SlatorCon London 2018 was a spectacular display of the breadth and depth of the language industry. We were joined by 80 language industry leaders, a diverse mix of industry stakeholders from end buyers, vendor CEOs, analysts, and investment bankers involved in industry M&A. Delegate profiles cut across the spectrum from pharma to game and media localization, digital marketing and more, with many traveling in from outside of the UK.
In the keynote speech, Slator’s Florian Faes spoke of the “very positive macro outlook” of the industry in Spring 2018, and highlighted the impact of M&A in driving revenue gains for many of the top Slator LSPI companies in 2017. He identified specialized markets such as media localization and life sciences as key growth areas, and commented on the fact that industry startups have so far been unable to challenge leading LSPs in the jostle for market share. Another, more sensitive talking point was a look at price points and customer pricing expectations in the industry, which seem to be dropping rapidly as a result of increased linguist productivity linked to the development of NMT and improved user interfaces.
From his vantage point at the heart of a booming media localization space, ZOO Digital CEO Stuart Green talked about his company’s heavy and timely investment in technology. ZOO’s cloud-based platform put the company in prime position to benefit from skyrocketing demand for media through digital channels, and the trend towards global and localized digital content looks set to continue.
