The Return on

Investment of
Multilingual
Online Meetings

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 While the COVID-19 pandemic brought about many
challenges and restrictions, it also created
opportunities and opened the door to a whole new
world: the virtual world. Of course, the virtual world
existed long before the pandemic, and video
conferencing certainly was nothing new. However,
once everyone was in lockdown and working from
home became the norm, connecting virtually
followed suit. What may have started as a challenge
for some soon became an enabler of new
possibilities that would forever change the business
landscape. Once virtual had become the only option,
it suddenly became so much easier to connect with
people all around the world. As a result, it is now
faster and easier for businesses to diversify their
portfolio and pursue partnerships with businesses
and clients in other countries.

The one remaining blocker: the language barrier.

To many businesses outside the language industry, adding any form of language support is
considered a cost factor, making one wonder: What is the return on investment (ROI)? And —
more importantly — is language support even needed? Especially in a day and age when English
is largely considered to be the lingua franca of the (business) world.

A resource that challenges this common assumption is the English Proficiency Index, which ranks
countries and regions by their English language skills. While many European countries score high
on the list, countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and some Asian
countries fall into the low to very low brackets. In addition, a study by market research and
consulting firm Nimdzi Insights has shown that, when given the opportunity, about 80 percent of
global online users select their native language, and nine out of ten global users will ignore a
product if it is not in their native language.

The same logic applies to meetings and events with people from multiple language backgrounds.
While it might sound encouraging that 1.35 billion people in the world speak English, the flipside
of this figure is that only about 360 million of these are native English speakers. The rest will have
differing levels of command of the language, meaning that, for them, crucial details and nuances,
as well as cultural references will often be lost. More importantly, an English-only conference
allows a mere fraction of the audience (those with high levels of English proficiency) to truly
participate in the event. Those who lack the necessary skills to express their thoughts adequately
in English are likely to refrain from raising their voices and stating their opinions. A very one-
sided affair indeed.

Providing language support for people from all backgrounds is not only a matter of inclusion but
also enables true engagement and fosters collaboration. But the benefits don’t end there.

www.kudoway.com •2•
 While there is no magic formula for measuring the ROI of multilingual meetings, research shows
that investing in multilingual support can have a number of tangible benefits, including cost
savings. The below (anonymized) real-life example illustrates one business’ journey from
investment to savings through multilingual online meetings.

The Challenge The Solution

Overcoming the language barrier and making
sure everyone would be able to follow the
event and, most importantly, participate in
their own native language. Enabling true
engagement through discussion can be the
make or break of any event. Attaining the
desired level of engagement is already
challenging at large onsite events, but even
harder to achieve in the virtual realm.
The Cost
The company in our example paid USD 70
thousand for the full event with real-time
interpretation. While this may initially
appear as a significant investment, this
figure only tells half of the story — the cost
side. To understand the full picture, the cost
savings need to be considered as well.
Real-time language interpretation — in five
languages, across two time zones, including
organizing interpreters, providing the event
platform (or integrating with the platform of
choice), and ensuring full IT support
throughout the duration of the event.
The Savings
The same company used to pay USD 500
thousand for each of the five onsite events,
which were run without any interpretation.
Adding up the cost, this amounted to a total
of USD 2.5 million for all five onsite events,
versus USD 70 thousand for one virtual
event with RSI that brought people from all of
the different locations together for the first
time ever.
USD 2,500,000
USD 70,000

Additional Benefits
There is more to ROI than just a pure cost-vs-savings calculation. For instance, in the example, 7.5
thousand people registered for the online event, of which 3.5 thousand ended up joining — a
figure the company was never able to reach at their physical events. In comparison, the highest
number of participants the company ever reached at their onsite events was one thousand. The
same business also noticed increased participation, especially from clients based in Mexico and
Brazil — two countries who rank in the low and very low brackets of the English Proficiency Index.
For another business, participation even increased as much as 50% once the company started
offering virtual meetings with real-time interpretation.

These are just two examples of many and a result of an overarching trend that can be observed
worldwide: an increasingly digital world.

www.kudoway.com •3•
 A new virtual world
The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we knew it. Almost
overnight, the world pivoted to the virtual realm and enterprises
as well as public institutions had to find a way to ensure business
continuity. As a result, video conferencing platforms, such as
Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Skype experienced a
significant boom. More people than ever before are now using
video conferencing platforms on a daily basis.

Growth of daily meeting participants, per platform (in millions)*

Zoom MS Teams Google Meet Skype

400
350
300
300

200
145
100 100
100 75
40 40
20 25 24
10
0
Before March 2020 April/May 2020 2021

Source: Zoom, Microsoft, Google

*Not all platforms report the number of daily meeting participants. 2021 figures for Google Meet and Skype based on latest figures from 2020.
2019 figures for Google Meet and Skype based on reported growth percentages reported alongside 2020 figures.

While all major video conferencing platforms
have experienced an increase in the number
of daily meeting participants of 70 percent on
average, Zoom remains the unrivaled
frontrunner. The company has been booming
ever since the onset of the pandemic. Since
Zoom went public in April 2019, its market
valuation has more than tripled, and between
mid-February and April 2020 share prices
rose by over 40 percent.
From small businesses to large corporations,
from government institutions to non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), from
schools and universities to the average
person — it seems that these days everyone
is active in the virtual world.
Although this trend was heavily accelerated
by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected to
last long-term. Precisely because businesses
have realized that video conferencing offers a
myriad of benefits and is more than just a
temporary quick fix for the pandemic.
That being said, what was once challenging
and exciting soon turned into “Zoom-fatigue,”
and people started complaining that virtual
events were just not interactive enough, so
conference and meeting organizers started
exploring ways to make their virtual events
more engaging.

www.kudoway.com •4•
 Initially, the company in our example tried to address
the demand for multiple languages by using the
automatic captions feature from their existing events
platform provider. It seemed like the simplest, most
inexpensive solution. However, it wasn’t quite so
simple after all. The captions were not available for all
languages and, for the languages where captions did
exist, the quality was quite poor. In fact, the
experience was so bad, the organizers decided to AUTO
never use this option again.

Once the company decided to try live interpretation, it created a whole new experience. More
than 40 percent of participants listened to the live interpretation during the event and provided
positive feedback, stating that it created a completely different feel. Aside from elements like
inclusion and a noticeable increase in the level of engagement, participants described the
experience as giving the event a certain “wow” factor, which instinctively captured their attention
more than a regular monolingual event. The live interpretation experience gave it that certain
something extra which made it an event to remember.

Accessibility and Inclusion

Accessibility and inclusion are topics that are increasingly moving into the focus of public
discussion. What was often overlooked in the past is becoming something that clients and
employees are demanding and that companies subsequently invest in. Within this much larger
field, language access is a vast field of its own.

Providing captions for audiovisual content is, for example, a great way of providing access for
Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals. However, for the majority of Deaf people, the sign
language from their country of origin is their native language, and while many can write in the
local spoken language, it is only their second language. Live interpretation providers have taken
this into consideration, for instance, by providing the option of adding professional sign language
interpreters in an extra video that pops up on the screen during an event or conference.

Thinking of inclusion on a different level again, another business shared that, to them, the switch
to virtual meetings with live interpretation — for the first time — enabled them to treat all of their
members equally and afford them the same opportunities. Prior to the pandemic, meetings were
being held onsite, and only members from richer nations could afford to travel. Members from
economically developing countries often did not have the necessary funds and were
subsequently left out of the conversation. The company revealed that they plan to keep virtual
meetings beyond the pandemic in the form of hybrid meetings (onsite and online) so that every
member has a chance to participate and be treated equally.

www.kudoway.com •5•
 Engagement
This point cannot be stressed enough. True
engagement only happens if everyone feels
empowered to express themselves and be
understood in their own language. At virtual events
with people from different language backgrounds,
this can only be achieved through the provision of
live interpretation.

Thought Leadership
Realizing the key role that multilingualism plays in
enabling engagement and inclusion is thought
leadership. The world is getting more digital and thus
more closely connected by the day. It is a crowded
market that is getting ever more crowded, meaning that
clients can be choosy. Going the extra mile by recognizing
the importance of linguistic and cultural inclusion and
being willing to invest in it, can be a key differentiator that
enables a company to become a top-of-mind business for
clients from all around the world.

True customer-centricity
through multilingual events
What is important to realize is that localization and
providing multilingual access alone does not mean
growth. However, a company that doesn’t invest in
localization will not see international growth either.
Strategic localization metrics are, most of the time,
related to customer satisfaction and customer
engagement. If a company wants to be truly customer-
centric, they cannot overlook one of the most human
things that a customer has — their native language.

www.kudoway.com •6•
 KUDO is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that offers the latest cloud-based technology,
along with unparalleled language expertise, empowering clients to conduct web meetings,
webinars, and live conferences with real-time multilingual interpretation. KUDO streams real-
time interpretation to participants’ smartphones and computers, enabling everyone to join in
their own language from anywhere around the world.

KUDO is removing language barriers by powering multilingual meetings for governments,

businesses, AND people.

Schedule a demo >

KUDO Language Access KUDO Marketplace

Multilingual meetings and events now
available on any platform. KUDO Language
Access is a platform agnostic solution that
brings the power of KUDO’s 12,000+
interpreter community to any online
meeting or event platform.
KUDO Marketplace is a new service that
automates the booking of interpreters with
24/7 access to thousands of on-demand
KUDO Pro interpreters in real-time with
instant booking confirmations.

Since its launch in 2017, KUDO has been recognized for its services and innovations.

AV Awards World Festival

Communication Technology Business & Workplace
of the Year

VIrtual Events Institute Global Business Awards

Virtual & Hybrid Event Technology Outstanding Product/Service

TIME Magazine Stevie Awards

Best Inventions of 2021 Most Innovative Tech Company of the Year

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