AI-first business simulations. A BTS story
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Over the years, BTS has expanded its global footprint through thoughtful acquisitions and collaborations, bringing new creative capabilities and local expertise into the fold. From digital design studios to leadership consultancies across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, we’ve built a community that blends shared values with local perspective. That diversity has become one of our greatest strengths, shaping how we design and deliver learning that feels deeply personal everywhere we work.
Whether someone is in a leadership journey in Singapore, a coaching program in São Paulo, or a strategy workshop in Stockholm, the goal is always the same: to make the experience feel like it was made just for them.
Many of those experiences live on Momenta, BTS’s digital experience platform, powering journeys like Coaching, Multipliers, and other core programs.
As those experiences grew, so did the need for nuance. Every journey had to feel local, not just sound translated. Tone, humor, and cultural context have always been central to the BTS approach, and as demand expanded across formats and regions, our translation model was ready for its next evolution.
In early 2024, the team began exploring how AI could help. Rather than treating technology as the destination, we saw it as a catalyst, a way to rethink translation and deliver richer, more customized client experiences at scale. That curiosity sparked one of BTS’s most ambitious AI-first experiments, led by our Global Product Enablement Function team in partnership with our global network of linguists and translators.
Shifting to AI-first
The next step was finding the right place to experiment. Enter Phrase, a cloud-based translation management platform that quickly became our test lab. Phrase brings every part of the translation process into one place, from machine translation engines to human review, terminology management, and workflow tracking. It gives our linguists, designers, and project teams a shared space to collaborate, test ideas, and learn.
Over the next few months, two key discoveries reshaped how we think about translation, and ultimately, how we work.
Key discovery 1: Making AI a teammate
We began with a clear goal: make translation faster and more consistent. Using Phrase, AI handled the first drafts while our linguists refined them. Quickly, we realized there was potential for AI-value that went far beyond speed.
With AI completing the first 80% of the work in a fraction of the time, our linguists could focus on what matters most: nuance, tone, and cultural resonance. The relationship evolved from oversight to collaboration, AI structured and scaled, humans shaped and elevated.
The result was more than efficiency. It was better work, created by people and technology learning to amplify each other.
Key discovery 2: Turning a roadblock into a redesign
Next came a design challenge. Phrase, like most translation tools, struggled with text embedded in graphics, a hallmark of many BTS learning experiences. Instead of forcing the tool to adapt, we changed how we created.
We began designing with translation in mind: simplifying visuals, reducing text, and using modular components that could flex across languages. The constraint sparked better design, easier to scale, more consistent, and more inclusive for every audience.
Key discovery 3: Integrating systems for scale
With people, AI, and design in sync, the last barrier was process. Managing translations between Phrase and Momenta still required manual effort.
To fix that, we built an API integration linking the two platforms. Now, files move automatically, progress is tracked in real time, and everything stays connected.
That integration turned our workflow into a unified ecosystem, fast, transparent, and ready to scale globally.
Business impact
Just 18 months ago, our translation reviews lived in double-column Word docs. Today, we work in a fully connected, AI-first ecosystem. Each project feeds the next, refining prompts, tone profiles, and design patterns, so our translation process keeps getting faster, smarter, and more aligned with BTS’s voice.
Speed and quality. Translation cycles that once took months now wrap up in weeks, cutting turnaround times by over 40%. Phrase’s tools and AI-powered workflows accelerate production while maintaining quality through expert-approved reuse, glossaries, and automated quality checks. Even complex formats like videos and animations are localized faster, with AI supporting linguists at every step.
Smarter workflows. The integration between Momenta and Phrase automates project transfers and tracking, saving an estimated 2.5 hours per project. Teams across language, digital, and project management now collaborate in one streamlined environment.
Human focus. Our linguists remain the engine of quality and innovation. With AI managing repetitive tasks, they focus on nuance and meaning, and go further by creating specialized GPTs, training databases, and testing translation engines to continually raise the bar.
Client need
A leading global media company, serving audiences in 170+ countries, had built its reputation on delivering high-quality content through a vast network of regional operations. With over 20,000 employees, its business relied on leaders at every level making fast, effective decisions in their markets while staying aligned to global strategy.
The company saw an opportunity to better support new leaders joining the organization globally and seasoned leaders seeking additional development opportunities, focusing on those responsible for bringing strategy to life every day.
To bridge that gap, the company set out to pilot a scalable leadership coaching program focused on:
- Building six leadership capabilities critical to business success
- Creating consistency across regions while respecting cultural and language nuance
- Measuring progress at individual, regional, and organizational levels
- Enabling development that lasts beyond the coaching engagement
The goal: strengthen alignment and elevate leadership impact across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia–Pacific region.
Solution
The challenge wasn’t just delivering coaching, it was creating a leadership development system that could work across continents, prove its impact, and adapt to local realities without diluting global priorities.
The company partnered with Sounding Board, a BTS company, to design a pilot that blended human expertise with scaled, tech-enabled insight to meet four imperatives:
- Activating frontline and mid-level leadership – Focused on people leaders who directly shape day-to-day execution and culture.
- Building the capabilities that matter – Six leadership behaviors rooted in the company’s unique culture, values, and strategic operating principles, ensuring development was relevant to how leaders drive success within the organization.
- Ensuring quality at scale – AI-driven matching connected each leader to a coach with relevant industry, regional, and cultural experience.
- Making growth measurable and sustainable – Biweekly coaching reinforced through a digital platform for goal tracking, reflection, and feedback, plus structured manager check-ins to keep progress aligned to business needs.
Scaled coaching gave the company a consistent platform and approach to leadership development, developing leaders in every region to the same leadership expectations and behaviors. Real-time insights surfaced trends in behavior change, engagement, and alignment early enough to adjust the program midstream. The data struck the right balance between consistency and cultural relevance, showing where local adaptations strengthened leadership and where global priorities needed to hold firm.
Results
By the end of the program, leaders across continents were working from the same playbook, speaking a shared leadership language, and working in ways that respected local context and in alignment to how they wanted leaders to show up in the organization. Managers noticed stronger alignment with their direct reports, leaders felt more confident in their roles, and the data showed tangible shifts in the behaviors tied to business success.
Impact at a glance:
- 84% completion rate demonstrated sustained engagement.
- 92% of coachees advanced their development goals, with nearly as many showing measurable improvement in targeted leadership behaviors.
- 84% of coachees and 64% of managers reported stronger alignment in how they approached priorities and collaboration.
- 76% of leaders progressed toward broader career goals, signaling a stronger leadership pipeline.
- 87% satisfaction rate with coaching, reinforced by a 95% coach match success rate.
- 30% of coachees reported increased job satisfaction—critical in a competitive talent market.
What’s next:
The company expanded coaching to 50+ additional team leaders and began planning its rollout to mid-level managers worldwide, confident they have a model that delivers measurable growth, alignment, and cultural agility at scale.
Testimonials
“I have seen [my report] take it to another, more strategic level, particularly as she engages with her senior stakeholder. She spent time reflecting on what she wanted to get out of their first meeting, how to present herself as his new partner, what kind of questions would solicit the most meaningful responses etc.” — Senior Manager
“[My report] increased her capacity to appreciate the views of others and to work to develop them. She expanded her horizons to think outside of her comfort zones and to draw out some fine work from others. She showed improved capacity to help others develop their own ideas, rather than imposing her own on them.” — Senior Manager
“[Coaching] has helped me have a better understanding of where I enjoy working and developing most so I can continue to do so.” — Coachee
Client need
A prominent health and wellness company was experiencing inconsistent conversion rates across its sales teams. Despite their recent investment in a new, robust sales playbook, the rollout fell short of expectations. Many sales reps struggled to adhere to the playbook’s best practices, resulting in missed opportunities and an overall decline in conversions. With an upcoming large-scale marketing campaign, the organization expected a surge in new leads. However, they knew that without alignment to the playbook, sales reps would continue to miss key conversion opportunities, effectively wasting precious leads.
The company recognized the importance of having a clear, consistent sales approach to convert leads into loyal customers, especially with the anticipated spike in lead flow. This meant they needed a solution to overcome three key challenges:
- Playbook adherence: Sales reps needed to follow the playbook consistently, but they were often missing steps or struggling to integrate the new approach into their conversations.
- Actionable feedback: To improve, reps needed immediate, actionable insights into their performance. Without clear feedback, adherence to the playbook remained low, as reps lacked a structured way to course-correct.
- Managerial support: Sales managers were stretched thin, spending hours each week manually reviewing calls and trying to coach reps on playbook adherence. They needed a way to identify team members who required the most help and offer them targeted coaching based on real data.
With these needs identified, the company sought a partner who could not only provide a technical solution but also understood the nuances of sales behavior. That’s when they turned to BTS.
Solution
BTS introduced Verity, an AI-driven sales coaching tool, designed to enhance the company’s sales processes by driving playbook adherence and offering real-time, data-backed insights. Verity was customized to align seamlessly with the company’s unique sales goals and processes, effectively bridging the gap between strategy and execution.
Here’s how Verity transformed the company’s approach to sales:* Integrated sales playbook: Verity didn’t just digitize the playbook; it embedded its core principles into every sales interaction. By doing so, Verity reinforced the intended sales behaviors, turning each sales call into a training opportunity that helped reps internalize the playbook’s methodology over time.
- Automated call scoring with Zoom integration: With Verity integrated directly into Zoom, every sales call was automatically recorded and analyzed. Verity scored each call objectively based on adherence to the playbook’s guidelines. By removing human bias, Verity provided the company with a clear, consistent picture of who was following the playbook and who wasn’t, allowing leaders to track adherence at a glance.
- Real-time, actionable feedback: After each call, Verity offered immediate feedback tailored to the rep’s performance. This feedback included specific examples of what went well and highlighted areas for improvement, making it easier for reps to correct their approach on the next call. This real-time coaching helped sales reps adopt best practices faster than they would have through traditional methods.
- Customized weekly coaching reports for managers: Rather than spending hours manually reviewing calls, sales managers received Verity’s weekly coaching reports, which provided a detailed breakdown of each rep’s strengths and areas for improvement. With this data, managers could spend their time more effectively, focusing on the reps who needed the most help and delivering highly targeted coaching that addressed specific skills gaps. By tailoring coaching based on data-driven insights, managers were able to drive performance improvements across their teams.
- Leadership dashboards for strategic oversight: Verity’s leadership dashboards provided a comprehensive view of the entire sales team’s performance, allowing senior leaders to monitor adherence trends over time, identify potential roadblocks, and allocate resources to support teams where needed. With these insights, leaders could ensure that sales practices were consistently aligned with the company’s overall growth strategy, setting the stage for sustainable success.
Results
After just 90 days, the impact of BTS Verity was clear. The company saw a transformation in both sales rep behavior and conversion outcomes:
- 39% increase in playbook adherence: Sales reps were consistently following the playbook, leading to a more uniform sales approach and improved customer experiences.
- 7% increase in conversion rates: With better adherence, the company saw a meaningful uptick in conversions. More leads were moving through the funnel, ultimately converting to paying customers, capturing previously missed opportunities.
- 26 hours saved per manager per month: By automating call scoring and providing data-driven coaching reports, Verity saved managers time, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities, such as strategic coaching and team development.
With Verity, the company’s sales teams gained the support they needed to consistently execute the sales playbook, ensuring that every sales call adhered to the proven strategies that drive results. This structured approach not only improved sales performance but also enhanced the company’s readiness for future marketing campaigns, as leaders could now be confident that the increased lead flow would be handled with precision and consistency.
Conclusion
The implementation of BTS Verity marked a pivotal moment for the company. By embedding AI-driven coaching into the sales process, BTS empowered sales reps and managers alike to deliver a consistent, high-quality sales experience. With measurable results—such as increased conversions and time savings—BTS Verity proved to be a vital tool in transforming the company’s approach to sales and setting the foundation for long-term growth. Moving forward, the company is well-equipped to leverage its newfound sales efficiency and capitalize on future growth opportunities.
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Client need
Safety in the transportation industry has often been treated as a set of rules to follow and boxes to check. But one Spanish railway organization saw an opportunity to redefine safety as something far greater, a core value embedded into the culture of their company at every level.
This bold vision demanded more than compliance. It required a cultural transformation to challenge outdated behaviors, inspire teams, and empower leaders to embrace and model a safety-first mindset. For years, the organization had been working to foster a culture that prioritized protection over profit, setting new behavioral standards across the industry.
To accelerate this shift, the organization partnered with BTS to design a leadership development program that dismantled old practices and equipped leaders with the tools, insights, and behaviors needed to bring their vision to life.
- Deconstruct existing mindsets to enable cohesive change.
- Identify barriers preventing progress.
- Equip leaders with practical behavioral knowledge and tools.
Solution
BTS partnered with the organization to design a leadership journey that would reshape not just processes but perspectives, fostering a workplace where physical and psychological safety were paramount. Over eight months, the project team conducted interviews with leaders and focus groups to uncover critical behavioral insights and tailor the program to the organization’s unique needs.
Participants explored essential themes, including:
- Embedding safety into daily decision-making.
- Cultivating greater awareness of safety risks.
- Understanding the influence of their leadership on safety outcomes.
- Leading by example to set a cultural standard.
- Building trust, commitment, and open communication within their teams.
The program unfolded in three distinct phases to drive lasting behavioral change:
- Workshop preparation
Participants began with a self-assessment to uncover personal “safety blind spots” and mind traps. This phase, delivered through a custom online platform, helped leaders reflect on their current practices and prepare for the transformational journey ahead.
- Safety workshop
The one-day, immersive workshop was designed to spark deep conversations about safety culture, challenge ingrained mindsets, and equip participants with actionable strategies for change. Leaders engaged in real-world scenarios to explore the implications of their decisions and practice new behaviors. The day concluded with collaborative debrief sessions, leaving participants with practical tools to implement their insights immediately. - Implementation in action
To sustain momentum, the post-workshop phase extended over six months, offering six targeted activities. These activities reinforced key lessons, encouraged team collaboration, and provided ongoing support for integrating safety-first behaviors into daily routines.
The leadership program was delivered to 1500 participants over 66 workshops in seven locations across Spain.
Results
To measure results, the project team created a resource map evaluating progress.
Average completion rate of Activities One–Three: 57 percent. (One: 78.21%; Two: 53. 01%; Three: 40.57%)
A post-workshop survey was sent to participants, reporting on the following metrics:
- Average satisfaction — 4.7/5.
- Trainer’s evaluation — 4.9/5.
- NPS — 82 percent.
- “Saw improvement in safety alignment” — 93 percent.
- “Integrated safety tools in daily roles” — 82 percent.
- “Identified new initiatives for improving safety” — 77 percent.
- “Mitigated team/peer mind traps” — 93 percent.
- “More aware of risk in daily roles” — 98 percent.
- “Identified a normalized risk to work on” — 92 percent.
Testimonials
- “Many of the methodologies and tools not only help to improve safety but can also be used to improve operational or organizational processes.”
- “It has put us in front of the mirror of how we are today in terms of safety culture, opening our eyes to our development areas. Very participative and practical.”
Over the years, BTS has expanded its global footprint through thoughtful acquisitions and collaborations, bringing new creative capabilities and local expertise into the fold. From digital design studios to leadership consultancies across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, we’ve built a community that blends shared values with local perspective. That diversity has become one of our greatest strengths, shaping how we design and deliver learning that feels deeply personal everywhere we work.
Whether someone is in a leadership journey in Singapore, a coaching program in São Paulo, or a strategy workshop in Stockholm, the goal is always the same: to make the experience feel like it was made just for them.
Many of those experiences live on Momenta, BTS’s digital experience platform, powering journeys like Coaching, Multipliers, and other core programs.
As those experiences grew, so did the need for nuance. Every journey had to feel local, not just sound translated. Tone, humor, and cultural context have always been central to the BTS approach, and as demand expanded across formats and regions, our translation model was ready for its next evolution.
In early 2024, the team began exploring how AI could help. Rather than treating technology as the destination, we saw it as a catalyst, a way to rethink translation and deliver richer, more customized client experiences at scale. That curiosity sparked one of BTS’s most ambitious AI-first experiments, led by our Global Product Enablement Function team in partnership with our global network of linguists and translators.
Shifting to AI-first
The next step was finding the right place to experiment. Enter Phrase, a cloud-based translation management platform that quickly became our test lab. Phrase brings every part of the translation process into one place, from machine translation engines to human review, terminology management, and workflow tracking. It gives our linguists, designers, and project teams a shared space to collaborate, test ideas, and learn.
Over the next few months, two key discoveries reshaped how we think about translation, and ultimately, how we work.
Key discovery 1: Making AI a teammate
We began with a clear goal: make translation faster and more consistent. Using Phrase, AI handled the first drafts while our linguists refined them. Quickly, we realized there was potential for AI-value that went far beyond speed.
With AI completing the first 80% of the work in a fraction of the time, our linguists could focus on what matters most: nuance, tone, and cultural resonance. The relationship evolved from oversight to collaboration, AI structured and scaled, humans shaped and elevated.
The result was more than efficiency. It was better work, created by people and technology learning to amplify each other.
Key discovery 2: Turning a roadblock into a redesign
Next came a design challenge. Phrase, like most translation tools, struggled with text embedded in graphics, a hallmark of many BTS learning experiences. Instead of forcing the tool to adapt, we changed how we created.
We began designing with translation in mind: simplifying visuals, reducing text, and using modular components that could flex across languages. The constraint sparked better design, easier to scale, more consistent, and more inclusive for every audience.
Key discovery 3: Integrating systems for scale
With people, AI, and design in sync, the last barrier was process. Managing translations between Phrase and Momenta still required manual effort.
To fix that, we built an API integration linking the two platforms. Now, files move automatically, progress is tracked in real time, and everything stays connected.
That integration turned our workflow into a unified ecosystem, fast, transparent, and ready to scale globally.
Business impact
Just 18 months ago, our translation reviews lived in double-column Word docs. Today, we work in a fully connected, AI-first ecosystem. Each project feeds the next, refining prompts, tone profiles, and design patterns, so our translation process keeps getting faster, smarter, and more aligned with BTS’s voice.
Speed and quality. Translation cycles that once took months now wrap up in weeks, cutting turnaround times by over 40%. Phrase’s tools and AI-powered workflows accelerate production while maintaining quality through expert-approved reuse, glossaries, and automated quality checks. Even complex formats like videos and animations are localized faster, with AI supporting linguists at every step.
Smarter workflows. The integration between Momenta and Phrase automates project transfers and tracking, saving an estimated 2.5 hours per project. Teams across language, digital, and project management now collaborate in one streamlined environment.
Human focus. Our linguists remain the engine of quality and innovation. With AI managing repetitive tasks, they focus on nuance and meaning, and go further by creating specialized GPTs, training databases, and testing translation engines to continually raise the bar.
Client need
A leading global media company, serving audiences in 170+ countries, had built its reputation on delivering high-quality content through a vast network of regional operations. With over 20,000 employees, its business relied on leaders at every level making fast, effective decisions in their markets while staying aligned to global strategy.
The company saw an opportunity to better support new leaders joining the organization globally and seasoned leaders seeking additional development opportunities, focusing on those responsible for bringing strategy to life every day.
To bridge that gap, the company set out to pilot a scalable leadership coaching program focused on:
- Building six leadership capabilities critical to business success
- Creating consistency across regions while respecting cultural and language nuance
- Measuring progress at individual, regional, and organizational levels
- Enabling development that lasts beyond the coaching engagement
The goal: strengthen alignment and elevate leadership impact across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia–Pacific region.
Solution
The challenge wasn’t just delivering coaching, it was creating a leadership development system that could work across continents, prove its impact, and adapt to local realities without diluting global priorities.
The company partnered with Sounding Board, a BTS company, to design a pilot that blended human expertise with scaled, tech-enabled insight to meet four imperatives:
- Activating frontline and mid-level leadership – Focused on people leaders who directly shape day-to-day execution and culture.
- Building the capabilities that matter – Six leadership behaviors rooted in the company’s unique culture, values, and strategic operating principles, ensuring development was relevant to how leaders drive success within the organization.
- Ensuring quality at scale – AI-driven matching connected each leader to a coach with relevant industry, regional, and cultural experience.
- Making growth measurable and sustainable – Biweekly coaching reinforced through a digital platform for goal tracking, reflection, and feedback, plus structured manager check-ins to keep progress aligned to business needs.
Scaled coaching gave the company a consistent platform and approach to leadership development, developing leaders in every region to the same leadership expectations and behaviors. Real-time insights surfaced trends in behavior change, engagement, and alignment early enough to adjust the program midstream. The data struck the right balance between consistency and cultural relevance, showing where local adaptations strengthened leadership and where global priorities needed to hold firm.
Results
By the end of the program, leaders across continents were working from the same playbook, speaking a shared leadership language, and working in ways that respected local context and in alignment to how they wanted leaders to show up in the organization. Managers noticed stronger alignment with their direct reports, leaders felt more confident in their roles, and the data showed tangible shifts in the behaviors tied to business success.
Impact at a glance:
- 84% completion rate demonstrated sustained engagement.
- 92% of coachees advanced their development goals, with nearly as many showing measurable improvement in targeted leadership behaviors.
- 84% of coachees and 64% of managers reported stronger alignment in how they approached priorities and collaboration.
- 76% of leaders progressed toward broader career goals, signaling a stronger leadership pipeline.
- 87% satisfaction rate with coaching, reinforced by a 95% coach match success rate.
- 30% of coachees reported increased job satisfaction—critical in a competitive talent market.
What’s next:
The company expanded coaching to 50+ additional team leaders and began planning its rollout to mid-level managers worldwide, confident they have a model that delivers measurable growth, alignment, and cultural agility at scale.
Testimonials
“I have seen [my report] take it to another, more strategic level, particularly as she engages with her senior stakeholder. She spent time reflecting on what she wanted to get out of their first meeting, how to present herself as his new partner, what kind of questions would solicit the most meaningful responses etc.” — Senior Manager
“[My report] increased her capacity to appreciate the views of others and to work to develop them. She expanded her horizons to think outside of her comfort zones and to draw out some fine work from others. She showed improved capacity to help others develop their own ideas, rather than imposing her own on them.” — Senior Manager
“[Coaching] has helped me have a better understanding of where I enjoy working and developing most so I can continue to do so.” — Coachee