Asure Software Inc (ASUR) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to Asure's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Joining us for today's call are: Chairman and CEO, Pat Goepel; Chief Financial Officer, John Pence; and Head of Investor Relations, Randal Rudniski. (Operator Instructions).

下午好，歡迎參加 Asure 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。參加今天電話會議的有：董事長兼首席執行官帕特·戈佩爾 (Pat Goepel)；首席財務官約翰·彭斯；兼投資者關係主管蘭德爾·魯德尼斯基 (Randal Rudniski)。 （操作員說明）。

I would now like to turn the call over to Randal Rudniski for his introductory remarks. Please go ahead.

我現在想將電話轉給蘭德爾·魯德尼斯基（Randal Rudniski），請他作介紹性發言。請繼續。

Thanks, operator, and good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Asure's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Following the close of markets, we released our financial results for the quarter. The earnings release is available on the SEC's website and our Investor Relations website at investor.asuresoftware.com, where you can also find the investor presentation.

謝謝運營商，大家下午好，感謝您參加 Asure 的 2023 年第二季度財報電話會議。市場收盤後，我們發布了本季度的財務業績。收益報告可在 SEC 網站和我們的投資者關係網站 Investor.asuresoftware.com 上獲取，您還可以在其中找到投資者演示文稿。

During our call today, we will reference non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe to be useful to investors and excludes the impact of certain items. A description and timing of these items along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將參考非公認會計準則財務指標，我們認為這些指標對投資者有用，並且排除了某些項目的影響。這些項目的描述和時間安排以及非 GAAP 指標與最具可比性 GAAP 指標的調節可以在我們的收益報告中找到。

Today's call will also contain forward-looking statements that refer to future events and as such, involve some risks. We use words such as expects, believes and may, to indicate forward-looking statements, and we encourage you to review our filings with the SEC for additional information on factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Finally, I'd like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded, and it will be made available for replay via a link available on the Investor Relations section of our website.

今天的電話會議還將包含涉及未來事件的前瞻性陳述，因此涉及一些風險。我們使用“預期”、“相信”和“可能”等詞語來表示前瞻性陳述，我們鼓勵您查看我們向SEC 提交的文件，以獲取有關可能導致實際結果與我們當前預期產生重大差異的因素的更多信息。最後，我想提醒大家，本次電話會議正在錄音，並將通過我們網站投資者關係部分的鏈接進行重播。

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Pat Goepel, Chairman and CEO. Pat?

現在，我想將電話轉給董事長兼首席執行官帕特·戈佩爾 (Pat Goepel)。拍？

Thanks, Randal, and welcome, everyone, to the Asure Software's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. I'm joined on the call by our CFO, John Pence. John and I will provide a business update for the quarter and our outlook for the remainder of 2023. Following our remarks, we'll be available to answer your questions. As you can see from the reported results, our strong momentum continued in the second quarter, with strength coming from solid execution across the business. Our revenue growth for the second quarter was 50%, all of which was organic with recurring revenues growing by 21% relative to the prior year and nonrecurring revenues up $6.2 million on continued strong performance of our ERTC solutions. This top line growth also drove a significant increase in adjusted EBITDA, which reached $6.1 million in the second quarter with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 20%.

感謝 Randal，歡迎大家參加 Asure Software 的 2023 年第二季度財報電話會議。我們的首席財務官約翰·彭斯 (John Pence) 也加入了我的電話會議。約翰和我將提供本季度的業務更新以及我們對 2023 年剩餘時間的展望。在我們發表講話後，我們將回答您的問題。正如您從報告的業績中看到的那樣，我們的強勁勢頭在第二季度持續存在，其力量來自於整個業務的紮實執行。我們第二季度的收入增長了50%，所有這些增長都是有機的，經常性收入比上一年增長了21%，由於我們ERTC 解決方案的持續強勁表現，非經常性收入增加了620 萬美元。這一收入增長還推動了調整後 EBITDA 的大幅增長，第二季度達到 610 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 20%。

Through the first half of 2023, we've generated 20% more adjusted EBITDA than we produced in all of 2022, showing a powerful operating leverage we have built in the business as we continue to grow revenues. Powering this performance is our focus on delivering a unique value proposition for our target market that addresses the needs of our clients. This approach starts with identifying impactful solutions that we believe will make a real difference to our clients and is supported by engaging and efficient technologies. It also involves mobilizing our sales teams to make sure that our message and value proposition is well understood in providing prompt and reliable customer service.

到 2023 年上半年，我們的調整後 EBITDA 比 2022 年全年多 20%，這表明我們在收入持續增長的同時在業務中建立了強大的運營槓桿。推動這一業績的關鍵是我們致力於為目標市場提供獨特的價值主張，以滿足客戶的需求。這種方法首先確定有影響力的解決方案，我們相信這些解決方案將為我們的客戶帶來真正的改變，並得到有吸引力的高效技術的支持。它還涉及動員我們的銷售團隊，確保我們的信息和價值主張在提供及時、可靠的客戶服務時得到充分理解。

Our sales efforts for the second quarter produced an 80% increase in new sales bookings, which also builds upon the 87% growth rate we achieved in the second quarter of last year. We continue to invest in the sales force expansion and been very pleased with the quality of new hires we're making. We're supporting our sales efforts with digital marketing, which is driving a higher level of sales leads and productivity in 2023.

我們第二季度的銷售努力使新銷售預訂量增長了 80%，這也是我們在去年第二季度實現 87% 增長率的基礎上實現的。我們繼續投資於銷售隊伍的擴張，並對我們招聘的新員工的質量感到非常滿意。我們通過數字營銷支持我們的銷售工作，這將在 2023 年推動更高水平的銷售線索和生產力。

In the second quarter, our marketing source bookings increased by 227% relative to the prior year. Our selling and marketing activities have been underpinned by a focus on delivering excellent solutions that address specific client challenges and needs. In payroll, our focus has been on elevating the client experience by making enhancements to our platform in standardizing processes to produce efficiencies. This client focus, combined with our increasingly effective marketing efforts produced an 86% increase in new payroll client revenues in the second quarter relative to the prior year. We've also had notable successes in the quarter with our HR compliant and marketplace solutions.

第二季度，我們的營銷客源預訂量較去年同期增長了 227%。我們的銷售和營銷活動的基礎是專注於提供出色的解決方案來解決特定的客戶挑戰和需求。在薪資方面，我們的重點是通過增強我們的平台標準化流程來提高客戶體驗，以提高效率。這種以客戶為中心的理念，加上我們日益有效的營銷努力，使第二季度的新薪資客戶收入較上一年增長了 86%。本季度我們的人力資源合規和市場解決方案也取得了顯著的成功。

HR compliance revenues more than doubled prior year -- relative to the prior year without an increase in underlying costs as we have automated our solutions in a manner that is duly efficient for our employees and our clients. This efficiency has also met with opportunities for us to provide scalable solutions in the midst of an increasingly complex regulatory environment that poses new challenges for growing businesses. The Asure marketplace, which was launched in the second half of last year has contributed meaningful to our performance, and we continue to believe this segment will represent 30% to 40% of our revenues over time. We're developing new solutions that we will introduce later in 2023 and 2024, which will address a wide range of business needs through targeted integrations and will meaningfully support the next level of growth for our company.

與上一年相比，人力資源合規收入比上一年增加了一倍多，而基本成本沒有增加，因為我們以對員工和客戶有效的方式實現了解決方案的自動化。這種效率也為我們提供了在日益複雜的監管環境中提供可擴展解決方案的機會，這給成長中的企業帶來了新的挑戰。去年下半年推出的 Asure 市場對我們的業績做出了重大貢獻，我們仍然相信，隨著時間的推移，該細分市場將占我們收入的 30% 至 40%。我們正在開發新的解決方案，並將於2023 年晚些時候和2024 年推出，這些解決方案將通過有針對性的集成來滿足廣泛的業務需求，並將為我們公司的下一階段增長提供有意義的支持。

I'll have more to say on that in a moment. Processing of employee retention tax credits drove upside in our nonrecurring revenues for the quarter. This activity is an example of effectively identifying and developing impactful solutions that make a real positive contribution to our client successes. Furthermore, ERTC solutions have also been a helpful contributor to our bundling success, particularly with HR compliance. Interest revenues were also an important contributor to revenue growth in the quarter, with the rise in the yield curve, along with our success in consolidating back office systems and bank accounts, we have the opportunity to support higher investable balances and revenues. In addition, we're continuing to invest in technology and product development to create new solutions for our clients and to proactively anticipate market opportunities in the future.

稍後我將對此進行更多闡述。員工保留稅收抵免的處理推動了我們本季度非經常性收入的增長。這項活動是有效識別和開發有影響力的解決方案的一個例子，這些解決方案為我們客戶的成功做出了真正積極的貢獻。此外，ERTC 解決方案也為我們的捆綁成功做出了有益的貢獻，特別是在人力資源合規性方面。利息收入也是本季度收入增長的重要貢獻者，隨著收益率曲線的上升，加上我們在整合後台系統和銀行賬戶方面的成功，我們有機會支持更高的可投資餘額和收入。此外，我們將繼續投資於技術和產品開發，為客戶創造新的解決方案，並主動預測未來的市場機會。

Our partnership with Amazon Web Services, Application Modernization lab, which we announced -- during the second quarter is an important part of this commitment. This strategic initiative is designed to help spur innovation and to accelerate our platform development to ensure we can deliver the most secure advanced cloud platform in the industry. Our collaboration with AWS will speed development activity while advancing our cloud optimization efforts and employing artificial intelligence to drive future efficiencies. Our technology investments will support the introduction of new solutions later in 2023 and 2024 that we expect to have meaningful impact on our top line performance. These new initiatives will enable us to further leverage our core capabilities to address our clients' pressing business needs in a dynamic business environment.

我們在第二季度宣布與 Amazon Web Services、應用程序現代化實驗室的合作是這一承諾的重要組成部分。這一戰略舉措旨在幫助刺激創新並加速我們的平台開發，以確保我們能夠提供業界最安全的先進云平台。我們與 AWS 的合作將加快開發活動，同時推進我們的雲優化工作並利用人工智能來提高未來的效率。我們的技術投資將支持在 2023 年晚些時候和 2024 年推出新解決方案，我們預計這將對我們的營收業績產生有意義的影響。這些新舉措將使我們能夠進一步利用我們的核心能力，在動態的商業環境中滿足客戶緊迫的業務需求。

One other significant opportunity I'd like to highlight is the vast revenue-generating opportunity that has come from last year's passing of the Secure Act 2.0. The original Secure Act made it easier for small businesses to set up safe harbor 401(k) plans and provide some tax credits to do so. Version 2.0 of the Secure Act aims to increase employee participation in retirement plans with updated rules and dramatically expanding the tax credits available to employers for planned setup, administration and matching contributions. While the federal government is incentivizing small business retirement plans with the Secure Act 2.0, a growing number of states that are now mandating small businesses offer retirement savings to their employees as well.

我想強調的另一個重要機會是去年《安全法案 2.0》的通過帶來的巨大創收機會。最初的《安全法案》使小型企業更容易制定安全港 401(k) 計劃並為此提供一些稅收抵免。 《安全法案》2.0 版旨在通過更新規則來增加員工對退休計劃的參與，並大幅擴大雇主可用於計劃設置、管理和匹配供款的稅收抵免。雖然聯邦政府通過《安全法案 2.0》激勵小企業退休計劃，但越來越多的州現在要求小企業也為其員工提供退休儲蓄。

Many small businesses traditionally have not had the resources to offer such retirement programs, but now they have the mandate and the funding to move forward. Given our large base of small businesses, there is a unique and substantial opportunity to provide our clients with solutions that address these new business requirements. Just as legislation created an opportunity for us with ERTC processing, Secure Act 2.0 and the state mandates enable us to create compelling solutions to address this emerging area.

許多小企業傳統上沒有資源來提供此類退休計劃，但現在他們擁有了前進的授權和資金。鑑於我們擁有龐大的小型企業基礎，我們有一個獨特且重要的機會為我們的客戶提供滿足這些新業務需求的解決方案。正如立法為我們在 ERTC 處理方面創造了機會一樣，《安全法案 2.0》和州指令使我們能夠創建令人信服的解決方案來解決這一新興領域。

We recently announced a partnership with Vestwell to use their advanced recordkeeping technology to help power Asure's new 401(k) offerings. We're excited to work with them and deliver a great solution for our clients. And because we've already developed scalable tax credit capabilities with ERTC, we are uniquely positioned to help those same clients take advantage of the tax incentives available from Secure Act 2.0. Our efforts are focused on providing our clients with solutions that address the most pressing business challenges.

我們最近宣布與 Vestwell 建立合作夥伴關係，利用他們先進的記錄保存技術來幫助支持 Asure 的新 401(k) 產品。我們很高興與他們合作並為我們的客戶提供出色的解決方案。由於我們已經與 ERTC 一起開發了可擴展的稅收抵免功能，因此我們具有獨特的優勢，可以幫助這些客戶利用 Secure Act 2.0 提供的稅收優惠。我們的努力重點是為客戶提供解決最緊迫的業務挑戰的解決方案。

In that light, we released our small business HR benchmark report in the second quarter. This report identifies best practices and human resources based on a survey of more than 2,000 businesses across the United States. It also lays out a road map for success for businesses to address HR challenges and positioning themselves for enhanced growth and success. Our benchmark report identified 8 areas in human resources across the employee life cycle that are critical for success, exposing areas where compliance with regulations is challenging or misunderstood. It also identifies ways of maximizing employee retention and satisfaction to help fuel organizational success.

有鑑於此，我們在第二季度發布了小型企業人力資源基準報告。該報告根據對美國 2,000 多家企業的調查確定了最佳實踐和人力資源。它還為企業製定了成功的路線圖，以應對人力資源挑戰，並為促進增長和成功做好定位。我們的基準報告確定了整個員工生命週期中對成功至關重要的 8 個人力資源領域，揭示了合規性具有挑戰性或被誤解的領域。它還確定了最大限度地提高員工保留率和滿意度的方法，以幫助推動組織的成功。

For small businesses, there is nothing more important than linking employees clearly to the drivers of organization's success. Best-in-class businesses have best-in-class HR practices and Asure has the solutions to help. A copy of our small business benchmark report is available on our website at asuresoftware.com. In addition to the momentum we've built with our HR compliance marketplace and ERT solutions, we are working on strategic enhancements to our tax platform to capitalize on our unique position in the market. We're consolidating to a single tax engine, introducing a new tax portal and improving technology to facilitate integrations. We will have more to say about our development activity in the tax area in future calls, but we're very pleased about the unique and valuable asset and its ability to drive value for our clients and growth for us.

對於小型企業來說，沒有什麼比將員工與組織成功的驅動力明確聯繫起來更重要的了。一流的企業擁有一流的人力資源實踐，而 Asure 擁有可以提供幫助的解決方案。我們的小型企業基準報告副本可在我們的網站 asuresoftware.com 上獲取。除了我們通過人力資源合規市場和 ERT 解決方案建立的勢頭之外，我們還致力於對我們的稅務平台進行戰略增強，以利用我們在市場中的獨特地位。我們正在整合單一稅務引擎，引入新的稅務門戶並改進技術以促進集成。在未來的電話會議中，我們將更多地談論我們在稅務領域的開發活動，但我們對這一獨特而有價值的資產及其為我們的客戶帶來價值和為我們帶來增長的能力感到非常高興。

In closing, I hope my comments give you a sense of the opportunities that are ahead for Asure in 2023 and 2024. Based on our performance and our current expectations, we're introducing revised higher 2023 financial guidance. We are now guiding for a full year revenues of $118 million to $120 million and adjusted EBITDA margin range of 19% to 20%. Our previous guidance was for revenues of $111 million to $113 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 17% to 18%.

最後，我希望我的評論能讓您了解 Asure 在 2023 年和 2024 年面臨的機遇。根據我們的業績和當前的預期，我們將推出修訂後的更高的 2023 年財務指引。目前，我們預計全年收入為 1.18 億美元至 1.2 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率範圍為 19% 至 20%。我們之前的指導是收入為 1.11 億至 1.13 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 17% 至 18%。

We're also introducing third quarter 2023 guidance of revenues of $26 million to $27 million, which is approximately 20% higher than the third quarter of 2022. For adjusted EBITDA, we're guiding a $3.5 million to $4.5 million in the third quarter, which, at the midpoint, would mean adjusted EBIT expected to more than double relative to the prior year. We expect 2023 will be a strong year for revenues and adjusted EBITDA margins. The midpoint of our revenue guidance range implies approximately 24% organic revenue growth and 19% to 20% adjusted EBITDA margins exceeding the Rule of 40 for the year. We're also very excited about the portfolio of solutions we are developing to drive value for our clients and growth for Asure in the long term.

我們還介紹了2023 年第三季度收入指導為2600 萬至2700 萬美元，比2022 年第三季度高出約20%。對於調整後的EBITDA，我們指導第三季度收入為350 萬至450 萬美元，這意味著調整後的息稅前利潤預計將比上一年增加一倍以上。我們預計 2023 年將是收入和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率強勁的一年。我們收入指導範圍的中點意味著今年有機收入增長約 24%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率超過 40 規則 19% 至 20%。我們也對我們正在開發的解決方案組合感到非常興奮，這些解決方案旨在為我們的客戶帶來價值並促進 Asure 的長期增長。

Now, I would like to hand off to John to discuss our financial results in more detail. John?

現在，我想請約翰更詳細地討論我們的財務業績。約翰？

Thanks, Pat. As Randal mentioned at the beginning of this call, several of the financial figures discussed today are given on a non-GAAP or adjusted basis. You will find a description of these GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations in the earnings release that was made available earlier today. Reconciliations themselves are also included in our most recent investor presentation posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.asuresoftware.com.

謝謝，帕特。正如蘭德爾在本次電話會議開始時提到的，今天討論的一些財務數據是在非公認會計準則或調整後的基礎上給出的。您可以在今天早些時候發布的收益報告中找到這些 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調節的說明。對賬本身也包含在我們最新的投資者演示文稿中，該演示文稿發佈在我們網站 Investor.asuresoftware.com 的投資者關係部分。

Now on to the second quarter results. Revenues reached $30.4 million in the second quarter, rising by 50% relative to prior year, all of which was organic. Recurring revenues rose 21% relative to prior year to $23 million. Second quarter recurring revenues grew on the strength of our HR compliance solutions, Asure marketplace and increased interest revenues with an average client balances exceeding $200 million in the quarter.

現在來看第二季度的業績。第二季度收入達到 3040 萬美元，較去年同期增長 50%，全部為有機收入。經常性收入較上年增長 21%，達到 2,300 萬美元。第二季度經常性收入的增長得益於我們的人力資源合規解決方案、Asure 市場以及利息收入的增加，本季度平均客戶餘額超過 2 億美元。

ERTC revenues were recorded in the professional services, hardware and other category in both the current and comparable periods. Nonrecurring revenues saw an increase of $6.2 million on the strength of ERTC processing activity. Relative to the first quarter, revenues declined in the period. However, that is attributable to the normal seasonality of our business as recurring annual year-end W-2 and ACA revenue is recognized in the first quarter. Net loss for the second quarter was $3.8 million, a $2.1 million improvement over prior year's loss of $5.9 million. Gross margins rose by 12 percentage points to 72% in the second quarter relative to the prior period, while non-GAAP gross margins rose 11 percentage points to 77%.

當期和可比期間，ERTC 收入均記錄在專業服務、硬件和其他類別中。由於 ERTC 處理活動的推動，非經常性收入增加了 620 萬美元。與第一季度相比，該時期的收入有所下降。然而，這是由於我們業務的正常季節性，因為經常性年度年終 W-2 和 ACA 收入在第一季度確認。第二季度淨虧損為 380 萬美元，比去年同期的虧損 590 萬美元減少了 210 萬美元。第二季度毛利率較上一季度上升 12 個百分點至 72%，而非 GAAP 毛利率上升 11 個百分點至 77%。

It is notable that our revenues rose by 50% year-over-year in the quarter, while our non-GAAP cost of sales rose by only 2%, which allow for almost 100% fall-through of each dollar of revenue growth into the non-GAAP gross margins. This operating leverage reflects the high margin mix of our growth and our continued impact of our standardization and consolidation efforts. EBITDA for the quarter was $3.3 million, a $3.4 million improvement from prior year's quarter. Adjusted EBITDA rose by $5.5 million relative to prior year to $6.1 million, and our adjusted EBITDA margin reached 20% in the quarter compared with 3% in the prior period.

值得注意的是，我們本季度的收入同比增長了 50%，而我們的非 GAAP 銷售成本僅增長了 2%，這使得每一美元的收入增長幾乎 100% 都轉入到了營收增長中。非公認會計準則毛利率。這種運營槓桿反映了我們的增長的高利潤率組合以及我們的標準化和整合努力的持續影響。本季度 EBITDA 為 330 萬美元，比去年同期增加 340 萬美元。調整後 EBITDA 較上年同期增長 550 萬美元，達到 610 萬美元，本季度調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到 20%，而上一季度為 3%。

In the quarter, we converted a little over half of each incremental dollar of revenue growth into adjusted EBITDA. Margin expansion was driven by growing high-margin revenue streams, continued progress with our efficiency initiatives and scale benefits from our growth. These gains more than offset the investments we are making in the expansion of our sales and marketing activities. We continue to believe there's margin upside over the longer term as the business scales. We ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $21.6 million. We also had $36.8 million of debt, which is comprised of $32 million drawn under our senior credit facility with the remainder made up of seller notes from acquisitions.

在本季度，我們將每增量收入增長的一半多一點轉換為調整後的 EBITDA。利潤率的增長是由不斷增長的高利潤收入流、我們的效率計劃的持續進展以及我們的增長帶來的規模效益推動的。這些收益遠遠抵消了我們在擴大銷售和營銷活動方面所做的投資。我們仍然相信，隨著業務規模的擴大，長期來看利潤率還有上升空間。本季度結束時，我們的現金和現金等價物為 2160 萬美元。我們還有 3680 萬美元的債務，其中 3200 萬美元是根據我們的高級信貸安排提取的，其餘部分是收購時的賣方票據。

Now in terms of our guidance for the third quarter and the full year of 2023, as Pat mentioned, we are raising our full year '23 revenue guidance to the range of $118 million to $120 million, including a third quarter revenues of $26 million to $27 million. Our full year guidance implies annual revenue growth of 24%, while the midpoint of our third quarter guidance would yield revenue growth of 21%. We expect our organic recurring revenue performance in the third quarter will be broadly in line with the results in the first half of 2023. HR compliance, Asure marketplace and float revenues are expected to continue to drive high margin performance.

現在，就我們對2023 年第三季度和全年的指導而言，正如Pat 提到的，我們將23 年全年收入指導提高到1.18 億美元至1.2 億美元，其中第三季度收入為2600 萬美元至2600 萬美元。 2700萬美元。我們的全年指導意味著年收入增長 24%，而我們第三季度指導的中點將帶來 21% 的收入增長。我們預計第三季度的有機經常性收入表現將與 2023 年上半年的結果大致一致。人力資源合規性、Asure 市場和浮存收入預計將繼續推動高利潤率表現。

Our nonrecurring revenue performance year-to-date has been driven substantially by the success with our ERTC processing activity. While there's no sign of a significant slowdown in this area, our guidance reflects a modest expectation for this revenue stream given its transactional nature. We have also introduced 2023 adjusted EBITDA guidance for margins of 19% to 20% and third quarter adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $3.5 million to $4.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA performance is expected to be driven by continuing strong revenue performance, efficiency gains from our consolidation and efficiency programs, which will be partially offset by continued investment in sales and marketing activity. In terms of acquisitions, while nothing is currently imminent, we will continue to be prudent in evaluating targets and we'll execute if the right opportunity arises to create value for our stakeholders.

我們今年迄今為止的非經常性收入表現在很大程度上得益於 ERTC 處理活動的成功。雖然這一領域沒有明顯放緩的跡象，但考慮到其交易性質，我們的指導反映了對該收入流的適度預期。我們還推出了 2023 年調整後 EBITDA 指導，利潤率為 19% 至 20%，第三季度調整後 EBITDA 為 350 萬美元至 450 萬美元。調整後的 EBITDA 業績預計將受到持續強勁的收入業績以及我們的整合和效率計劃帶來的效率收益的推動，而這將被對銷售和營銷活動的持續投資所部分抵消。在收購方面，雖然目前還沒有什麼迫在眉睫的事情，但我們將繼續謹慎評估目標，如果出現合適的機會，我們將執行收購，為我們的利益相關者創造價值。

In conclusion, we are pleased with our performance in the second quarter and the momentum we have built on the strength of our product development, technology and sales. Our year-to-date performance gives us confidence in our forward-looking guidance. We think that we are continuing to build the foundation for driving sustainable, profitable growth and value creation for the future.

總之，我們對第二季度的業績以及我們在產品開發、技術和銷售方面建立的勢頭感到滿意。我們今年迄今的表現讓我們對前瞻性指導充滿信心。我們認為，我們正在繼續為推動未來可持續的盈利增長和價值創造奠定基礎。

With that, I will turn the call back to Pat for closing remarks.

接下來，我將把電話轉回給帕特，讓他發表結束語。

Thanks, John. We achieved a new milestone in the second quarter, achieving 50% revenue growth, all of which was organic. We achieved this growth by investing in products and technologies that will make a difference for our clients. It is very gratifying to see the positive reception to our solutions from our clients. The feedback supports our view that by enabling them to focus on their core businesses, we can create meaningful value for them. We're very encouraged by the early results of the Asure marketplace, which we think is a game changer for Asure. Its results to-date have made a meaningful contribution to our overall performance, and there are a lot more to come.

謝謝，約翰。我們在第二季度實現了新的里程碑，實現了 50% 的收入增長，所有這些都是有機的。我們通過投資能夠為客戶帶來改變的產品和技術來實現這一增長。非常高興看到我們的解決方案得到客戶的積極認可。這些反饋支持了我們的觀點，即通過讓他們專注於核心業務，我們可以為他們創造有意義的價值。 Asure 市場的早期成果讓我們深受鼓舞，我們認為這將改變 Asure 的遊戲規則。迄今為止的結果對我們的整體績效做出了有意義的貢獻，並且還有更多的成果。

Earlier, I previewed our activity with Retirement Solutions under the Secure Act 2.0. And while we believe our initiatives here will be significant, they're just one example of the many ways we can leverage our systems and knowledge to create impactful solutions for our clients. We're also leveraging our strengths in areas such as HR compliance, our solutions address real business challenges facing Main Street America. We anticipate demand for our HR solutions, we'll continue to be healthy as businesses increasingly seek to supplement their internal capabilities with external experts who can help them navigate the increasing complexity of today's HR.

早些時候，我預覽了我們根據《安全法案 2.0》開展的退休解決方案活動。雖然我們相信我們在這方面的舉措將意義重大，但它們只是我們可以利用我們的系統和知識為客戶創建有影響力的解決方案的多種方式的一個例子。我們還利用我們在人力資源合規等領域的優勢，我們的解決方案解決了美國大街所面臨的真正業務挑戰。我們預計對我們的人力資源解決方案的需求，隨著企業越來越多地尋求外部專家來補充其內部能力，這些專家可以幫助他們應對當今人力資源日益複雜的情況，我們將繼續健康發展。

Investments in market-leading technology that support our client solutions is also a high priority at Asure. The partnership with AWS is an example of our focus on delivering compelling solutions. These efforts enable us to tackle the critical business issues our clients are facing and supports our efforts to maximize sales and cross-sell our solutions. Supporting all of these initiatives are our efforts to improve our cost structure and efficiencies via our consolidation efforts. We continue to be on track to deliver annual savings of $5 million annually once its implementation is complete.

對支持我們客戶解決方案的市場領先技術進行投資也是 Asure 的首要任務。與 AWS 的合作是我們專注於提供引人注目的解決方案的一個例子。這些努力使我們能夠解決客戶面臨的關鍵業務問題，並支持我們最大限度地提高銷售額和交叉銷售我們的解決方案的努力。支持所有這些舉措的是我們通過整合努力改善成本結構和效率。一旦實施完成，我們將繼續有望每年節省 500 萬美元。

Our upwardly revised revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance reflects the positive momentum we achieved with our expanding portfolio of solutions and continued strong new sales performance. In conclusion, we're very excited about the performance of the business and the direction we're headed. We are focused on creating value for our clients and are delivering consistent positive results for our stakeholders. We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.

我們上調的收入和調整後的 EBITDA 指引反映了我們通過不斷擴大的解決方案組合和持續強勁的新銷售業績所取得的積極勢頭。總之，我們對業務表現和我們的發展方向感到非常興奮。我們專注於為客戶創造價值，並為我們的利益相關者提供一致的積極成果。我們期待下個季度再次與您交談。

So with that, I'll send the call back to our operator for the Q&A. Operator?

因此，我會將電話發送回我們的接線員進行問答。操作員？

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Bryan Bergin with TD Cowen.

謝謝。 （操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Bryan Bergin 和 TD Cowen 的對話。

I wanted to start off with the demand question here. So just any comment -- any measurable change in client demand that you've witnessed over the last 3 months. Obviously, bookings strength seems to imply a healthy continuation, but we know you've got a lot of moving pieces here as you're scaling a lot of the new offerings. So I'm just really curious, have you seen any change to what clients are demanding in the current environment and nearly any change by client size, that's worth calling out?

我想從這裡的需求問題開始。因此，您可以發表任何評論，即您在過去 3 個月內目睹的客戶需求的任何可衡量的變化。顯然，預訂量的強勁似乎意味著健康的延續，但我們知道，隨著您擴展許多新產品，您在這裡有很多令人感動的事情。所以我真的很好奇，在當前環境下，您是否看到客戶需求發生了任何變化，以及客戶規模的幾乎任何變化，這些變化值得一提？

No, Bryan, thank you for the question. We do not see any demand changes. I mean, I think if you think about early in the quarter, the July fourth week is always a vacation week, et cetera. But bookings have been solid. Demand has been -- interest level has been really high, leads have been flowing. We feel really good about our solution set.

不，布萊恩，謝謝你的提問。我們沒有看到任何需求變化。我的意思是，我認為如果您考慮本季度初，七月的第四周始終是假期週，等等。但預訂量一直很穩定。需求一直——興趣水平非常高，潛在客戶一直在流動。我們對我們的解決方案集感覺非常好。

Okay. Good to hear. My follow-up then some margin expansion. So can you talk about how you're [thinking] about a sustainable gross margin here? Just understanding you've had some higher-margin revenue contributors like the nonrecurring, I believe here that support to the second quarter strength. And can you kind of give us puts and takes in that second half margin outlook? And do we need to be mindful of potential grow-over pressures as you get into next year, things like ERTC [solution sets]?

好的。很高興聽到。我的後續行動是一些利潤擴張。那麼您能談談您如何[思考]這裡的可持續毛利率嗎？只要了解您有一些利潤率較高的收入貢獻者，例如非經常性收入，我相信這對第二季度的強勁表現有支持。您能給我們介紹一下下半年利潤率的前景嗎？當你進入明年時，我們是否需要注意潛在的增長壓力，比如 ERTC [解決方案集]？

Yes. Let me go at the first one, Bryan, and then I'll let kind of Pat give his perspective on that. I think, in general, what you can tell is that the cost of goods sold line is generally becoming relatively fixed. I mean, there's a little bit of a variable component to it. Like in the first quarter, there's more shipping. But I would say, in general, it's fixed to going down just based on, again, the standardization and some arbitrage in terms of offshoring some of those positions. So I think that's the way to think about it. From my perspective is, there's relatively kind of high fixed cost to doing business, but once we add those incremental revenues, that's where you see the margin. So that's the way I would think about it in the back half of the year. So how we're guiding revenues, think about cost of goods sold being relatively consistent. The way I think about it. Pat, and then you can talk about the kind of year-over-year, kind of issues.

是的。讓我先講第一個，布萊恩，然後我會讓帕特對此發表他的看法。我認為，總的來說，你可以看出，線下銷售的商品成本通常變得相對固定。我的意思是，其中有一點可變的成分。與第一季度一樣，出貨量有所增加。但我想說，總的來說，它的下降只是基於標準化和一些離岸外包方面的套利。所以我認為這就是思考這個問題的方式。從我的角度來看，開展業務的固定成本相對較高，但一旦我們加上這些增量收入，你就會看到利潤。這就是我下半年的想法。因此，我們如何指導收入，請考慮銷售成本相對一致。我的想法是這樣的。帕特，然後你可以談論那種逐年的問題。

Yes. Bryan, I think we've done an excellent job with the cost structure. John's really done a nice job of budgeting that in. And then our team has automated solutions in such a way where we can achieve those results where COGS is roughly flat. As we look in -- turning the page in '24, we'll probably share '24 guidance next quarter. But just on a whole, the ERTC program, we put it in a one-time item, and we've done that all year. There's no question that ERTC, as the program ends first quarter of 2025. So there'll be some headwinds into 2024. But if you think about kind of what we've done as a business, we've got several early day products that we're working through that we're pretty proud of.

是的。布萊恩，我認為我們在成本結構方面做得非常出色。約翰在預算方面確實做得很好。然後我們的團隊擁有自動化解決方案，這樣我們就可以在 COGS 大致持平的情況下實現這些結果。當我們翻過 24 年的這一頁時，我們可能會在下個季度分享 24 年的指導。但就整體而言，ERTC 計劃，我們將其納入一次性項目中，並且我們一整年都這樣做了。毫無疑問，ERTC 計劃將於2025 年第一季度結束。因此，到2024 年將會遇到一些阻力。但是，如果您考慮一下我們作為企業所做的事情，就會發現我們已經推出了幾款早期產品，我們正在努力解決這一問題，對此我們感到非常自豪。

The Secure Act 2.0 with 401(k) will be a great extension and we're launching that as we speak, so we think that will be a good tailwind. HR compliance will be a good tailwind for us. The marketplace will be a tailwind. Our tax filing business, in general, will be a tailwind. And what I'm proud about the sales organization is they've achieved some outstanding productivity. And what we've kind of locked into here is if you think about small businesses in this environment, access to capital is probably their #1 concern and an expertise around the changing compliance, whether it's HR or payroll or tax filing is #2. So to have a partner to be able to solve their problems is really, really important. And that's really what we set out to do. And we've automated the back end in such a way for that to be efficient. So there's no question there might be some onetime tailwind -- or excuse me, headwinds going into '24, but we have our share of tailwinds going into it and more to come next quarter when we announce '24 guidance.

帶有 401(k) 的安全法案 2.0 將是一個很好的擴展，我們正在啟動它，所以我們認為這將是一個很好的推動力。人力資源合規性對我們來說將是一個很好的推動力。市場將成為一股順風。總的來說，我們的報稅業務將是一個順風車。我對銷售組織感到自豪的是他們取得了出色的生產力。我們在這裡鎖定的是，如果你考慮在這種環境下的小型企業，獲得資本可能是他們的第一大關注點，而圍繞不斷變化的合規性的專業知識，無論是人力資源、工資還是納稅申報，則是第二大關注點。因此，擁有一個能夠解決他們問題的合作夥伴非常非常重要。這正是我們打算做的。我們已經將後端自動化，以提高效率。因此，毫無疑問，可能會出現一些一次性的順風——或者對不起，進入24 年會出現逆風，但我們也有自己的順風，下個季度當我們宣布24 年指導時，還會有更多順風。

Our next question comes from the line of Eric Martinuzzi with Lake Street.

我們的下一個問題來自埃里克·馬丁努齊 (Eric Martinuzzi) 與湖街 (Lake Street) 的對話。

I wanted to go a layer deeper on the guidance for Q3. If I'm looking at -- and I know you characterized the expectation for ERTC as modest, but I'm trying to put a finer point on that. If I take the growth rate that you've just had in Q2, on the recurring rev side and I apply that to Q3. I kind of -- I'm backing into sort of a $2.3 million number for nonrecurring. And I want to know if that's in the ballpark.

我想更深入地了解第三季度的指導。如果我正在考慮——我知道您對 ERTC 的期望是適度的，但我試圖對此提出更明確的觀點。如果我採用第二季度的增長率，在經常性轉速方面，我將其應用於第三季度。我有點——我支持 230 萬美元的一次性費用。我想知道這是否在範圍內。

Yes. I think, what we've been saying consistently is that's our typical ranges in that. If you try to put the nonrecurring back to a norm without the last couple of quarters where we've had incremental success, I think that's what we've been kind of contemplating in the guidance. So, we've tried to put the nonrecurring as if we weren't having the extraordinary sales in the ERTC. So that's kind of implicit in the guidance.

是的。我認為，我們一直在說的是，這是我們的典型範圍。如果你試圖在過去幾個季度我們沒有取得漸進成功的情況下，將一次性恢復到常態，我認為這就是我們在指南中一直在考慮的內容。因此，我們試圖將一次性費用視為 ERTC 中沒有非凡的銷售額。所以這在指導中是隱含的。

Okay. And then, the retention trends in the core HCM. Just curious to know if we've seen an improvement there. It feels like small business is doing better, but just wondering if it is -- what you're seeing on the retention trends.

好的。然後是核心 HCM 的保留趨勢。只是想知道我們是否看到了改進。感覺小企業做得更好，但只是想知道是否是這樣——你在保留趨勢上看到了什麼。

My perspective, they're trending up from where we have been, so.

我的觀點是，他們的趨勢比我們之前的水平有所上升，所以。

Yes. I would say, Eric, just we've been 1%, 2% up over the past year, and it's been pretty consistent. I think we've had good accountability, good product rollout, good solution set, good upsell capabilities. So if you think about we were probably at a low point around COVID. We've achieved the improvement about 1% or 2% per year since COVID and feel like we have a good momentum there. I would say small business formation looks pretty strong. Small business, I would say, access to capital is probably their #1 need. But as far as continuation and growth, we feel really good about where we are.

是的。我想說，埃里克，我們在過去的一年裡增長了 1%、2%，而且非常穩定。我認為我們擁有良好的責任感、良好的產品推出、良好的解決方案集和良好的追加銷售能力。因此，如果你想一想，我們可能正處於新冠疫情期間的低谷。自新冠疫情以來，我們每年都取得了約 1% 或 2% 的進步，感覺我們勢頭良好。我想說，小企業的組建看起來相當強大。我想說，小企業獲得資本可能是他們的第一需求。但就持續和增長而言，我們對自己的處境感到非常滿意。

Our next question comes from the line of Richard Baldry with Roth Capital Partners, LLC.

我們的下一個問題來自 Roth Capital Partners, LLC 的 Richard Baldry。

If you look back a couple of quarters, it looks like the sales and marketing line is up 50%, in a pretty big hurry. Can you talk about how much of that is headcount resource expansion versus just commissions on faster sell-throughs. And then you talked a little bit about that line continuing to grow and investing in that. Is there any way to sort of scale how much numerically or even qualitatively you expect to keep adding to that organization. Obviously, you're seeing some efficiencies, but that could argue that there's more to go after as well because of their successes.

如果你回顧幾個季度，你會發現銷售和營銷線增長了 50%，而且速度非常快。您能否談談其中有多少是員工資源擴張與更快銷售的佣金相比。然後你談到了該產品線的持續增長和投資。有什麼方法可以在數量上甚至在質量上衡量您期望繼續向該組織添加的數量。顯然，你看到了一些效率，但這可能會說，由於他們的成功，還有更多的東西值得追求。

Yes. No, I appreciate it, Rich. Just in general, we add headcount to our sales organization, and we're somewhere around 100. I think if you play the tape forward, we'll be above 120. So we're going to continue to grow headcount. As far as costs going up, some of its headcount commission, productivity has been very strong, and so naturally commission is up. There's some referral dollars that are also up. And then as far as efficiency, we have a field sales organization and we have an inside sales organization. We spent some more money on marketing leads, and those leads have paid off very well. We spent some money on internal tools to really automate inside sales. And so, that's an expenditure. We're really happy with the productivity of sales organization.

是的。不，我很感激，里奇。總的來說，我們增加了銷售組織的員工人數，大約在 100 人左右。我想，如果你向前播放磁帶，我們的人數將超過 120 人。因此，我們將繼續增加員工人數。至於成本上漲，它的一些員工佣金、生產力一直很強，所以佣金自然就上漲了。還有一些推薦費也上漲了。就效率而言，我們有一個現場銷售組織和一個內部銷售組織。我們在營銷線索上花了更多的錢，這些線索得到了很好的回報。我們花了一些錢購買內部工具，以真正實現內部銷售的自動化。所以，這是一項支出。我們對銷售組織的生產力非常滿意。

In general, we'll continue to invest in sales. And if you think about our plan over the last couple of years, it's been to be more efficient operationally to automate, invest in some technology and then grow the feet on the street as the sales organization, and it's really starting to pay off. John, I don't know if you have color.

總的來說，我們將繼續投資於銷售。如果您考慮一下我們過去幾年的計劃，就會發現，在自動化方面提高運營效率，投資一些技術，然後擴大銷售組織的影響力，這確實開始得到回報。約翰，我不知道你是否有顏色。

No, I was thinking about the one slide that was in our Board presentation from about a week ago. We were looking maybe at the same time horizon, you were Rich, but we were in kind of an 18-month view and the shift was almost head-for-head from operations to sales and marketing. So again, you see the overall spend not going down, but it's really that composition of where it's landing on the P&L. And obviously, if we can take it out of cost to serve and put it into the tip of the spear, that's what we've been trying to do.

不，我想到的是大約一周前我們董事會演示文稿中的一張幻燈片。我們可能在同一時間範圍內考慮，你是富有的，但我們的視角是 18 個月，而且這種轉變幾乎是從運營到銷售和營銷的正面交鋒。同樣，您會看到總體支出沒有下降，但這實際上是其在損益表上的構成。顯然，如果我們能夠將其從服務成本中取出並將其放入矛尖，這就是我們一直在努力做的事情。

So again, we've got that shift going on as well as, again, as Pat mentioned, lead gen and commissions. And then again, we intend to continue to try to add to that group over the next half year and into next year.

因此，我們再次進行了這種轉變，正如帕特提到的，潛在客戶開發和佣金也正在發生。再說一次，我們打算在下半年和明年繼續嘗試增加該群體的成員。

And you've had a lot of new products launching, but you're still holding the R&D, say, first half of this year versus first half last year is also pretty flat. Are you seeing the composition of that changing, some leverage points on that, that are new? Do you think that, that will have to start trending up closer to revenues over time? Just a little more color there.

你推出了很多新產品，但你仍然堅持研發，比如說，今年上半年與去年上半年相比也相當持平。您是否看到該變化的構成，其中的一些新的槓桿點？您是否認為，隨著時間的推移，這將必須開始接近收入？只是那裡顏色多一點。

Yes, I think actually, it's probably up if you were to look at how much has been capitalized versus prior years. So I think in general, what you're seeing is the maintenance line is staying pretty steady, it's actually trending down maybe a little bit, which means that we're still spending more, but we're capitalizing because it's all new and an innovative investment versus just maintaining the old, which is kind of how it's delineated in terms of how we account for it. So I would say we're investing probably at a healthier rate than prior year. It's just not showing up in the P&L. It's getting hung up on the balance sheet.

是的，我認為實際上，如果你看看與前幾年相比資本化了多少，它可能會上升。所以我認為總的來說，你看到的是維護線保持相當穩定，實際上可能有一點下降，這意味著我們仍然花費更多，但我們正在資本化，因為它是全新的，並且創新投資與僅僅維持舊投資的比較，這就是我們如何解釋它的方式。所以我想說，我們的投資速度可能比去年更健康。它只是沒有出現在損益表中。它被掛在資產負債表上。

The other thing I'd add to that, John, is -- and Rich, is our partnership, development partnership with AWS, where we really have a strong 5-year agreement, and they put some calories and money into our development effort around a modernization effort of our payroll tax filing products. And so, they're investing along with us in that case. And the spend is going up. But the nice thing about it's going up in new products and services and new development, which adds to the capital line.

John，還有Rich，我要補充的另一件事是，我們與AWS 的合作夥伴關係、開發合作夥伴關係，我們確實簽訂了一份強有力的5 年協議，他們為我們的開發工作投入了一些熱量和資金，圍繞我們的工資稅申報產品的現代化努力。因此，在這種情況下，他們正在與我們一起投資。而且支出正在增加。但它的好處在於新產品、服務和新開發的不斷增加，從而增加了資本額度。

Last for me, when you look at the marketplace side, you're obviously pretty happy with what's happening there. Could you maybe break it into 2 pieces, sort of the successes you're having with people you've had as partners there for a couple of quarters. And then maybe more recent activities, how you're feeling about newer partners being added that will be the fuel for the future?

最後對我來說，當你觀察市場方面時，你顯然對那裡發生的事情非常滿意。您能否將其分成兩部分，即您與您作為合作夥伴在幾個季度中取得的成功。然後也許是最近的活動，您對添加新合作夥伴（這將成為未來的燃料）有何感想？

Yes. I think from the marketplace, a couple of things. First of all, our ability to find partners and have partners who want to do business with us is high. So really feel good about that. I think, the first partnerships that are live, whether it's Equifax or H&R Block or Intuit, those are really strong partnerships. What I would tell you, a lot of them are multiyear in nature. So, we signed an agreement with 401(k) vendor Vestwell.

是的。我認為從市場來看，有幾件事。首先，我們尋找合作夥伴並擁有願意與我們開展業務的合作夥伴的能力很高。所以真的感覺很好。我認為，第一批建立的合作夥伴關係，無論是 Equifax、H&R Block 還是 Intuit，都是非常強大的合作夥伴關係。我要告訴你的是，其中很多都是多年性質的。因此，我們與 401(k) 供應商 Vestwell 簽署了協議。

Clearly, the ZayZoon partnership is underway. You will see more partnerships being signed. I think, all of them have a little bit of a different economics around it. And then, a lot of them have different lead times, where it might be a quarter, 6 months or a year as you layer it in. So long term, feel really good about the partnership opportunities. I feel good about the Biz Dev team and what they're putting together from a technology service organization, we kind of leg into each partnership in a different way, but suffice to say the future is bright in that area.

顯然，ZayZoon 的合作夥伴關係正在進行中。您將看到更多的合作夥伴關係正在簽署。我認為，他們都有一些不同的經濟學原理。然後，他們中的很多人都有不同的交付時間，根據你的層次來看，可能是一個季度、六個月或一年。所以從長遠來看，對合作機會感到非常滿意。我對 Biz Dev 團隊以及他們從技術服務組織中組建的團隊感到滿意，我們以不同的方式參與每個合作夥伴關係，但足以說明該領域的未來是光明的。

Our next question comes from the line of Josh Reilly with Needham & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Needham & Company 的 Josh Reilly。

Nice job on getting these ERTC deals through. We've discussed this a little bit, but maybe can we give some more details on how the pipeline is shaping up for the rest of the year on the ERTC processing deals? And obviously, the guidance doesn't include much for Q3 or Q4 there. And then along with that, can we get some -- are there any proof points or commentary you can share with us about how the ERTC deals have been leading to cross-selling of other Asure solutions?

ERTC 的這些交易順利通過，幹得不錯。我們已經對此進行了一些討論，但也許我們可以提供更多有關今年剩餘時間內 ERTC 處理交易的進展情況的詳細信息嗎？顯然，該指南並未包含第三季度或第四季度的太多內容。除此之外，我們能否得到一些關於 ERTC 交易如何導致其他 Asure 解決方案交叉銷售的證據或評論？

Yes. I think from -- first of all, from a ERTC solutions, we have bundled with HR compliance and payroll and have some pretty good attach rates. Probably #1 is HR compliance. Second is payroll. So that's been very, very strong. When we look at guidance for the rest of the year, we anticipate that ERTC backlog will turn into revenue and maybe not as fast a pace the second quarter, but we'll still be there. We talked a little bit about '24, and we'll have more color next quarter.

是的。我認為，首先，從 ERTC 解決方案來看，我們將人力資源合規性和工資單捆綁在一起，並擁有一些相當不錯的附加率。可能#1 是人力資源合規性。其次是工資。所以這非常非常強大。當我們審視今年剩餘時間的指導時，我們預計 ERTC 積壓訂單將轉化為收入，而且第二季度的速度可能不會那麼快，但我們仍將保持不變。我們討論了一些關於 24 年的事情，下個季度我們將會有更多的色彩。

As far as kind of our ability to execute, what I'm really excited about is now that we've connected small business owners to government programs and access to capital, the Secure Act 2.0, where you have multiple states now requiring 401(k) plans. And we sit on that data so we can tell if they're compliant or not. We then have -- give them not only the ability to set up 401(k)s, but also allow them to get government credits on the matching and the matching of funds. So there, again, we're not only helping them be compliant, but we're also helping them get access to money to start the program to be compliant.

就我們的執行能力而言，我真正感到興奮的是，現在我們已經將小企業主與政府計劃和資本獲取渠道（《安全法案 2.0》）聯繫起來，其中多個州現在要求 401(k ）計劃。我們根據這些數據來判斷它們是否合規。然後，我們不僅賦予他們設立 401(k) 計劃的能力，還允許他們在匹配和資金匹配方面獲得政府信貸。因此，我們不僅幫助他們合規，而且還幫助他們獲得資金來啟動合規計劃。

So that's a very strong trend. There's other tax credits that our tax engine can process on behalf of small businesses. So we'll keep connecting there. So we have a multiyear strategy around this -- we're just getting going. Clearly, ERTC in the second quarter probably over-exceeded expectations a bit. But the way we're setting this up, we're -- early, early innings to a multiyear growth plan.

所以這是一個非常強勁的趨勢。我們的稅收引擎還可以代表小型企業處理其他稅收抵免。所以我們會在那裡保持聯繫。因此，我們為此制定了一項多年戰略——我們剛剛開始行動。顯然，第二季度的 ERTC 可能有點超出預期。但就我們制定的方式而言，我們正處於多年增長計劃的早期階段。

I'll kind of add one thing too, just in terms of the mechanics. We don't have a lot of ERTC that sits in languages, right? Because of the nature of our engine and what we've built, we're very efficient. So once we've got it to the closing, it turns around pretty quick in terms of our ability to process on behalf of the client. So that's one of the things I think our advantage is, because once they get into the funnel, they go through it pretty quick.

我還會添加一件事，只是在機制方面。我們沒有太多語言方面的 ERTC，對嗎？由於我們發動機的性質和我們所製造的產品，我們非常高效。因此，一旦我們完成了交易，我們代表客戶進行處理的能力就會很快得到改善。這就是我認為我們的優勢之一，因為一旦他們進入渠道，他們就會很快完成它。

Got it. That's helpful. And then, on the digital marketing that you mentioned that you're doing a little bit more now, what exactly are you doing differently there maybe? And any proof points there on what that's been driving for you guys?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後，關於您提到的數字營銷，您現在做得更多了一點，您到底做了什麼不同的事情？有什麼證據可以證明這對你們來說有什麼推動作用嗎？

Yes, a couple of things. First of all, our HR study that we announced, that's an example of our thought leadership. And even though we have a study here and a survey and then we linked small business success with best-in-class HR practices. Well, by the way, we can offer that, that gives us content for almost a year, and it allows us to have the messaging. And then, when you think about before '23 here, our investment in SalesLoft, Salesforce, ZoomInfo, it gives us content. It gives us repeatable marketing. So now it's best-in-class content management.

是的，有幾件事。首先，我們宣布的人力資源研究是我們思想領導力的一個例子。儘管我們在這裡進行了一項研究和一項調查，然後我們將小型企業的成功與一流的人力資源實踐聯繫起來。好吧，順便說一句，我們可以提供這一點，這為我們提供了近一年的內容，並且它使我們能夠獲得消息。然後，當你想到 23 年前，我們對 SalesLoft、Salesforce、ZoomInfo 的投資時，它為我們提供了內容。它為我們提供了可重複的營銷。所以現在它是一流的內容管理。

We also do some other MQL marketing or digital marketing based on keywords, et cetera, but we're driving people to have engagement with Asure. The other day, we had a sales kind of quarter 2 and review. And the average customer, in some cases, is engaging with us 6x, 7x, 8x where they're looking and consuming our content and then making decisions to go with us around a program. So that's the kind of engagement we want.

我們還進行一些其他基於關鍵字的 MQL 營銷或數字營銷等，但我們正在推動人們與 Asure 互動。前幾天，我們進行了第二季度的銷售和回顧。在某些情況下，普通客戶會與我們互動 6 次、7 次、8 次，他們會查看和消費我們的內容，然後做出與我們合作的計劃。這就是我們想要的參與。

In the old days, you were knocking on doors or you were doing telephone calls. Here, the client gets to try you out on various thought leadership pieces or the website. And then, when they're ready to buy, we're there for them, and we're there in an automated way. So we've just been more efficient in continuing to drive new clients.

過去，你會敲門或者打電話。在這裡，客戶可以嘗試您的各種思想領導力作品或網站。然後，當他們準備購買時，我們就會以自動化的方式為他們服務。因此，我們在繼續吸引新客戶方面變得更加高效。

And when you think about our productivity in the quarter, we had a very strong quarter, and that's coming off an 87% compare. So I couldn't be more pleased with our marketing sales efforts.

當你考慮我們本季度的生產力時，我們有一個非常強勁的季度，與 87% 的比較相比。因此，我對我們的營銷銷售工作非常滿意。

Got it. That's great. And then, maybe one just last housekeeping question for me. How has the sales headcount trended year-to-date? I think, you mentioned it's around 100 now. Is that 100?

知道了。那太棒了。然後，也許是我最後一個家政問題。今年迄今為止，銷售人員的趨勢如何？我想，你提到現在大約是100。那是100嗎？

We were 98 -- Josh, I think, we're 98 as we speak. Beginning of the year, Randal, maybe we were somewhere around 88 or so. So we probably trended up 10. I anticipate, we'll be closer to 120 sometime in '24. So we're continuing to look to hire. And by the same token, we're not just chasing a number. We're chasing quality. And if we fall a little short in that area and get better quality, that's right where we want to be.

我們已經 98 歲了——喬什，我想，我們現在已經 98 歲了。今年年初，蘭德爾，我們可能在 88 歲左右。所以我們可能會上升 10。我預計，我們將在 24 年的某個時候接近 120。因此，我們正在繼續尋找人才。出於同樣的原因，我們不只是追逐一個數字。我們追求品質。如果我們在這方面有所欠缺並獲得更好的質量，那就是我們想要達到的目標。

Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Van Rhee with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum Capital Group 的 Jeff Van Rhee。

Appreciate it, and really nice quarter here guys. A few questions. Pat, on the unique tax ID numbers, just what are you growing there in terms of TINs on the payroll platform? And then, does that mark acceleration or steady growth over maybe the past couple of quarters?

非常感謝，伙計們，這裡真是一個美好的季度。幾個問題。帕特，關於唯一的稅號，您在工資平台上的 TIN 方面到底增長了什麼？那麼，這是否標誌著過去幾個季度的加速或穩定增長？

Yes. We will publish unique identifiers, I think, once a year. What I would say is probably steady growth. I think, retention has been very positive. As far as new sales, I know we're adding more customers than we're losing, which is a very positive side. And then, we're getting better attach rates than HR compliance. Obviously, we've talked about tax, the marketplace, et cetera. But I would say it's steady growth. I do think from a new product perspective, our partnership with AWS, et cetera, will continue to grow. But once a year we published the EINs, and I would say we'd have steady growth.

是的。我認為，我們將每年發布一次唯一標識符。我想說的可能是穩定增長。我認為，保留率非常積極。就新銷售而言，我知道我們增加的客戶數量多於失去的客戶數量，這是非常積極的一面。然後，我們獲得了比人力資源合規性更高的附加率。顯然，我們已經討論了稅收、市場等等。但我想說的是穩定增長。我確實認為從新產品的角度來看，我們與 AWS 等的合作夥伴關係將繼續發展。但我們每年都會發布一次 EIN，我想說我們會穩步增長。

Yes. Okay. Very helpful. And maybe just to expand a second on HR compliance. A little surprised given at least the manual component of that, that it levered to the degree it did. Maybe you expand on that a second? And when I say leverage, I mean, the operating leverage.

是的。好的。很有幫助。也許只是想擴展一下人力資源合規性。至少考慮到其中的手動部分，它的槓桿作用達到瞭如此程度，這有點令人驚訝。也許你可以再擴展一下這個問題？當我說槓桿時，我指的是運營槓桿。

Yes, Jeff, one of the things that I think is a misnomer is there's not a ton of manual effort. When you think about, let's say, a handbook, we automate best practices within the handbook. So it is a lot of it to rinse and repeat. Some of the government legislation, et cetera, is pretty automated. Some of the best practices are. And then, we have kind of a use it or lose it philosophy, where in some cases, it's almost an insurance policy where you have small businesses that they want somebody in the huddle, and it's a long way from HR professional to employment attorney. So what they're looking for is sometimes they get very sticky situations. And if you think about even coming out of COVID, people working from home, hybrid, do they have to come in to work, how to -- what if they don't? Do I have separate rules for separate people. There's all kinds of complexity.

是的，傑夫，我認為用詞不當的一件事是沒有大量的手動工作。當您想到一本手冊時，我們會在手冊中自動執行最佳實踐。所以需要大量的沖洗和重複。一些政府立法等是相當自動化的。一些最佳實踐是。然後，我們有一種使用它或失去它的哲學，在某些情況下，這幾乎是一種保險單，你有小企業，他們希望有人參與進來，從人力資源專業人士到就業律師還有很長的路要走。所以他們所尋找的是有時他們會遇到非常棘手的情況。如果你想一想，即使是從新冠疫情中走出來，人們在家工作，混合式工作，他們是否必須來上班，如何——如果他們不上班怎麼辦？我對不同的人有不同的規則嗎？有各種各樣的複雜性。

And then, some of it, too, is just if you think about minimum wage, 10 years ago, we had 1 minimum wage and it was at the federal level. Well, now there's places in California, you have 4 levels of minimum wage, whether it's the City, the County, the State or the Federal government, and the small business owner is throwing up his hands and saying, "Hey, help me". So we have been able to automate in such a way where there's a lot of leverage to that model. We have pretty good pricing power. And we set it up a way where we're very pleased with the results, top and bottom line.

然後，其中一些也是，如果你考慮一下最低工資，10 年前，我們有 1 個最低工資，而且是聯邦水平。好吧，現在加州有些地方，有 4 個級別的最低工資，無論是市、縣、州還是聯邦政府，小企業主都舉手說：“嘿，幫幫我” 。因此，我們已經能夠以這種方式實現自動化，該模型有很多槓桿作用。我們有相當好的定價能力。我們設置的方式讓我們對結果、頂線和底線都非常滿意。

Fair enough. One last one, just on the competitive landscape. The [PAYX] have talked a lot about coming down market. Is that -- are you seeing more of that group or any change in particular from [your scene?]

很公平。最後一點是關於競爭格局。 [PAYX] 已經談論了很多關於下降市場的事情。那是——你是否看到了更多關於這個群體的內容，或者[你的場景]有什麼特別的變化？

No. We see Gusto, Paychex, ADP and occasionally, we'll see the PAYX, but I don't see those companies on a regular basis.

不會。我們會看到 Gusto、Paychex、ADP，偶爾也會看到 PAYX，但我不會經常看到這些公司。

Our next question comes from the line of Vincent Colicchio with Barrington Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Barrington Research 的 Vincent Colicchio。

Yes. Nice quarter, Pat. Curious about the bookings growth breakdown between new and existing clients?

是的。不錯的季度，帕特。對新客戶和現有客戶之間的預訂增長細分感到好奇嗎？

We're pretty strong and new. We're probably about historically about 60/40. We were right in line with 60 new, 40 existing. So we've had some really good growth in new logos. We also had very strong growth in digital products and services, especially the introduction of some of the products I mentioned around whether it's tax or marketplace or HR compliance.

我們很強大而且很新。從歷史上看，我們的比例可能約為 60/40。我們正好有 60 個新的、40 個現有的。所以我們在新標識方面取得了一些非常好的增長。我們在數字產品和服務方面也取得了非常強勁的增長，尤其是我提到的一些產品的推出，無論是稅收、市場還是人力資源合規性。

How is the tax product revenue versus your plan? And when do you expect to make the improvements you're currently working on? When do you expect to complete that?

稅收產品收入與您的計劃相比如何？您預計什麼時候能夠實現目前正在進行的改進？您預計什麼時候完成？

Yes. I don't think we had a ton built in up to this stage. I think, that you'll start to see it become more meaningful. Second I mean, probably fourth quarter '24. But again, we weren't playing a ton into this year by trying to build the foundation. So I think it really starts to kick in as we talk about next year.

是的。我認為我們在這個階段還沒有做太多的準備。我想，你會開始發現它變得更有意義。第二，我的意思是，可能是 24 年第四季度。但同樣，我們今年並沒有在努力建立基礎方面投入大量精力。所以我認為當我們談論明年時它真的開始發揮作用。

Yes. To John's point, Vince, A lot of -- well, I think you'll see very strong bookings in tax. But because of the nature, whether it's workday or some of the books of business attacks, the install times are a little bit longer than 10 employee payroll. So you'll see that play in, in a meaningful way on revenue in '24, but we're really excited about marketing and the booking potential.

是的。對於約翰的觀點，文斯，很多——嗯，我想你會看到非常強勁的稅收預訂。但由於性質的原因，無論是工作日還是一些商業攻擊書籍，安裝時間都比 10 名員工的工資單要長一點。因此，您會看到這種影響在 24 年對收入產生有意義的影響，但我們對營銷和預訂潛力感到非常興奮。

And then I was trying to -- what I was trying to ask is the current improvements you're making to the tax product. When will those be complete? And do you expect that to significantly improve traction?

然後我試圖——我想問的是你們目前對稅收產品所做的改進。這些什麼時候才能完成？您認為這會顯著提高牽引力嗎？

I don't think it's ever completed, right? Because I mean, especially if you're going upmarket to some of these enterprise accounts, you're always going to have to be investing in it. So I don't think -- it's not a big bang. It's not like this one day that this thing is going to be completed. So, it's just -- it's an ongoing process from my perspective.

我認為它還沒有完成，對嗎？因為我的意思是，特別是如果您要進入其中一些企業帳戶的高端市場，您總是必須對其進行投資。所以我不認為——這不是一次大爆炸。這件事可不是這麼一天就能完成的。所以，從我的角度來看，這是一個持續的過程。

And then lastly, on acquisitions. Is this something that we should see happen in the next 6 months or so?

最後，關於收購。這是我們應該在未來 6 個月左右看到的事情嗎？

I think so. I mean, look, we've been pretty consistent on this one since the beginning of the year that we were going to take a hiatus try to focus on the core business. But it's clearly part of our model. I mean, it's something that we think makes a lot of sense in terms of being very accretive from a cash generation perspective. So it's something that we think we've perfected. But I think we'll opportunistically look and see if we can find some stuff back half of this year and going into '24. But there's nothing imminent, we don't have anything under a letter of intent at this point.

我想是這樣。我的意思是，看，自今年年初以來，我們在這方面一直非常一致，我們將暫停一段時間，嘗試專注於核心業務。但這顯然是我們模型的一部分。我的意思是，我們認為從現金生成的角度來看，這是非常有意義的。所以我們認為我們已經完善了這一點。但我認為我們會機會主義地看看是否能在今年下半年和進入 24 年後找到一些東西。但目前還沒有什麼迫在眉睫的事情，我們目前還沒有任何意向書。

Our next question comes from the line of Greg Gibas with Northland Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Northland Securities 的 Greg Gibas。

Great. Congrats on the strong results. I wanted to get a sense because I think the ERTC solutions activity was -- provided some upside relative to expectations. And I guess just whether in your maybe full year outlook, just trying to get a sense of how much of that strength in the professional services and other continues into the back half. I mean, what's kind of implied in your outlook for the year?

偉大的。祝賀取得的強勁成果。我想了解一下，因為我認為 ERTC 解決方案活動相對於預期提供了一些好處。我想，在你的全年展望中，是否只是想了解一下專業服務和其他方面的優勢有多少會持續到下半年。我的意思是，您對今年的展望意味著什麼？

Yes. I think that was asked -- I think, there was a question earlier, I tried to answer the same way. Hopefully, I'll answer it the same way. But I think we -- when we look at kind of our guidance in the back half of the year, we look at it being kind of back to normal in terms of that line item. And historically, it's been a couple of million dollars over the last few years in that line. And so, we didn't forecast -- and are implicit in our guidance, huge numbers for that. But again, just because of the nature of the pipeline and how quickly it turns through and in fact, that it is nonrecurring in nature. It's just not as predictable as the recurring line item, obviously.

是的。我認為有人問過這個問題——我想，之前有一個問題，我試圖以同樣的方式回答。希望我也會以同樣的方式回答。但我認為，當我們查看今年下半年的指導時，我們認為該訂單項已恢復正常。從歷史上看，過去幾年這方面的投資已經達到了幾百萬美元。因此，我們沒有預測——並且在我們的指導中隱含了巨大的數字。但同樣，只是因為管道的性質及其周轉速度，事實上，它本質上是非重複性的。顯然，它不像重複訂單項那麼可預測。

Yes. And Greg, what I would say, second quarter was 21% reoccurring. There's really no ERTC in that line. So -- and we think we have the ability to keep going on the reoccurring line in some of the products we talked about, give us reason for that conviction. So we'll continue to grow that. And then, what I would tell you is the ability to sell kind of the processing of the ERTC credits, now we move that over time in the 401(k) and tax credits around WOTC, et cetera.

是的。格雷格，我想說的是，第二季度重複發生率為 21%。這條線上確實沒有 ERTC。因此，我們認為我們有能力在我們討論的一些產品中繼續重複出現的產品線，這讓我們有理由相信這一點。所以我們將繼續發展這一點。然後，我要告訴你的是出售 ERTC 抵免處理的能力，現在我們隨著時間的推移將其轉移到 401(k) 和 WOTC 周圍的稅收抵免等中。

And there's other things that we have the ability to go. I think, you'll see some line extensions in that area that will bear fruit in '24. But the reoccurring revenue of this business being up 20%, both the first quarter and the second quarter year gives us pretty good optimism heading into the back half of 2023.

我們還有能力去做其他事情。我認為，您會看到該領域的一些產品線延伸，並將在 24 年取得成果。但該業務第一季度和第二季度的經常性收入均增長了 20%，這讓我們對 2023 年下半年充滿樂觀。

Perfect. Very helpful. And I know you broke out -- you said bookings growth was kind of 60/40 new versus existing. Apologies if I missed it, but did you break out bookings growth in the quarter?

完美的。很有幫助。我知道你爆發了——你說新訂票量增長與現有訂票量增長是 60/40。如果我錯過了，我很抱歉，但是您是否公佈了本季度的預訂增長情況？

Have we broken it out before?

我們以前打破過它嗎？

No, just wondering what was -- sorry, in Q2 bookings growth.

不，只是想知道第二季度的預訂量增長情況如何。

All right. We were about 60/40. I would tell you, we've hovered between 40/60, 50/50, 60/40, depending on products and depending on kind of where we're at. Our new logos has been particularly strong here the last 6 to 9 months. And that is an investment in marketing and both the digital marketing as well as the content that we had and our HR survey, if you go to assuresoftware.com, you can get a copy of that survey. But that's some of the thought leadership that's been -- we've been able to monetize into new logos, and that's been very successful.

好的。我們的比例大約是 60/40。我想告訴你，我們徘徊在 40/60、50/50、60/40 之間，具體取決於產品和我們所處的位置。過去 6 到 9 個月，我們的新徽標在這里特別引人注目。這是對營銷、數字營銷以及我們的內容和人力資源調查的投資，如果您訪問 Ensuresoftware.com，您可以獲得該調查的副本。但這是一些思想領導力——我們已經能夠通過新徽標獲利，而且非常成功。

And then, as far as the growth rate of some of the services and products that we offer, the attach rates have been up on the new logos, which is very, very strong. But that's led to some of the new logo growth. That's probably more so than we've had in past years.

然後，就我們提供的一些服務和產品的增長率而言，新徽標的附加率已經上升，這是非常非常強勁的。但這導致了一些新標誌的增長。這可能比我們過去幾年的情況還要嚴重。

Okay. Got it.

好的。知道了。

Operator, any more questions?

接線員，還有什麼問題嗎？

There are no further questions. Therefore, I'll turn it back over to you, Pat, for closing remarks.

沒有其他問題了。因此，帕特，我將把它轉回給你做結束語。

Well, great. Hey being here, gosh, almost 14 years now. Really proud of the staff. There's always 4 constituents that I think of in running a business.

嗯，太好了。嘿，天哪，已經快 14 年了。真的為員工感到自豪。在經營一家企業時，我總是會考慮四個要素。

It's the employees that we have, and they've done an outstanding job. It's the clients we serve. And on behalf of the 1.7 million employees that we serve and 100,000 clients we serve, really good to see the momentum. The investors are a big piece of -- we want to satisfy from a financial return, and year-over-year, we've had pretty strong stock performance. We're not satisfied. We want to continue to improve that. And then, it's the communities we serve. We have a good fortune of being in a number of cities across the United States, and we always want to help in a community.

這是我們擁有的員工，他們的工作非常出色。這是我們服務的客戶。我代表我們服務的 170 萬名員工和 10 萬客戶，很高興看到這一勢頭。投資者是我們的重要組成部分——我們希望從財務回報中得到滿足，而且與去年同期相比，我們的股票表現相當強勁。我們不滿意。我們希望繼續改進這一點。然後，是我們服務的社區。我們很幸運能夠在美國的許多城市工作，並且我們始終希望為社區提供幫助。

Really positive of where we're at. I feel like we have a long way to go. We've not yet reached our potential and we'll do so over time. And this gives us a great jumping off point. Look forward to seeing you next time and appreciate your interest in Asure. Bye now.

對我們所處的位置非常積極。我感覺我們還有很長的路要走。我們尚未發揮我們的潛力，隨著時間的推移，我們將會實現這一點。這給了我們一個很好的起點。期待您下次光臨，感謝您對 Asure 的興趣。再見了。

And this concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束，大家可以掛斷電話了。感謝您的參與。