Author: Piedmont Global Marketing

Originally presented at CSA Research 2025

 

The moment behind the moment

Success rarely happens in the moment you see it.
It happens in everything that came before. When you see a company rebrand, a new category announcement, or a market breakthrough, it looks like a single defining moment. But behind that moment are years of invisible work — reflection, risk, reinvention, and resolve.

At Piedmont Global, that work began with a single realization: we could no longer grow by doing more of the same.

The industry we inherited was a $50 billion marketplace of language and content providers — all chasing the same contracts, competing on speed and price. To lead beyond that ceiling, we had to redefine what business we were in.

We stopped asking, “How fast can we deliver?” and started asking, “How far can this scale?”

 

From vendor to operator

That mindset shift expanded not just our capabilities, but the very market we serve.
When you operate as a Strategic Globalization Organization (SGO), you step beyond translation and content into adjacent, higher-value domains — consulting, accessibility, staffing, data, open-source intelligence, and operations.

The total addressable market doesn’t stop at $50 billion anymore. It’s north of a trillion.
That’s the difference between a vendor and an operator of global systems.

Strategic Globalization isn’t about what you sell.
It’s about what you enable — growth, connection, and clarity across borders, languages, and cultures.

 

The forks in the road

Every founder faces a few critical decisions:

• Stay a vendor or become a partner?
• Compete on price or redefine value?
• Chase logos or build proof?

We chose the harder path — to influence upstream strategy before fulfilling downstream needs.
To be a lighthouse, not a land grab.
To build proof before we asked for praise.

That conviction shaped our core belief: ecosystems over isolated nodes, judgment over automation, partnership over provision.
Our edge isn’t any single tool or service.
It’s how we assemble the right solution for every context — a system that learns, scales, and lasts.

 

Rebrand ≠ marketing. It’s infrastructure.

When we decided to rebrand as Piedmont Global, it wasn’t cosmetic — it was architectural.
We rebuilt how we think, hire, deliver, measure, and govern.

We didn’t rename the company.
We re-engineered it.

The transformation took nearly two years and started with a simple question: “What would it look like if our brand reflected the way our clients already experienced us — embedded, strategic, aligned?”

The answer was a new model: the Strategic Globalization Organization.

 

The SGO flywheel

At the center of our operating model is a compounding loop — the SGO Flywheel:

Acquire → Build → Expand → Execute → Compete → Analyze → Repeat

Each cycle increases capability, defensibility, and the surface area of value. It’s how we keep climbing — iteration over perfection. This rhythm ensures that every investment strengthens the next, every lesson builds resilience, and every outcome sharpens the system. SGOs are not static; they are self-improving organisms.

Risks and rewards

Redefining a category comes with trade-offs:

• You’ll be misunderstood before you’re respected.
• You’ll face resistance before alignment.
• You’ll trade short-term comfort for long-term clarity.

That’s the tax on originality — and it’s worth paying. Because when you stay disciplined and let your lighthouse speak, the market eventually catches up. Durable growth follows durable conviction.

 

The SGO mindset

Becoming an SGO is as much a mindset as it is a model.

It requires:

• Risk appetite to step where others haven’t
• Independence to make hard calls
• Curiosity to explore new disciplines
• Resilience to climb again when it gets steep
• Vision that outpaces fear
• Structure that scales complexity
• Courage to rewrite your own rules

As I often say, AI won’t kill our industry — complacency will. The future belongs to those who integrate across culture, data, and human judgment — the ones conducting the orchestra, not singing in the background.

 

From LSP to SGO: the evolution of an industry

Strategic Globalization is the next logical evolution — from translating words to orchestrating systems that drive outcomes across borders. We don’t just help organizations speak globally. We help them operate globally.

Proof before praise

When we began, there was no blueprint. No one was asking for an SGO. But conviction has to come before validation. We built the model before the market believed in it — because legacy is earned through measurable impact, not invoices. Leadership isn’t about waiting for recognition. It’s about proving what’s possible, then inviting others to climb with you.

 

The climb ahead

Piedmont means foothill — the place every climb begins. Strategic Globalization isn’t a destination; it’s a discipline. You climb, rest, build, and climb again. That’s how SGOs — and new categories — are made.

 

How to start building your own SGO

If you’re a leader wondering how to begin, start here:

1. Start with purpose — not product. Know why you exist before deciding what you sell.
2. Move upstream. Get closer to client strategy, not just service delivery.
3. Design ecosystems — not transactions. Solve for the entire value chain.
4. Build for resilience. Systems, people, and values that flex and endure.
5. Keep climbing. Reinvention isn’t a campaign; it’s a habit.

The future belongs to those who create it. And the next era of cross-cultural operations is already underway.

 

About Piedmont Global

Piedmont Global is the world’s first Strategic Globalization Organization (SGO) — helping enterprises communicate with intelligence, scale with intention, and operate with cultural fluency. We integrate human expertise, technology, and strategic insight to make cross-cultural operations smarter, easier, and more human.

→ Learn more about the SGO Model and how we’re shaping the future of global operations.

Globalization is not new—but operating on a global scale is being radically transformed. The world’s top organizations are no longer mere seekers of new markets. They’re operating in a world that is marked by complexity: dispersed teams, multi-layer regulatory structures, new technologies, and customers who demand customization on a big scale.

For decades, “going global” used to mean adding other languages, locations, and suppliers. But success these days depends on something greater: instant connectivity of people, systems, and strategies across borders.

At Piedmont Global, we call this evolution Strategic Globalization—a framework that makes communication, compliance, and culture a single operating model. It’s how forward-thinking organizations are attaining scalability without complexity, resilience without brittleness, and expansion that becomes natural rather than piecemeal.

 

The new reality of global operations

Global expansion used to imply physical presences—new offices, vendors, and home-grown hires. It is now digital, distributed, and data-centric. But enterprise systems for the most part were built for a prior era of globalization—linear, siloed, and sluggish.

This gap causes problems:

• Breakdowns in communication within international teams and local markets
• Regulatory risk as content and data travel across borders
• Cultural mismatch that erodes customer confidence

Companies aren’t able to deal with these issues simply by using translators or local project managers. They require a method of operation that clarifies rather than confuses.

Strategic Globalization meets that demand. It combines language, technology, and culture into a single smart system—making growth a matter of coordination.

 

From localization to Strategic Globalization

Localization once solved a tactical problem: how to make content clear in new markets. But as businesses changed, so did people’s expectations. Today, speed, compliance, and customer experience are as critical as getting the translation right.

That’s where traditional localization falls short—it reacts after the fact. Strategic Globalization flips the equation. It ensures that language, access, as well as intelligence are factored in at the beginning of every workflow.

Rather than bringing in outside vendors to localize content after it’s developed, Strategic Globalization integrates multilingual planning upfront. The end result? Each and every project—training module, compliance document, customer communication—is ready for its global audience when it goes live.

 

The four pillars of Strategic Globalization

Strategic Globalization is built on four connected pillars that transform complexity into capability:

1. Cultural Fluency

Beyond proficiency in languages, cultural fluency allows organizations to communicate authentically across communities and contexts. It’s the way international brands make sure communication doesn’t come across as unfamiliar. Cultural fluency:

• Aligns messaging with local cultures and expectations
• Decreases the risk of cultural missteps
• Builds trust and credibility across diverse markets

2. Custom Solutions

True scalability requires systems that support strategy—not vice versa. Piedmont Global’s approach focuses on tech-enabled, not tech-dependent solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing enterprise platforms.

From AI-driven translation management to automated accessibility audits, technology becomes an enabler of connection, not a barrier to it.

3. Strategic Insight

Global operations generate a lot of data. The challenge isn’t access—it’s interpretation.

Strategic Globalization employs language abilities and data analysis to translate information into insights so leaders can make informed decisions with context and clarity.

4. Embedded Partnership

Unlike transactional vendors, embedded partners evolve with you. They align with your mission, adapt to your systems, and expand capabilities as you grow.

This pillar is where our brand’s strengths come alive: structure, stability, and trusted leadership delivered through collaboration.

Together, these four pillars form an architecture where communication strengthens every system, shapes every decision, and sustains every outcome.

 

Why it matters now

Globalization used to be a choice—now it’s a necessity. But scaling without structure creates vulnerability:

• Language is rarely ahead of strategy
• Accessibility is viewed as compliance rather than connection
• Technology choices disregard important human context

Strategic Globalization fixes these tensions through preparedness in all aspects of international business operations, and in a world where markets shift overnight, clarity becomes a competitive advantage.

 

What Strategic Globalization looks like in action

Imagine a multinational healthcare company serving patients in multiple languages and regulatory regions. Each market had its own translators, its own training documentation, and its own compliance tools. Inadvertently, despite good intentions, there is duplication of efforts as well as regulatory risk.

In one modeled scenario, organizations applying Piedmont Global’s Strategic Globalization framework achieved:

• Centralized and streamlined language and accessibility operations
• Compliance content pipelines were automated for accuracy
• Cultural consulting informed local patient outreach campaigns

Within six months, the organization is forecasted to reduce turnaround time by 68%, improve compliance accuracy to 99%, and achieve measurable increases in patient trust scores.

The takeaway: Strategic Globalization simplifies global operations and amplifies their impact.

In other industries:

• Entire school districts engage and serve multilingual learners and their families
• Government agencies strengthen public services and emergency response systems
• Manufacturers adopt it to align safety documentation across borders

Wherever communication meets complexity, Strategic Globalization makes success inevitable

 

The future of fluent global operations

As artificial intelligence speeds up global communication, human knowledge is still what makes a difference. AI can understand language, but only humans can understand the nuances of culture, context, and the benefits of considering them from the start.

In the next decade, Strategic Globalization will evolve into the standard operating system for global enterprise leadership.

You can expect to see:

• Language infrastructure managed like IT infrastructure
• Cultural fluency metrics appearing on executive dashboards
• Partnership ecosystems replacing vendor lists

Enterprises that adapt and adopt this mindset will scale faster—and smarter. They’ll be the organizations and teams able to operate confidently in any market, language, or moment.

Globalization once measured success by how far an organization could go. Strategic Globalization redefines success by how well it connects.

When communication becomes infrastructure, when culture becomes capability, and when partners become embedded extensions of your team, growth no longer feels chaotic—it feels inevitable.

That’s the power of Strategic Globalization: a system built not just to expand, but to lead.

 

Ready to transform complexity into clarity?

→ Talk to our team about building your Strategic Globalization roadmap.

www.piedmontglobal.com/contact

Are your customer service representatives ready to assist limited English proficient (LEP) callers properly? Each year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) conducts test calls that directly influence your Star Rating and your bottom line. Preparation isn’t optional. It’s essential to maintain compliance, build member trust, and maximize incentive payments and your CMS Star Rating.

 

What Is CMS and Why Does It Matter

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) oversees Medicare and works with states to manage Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and health insurance portability standards. For health plans, CMS is both a regulator and a gatekeeper, shaping how benefits are delivered and evaluated.

 

Understanding CMS Star Ratings

CMS rates Medicare plans on a 1–5 star scale to assess quality and help beneficiaries make informed choices. This star rating system was established by CMS to evaluate the quality of the plans and help seniors select the most suitable option. Even so, ratings influence more than reputation. They also play a crucial role in CMS’s decisions on whether plans can continue to bill Medicare for their services. In addition:

• Plans with 4+ stars receive a 5% quality bonus from CMS.
• In 2023, these bonuses totaled $12.8 billion for Medicare Advantage plans.
• Yet, average ratings have declined in recent years, reflecting the lingering effects of COVID-19 and a new methodology for calculating ratings..

A higher rating means stronger member acquisition, retention, and financial performance.

 

How the CMS Accuracy and Accessibility Study Impacts You

Every fall, the CMS publishes its annual Accuracy and Accessibility Study, which measures performance in assisting limited English proficient (LEP) callers. The result of this annual study plays a big role in determining the star rating a plan receives. If your team struggles to connect callers with interpreters quickly or provides inaccurate information, then the consequences are immediate: lower ratings, reduced bonuses, and potential reputational risk. This is why it is crucial to partner with a Strategic Globalization Organization like Piedmont Global. We ensure your customer service representatives are equipped with the resources they need to assist your LEP patient population.

 

What Happens During a CMS Test Call

CMS measures performance by conducting test calls. Test calls are made by “secret shoppers” who are limited English proficient (LEP) individuals posing as patients or family members of patients seeking information about their insurance plan benefits and coverage. A typical test call follows strict benchmarks:

• Step 1: The caller must reach a live representative within 10 minutes (including hold time).
• Step 2: Once connected with an interpreter, the first of three survey questions must begin within 8 minutes.
• Step 3: Each survey question must be answered within 7 minutes, using information pulled from CMS publications (like Medicare & You 2024) and plan-specific details.

These calls are conducted annually, from February through June. During the testing period (conducted annually from February through June), any inbound call could be a test call. As an insurance provider, it is crucial to prepare your customer service team for these calls and to make sure they have quick and easy access to the appropriate resources.

 

CMS Test Call Assessment Criteria

The test calls conducted by CMS evaluate a number of criteria, including: 

• Ease of navigating automated phone systems
• Speed of reaching a live representative
• Accuracy and completeness of answers provided
• Availability and accuracy of interpreters in key languages: Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, French, Vietnamese, and Tagalog

For LEP callers, interpreter connection and communication quality are often the deciding factors.

 

Preparing Your Customer Service Team

Your customer service team needs to be prepared when the next test call season comes around. They need to know what metrics CMS evaluates, and more importantly, they need to know how to quickly access the appropriate resources to support LEP members effectively. Key steps include:

• Staff Awareness: Ensure representatives are aware of the CMS test call season to plan and staff accordingly.
• Assessment Familiarity: Educate your team on the CMS assessment criteria and the weight they carry in Star Ratings.
• Interpreter Access: Train representatives on how to quickly connect with professional phone or video interpreters.
• Simulation Practice: Run mock test calls so your team can practice how to interact with a professional interpreter under realistic conditions and conduct test calls of your own.

With preparation, your staff won’t just pass CMS evaluations; they’ll provide a consistently higher level of service for every member, year-round.

 

Final Thought: Preparation Shapes Performance

CMS test calls are not simply a compliance hurdle; they are a reflection of how well you serve your diverse member population. Plans that prioritize language access earn stronger ratings, higher incentive payments, and greater member satisfaction.

In a world where goods move fast, people move faster, and expectations move fastest, cultural fluency is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a competitive edge.Regardless of whether you’re working with diverse populations locally or expanding globally, your capacity to work with cultural fluency has a direct influence on business results. It influences how your enterprise is viewed, how your message is understood, and how successfully your mission is executed.So, what exactly is cultural fluency? And how do you acquire it?
Let’s break it down.

What is Cultural Fluency?

Cultural fluency is being able to comprehend, communicate, and function effectively across cultures.

That includes:

• Language skills, verbal and written
• Cultural context, values, norms, and sensitivities
• Systemic awareness, such as legal systems, organizational policies, and community standards

At Piedmont Global, we see cultural fluency as something more than just communication. It’s alignment. Intention. It’s shaping your systems and strategies with cultural insight baked in, so nothing is lost in translation and every interaction earns trust.

Why Cultural Fluency Drives Business Results

Here’s the truth: the more global and diverse your audiences are, the less one-size-fits-all solutions will suffice. Organizations that value cultural fluency acquire three significant benefits:

1. Fewer Mistakes
   Culturally literate teams anticipate risks before they arise. They avoid messaging that is off-putting. They prevent compliance gaps that happen when context is ignored. Whether in a product launch or government service rollout, cultural insight minimizes friction and misalignment.
2. Quicker Market Entry
   When you’re familiar with a market’s language, systems, and expectations, you can act more confidently—and faster. Cultural fluency speeds up localization, content adaptation, team onboarding, and public engagement.
3. Deeper Trust
   Whether you’re a doctor communicating with a patient or a manufacturer collaborating with global suppliers, cultural fluency builds trust. It shows that you care about getting it right, and that you care about making people feel heard, seen, and understood.

How to Build Cultural Fluency: Three Necessary Lever

At Piedmont Global, we help organizations in developing cultural fluency through three intertwined components:

1. Expert People
   Linguists. Strategists. Analysts. All collaborating with in-depth knowledge of local subtlety, policy ramifications, and real-world dynamics. Cultural fluency isn’t “speaking the language”—it’s knowing what’s most important in a particular context, and why.
2. Smart Systems
   Bespoke technology stacks get cultural intelligence where you need it most—across platforms, workflows, and communications. Whether that’s an AI-powered training module or multilingual customer service flows, we enable you to scale understanding, not just services.
3. Strategic Insight
   Market studies, compliance audits, audience analysis—we turn sophisticated data into strategic guidance so your operations aren’t just informed by culture, they’re built for it.

What Cultural Fluency Looks Like in Practice

Here’s a picture of what this looks like in the real world:

• A health system introduces multilingual appointment reminders that are tailored to the cultural norms of patients, reducing no-shows and rescheduled appointments.
• A federal agency reshapes its online content to mirror the life experiences and [translate:vernaculars of its Spanish-speaking members], establishing trust and boosting engagement.
• A multinational manufacturer translates safety training videos into local languages, avoiding misunderstandings that previously led to expensive delays and hazards on the production floor.

In every instance, cultural fluency not only prevented an issue—it turned the situation into a source of performance, clarity, and growth.

Ready to Lead with Cultural Fluency?

Cultural fluency is a capability–and like any capability, it must grow with your business. The more embedded it is across your people, platforms, and processes, the more powerful and successful you become in a world that’s increasingly complex.

When you pair cultural fluency with strategic insight and custom tech, you unlock something even more powerful: Strategic Globalization. And that’s where we come in.
At Piedmont Global, we help businesses make a shift from translation to transformation by developing globalization strategies rooted in cultural intelligence.

Whether you are expanding into new markets or reimagining the way you appear in your existing ones, let us develop the systems and intelligence that enable you to lead—globally, fluently, and confidently.