What a wild ride 2020 has been! With no shortage of ups and downs throughout the past year, ISI is confidently looking forward to new beginnings in 2021. Even though most of us would like to put 2020 in the rear-view mirror, it’s still important to take time to reflect on the year’s successes and challenges. Those moments will shape how we prepare ourselves for the coming year.
Let’s start with the highs.
1. BIG Language Solutions invested in ISI.
ISI is so excited about the investment BIG Language Solutions has made in our company. BIG was founded by CEO Jeff Brink in partnership with MSouth Equity Partners, a private equity firm with offices in Atlanta and Nashville and substantial resources including $2.2 billion in assets under management.
BIG is disrupting the highly fragmented $50 billion language industry by assembling a portfolio of high-performing and complementary language service providers (LSPs), adding significant value and leveraging synergies for the collective benefit of its companies and customers. Brink is a 25-year language industry veteran, known for his innovation and success in building leading LSPs.
BIG’s focus will be on investing and building on the foundation built by ISI leadership over the last 36 years through added resources and technology, designed to stimulate intentional and controlled growth.
The team at BIG and MSouth envision substantial follow-on investment to include subsequent acquisitions, enhanced technology, and a growth-oriented infrastructure.
In case you missed our BIG news, check out the full press release here.
2. Our team transitioned to remote work without any disruption.
When faced with the spreading threat of the pandemic, ISI quickly and successfully moved to remote work for all of its full-time employees. It certainly took some getting used to, but we were able to get everyone up and running at full capacity within a day. While we miss seeing our coworkers every day, we’re so grateful that everyone has remained healthy and safe during this unusual time.
3. The ISI family expanded.
Several ISI teammates welcomed new bundles of joy into their families this year. We are overjoyed to have a few more junior ISI family members!
ISI also welcomed several new associates this year. Starting a new job during the pandemic can’t be easy, but our new colleagues have more than risen to the occasion. We’re so happy to have them on board and forever grateful they chose team ISI.
We also welcomed several new customers this year, which we couldn’t be more excited about. ISI looks forward to supporting all of its clients into the new year and beyond.
Now for the low(s).
1. The pandemic.
Based in Southern California, the ISI team has been under some variation of a stay-at-home order since March. While we’ve adapted to the times by working remotely and we’re all healthy and safe, we miss collaborating with one another in person. We are a tight-knit bunch that enjoys working and socializing with each other. ISI’s social committee has hosted lots of events to help keep us connected, but we definitely miss team lunches, pizza nights, cookie contests and happy hours.
While COVID has caused tragedy across the world, ISI is proud of the work it has been able to do to support health plans and healthcare providers as they educated their Lesser English Proficient (LEP) members and patients on how to care for themselves in the face of this virus. It’s a small contribution in the grand scheme of combatting COVID, but knowing our work helped thousands of Americans make safer, healthier choices is exactly why ISI is in the language services industry.
Lessons Learned
We draw a few key takeaways from this year:
- Listen
- Care
- Adapt
- Grow
We’d like to think that listening and caring is a big part of what keeps our customers coming back year after year. The events of 2020 proved more than ever how important it is to truly listen to understand each other and show compassion and empathy in everything we do. And it certainly taught us how to adapt to a new way of life. Our incredible customers and extensive experience supporting the healthcare industry allowed us to welcome an amazing opportunity for growth with BIG Language Solutions in 2020. We couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds.
