In the increasingly interconnected global business landscape, the ability to communicate effectively across languages is a critical success factor. In this TNGlobal Q&A, David Parry-Jones, DeepL’s Chief Revenue Officer, discussed the company’s innovative approach to language AI and its potential to reshape business communication worldwide.

With a recent investment of $300 million, DeepL is focused on breaking down language barriers and enabling companies to connect with diverse markets. Parry-Jones highlighted the unique capabilities of DeepL’s Language AI platform, which specializes in understanding, generating, and processing human language, setting it apart from general AI models and delivering translations with a high degree of accuracy and nuance.

As businesses navigate the complexities of global expansion, such technology offers a compelling solution to communicating effectively, enhancing productivity, and ultimately driving growth in an increasingly multilingual world.

DeepL recently secured a $300M investment to continue accelerating its efforts to break down cross-border communication barriers faced by global businesses with Language AI. Can you elaborate on what Language AI is and how it can be used by businesses in Asia-Pacific, a linguistically diverse region?

The APAC region is incredibly linguistically diverse, and the presence of so many languages creates challenges for businesses who are looking for customers in various markets. What our Language AI can offer these companies is accuracy, security, confidence, and ultimately, the assurance that their communications will capture the nuances and texture of their messaging in a powerful and impactful way.

At DeepL, we’ve built a specialized Language AI platform aimed at breaking down cross-border communication barriers that global businesses often face. When we talk about “Language AI,” we’re referring to the technologies that we’ve purpose-built for understanding, generating, and processing human language. This focus on language as a specific use-case is what sets us apart in the market today–unlike general AI models, our solutions rely on specialized AI models with a deep, nuanced understanding of language. This enables more effective communication for individuals, teams, and businesses worldwide. By breaking down these language barriers, global businesses can craft messages that truly resonate with every customer and enable them to establish a global footprint.

In what ways does Language AI have an edge over legacy translation systems in business communication when integrated into workflows?

There are a number of benefits of implementing DeepL’s Language AI platform for businesses. Our technology excels in accuracy, offering unparalleled translation and writing solutions with exceptional quality and human-like fluency. This provides significant advantages to business use-cases, where precise communication is paramount. Our cutting-edge Language AI technology enables contextual, nuanced, and accurate translations, taking into account industry-specific terminology and greatly reducing the likelihood that brand messaging will be misinterpreted.

Businesses also choose DeepL for our enterprise-grade security features, which are crucial for safeguarding business-critical content. These features are unique in today’s saturated and hype-driven AI market. Additionally, our personalization features allow enterprises to tailor communications to fit seamlessly within their brand language, enhancing brand consistency and effectiveness.

How does effective business communication contribute to organizational bottom lines and growth plans?

For businesses looking to enter new markets and scale operations, effective business communication is paramount. In a recent collaboration with Forrester, they conducted a study surveying marketers about how our Language AI has affected long-term ROI for businesses across industries. The results found that 96 percent of marketers saw a positive ROI from translation and localization projects—with 65 percent reporting at least 3 times or greater ROI. Marketers also reported up to a 345 percent ROI and €2.79 million in efficiency savings from using our technology. It comes down to streamlining translation processes—thus freeing up workers to focus on the most important and value-driven tasks of their roles, which can in turn positively impact the bottom line.

Could you share success stories or case studies that showcase how businesses are tapping into Language AI to drive productivity and efficiency gains?

We currently have a fast-growing customer network of over 100,000 businesses and governments across over 60 countries, including Tokyo-based media company Nikkei, online course provider Coursera, German railway company Deutsche Bahn, and software company Zendesk.

For Nikkei, which operates publications Nikkei Asia and the Financial Times, AI translation plays a pivotal role in their operations, ensuring quick and accurate dissemination of global business news to millions of readers worldwide. DeepL not only delivers unparalleled accuracy at scale but has also enabled Nikkei to achieve substantial cost savings compared to their previous translation systems—DeepL costs one-fifth of Nikkei’s former solution while providing superior accuracy. This has allowed Nikkei to streamline operations and reduce operating expenses effectively.

Language AI is rapidly gaining traction in APAC, driven by the need for multilingual and localized content to effectively reach local audiences. What are some of DeepL’s upcoming plans for APAC in terms of expansion efforts and product offerings?

As we continue to invest in growth and expand DeepL’s global presence, APAC remains a key region for us. We have been quite successful in Japan and Korea, which are two of our strongest, fastest-growing markets to date with rapidly growing customer networks. This is a strong indication of the growing need for language solutions in the region. We want to continue this strong trajectory and are focused on becoming the go-to solution for businesses in the APAC markets.

We are continuing to invest heavily in research and development to enhance and build upon our suite of Language AI tools catered for businesses throughout APAC and beyond. Earlier last month, we launched DeepL for Enterprise in response to the growing demand for translation, writing, and editing solutions among large-scale businesses. This new solution introduced features, pricing, and packaging to help large organizations effectively deploy and drive the adoption of AI-powered tools with a measurable return on investment. We are confident that this new plan will be widely adopted in our biggest markets, with a substantial impact in APAC markets.

How do you envision the future of Language AI, and what developments do you foresee next?

Language is truly the first frontier of the modern AI transformation. It is also one of the most strategic areas of AI implementation in today’s business climate, and the rate of its progress shows no signs of slowing down. Our focus now is on continued innovation – we’re laser-focused on advancing research and product innovation to tackle language-centric challenges head-on. Our research team is also continuing to develop in-house large language models (LLMs) that further fine-tune the quality of our translations, writing, and editing solutions. We’re working towards a future where businesses can communicate with anyone, anywhere, accurately and seamlessly with AI.

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