The 6 translation transformations global businesses can’t afford to miss

Key Takeaways

• Exploding content volumes and legacy translation workflows are creating a strategic operating risk for global enterprises.
• AI orchestration, not just machine-assisted translation, is the key to balancing speed, scale, quality, and compliance.
• DeepL’s report identifies six core transformations that define modern translation at scale, from customization and governance to security.
• The DeepL Language AI suite extends these gains beyond translation to support cross-functional workflows, documentation and global communication at scale.
• Borderless business: transforming translation in the age of AI provides a practical framework for putting these shifts into action.

What happens when the volume of content that global businesses must manage grows exponentially, but the processes they rely on to translate it can’t scale?

It sounds like the start of a joke. In reality, it’s anything but. The exploding volume of translation requirements is in the process of overwhelming global organizations and their legacy translation workflows. 

This isn’t just a problem for localization teams; translation affects every function, every aspect of operations, and every strategic priority. It’s one of the biggest operating challenges for enterprises in 2026. 

And we can only solve it by embracing the full potential of AI for scaling translation.

How translation volumes are overwhelming global business

Measured by data volume reported by Statista, the amount of content has grown by approximately 50% since 2023. With AI lowering barriers to content production, this rate of growth is set to accelerate rapidly over the next 12 months. 

Add the multiplying array of customer touchpoints and contact center engagements, plus the multilingual virtual meetings that global operations depend on. 

The demand for translation is reaching a breaking point.

Here are some standout moments from DeepL’s 2025 survey of global business leaders: 

• 68% of organizations are still relying on outdated manual processes to meet this demand. 
• Of these, around half (35% of all businesses) use no translation automation whatsoever. 
• The remaining 33% depend on legacy translation systems. 

So while their translations may be machine-assisted, their use of AI is confined within processes that consistently depend on humans: 

• To orchestrate them
• To review translations
• To make extensive post-editing changes
• To apply scattered style guides 
• To ensure quality and compliance

The result? AI may assist, but it can’t actually solve the problem. 

Translation processes that you could complete in minutes extend into weeks, with unpredictable delays and rising costs. Those processes delay go-to-market plans, compromise product launches, undermine brand consistency, and erode productivity. 

Before long, operations stutter to a halt.

The cost of outdated translation workflows

For DeepL’s report on transforming translation in the age of AI, we talk to customers from a range of global organizations. All testify to the drag effect of outdated translation processes and the surge in productivity and effectiveness that comes from addressing it.

Jodi Sweed, VP Strategy and Development at global hospitality business Aramark, is one of those customers. She explains how the struggles involved in multilingual meetings meant 60-minute video calls regularly becoming 90-minute calls, with valuable ideas often missed. 

DeAnn Mitchell, project manager for the research institute Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, warns about multiple issues:

• The difficulties of onboarding international colleagues
• The confusion that comes from scattered style guides
• The fact that poor-quality translations undermine any organization’s brand and reputation

“The impact of language friction is definitely underestimated,” adds Harry Witzthum, chief of digital transformation and AI for wide-reaching nonprofit social services organization Caritas. 

“We found that it was just not possible to deliver ideas or innovation quickly, because you always had these kinds of processes in the background that really ground innovation down.”

Why AI orchestration is the key to unlocking transformative translation value

These organizations can attest to the damage done by outdated translation workflows. They can also share compelling stories of the value you create when you trust AI to transform those processes. 

AI delivers instant, high-quality translations that transform multilingual virtual meetings and enable real-time collaboration and customer support across languages.

Letting AI orchestrate the translation process from start to finish, rather than simply translating text, changes the game. It truly moves the needle when it comes to balancing speed, scale, and quality.

In DeepL’s report, DeepL’s Director of Localization Morana Perić shares the detailed story of how her team transformed translation workflows for the DeepL Help Center. Morana was able to turn a major bottleneck for the organization into a near-frictionless experience. 

“We created a whole new workflow that basically took us from taking weeks to translate, review and publish the content, to being able to push it live within minutes,” she says. “It delivered a 98% reduction in the time and effort required.”

Visit DeepL AI Labs to explore our latest Language AI innovations.

6 translation transformations that define modern Language AI at scale

In Borderless business: transforming translation in the age of AI, we reveal the six key shifts involved in unlocking AI’s full potential for translation management. Doing so helps global businesses sidestep a crisis that threatens to derail their operations.

The report also details the outsized impact this transformation has in elevating all areas of business operations. 

1. Instant, high-quality translations—everywhere

Instant, high-quality AI translations mean that localization and editing teams no longer have to choose between speed, scale, and quality. They reduce the requirement for human review. And they enable you to embed translations across meetings and customer interactions.

2. Customized translations that are right for each business

Advanced features, such as the AI control layer available through DeepL Customization Hub, ensure consistent tone, style, and brand voice for all AI translations. This eliminates the need for repetitive post-editing and ensures consistency at scale.

3. Quality, consistency, and compliance from the start

Centralized AI governance accelerates quality reviews and ensures every translation complies with business and regulatory requirements. 

With manual processes, the risk of inconsistency and costly mistakes grows with translation volume. With AI in control, the opposite is true.

4. AI that does much more than just translate

Global businesses that tackle translation operating challenges with purpose do so by giving AI the role of orchestrating translations, not just assisting them. 

This end-to-end approach shrinks delivery timelines from weeks to minutes. It also frees localization teams from repetitive work and lets them focus on more important things:

• Strategic priorities
• Cross-functional planning
• Sharing the cultural understanding and insights that transform business impact

5. Translation that happens seamlessly across formats

From PDFs and other files to instant voice translations for meetings and conversations, AI can embed translation everywhere. In so doing, it eliminates the need to copy and paste, removes potential for human error, and further accelerates delivery.

6. Security that gives AI its license to transform

Enterprise-grade security and compliance standards will become essential as AI touches every aspect of operations. Enterprise organizations need to work with AI partners that comply with the most stringent data privacy and security standards. 

Knowing their AI partner maintains the highest security requirements allows businesses to unlock AI’s full potential for scaling translation.

200,000+ global enterprises trust DeepL for translation: Find out why.

Prepare your business for the next era of global communication

When content volumes grow exponentially, your communication workflows must keep pace with speed and precision.

You probably know us at DeepL for Translator, our gold-standard Language AI translation tool. But we’re always looking toward the future of AI and all it can take off your plate.

DeepL Write ensures clear, polished professional communication, while Voice enables real-time multilingual collaboration in meetings and discussions. DeepL API and Integrations bring these capabilities directly into your existing systems and the tools your teams use every day. 

Contact Sales to explore our specialized Language AI suite. We’ll help you find the right fit for your enterprise’s AI transformation.