Market View
Navigating the AI transformation journey: How global service providers are reimagining value creation
Sponsored by:
Produced by:
Szymon Woloszynek
Vice President of Global Technology Transformation at Lionbridge
About Szymon Woloszynek
Szymon Woloszynek serves as Vice President of Global Technology Transformation at Lionbridge, where he leads the strategic mission to industrialize operations by transforming thousands of decentralized workflows into a unified, standardized framework. His expertise lies in leveraging advanced orchestration technologies like Camunda 8 and BPMN-driven process design to revolutionize business operations across global service delivery. With extensive experience in large-scale organizational transformation, he specializes in establishing scalable systems that enable dynamic resource allocation and drive operational efficiency through AI-augmented ecosystems.
How do you see the service provider landscape evolving over the next few years as AI capabilities mature?
The shift is already underway from labor-based delivery models to capability-based and AI-augmented ecosystems. Companies are expected to deliver insights and adaptability, not just execution. Those that can embed AI into their operations and move beyond proofs of concept will differentiate through intelligence rather than cost.
I've seen providers evolve from transactional models to outcome-oriented business partners. Their delivery expands beyond SLAs towards business consultancy, enabling partners to achieve strategic objectives whilst continuously suggesting improvements.
AI will revolutionize operating models. Companies will embed more into clients' ecosystems to ensure seamless data flows and context. Intelligent orchestration, mature data strategies, and excellence in human-in-the-loop work distribution with an AI-first approach will be critical.
AI amplifies whatever is already there. If you don't deal with your operations, data, and strategy correctly, AI will just amplify those issues. This expectation moves buyers from transactional spaces towards a collaborative approach.
Those that can embed AI into their operations and move beyond proofs of concept will differentiate through intelligence rather than cost.
What changes are you seeing in how clients think about and value service delivery?
There's growing demand for outcome-based engagement and proactive insights. Buyers come to us with their strategy and challenges, expecting us to collaborate around value creation and strategic objectives. They value transparency, speed, and adaptability.
Written-in-stone service delivery is moving away. Technology moves so fast that companies need to adapt flexibility into their operations. Transparency extends beyond time and cost metrics. Organizations are creating insightful reporting that highlights value creation and suggests enrichment opportunities.
Engagement is now defined by how well the provider can contribute to broader maturity and competitive positioning. Loyalty has changed significantly. It's now attributed to your ability to follow up with your buyer and stay with them, as opposed to continuing stable delivery only.
More often, I see clients engaging with vendors at the very top of their structure: "Here's our mission and five-year objective. We want you to work with us and accomplish it with us."
How are you currently identifying where AI can add the most value in your service delivery?
When AI is done right, organizations can transform business models and move towards value-added pricing. We align our AI goals tightly with our strategy and long-term objectives. That's the main component of any transformation, especially with AI.
We identify high-value use cases around client outcomes whilst focusing on internal operational transformation. We prioritize objectives over asks. If there's less value or possibility to scale, we don't over-invest. We pursue scalable opportunities that bring value and can be controlled strategically.
We concentrate on systemic solutions to embed them into intelligent orchestration and ensure AI initiatives have sustainable guardrails. In my industry, guardrails are extremely important due to compliance and regulatory needs.
We run locally optimized proofs of concept with governance structures to identify cases we could reuse across the company and infuse into our central platform. We're using BPMN-driven process design, making AI-infused solutions part of native process execution.
We transform the workforce by concentrating on AI solutions that reduce waiting time, allocation time, and knowledge gaps. Work lifespans measure in hours or days, whilst execution time is in minutes. If you increase velocity, execution isn't the only factor—the lifecycle is crucial.
AI amplifies whatever is already there.
What measurable impact have you seen from implementing AI across your operations?
Measuring AI ROI is challenging because AI solutions can pierce through many layers of organization and value creation. We need to measure outcomes and compare them not only with benchmarks but also with how the company would perform without AI.
Some of our AI-infused initiatives bring 40% production time reduction and up to 70% lead time reduction. Wait times are lower, throughput and velocity are higher. We've improved quality in double digits by moving quality assurance upstream closer to the source.
However, unless you're defining what you're doing with the opportunities you've created and monetizing them or reducing the baseline, your ROI is zero. On the bottom line, you're still the same if you're not consuming those benefits and bringing them to clients.
We concentrate on quality translation, reducing rework through fewer loops between translators and quality assurance specialists. We're getting closer to smart scheduling and reducing wait times for clients.
How are you addressing the challenge of outcome-based pricing versus traditional effort-based models?
The biggest challenge is that most organizations aren't equipped to change their pricing approach for two reasons. First, they don't see how much work they put in to quote it better. There's almost always a broken link between what they sell and what they actually do.
Second, companies don't know how to quote value-add work. Organizations struggle from lack of transparency and aren't good at valuing or pricing value-add work. Every manager believes their work is 80% value-add, but I look at this as maybe 5% value-add.
I've run a transformation for Lionbridge with thousands of employees, building an internal solution from scratch. I went through a transformation from relationship-based to measurable. Now I manage the connection between the commercial side of services and execution.
We've radically reshaped our company strategy, promoting and focusing on outcomes, including significant change management and mindset shifts. We've reinvented our approach to production-relevant decision making, introducing BPMN-centered orchestration where we can use AI to automate decision-making.
This shift has enabled us to start thinking towards outcome-oriented process design. We never start with an ask; we start with understanding the outcome we want to achieve. We've transformed our client engagement to concentrate on outcomes, shifting towards business consultancy.
Unless you're defining what you're doing with the opportunities you've created and monetizing them, your ROI is zero.
About Lionbridge
Lionbridge Technologies is a leading American translation and localization services company founded in 1996, operating across 26 countries and delivering comprehensive language solutions in 350+ languages. The company serves major sectors including life sciences, technology, gaming, and e-commerce, leveraging AI technology and Azure OpenAI Service to reduce project turnaround times by up to 30%. Under H.I.G. Capital ownership, Lionbridge helps global brands connect with international audiences through culturally rich, localized experiences and technology-driven service delivery.
About Enate
Enate is the leading SaaS solution for business services. Enate orchestrates work from start to finish, giving clients the visibility and control needed to deliver better services. From email management and data analysis to intelligent document processing, Enate also offers a host of touch-button AI features designed to slash the time spent on manual work. Trusted by global service teams, Enate ensures smooth, consistent operations that help clients perform at their best.