Slator’s 30-page 2025 Localization Buyer Survey provides key insights from enterprise buyers of translation and localization services. The survey of 50 enterprise buyers uncovers the challenges buyers expect to face in 2025 and assesses the extent to which they have extracted value from language AI to date.
The findings offer valuable insights for both buyers and providers. For enterprise buyers, the report serves as a benchmarking tool — buyers can compare their strategies on budgets, AI adoption, and operational challenges with industry peers.
For language service providers (LSPs) and translation management system (TMS) providers, the results provide direct insights into where buyers perceive gaps in support. The survey responses shed light on buyer expectations and priorities, helping inform service development, technology investment, and client engagement strategies.
Respondents represented a diverse range of industries, offering a broad perspective on localization strategies, operational hurdles, and technology-driven shifts.
AI’s impact on localization budgets was a key theme. The survey explored how buyers expect AI-driven efficiencies to influence spending — whether cost savings will reduce budget, be reinvested, or reallocated. The survey also assessed how successfully buyers have integrated AI to date, tangible value realized, and common barriers to realizing AI value.
The survey looks at changes in per unit base rates for translation over the past year and expectations for pricing in the next 12 months. These insights offer a view of how pricing strategies may evolve, allowing LSPs to anticipate pricing pressures and align with buyer expectations.
Operational challenges and inefficiencies were another key focus. Buyers identified their greatest cost inefficiencies and barriers to achieving Localization Buyer Survey goals. Open-text responses were categorized, revealing 10 common inefficiencies and five key challenges for 2025 — highlighting persistent hurdles from technological integration to internal complexity.
The survey also explored buyer expectations for AI implementation, particularly the role of LSPs. Buyers indicated whether they seek strategic guidance, hands-on support, or fully integrated AI solutions. The results show that most buyers view LSPs as strategic partners, expecting proactive support to scale AI solutions and optimize workflows.
Finally, the survey looked into buyer expectations for AI integration within the TMS. The results show that almost all buyers now see AI capabilities as a baseline requirement, with many expecting customizable AI workflows and integrated machine translation.
Ultimately, these insights aim to help stakeholders navigate the changing localization landscape in 2025 — enabling buyers to benchmark strategies, optimize workflows, and address operational challenges, while supporting LSPs and TMS providers in adapting services, aligning with buyer expectations, and responding effectively to emerging industry shifts.
