What is an AI Business Translator?
An AI Business Translator, also called an AI Business Analyst, is the bridge between the people who run a business and the people who build or supply its AI. The role makes sure the right AI is applied to the right business problem, then leads the change management that gets people to adopt it.
Last updated 25 September 2026
Where the idea comes from
In 2018, McKinsey authors Nicolaus Henke, Jordan Levine and Paul McInerney described the “analytics translator” in Harvard Business Review as a new must-have role. They wrote that translators play “a critical role in bridging the technical expertise of data engineers and data scientists with the operational expertise of marketing, supply chain, manufacturing, risk, and other frontline managers.”
Generative AI has widened that gap. The technology now sits on every desk through tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, yet the decisions about how work should change still sit with managers who are not technologists. An AI Business Translator does not code or build models. The job is to make sure what gets built, bought or switched on solves a real business problem, and that people use it.
A translator works in two directions
| Direction | What I do |
|---|---|
| From business to AI | Find the opportunities. Audit your workflows for repetitive, rules-based or information-heavy tasks where AI can save time or money. Turn goals into requirements. Translate a business pain point into an Opportunity Play, my one-page brief your vendor or IT team can review: the goal, where the work happens, the simplest fix, and how success will be measured. |
| From AI to business | Explain what AI produces. Put AI outputs and limits into plain operational terms: what the tool can be trusted with, and where it gets things wrong. Lead the change management. Help your teams understand, trust and build the new workflow into their daily routine. |
Why I lead change management with narrative
The last of those four jobs, leading the change management, decides whether the other three pay off. A tool can work perfectly while people carry on as before.
BCG advises leaders to put 70% of AI transformation effort into people and processes (BCG, The Leader’s Guide to Transforming with AI, 2024). That 70% is change management, and my tool for it is narrative. People change how they work when they understand why, what stays the same, and what it means for them.
A change narrative follows a simple arc. The context: what is happening and why now. The tension: the problem the business faces and the fears your people carry. The resolution: what will change, what will not, and what comes next. Each audience gets its own version. Staff hear what happens to their role. The board hears the business case and the risks. Customers and beneficiaries hear what stays human.
How is it different from an AI consultant, IT vendor or automation agency?
| IT vendor or automation agency | AI Business Translator | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts with | A tool or a build | The business question and the people who do the work |
| Main output | A working system | A redesigned workflow and a change story people adopt |
| Change management | Varies, often a separate engagement | Built into the role |
| Measures success by | Delivery and uptime | Business results and staff adoption at 90 days |
| Relationship | Supplier | Part of the team, on a fractional basis |
The two roles work well together. A vendor builds and runs the system. A translator makes sure it solves the right problem and that the organisation is ready to use it.
When does an organisation need one?
You may need an AI Business Translator if:
- your team uses tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot, but no workflow has changed;
- you have bought an AI tool that few people use;
- staff are anxious about AI and leaders have not addressed it;
- your board or funders are asking for an AI plan you cannot yet write;
- in a social service setting, you want AI to free up time without thinning the relationship with the people you serve.
What working with me looks like
AI Opportunity Diagnostic
A fixed-scope search for the AI opportunities in your workflows, with a clear read of where your people stand.
Change Narrative Project
Narrative-led change management for your AI rollout, written for staff, board, funders and customers.
Fractional AI Business Analyst
I join your leadership team on a fractional basis and lead the change from inside, working to agreed outcomes.
Questions people ask
Is an AI Business Translator the same as an AI Business Analyst?
The titles are used for the same bridging role. “Analyst” stresses the scoping work, from business to AI. “Translator” stresses both directions, including explaining AI back to the business and leading change management.
Is it a technical role?
The role needs enough technical understanding to judge what AI can and cannot do. The core skills are business analysis, facilitation, communication and change management. Translators do not write code or build models.
Do we still need an IT vendor?
Often, yes. A translator helps you decide what to build or buy, writes the brief, then works alongside the vendor so the tool fits the work and the people.
What does change management have to do with AI?
Most of it. An AI tool only creates value when people change how they work. Change management is the discipline of helping them make that shift, and a clear change narrative gives them the reason to.
Who in your organisation is translating AI today?
If the answer is “nobody” or “everybody”, start with the five questions in my free guide.
Sources
- Henke, Levine and McInerney, “Analytics translator: The new must-have role”, Harvard Business Review, 1 Feb 2018. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/analytics-translator
- BCG, The Leader’s Guide to Transforming with AI, 6 Dec 2024. https://www.bcg.com/featured-insights/the-leaders-guide-to-transforming-with-ai