响,那些仍然预计Brexit负面影响他们将来也的超过三分之一的收入来自客户位于欧盟。北美是仅次于英国的第二大客户市场的lsc主要表示,英国脱欧没有影响到他们的业务。 这些结论是基于所有受访者的回答,无论公司规模大小。使用这种方法,英国似乎是ATC成员最大的客户市场。然而,如果我们考虑公司的规模,查看所有受访者的总营收,然后计算来自世界不同地区的营收所占的百分比,数据会告诉我们一个不同的故事。也就是说,欧盟是英国语言服务公司最大的收入来源。 这与Nimdzi的其他研究结果一致,即欧盟是世界上本土化需求的最大驱动力。 把这个带回Brexit担忧,顺理成章地,语言服务公司在欧盟,取决于客户的很大一部分收入来源也已经经历的挑战由于Brexit或担心Brexit在未来将对他们造成负面影响。对于这些公司来说,英国仍然是第二强劲的收入来源,其次是北美。 另一方面,未受英国退欧影响的语言服务公司的大部分收入来自北美,英国排名第二,来自欧盟的客户仅代表第三大收入来源。 COVID-19的影响 数据显示,英国企业并未受到新冠肺炎大流行的影响。近60%的受访者强调现有业务的减少或损失,41.3%的人表示他们看到客户或政府合同的工作暂停或终止(分别为37%和4.3%)。 这些数字在所有公司规模中相对一致。有趣的是,尽管很少有大公司报告工作减少,但同一收入组也表示,他们削减工作岗位是因为工作量减少。 数据中引人注目的是,报告因COVID-19而出现现金流问题或费用增加的公司100%是收入不到100万英镑的小公司。(事实上,所有这些公司报告的收入都低于50万英镑)。 转向远程工作 除了对工作量和随后的收入产生影响外,四分之三的受访者报告说,由于大流行,他们转向了远程工作。深入研究这个话题,结果显示,绝大多数(79%)的语言服务公司对远程工作持积极态度,而近14%的受访者表示,与在家工作(WFH)模式相关的安全问题(9.9%)或技术挑战(3.7%)。25.9%的受访者考虑在疫情爆发后为员工提供工作场所卫生服务,而7.4%的受访者希望回到现场运营。 盈利能力提高 收入是虚荣,利润是理智。40%的受访者表示,他们的盈利能力在2020年有所提高,另有31%的人表示,他们的盈利能力与前一年持平。这些发现与Nimdzi 100报告的全球趋势相似,45.5%的世界最大的语言服务公司在最近的财政期间录得盈利增长,35.6%保持他们的盈利水平。 考虑到封锁的副作用,即没有或很少旅行、办公空间需求减少以及没有现场活动,盈利能力的增加并不令人意外。这一流行病的所有这些副产品都转化为费用的减少,而费用的减少又增加了盈利能力。当我们仔细观察公司报告的费用减少情况时,这一理论得到了进一步的证实。 费用减少 近四分之三的受访者表示,他们的差旅费用有所减少。另有12.5%的受访者表示,他们在活动和会议以及办公室维护方面的开支有所减少。 英国中小企业如何与全球市场趋势相联系? ATC和本报告的重点是英国语言服务行业的中小企业。因此,尽管我们的关注点仍然是塑造这些语言服务公司业务的趋势,但我们很好奇,英国的中小企业如何与Nimdzi在更广泛的市场研究中发现的全球趋势联系在一起。 下面的图表显示了与我们所询问的每个趋势一致的合并水平。 让我们从这张图中获取更多的信息。 40%的受访者表示,MT并不是他们的收入来源。这符合大型语言服务公司的全球趋势。Nimdzi的研究表明,平均而言,lsc从与mt相关的工作中获得的收入仅占总收入的7-10%。此外,通过对市场参与者的调查和访谈发现,全球市场上大多数语言服务公司主要提供MT,因为这是他们的客户所要求的服务。大约三分之一的英国语言服务公司同意这一说法,接近40%的公司不同意。一种可能的解释是,lsc不希望被竞争对手甩在后面,因此它们通过提供与mt相关的服务来完善自己的服务。 与全球各地的同事一样,超过一半(54%)的受访者表示,要求远程口译的人数有所增加。这并不奇怪,因为封锁和安全措施严重限制了人们见面。 世界上最大的语言服务公司的一个趋势是,他们越来越多地从事务性工作转向基于主服务协议(MSA)的业务。然而,我们的研究发现,这种趋势并不一定适用于中小市场的公司。我们的调查结果显示,事实上,英国42%的中小企业参与者的大部分工作是事务性的。也就是说,41%的受访者也表示他们正在远离事务性工作。这表明,我们可能正处于一个更大趋势的开端,因为从事务性工作转移到中端市场的一些语言服务公司已经开始了。 随着买家的需求变得越来越复杂,全球的大型语言服务公司正在调整和适应以满足这些需求,例如,通过多样化他们的语言服务组合,以及增加邻近的服务到他们的产品中。因此,它们正在成为“企业服务提供商”,或者更确切地说,是帮助客户扩展其国际业务的业务伙伴。在ATC英国的调查中,40%的受访者表示他们已经开始多样化服务组合。考虑到大多数受访者属于中小规模,这是一个很高的百分比,而且在全球范围内,服务多样化的趋势对市场上最大的语言服务公司都是正确的。一种可能的解释是,正如许多语言服务公司在采访中所报告的那样,大流行造成了各种规模的语言服务公司增加新服务的需求,以满足客户不断变化的需求。 尽管如此,71%的受访者也表示,他们正在关注自己的核心竞争力,这符合全球趋势。Nimdzi的研究发现,市场上较小的参与者(占行业近80%)往往专注于特定的垂直领域和服务,覆盖市场中的利基需求。这些精品语言服务总是有需求的。然而,精品语言服务公司将需要强调他们的价值主张,并展示他们如何为供应链做出贡献。质量和价格不再是充分的定位策略。 另一个并非新趋势,但肯定在加速的趋势是,媒体本地化的需求已开始渗透到规模较小的传统语言服务公司。这主要是由于视频内容的崛起,几乎在行业的每个领域都在蓬勃发展。疫情进一步加速了这一趋势,世界各地的企业纷纷转向远程运营,将入职培训和其他企业培训转移到预先录制的带有字幕和/或字幕的视频中。大约三分之一的ATC成员在调查中确认他们正经历着这一趋势,而同样数量的人不同意这一说法,另外三分之一的人既不同意也不反对。 近年来,语言服务行业最热门的服务之一就是人工智能语言数据,这也是我们最近关注的一个趋势。在ATC的调查中,超过80%的受访者表示,他们没有收到数据标注、数据注释和数据收集等用于人工智能的数据服务的请求。这表明,至少就目前而言,这不是一个趋势,已经渗透到中小企业部分的英国市场。 英国的定价趋势 今年调查收集的数据显示,口译和笔译价格均保持稳定。这是一个很好的指标,尤其是考虑到COVID-19大流行和英国脱欧等经济因素可能会影响这部分业务。 有更多的证据表明,口译行业的价格小幅上涨,因为报告价格上涨的公司比例更高,报告价格下跌的公司更少。然而,压倒性的反应是,价格保持不变。 话虽如此,一些参与者报告说,他们在最近的财政期间降低了他们的价格,试图跟上竞争。在翻译市场,近四分之一的受访者(24.5%)尝试过这种方式,而提供口译服务的企业中只有13.8%这么做。 按业务类别划分的毛利 毛利率是收入与销货成本(COGS)之差除以收入。在语言服务中,这通常指的是语言服务公司在向客户支付报酬和向语言学家支付报酬后所保留的百分比。 大多数公司报告翻译服务的利润率高于口译服务——平均高出10-15%。 翻译服务的利润率从20%到77%不等。平均利润率为47.1%。在翻译服务方面,大小语言服务公司的盈利能力几乎没有差别。事实上,报告毛利率最高和最低的两家公司公布的2020年收入几乎是一样的。 口译服务的利润率从10%到67%不等。平均利润率为33.5%。与翻译服务一样,在口译服务方面,大小语言服务公司的盈利能力几乎没有差别。平均而言,收入低于100万英镑的公司报告的利润率几乎与收入高于100万英镑的公司相同。 毛利率的平均值与全球平均值非常一致,即翻译服务的毛利率为40-50%,口译服务的毛利率为30-40%。 英国的人员配置和招聘趋势 下面的图表显示了在英国不同规模的公司中,全职员工和内部员工所承担的角色。 数据显示,在雇佣内部项目经理方面,收入在100万英镑以下和100万英镑以上的公司之间只有很小的差别。鉴于项目管理可以被描述为语言服务公司提供的核心服务,因此项目经理在各种规模的语言服务公司的招聘名单上名列前茅也就不足为奇了。 在英国市场上,规模较小的公司和规模较大的公司在销售人员和语言人员的数量上存在较大的差距。数据显示,在市场上,大型语言服务公司(90.5%)比小型语言服务公司(71.4%)多雇佣近20%的销售人员。从表面上看,这种差异的解释可能只是收入更高的公司能够雇佣更多的内部员工。然而,Nimdzi Insights的其他研究发现,拥有指定销售团队的公司通常增长更快,收入也更高。虽然不需要有直接的联系,但有趣的是,数据点重叠的地方是,收入较高的公司往往有销售团队。 在内部语言学家方面,这一数字看起来差不多——收入超过100万英镑(61.9%)的公司直接雇佣语言学家的人数要比收入低于100万英镑的公司(42.9%)多出近20%。与全球行业标准相比,调查报告中的数字异常高。特别是那些在全球语言服务市场上最大的参与者,例如那些在Nimdzi 100的公司,他们几乎完全与自由职业者合作。在ATC调查的受访者中,内部语言学家的数据异常高,这可能只是反映了调查的目标受众:中等规模的语言服务公司。当提到员工中有语言学家时,这正是典型的中间阶层。 招聘链的顶端和底端 当被问及在过去两年中哪些职位的重要性和/或数量增加时,受访者将销售(54.8%)、项目管理(52.4%)和市场营销(40.5%)列为最重要的三个职位。 另一方面,当被问及同期重要性和/或数量下降的职位时,受访者认为实习生和学生(48.0%)和技术、软件工程师/解决方案架构师(28.0%)排在前两位。销售、项目管理和客户管理并列第三位(20.0%)。 英国薪资:趋势综述 问:Andrew,在过去的几年里,语言服务行业的薪资水平发生了怎样的变化? 安德鲁:我们这个行业的工资比所有大型经济体国家的平均水平提高得都快,非常全面。随着需求的增长和来自科技公司竞争的加剧,自2018年初以来,我们已经看到同等职位的基本工资提高了18%以上,其中伦敦、华沙、都柏林、纽约和慕尼黑等大城市的提高率最高。这适用于运营和销售的角色,但它特别适用于入门和中级角色,如项目经理和业务开发经理。 问:与其他国家相比,英国的薪水如何? 安德鲁:英国的薪资水平与法国、德国和荷兰等其他欧洲国家的薪资水平相当。不过,它们的规模仍远小于美国。例如,在伦敦,有3年工作经验的项目经理的年薪约为3万至3.2万英镑,在柏林为3.2万至3.8万欧元,但在纽约,他们的年薪将在6.5万至8万美元之间。英国和美国的项目经理之间的差距高达35-45%。话虽如此,由于劳动力竞争加剧,波兰和西班牙等以前的低成本中心的工资增长速度最快。 问:当英国的公司想要吸引人才担任销售或生产的关键职位时,是否有足够的竞争力? Andrew:简而言之,在我们的行业中,从供应商的角度来看,在薪酬方面并没有什么异常值。大多数公司的薪酬大致一致(有些高一些,有些低一些),没有真正的杰出或糟糕的支付者。然而,该行业仍存在一些难以吸引或留住人才的“危险领域”,这些领域是: 记者:新冠肺炎疫情和英国脱欧是影响英国语言服务业的两大事件。然而,它们对工资水平有影响吗?薪资有任何调整吗?或者你预期会有调整吗? 安德鲁:还没有。我们还没有看到工资出乎意料的上涨(除了前面提到的上涨趋势)。然而,我们确实预计困难会增加,特别是在未来几周和几个月,因为我们将经历第一波非英国本土的刚毕业的学生,他们没有签证就不能移居英国。需求在增长,我们看到越来越多的申请申请英国公民或那些有权在英国工作而无需签证的人。由于人才库日益有限,这种需求将继续增加,我们预计薪资将会上涨,尤其是运营人员的薪资。 问:在英国,有哪些地区的工资差异比较突出?从您的角度来看,是否由于不同地区薪酬水平的不平衡,企业吸引人才的难度更大? 安德鲁:伦敦是最昂贵的地方。伦敦和周边地区的工资比英国大多数其他地方高15%-25%。你往北或往西走,薪水下降得越多,苏格兰、威尔士和利兹附近的部分地区薪水最低。尽管各地区的薪资水平存在差异,但公司在招聘较低级别员工时通常不会遇到困难,因为大多数公司会试图寻找毕业生级别的人才来填补自己的职位空缺。然而,人才搜索的难度越大,挑战也就越大。 技术 技术为所有的语言服务公司创造了机会,无论他们的规模大小,这些天技术的使用已经变得很普遍。今年的调查数据证实了这一点。 在ATC英国的调查中,91%的受访者使用翻译管理系统(TMS), 70%使用业务管理系统(BMS)。这并不奇怪,因为这两种技术已经成为语言服务公司翻译和本地化管理工作流程的主要内容。接下来是术语管理,70%的受访者报告使用特定工具来管理术语库和词汇表。在参与这项研究的公司中,有超过一半的公司使用了QA工具和机器翻译(MT)解决方案。 随着数字化的继续,数量的增加,以及客户需求变得更加复杂,技术的使用将变得更加重要。 专有技术 有很多解决方案可供选择,但许多语言服务公司仍然选择开发自己的技术,特别是管理翻译工作流的定制解决方案。更重要的是,云平台和桌面平台之间的竞争还在继续,这使得语言服务公司很难决定使用哪种解决方案。 值得注意的是,大多数英国中端市场受访者(64%)开发了专有技术。这一数字高于全球市场上最大的语言服务公司。例如,在Nimdzi 100的调查中,只有56%的受访者表示他们开发了自己的专有技术。这些反应表明,市场与技术的关系正在不断成熟。 随着语言服务公司规模的增长和业务的结构化,他们意识到需要自动化和优化重复任务的管理,以便将员工的时间集中在其他增值领域,如客户服务。英国语言服务公司似乎特别有能力应对技术成为本地化人员工作核心的新现实。 近四分之三的受访者有自己的业务管理系统(71%),57%的人使用自己专有的翻译管理系统。语言技术的数量一直在增加,这并不是什么新鲜事。例如,Nimdzi的语言技术图集在2020年列出了660个独立工具,在2021年列出了770多个工具。 机器翻译品牌偏好 机器翻译(MT)仍然是来自世界各地的本地化供应商和买家非常感兴趣的话题,英国本地化市场也不例外。当被问及对他们的业务影响最大的技术趋势类型时,大多数受访者提到了机器翻译——出于各种原因,比如客户的要求,担心对价格的影响,以及将机器翻译集成到内部工作流程中。 英国ATC调查的受访者称,平均而言,他们的项目中有21%使用了MT。 58%的受访者在不到20%的项目中使用机器翻译,而四分之一的受访者在20-50%的项目中使用机器翻译。17%的受访者报告说,在50%或更多的项目中使用MT。 从反应来看,语言服务公司倾向于使用谷歌和微软等成熟的MT供应商。类似的结果也可以在美国观察到,在那里,MT的采用似乎发展得更快。亚马逊和DeepL的解决方案正在获得他们的市场份额。在这个充斥着各种成熟解决方案的语言技术市场,开发自己的机器翻译解决方案对语言服务公司来说是一项艰巨的任务。语言服务公司可以增加价值的领域时MT-related服务在帮助教育他们的客户,他们的需求,帮助他们选择最好的引擎,灵活和精明足以有效地实现他们现有的工作流当客户问。 前面是什么? 在商业变得越来越全球化和数字化的宏大计划中,全球大流行或英国退欧等事件可以说是雷达上相对较小的信号。是的,它们正在直接影响客户和语言服务公司的命运,但向前看比以往任何时候都更重要。 虽然短期内,重点仍是调整方向,确保业务持续发展,但重要的是,语言服务公司要记住,从长期来看,真正能带来改变的是对客户服务水平的投资。Nimdzi的研究表明,虽然准时交付和质量是客户的期望,但他们希望自己的语言服务公司成为他们全球增长的战略合作伙伴。 关注“语言服务”中的“服务”部分,可能需要一些人有意识地转变思维。随着本地化在其组织的全球战略中越来越重要,客户端本地化主管正在寻找盟友,无论是在内部还是在lsc中。随着市场的平衡,语言服务公司以相当的价格提供几乎相同的服务,使他们脱颖而出的是培养人情味。语言服务公司的客户想要的是晚上睡个好觉。他们希望在老板的眼中有好的形象。 该数据表明,英国继续在全球语言服务市场发挥重要作用。尽管疫情和英国退欧对一些公司造成了不利影响,但英国公司总体上能够度过难关,比其他公司更快地恢复到疫情前的增长水平。虽然大型的英国语言服务公司可能占据了大多数的头条新闻,但在今年的调查中真正引人注目的是强劲而活跃的中端市场,这部分市场构成了英国语言服务行业的大部分。这些公司在很大程度上都在按正确的按钮,专注于自己的专业领域,并聪明地使用语言技术为客户服务。 像MT这样的技术确实不再具有破坏性。它已经被接受。目前看来,几乎没有什么东西能够撼动传统的本地化工作流程,语言服务公司的前进之路在于不断投资于技术,并辅以优质的客户服务。英国语言服务公司很可能会有一个小小的开端。

以上中文文本为机器翻译,存在不同程度偏差和错误,请理解并参考英文原文阅读。

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