In the run-up to Networking Days 2025 in Budapest, we are sharing a series of discussion articles that capture early reflections from the ELIA Board of Directors and the Content Committee on this year’s programme. These meetings are about opening space for reflection, raising the difficult questions, and sparking dialogue that will continue with even greater depth at the event itself.
Our third discussion turned to Session 3: Opportunity Knocks – Are You Still in the Game? The session tackles a pressing challenge: as artificial intelligence reshapes the language services industry, what skills and training are essential for LSPs to remain competitive? And just as importantly, how do we create the conditions for teams to embrace change and experiment with new approaches? These questions will be front and centre in Budapest as the industry comes together to reflect and share strategies.
A Shift in Mindset
The discussion opened with the recognition that the biggest barrier to competitiveness may not be technology itself, but how companies perceive and present their role in a changing market. Before teams can master new tools, they need to shift how they think about value, positioning, and client engagement.
Tony D’Angelo (TD): “I think the mindset is the most important thing that has to change: our approach to the customer and the storytelling about when and how they include the LSP’s role, shifting involvement to the very start of content creation rather than downstream.”
Anu Carnegie-Brown (ACB): “Of course, if we haven’t used any AI tools ourselves, whether it’s for our own content creation or as part of our localisation workflows, we can’t offer very valuable insights about them to clients.”
TD: “Clients are testing it now… they’re understanding where the limits are. I think people need to know how to talk to them. You can’t talk to every client the same way.”
Nenad Andricsek (NA): “We have this great technology and we’re using it to create memes. That’s like driving a space shuttle to your corner store to buy bread.”
ACB: “The biggest struggle is not in training our people to use the new toolsets, but actually getting our head around understanding what it is that clients want to buy from us now – or in the future – and then putting together that offering and getting our own teams behind it.”
The group agreed: the first step for LSPs is not technical—it is the ability to reframe and clearly communicate their value in a changing market.
💡 Discussion prompt: Is the biggest competitive skill today technical expertise, or the ability to reframe your company’s value to clients?
Training: Formal and Informal Paths
The group explored how training is being approached across companies, debating whether formal courses or internally designed programmes are more effective. While structured learning can build foundations, true progress often comes when training is practical, role-specific, and embedded in real workflows.
Ursula Steigerwald (US): “We identified people internally who have a strong interest in AI solutions and brought some knowledge already. We had a week-long workshop where we sat together and defined our needs and now they are working on it. So I’m not sure if it always works to have a formal training, I wouldn’t really know what to get training on. That’s why we started on the requirements first: what we need, how our life could be easier, and what we need to to answer client requests.”
ACB: “We’ve sent people to third-party courses, but online sessions with 200 participants can be overwhelming. It’s difficult to pitch the level right for everyone in such a huge, varied crowd. If at all rushed or disorganised, the sessions become too hard to follow and people quietly drift away. I can see that it’ll take time to get the content right when the topic is as new as AI; dishing out heaps of information does not effective training make.”
Diego Cresceri (DC): “This is where I think it’s better to talk with someone offering the training and really understand your needs. Do something really custom for you. That would be the best.”
US: “Training is one thing, but you need to evaluate what you get… everything sounds really great, but when the team starts testing, we hit the wall pretty quickly. Either you have to find workarounds, or it’s not suitable. You really need people who go deep dive and test things—and that takes time.”
DC: “If you use any of those AI tools, then you need to train your people, no matter what your customers want to buy from you. And I would include change management as well in the trainings, because that’s the most difficult part.”
The discussion made clear that training can’t be one-size-fits-all. Real progress starts with identifying company needs, testing what works in practice, and adapting along the way. Effective programmes could be customised, evaluated, and supported with change management—otherwise they risk becoming noise rather than meaningful development.
💡 Discussion prompt: What’s more effective for LSPs—industry-wide training courses or custom internal initiatives?
As part of this conversation, we’d like to take the next step together. We know many of you have tested different training programmes, workshops, and internal initiatives. We would like to gather your recommendations to share a curated list of trainings and courses within our community. Add yours here!
Barriers to Upskilling
Even with good training options available, participants reflected on why staff often hesitate to engage. Fear, culture, and information overload can paralyse teams just as much as lack of time or resources. Leaders noted that motivating people to move past these hurdles may be the hardest task of all.
TD: “Why are people not curious these days?… They get a real shock, and instead of reacting, they get stuck.”
NA: “It’s kind of analysis paralysis… early adopters jump on new things and play with them immediately, but the more analytical types need to make sure they understand everything. By the time they assess all options (no matter how short), they realize that there are twelve more new tools or solutions created.”
ACB: “All previous innovations in localisation were spearheaded by us; loc tech providers and language service companies. AI, by contract, is being developed and deployed by a much wider ecosystem. LLMs and GenAI are not tools for language professionals, they are tools for everyone. They are being developed at such a pace and scale, and they are opaque… this is what makes adoption challenging.”
US: “To get the team on board is the most difficult thing. We have to get everybody on board first, because we can promise clients everything, but then if nobody is really willing to work with these tools, and to drop the old habits they have, it will get difficult. Conflicts can arise and we have seen them already.”
NA: “You spend three hours creating something and then thirty hours fixing it because it doesn’t work. That can easily make you lose the initial enthusiasm and also many are then proclaiming that it’s just too bad. And sometimes they are right…”
The group concluded that upskilling is less about access to tools and more about overcoming resistance, fatigue, and limited capacity. Success will depend on whether leaders can turn hesitation into curiosity, protect time for learning, and create a culture where experimentation feels both possible and safe.
💡 Discussion prompt: What do you see as the biggest barrier to upskilling—time, fear, culture, or lack of control over workflows?
Creating Space for R&D
While training is critical, the group highlighted that innovation won’t happen without time and focus. R&D doesn’t need to mean large departments—what matters is creating the space and discipline to test, explore, and adapt.
DC: “I spend my time observing what people do and making them reflect on where they lose time… and then I push new solutions to my team. It’s not just knowing the lingo—it’s understanding what’s out there.”
ACB: “This summer, our entire management team decided to designate one day each week for business innovation and intelligence work. Setting aside specific time ensures these activities are given adequate attention.”
DC: “It’s also about the culture the company needs to facilitate, to at least allow some time for upskilling and training, which is not always the case. Even if you give time for training, it’s not for granted that people will take it. It needs to be led by the company leadership.””
ACB: “Research on AI could be an opportunity for LSPs to collaborate on, as individually most do not have the resources to allocate staff to it full-time, but resource sharing could be feasible.”
For smaller companies especially, collaboration could be the key to building innovation capacity without overstretching resources.
💡 Discussion prompt: Should LSPs invest in their own R&D, or pool resources across the industry to share knowledge and solutions?
Cross-functional Collaboration & Client Conversations
Another theme was the importance of how different functions within an LSP collaborate to meet client needs. Marketing, sales, vendor management, and production all play a role in shaping how the company responds to client expectations, especially when AI is part of the conversation.
ACB: “Marketing attracts the client, client services and technical experts have the discussion with them. It’s important to get such teams to plan and collaborate together, possibly in a new way.”
DC: “Marketing, sales, vendor management as well, because if you sell something that you cannot deliver, then you are in trouble. So you probably need to have cross-functional meetings every day.”
ACB: “LSPs can’t just go ahead and develop AI solutions for their localisation workflows as if in a vacuum. Increasingly often, our workflows are interlinked with the clients’ solutions and their choices determine where we fit in.”
TD: “Customers are starting to translate with AI and some think they don’t need us anymore. If we stop there, we are not doing the right thing. We should encourage them—say it’s fine to use AI, but let’s do it together. One of the most important skills is knowing how to accompany a customer.”
The discussion underscored that competitiveness today depends not only on individual expertise, but on cross-functional collaboration inside LSPs and the ability to guide clients with confidence as they navigate AI-driven change.
💡 Discussion prompt: How do you break down silos in your company to ensure marketing, sales, vendor management, and production are aligned when it comes to AI and new services?
Core Skills for the Future: Where to Focus Reskilling
To wrap up, we asked participants a simple but powerful question: If you could choose just one area for LSPs to prioritise in reskilling or training, what would it be? Their answers ranged from mindset and leadership to experimentation and open-mindedness—underscoring that competitiveness in the AI era is shaped less by specific tools and more by the human qualities that guide how we use them.
TD: “A new approach.”
DC: “How to manage change within the company.”
NA: “Experiment, try new things. Remember to fail proudly—unless you’re parachuting.”
ACB: “Map what’s out there… and then decide whether to manage training centrally, or give people free reign to experiment on their own.”
US: “Open-mindedness.”
What unites these reflections is the conviction that the most valuable investment lies not in mastering any single skill, but in building adaptability, curiosity, and leadership—the foundations that allow LSPs to keep evolving as technology transforms the industry.
💡 Discussion prompt: If you had to choose one—what’s the single most important skill for LSPs to invest in right now?
These ND Topics Discussions are a preview of the conversations waiting for you at Networking Days 2025. In Session 3: Opportunity Knocks: Are You Still in the Game? we’ll dig deeper into the essential skills, training strategies, and cultural shifts needed to remain competitive today.
The question is no longer if AI will reshape our industry, but how we respond. Tools will keep changing, but skills, mindset, and the capacity to keep learning may be what truly keep you in the AI game. What’s your perspective?
Share your thoughts now on LinkedIn, and let’s continue the conversation in Budapest, 22–23 September 2025.
