Aware Inc (AWRE) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to Aware's fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings conference call. Joining us today is the company's CEO and President, Robert Eckel; CFO, David Barcelo; and CRO, Craig Herman. Following their remarks, we'll open the call for questions. (Conference Instructions)

下午好，歡迎來到 Aware 的第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。今天加入我們的是公司的首席執行官兼總裁 Robert Eckel；首席財務官大衛·巴塞羅；和 CRO，Craig Herman。在他們發言後，我們將開始提問。 （會議須知）

Before we begin today's call, I'd like to remind everyone that the presentation contains forward-looking statements that are based on the current expectations of Aware's management and involve inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described.

在我們開始今天的電話會議之前，我想提醒大家，該演示文稿包含基於 Aware 管理層當前預期的前瞻性陳述，涉及固有風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與描述的結果存在重大差異。

Listeners should take note of the Safe Harbor paragraph that is included at the end of today's press release. This paragraph emphasizes the major uncertainties and risks inherent in forward-looking statements the management will be making today. Aware wishes to caution you that there are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties are also outlined in the company's SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

聽眾應該注意今天新聞稿末尾的安全港段落。本段強調了管理層今天將做出的前瞻性陳述中固有的主要不確定性和風險。 Aware 提醒您，有些因素可能會導致實際結果與此類聲明所指示的結果大不相同。公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中也概述了這些風險和不確定性，包括其 10-K 表格年度報告和 10-Q 表格季度報告。

Any forward-looking statements should be considered in light of these factors. You're cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Although it may voluntarily do so from time to time, Aware undertakes no commitment to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities law.

應根據這些因素考慮任何前瞻性陳述。請注意不要過分依賴任何前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅代表截至發表之日的情況。儘管它可能會不時自願這樣做，但 Aware 不承諾更新或修改前瞻性陳述，無論是由於新信息、未來事件或其他原因，除非適用的證券法要求。

Additionally, the call contains certain non-GAAP financial measures as the term is defined by the SEC in Regulation G. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information presented in compliance with GAAP.

此外，電話會議還包含某些非 GAAP 財務措施，因為該術語由美國證券交易委員會在條例 G 中定義。非 GAAP 財務措施不應孤立於或替代根據 GAAP 提供的財務信息。

Accordingly, Aware has provided a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in the company's earnings release issued today.

因此，Aware 在公司今天發布的收益報告中提供了非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比的 GAAP 指標的對賬。

This presentation will be recorded and made available for replay via link in the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

該演示文稿將被記錄下來，並可通過公司網站投資者關係部分的鏈接進行重播。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to our CEO and President, Bob Eckel. Bob?

現在我想把電話轉給我們的首席執行官兼總裁 Bob Eckel。鮑勃？

Thanks, Matt. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. After the market close, we issued a press release with our results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. A copy of the press release is available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

謝謝，馬特。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。收市後，我們發布了一份新聞稿，其中包含我們截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的第四季度和財政年度的業績。新聞稿的副本可在我們網站的投資者關係部分獲取。

On today's call, I will begin by discussing our financial and operational performance for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2022. Then I'll review the progress we've made positioning our company to realize greater scale and sustainable growth. Afterwards, our CFO, Dave Barcelo, will provide additional details on our fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 performance. Next, our CRO, Craig Herman, will discuss our strategic initiatives to bolster sales and advance our go-to-market efforts. Finally, I'll review our key business drivers and 2023 outlook before opening the call to questions.

在今天的電話會議上，我將首先討論我們第四季度和 2022 年全年的財務和運營業績。然後我將回顧我們在定位公司以實現更大規模和可持續增長方面取得的進展。之後，我們的首席財務官 Dave Barcelo 將提供有關我們 2022 年第四季度和全年業績的更多詳細信息。接下來，我們的首席風險官克雷格·赫爾曼 (Craig Herman) 將討論我們的戰略舉措，以促進銷售和推進我們的上市工作。最後，在開始提問之前，我將回顧一下我們的主要業務驅動因素和 2023 年展望。

For those of you who may be new to our company, let me step back for a moment and provide a brief overview of who we are and what we do. Aware is an identity platform partner working to enhance trust in an increasingly connected world. Our mission is to balance security and user experience through technology for the few and at scale. We reduce fraud and enable compliance and security needs as well as improve business efficiencies through offerings that address identity challenges of today, while preparing for identity challenges in the future. These offerings facilitate digital onboarding, authentication, and lifecycle management of the user's biometric identity through proven and trusted multimodal adaptive biometrics. Adaptive, meaning configured, sometimes preconfigured. It's based on a customer's technical capability as well as the use case and the end users' risk profile.

對於那些可能不熟悉我們公司的人，讓我退後一步，簡要概述一下我們是誰以及我們做什麼。 Aware 是一個身份平台合作夥伴，致力於在日益互聯的世界中增強信任。我們的使命是通過技術為少數人大規模地平衡安全性和用戶體驗。我們通過解決當今身份挑戰的產品減少欺詐並滿足合規性和安全需求並提高業務效率，同時為未來的身份挑戰做好準備。這些產品通過經過驗證且值得信賴的多模式自適應生物識別技術，促進用戶生物識別身份的數字入職、身份驗證和生命週期管理。自適應，意味著配置，有時是預配置。它基於客戶的技術能力以及用例和最終用戶的風險狀況。

2023 marks our 30th anniversary and has given me pause to reflect on both the old and the new. For 30 years, we've led with deep rooted systems-level technical expertise and algorithms, trained on the most diverse operational data sets in the world. Our reputation in the biometric industry has earned us trusted spots with many governments. And today, our technology can be found in all three branches of the US federal government, more than 80 government agencies, and over 300 law enforcement agencies worldwide.

2023 年是我們成立 30 週年，讓我停下來反思新舊事物。 30 年來，我們憑藉根深蒂固的系統級技術專長和算法處於領先地位，並接受了世界上最多樣化的運營數據集的培訓。我們在生物識別行業的聲譽為我們贏得了許多政府的信任。今天，我們的技術可以在美國聯邦政府的所有三個部門、80 多個政府機構和全球 300 多個執法機構中找到。

And while we cherish our roots and work hard to maintain our loyal customer base, we have actively shifted the company over the last three years. Our business model has changed. Our culture has changed. Our infrastructure has changed. And our target customers now include a growing portion of commercial clients, which contribute to over a quarter of our revenue.

在我們珍惜我們的根並努力維護我們忠實的客戶群的同時，我們在過去三年中積極地改變了公司。我們的商業模式已經改變。我們的文化已經改變。我們的基礎設施發生了變化。我們的目標客戶現在包括越來越多的商業客戶，它們貢獻了我們超過四分之一的收入。

We focused our technology to provide enterprise solutions for digital onboarding and authentication across verticals and to maximize business efficiencies. Those of you following our story for the past couple of years now know that this transformation has been accomplished with a significant shift towards recurring revenue, which hit approximately $10 million in 2022.

我們專注於我們的技術，為跨垂直行業的數字入職和身份驗證提供企業解決方案，並最大限度地提高業務效率。過去幾年關注我們故事的人現在知道，隨著經常性收入的重大轉變，這一轉變已經完成，2022 年經常性收入達到約 1000 萬美元。

Now that you understand more about who we are and what we do, I'd like to shift gears to discuss our operational and financial accomplishments during 2022. At a high level, 2022 can be best characterized as an impactful transition year for Aware where we further solidified and strengthened our organization and our technology offerings as well as positioning Aware for greater scale and profitable growth in years to come.

現在您對我們是誰和我們做什麼有了更多的了解，我想換個話題來討論我們在 2022 年的運營和財務成就。在較高的層面上，2022 年可以最好地描述為 Aware 有影響力的過渡年，我們在這裡進一步鞏固和加強了我們的組織和我們的技術產品，並將 Aware 定位為在未來幾年實現更大的規模和盈利增長。

During 2022, we applied a deep focus on advancing and solidifying our solutions, product infrastructure, fulfillment mechanisms, and processes, as well as accelerating recurring customer growth. The changes we made over the last several months, including enhancing our sales team, refining our go-to-market execution, and establishing a customer success team have positioned us to grow and expand our market share with our Knomi and BioSP offerings as well as capitalize on AwareID, our new cloud base SaaS solution.

在 2022 年期間，我們將重點放在推進和鞏固我們的解決方案、產品基礎設施、履行機制和流程，以及加速經常性客戶增長上。我們在過去幾個月中做出的改變，包括加強我們的銷售團隊、改進我們的上市執行以及建立客戶成功團隊，使我們能夠通過我們的 Knomi 和 BioSP 產品以及利用我們新的基於雲的 SaaS 解決方案 AwareID。

Our customer success team has already made a noticeable impact on our organization and sales effort. Established over the course of Q4, the team focused on accelerating customer onboarding, retaining and expanding existing customers through improved customer satisfaction and personal attention, and driving overall success in using Aware's technology. In fact, already this quarter, our customer success team was instrumental in bringing a key new customer live as well as enabling several customer renewals.

我們的客戶成功團隊已經對我們的組織和銷售工作產生了顯著影響。該團隊在第四季度成立，專注於通過提高客戶滿意度和個人關注度來加速客戶入職、留住和擴大現有客戶，並推動使用 Aware 技術的整體成功。事實上，就在本季度，我們的客戶成功團隊在幫助關鍵新客戶上線以及促成多個客戶續約方面發揮了重要作用。

Additionally, the customer success team is central to reducing the onboarding time for integrated resellers, while allowing the sales team to focus on selling. Our partner reseller strategy is a key component to our go-to-market strategy, and we are encouraged by the success we have built in this area.

此外，客戶成功團隊對於減少集成經銷商的入職時間至關重要，同時允許銷售團隊專注於銷售。我們的合作夥伴經銷商戰略是我們進入市場戰略的關鍵組成部分，我們對在該領域取得的成功感到鼓舞。

During 2022, we added seven new Knomi resellers across multiple geographies, including Latin America, the UK, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan. In addition to reinvigorating our sales teams and go-to-market strategies, we expanded and filled out our product portfolio. We launched AwareID back in October and have been working diligently to advance customer adoption of our cloud platform that can be provided as a SaaS or controlled and deployed in the customer environment.

2022 年，我們在多個地區新增了七個 Knomi 經銷商，包括拉丁美洲、英國、埃及、摩洛哥和約旦。除了重振我們的銷售團隊和上市戰略之外，我們還擴展並充實了我們的產品組合。我們早在 10 月份就推出了 AwareID，並一直在努力推動客戶採用我們的雲平台，該平台可以作為 SaaS 提供，也可以在客戶環境中進行控制和部署。

Furthermore, we leverage customer feedback to develop pre-bundled high-demand configurations of BioSP to accelerate deployments and extend product reach to customers who previously didn't have the time or resources to integrate or configure by BioSP. The BioSP product line realized increased market acceptance in 2022, and these pre-bundled configurations are expected to further expand accessibility of this foundational offering.

此外，我們利用客戶反饋來開發 BioSP 的預捆綁高需求配置，以加速部署並將產品範圍擴展到以前沒有時間或資源通過 BioSP 進行集成或配置的客戶。 BioSP 產品線在 2022 年實現了更高的市場接受度，這些預捆綁配置有望進一步擴大這一基礎產品的可及性。

In Q4, we also completed the full integration of Fortress ID's technology, a highly complementary business we acquired in December of 2021. This expanded our offerings around identity proofing to directly address financial compliance requirements, enable organizations to mitigate risks, and curtail fraud.

在第四季度，我們還完成了 Fortress ID 技術的全面整合，這是我們在 2021 年 12 月收購的一項高度互補的業務。這擴展了我們圍繞身份證明提供的產品，以直接滿足財務合規性要求，使組織能夠降低風險並減少欺詐。

Lastly, throughout 2022, we focused on optimizing our organizational resources to best position the company for success in 2023 and beyond. As part of this effort, we relocated our corporate headquarters to Burlington, Massachusetts, to a smaller, more modernized facility that better meets our needs.

最後，在整個 2022 年，我們專注於優化我們的組織資源，以使公司在 2023 年及以後取得成功。作為這項工作的一部分，我們將公司總部遷至馬薩諸塞州的伯靈頓，這裡是一個更小、更現代化的設施，可以更好地滿足我們的需求。

Before continuing with our initiatives for 2023, I'll turn the call over to Dave. He will walk you through our financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year. Dave, over to you.

在繼續我們 2023 年的計劃之前，我會把電話轉給戴夫。他將向您介紹我們第四季度和全年的財務業績。戴夫，交給你了。

Thank you, Bob, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Turning to our financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2022, our total revenue in the fourth quarter was $4.1 million, up 35% sequentially and up 2% from the $4 million in the same year-ago period. The sequential improvement in revenue was largely driven by increases in revenue attributed to Knomi and BioSP.

謝謝鮑勃，大家下午好。關於我們截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的第四季度和年度的財務業績，我們第四季度的總收入為 410 萬美元，環比增長 35%，比去年同期的 400 萬美元增長 2%。收入的連續改善主要是由 Knomi 和 BioSP 帶來的收入增長推動的。

For the 12 months ended December 31, 2022, total revenue was $16 million compared to $16.9 million in the same year-ago period. The decrease in revenue was primarily the result of lower revenue from perpetual software licenses and services, which is partially offset by increases in software maintenance revenue and revenue from subscription-based licenses. As such, recurring revenue grew 7% to a record $9.7 million in 2022 as we progress further on our business model transformation.

截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止的 12 個月，總收入為 1600 萬美元，而去年同期為 1690 萬美元。收入減少主要是由於永久軟件許可和服務收入減少，這部分被軟件維護收入和基於訂閱的許可收入的增加所抵消。因此，隨著我們在商業模式轉型方面取得進一步進展，經常性收入在 2022 年增長了 7%，達到創紀錄的 970 萬美元。

Now looking at our operating expenses. For the fourth quarter of 2022, our operating expenses increased to $6.1 million compared to $5.5 million in Q4 of last year. The operating expenses for the 12 months ended December 31, 2022, were $18.2 million, down from $23 million in 2021, which included the favorable impact of a $5.7 million gain in 2022 on the sale of our former corporate office.

現在看看我們的運營費用。 2022 年第四季度，我們的運營費用從去年第四季度的 550 萬美元增加到 610 萬美元。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止 12 個月的運營費用為 1820 萬美元，低於 2021 年的 2300 萬美元，其中包括 2022 年 570 萬美元收益對我們前公司辦公室出售的有利影響。

With regards to our profitability measures, operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $2 million, which compares to an operating loss of $1.5 million in the same year-ago period. For the full year, operating loss was $2.2 million compared to an operating loss of $6.1 million in 2021. The improvement in operating loss in 2022 was primarily due to the gain we recorded related to the sale of our corporate office, which was offset by a decrease in revenue, increase in sales and marketing expenses, as well as increase in G&A expenses.

關於我們的盈利能力指標，2022 年第四季度的運營虧損為 200 萬美元，而去年同期的運營虧損為 150 萬美元。全年營業虧損為 220 萬美元，而 2021 年營業虧損為 610 萬美元。2022 年營業虧損的改善主要是由於我們記錄的與出售公司辦公室相關的收益，該收益被收入減少，銷售和營銷費用增加，以及 G&A 費用增加。

For the fourth quarter of 2022, GAAP net loss totaled $1.8 million or $0.08 per diluted share compared to a GAAP net loss of $1.3 million or $0.06 per diluted share in the same year-ago period. For the full year of 2022, GAAP net loss totaled $1.7 million or $0.08 per diluted share compared to a GAAP net loss of $5.8 million, or $0.27 per diluted share in 2021.

2022 年第四季度，GAAP 淨虧損總計 180 萬美元或攤薄後每股 0.08 美元，而去年同期的 GAAP 淨虧損為 130 萬美元或攤薄後每股 0.06 美元。 2022 年全年，GAAP 淨虧損總計 170 萬美元或攤薄後每股 0.08 美元，而 2021 年 GAAP 淨虧損為 580 萬美元或攤薄後每股 0.27 美元。

Adjusted EBITDA loss for the fourth quarter, which we reconciled the GAAP net income in our earnings release, totaled $1.5 million, which compares to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $0.9 million in the same year ago period. For the 12 months ended December 31, 2022, adjusted EBITDA loss totaled $5.4 million compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $3.8 million in the prior year period.

第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 虧損總計 150 萬美元，而去年同期調整後的 EBITDA 虧損為 90 萬美元，我們在收益發布中調整了 GAAP 淨收入。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止 12 個月，調整後 EBITDA 虧損總計 540 萬美元，而去年同期調整後 EBITDA 虧損為 380 萬美元。

Switching gears to our balance sheet, we had $29 million in cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities at the end of the quarter compared to $31 million (sic - see press release, "$30 million") at the end of the prior quarter. We utilized $1.2 million of our cash to repurchase 628,000 shares of our common stock at an average price of $1.83 per share in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing the total amount of common shares repurchased in 2022 to 705,000, reducing outstanding shares by over 3% as we continue to be strategic in our stock buyback program and increased value for our existing shareholders.

切換到我們的資產負債表，我們在本季度末擁有 2900 萬美元的現金和現金等價物以及有價證券，而上一季度末為 3100 萬美元（原文如此 - 請參閱新聞稿，“3000 萬美元”）。我們動用了 120 萬美元的現金，在 2022 年第四季度以平均每股 1.83 美元的價格回購了 628,000 股普通股，使 2022 年回購的普通股總數達到 705,000 股，流通股減少了 3% 以上因為我們繼續在我們的股票回購計劃和增加現有股東的價值方面具有戰略意義。

Our balance sheet remains robust and provides us with the flexibility to allocate capital to opportunities with high ROI potential that align with our long-term expansion and product roadmaps. Along that line, we continue to evaluate strategic opportunities that would enable us to generate sustainable and predictable growth for 2023 and beyond.

我們的資產負債表保持穩健，使我們能夠靈活地將資本分配給具有高投資回報率潛力的機會，這些機會與我們的長期擴張和產品路線圖保持一致。沿著這條路線，我們繼續評估戰略機會，使我們能夠在 2023 年及以後實現可持續和可預測的增長。

This concludes my financial summary. And now our CRO, Craig Herman, will discuss our sales strategy. Craig?

我的財務摘要到此結束。現在我們的 CRO Craig Herman 將討論我們的銷售策略。克雷格？

Thank you, Dave. It's pleasure to be here with you today.

謝謝你，戴夫。很高興今天能和你們在一起。

Shifting to our sales and go-to-market initiatives, Bob touched on a few of the key customer wins that were a direct result of our customer success team and new product offerings. In particular, AwareID opportunities have started gaining momentum, and we are exploring several new marketplaces to expand our reach.

轉向我們的銷售和上市計劃，鮑勃談到了一些關鍵的客戶勝利，這是我們的客戶成功團隊和新產品的直接結果。特別是，AwareID 機會已經開始獲得動力，我們正在探索幾個新的市場以擴大我們的影響力。

In support of our customers, our SaaS offering rounds out our portfolio to ensure deployment flexibility that meets our customers' needs. We are still in a transitionary phase with select customers, especially those in the financial services space that prefer to have our solutions deployed on-prem or in their cloud instance, to be controlled and managed by them. Nevertheless, we are still onboarding new AwareID customers and working diligently to ramp customer adoption, whether as managed services, and therefore SaaS, or a license subscription.

為了支持我們的客戶，我們的 SaaS 產品完善了我們的產品組合，以確保滿足客戶需求的部署靈活性。我們仍處於過渡階段，選擇客戶，尤其是金融服務領域的客戶，他們更願意將我們的解決方案部署在本地或云實例中，由他們控制和管理。儘管如此，我們仍在招募新的 AwareID 客戶，並努力提高客戶的採用率，無論是作為託管服務，因此是 SaaS，還是許可證訂閱。

In parallel with expanding AwareID's reach, we are also realizing increased traction with Knomi, our mobile biometric authentication framework. Recently, we extended our contract and scope of work with one of the largest banking institutions in Latin America, which have been leveraging Knomi to prevent bank fraud among its more than 50 million customers globally.

在擴大 AwareID 的覆蓋範圍的同時，我們還通過我們的移動生物識別身份驗證框架 Knomi 實現了更大的吸引力。最近，我們擴大了與拉丁美洲最大的銀行機構之一的合同和工作範圍，該機構一直在利用 Knomi 來防止其全球超過 5000 萬客戶的銀行欺詐。

In terms of our enterprise sales strategy, this year, we are applying intentional focus to three critical areas. First, we are centering efforts around gaining momentum in the fintech market. Aware is a leader in banking fraud prevention, which is why we are trusted by some of the largest financial institutions around the world. With our reinvigorated sales process and newly introduced customer success team, we are poised to gain a meaningful share of the financial services market.

就我們的企業銷售戰略而言，今年我們將有意識地關註三個關鍵領域。首先，我們正集中精力在金融科技市場獲得動力。 Aware 是預防銀行欺詐的領導者，這就是我們受到全球一些最大金融機構信任的原因。憑藉我們重振的銷售流程和新引入的客戶成功團隊，我們有望在金融服務市場獲得有意義的份額。

Our second initiative is to continue evolving and strengthening our partnership programs. Aware's technologies are modular and agnostic, features that are ideal for partners and which allow us to sell solutions rather than just products. Renewed emphasis on partners will help us gain more traction globally without the need for significant expansion of regional resources.

我們的第二項舉措是繼續發展和加強我們的合作夥伴計劃。 Aware 的技術是模塊化和不可知論的，這些功能非常適合合作夥伴，並且允許我們銷售解決方案而不僅僅是產品。重新強調合作夥伴將幫助我們在全球範圍內獲得更多吸引力，而無需顯著擴展區域資源。

Lastly, we are working towards expanding our footprint in the US commercial market. Aware has a track record of success in the government space with our technology being trusted by governments across the globe. Our customers are extremely sticky, boasting a 93% retention rate over 2022 and some of our relationships with major US federal agencies spanned over 20 years. Additionally, our technology features adaptable connectors for compliance, making it able to be integrated in any setting. Despite this recognition globally, our progress has moved slowly with respect to breaking into the US commercial market. However, with the success we've had amongst US federal agencies and global penetration of our platforms, we are well positioned to capitalize on this market opportunity.

最後，我們正在努力擴大我們在美國商業市場的足跡。 Aware 在政府領域擁有成功的記錄，我們的技術受到全球政府的信任。我們的客戶非常粘稠，2022 年的保留率高達 93%，我們與美國主要聯邦機構的一些關係已超過 20 年。此外，我們的技術具有適應性強的連接器以實現合規性，使其能夠集成到任何環境中。儘管在全球範圍內獲得了這種認可，但我們在打入美國商業市場方面進展緩慢。然而，隨著我們在美國聯邦機構中取得的成功以及我們平台的全球滲透，我們已做好充分準備利用這一市場機會。

In summary, our optimized enterprise sales and partner strategy is gaining momentum, validated by the growing number of integrated reseller partners and customer wins, as well as the expanding reach of our technology into new markets. With the continued efforts of our customer success team, coupled with the building demand for our solutions across key markets, I am confident in our ability to scale our business and drive sales in the years ahead.

總而言之，我們優化的企業銷售和合作夥伴戰略正在獲得動力，越來越多的集成經銷商合作夥伴和贏得的客戶以及我們的技術在新市場中不斷擴大的覆蓋範圍證實了這一點。在我們客戶成功團隊的持續努力下，再加上主要市場對我們解決方案的需求不斷增加，我對我們在未來幾年擴大業務和推動銷售的能力充滿信心。

Now I would like to turn the call back to Bob for additional insights on our priorities and outlook for 2023. Bob?

現在我想把電話轉回給鮑勃，請他對我們的優先事項和 2023 年的前景有更多的見解。鮑勃？

Thanks, Craig. In 2022, we entered the final stage of our business model transition to a platform company with robust recurring revenue and unveiled our highly anticipated SaaS offering, AwareID. This past year, we also generated significant momentum for our brand awareness and authentication solutions. These efforts have positioned us to enter the new year with an exciting pipeline of opportunities that are starting to convert at an encouraging pace.

謝謝，克雷格。 2022 年，我們進入了向擁有強勁經常性收入的平台公司轉型的商業模式的最後階段，並推出了備受期待的 SaaS 產品 AwareID。在過去的一年裡，我們還為我們的品牌知名度和認證解決方案帶來了巨大的動力。這些努力使我們能夠以令人振奮的機會進入新的一年，這些機會開始以令人鼓舞的速度轉變。

Our recurring revenue has essentially doubled over the last three years as we retooled our business processes to enable transactional or term contracts or per-user subscription offerings. At the same time, we've upgraded our products to ensure that they supported the new business model. It could be deployed and delivered across all customer installations. From single-tenant cloud and multi-tenant shared cloud services, the customer controlled on-premise or cloud infrastructure is determined and driven by the customer's security, business rules, and processes. This capability both, from a business and product perspective, didn't exist at this level until October of 2022.

在過去三年中，我們的經常性收入基本上翻了一番，因為我們重組了我們的業務流程以啟用交易或定期合同或每用戶訂閱產品。同時，我們對產品進行了升級，以確保它們支持新的商業模式。它可以在所有客戶安裝中部署和交付。從單租戶雲和多租戶共享雲服務，客戶控制的本地或云基礎設施由客戶的安全、業務規則和流程決定和驅動。從業務和產品的角度來看，這種能力直到 2022 年 10 月才出現在這個級別。

Our current recurring revenue ending 2022 is not far off from the total revenue achieved in 2019 or 2020. With a ratio of our recurring revenue to total revenue was around 50%, we finished 2022 at $9.7 million in recurring revenue, which is a 61% ratio to total revenue. Said another way, we set a company record this past year by achieving almost $10 million in recurring revenue.

我們目前截至 2022 年的經常性收入與 2019 年或 2020 年實現的總收入相差不遠。我們的經常性收入佔總收入的比例約為 50%，到 2022 年，我們的經常性收入為 970 萬美元，即 61%佔總收入的比例。換句話說，我們在過去一年創造了公司記錄，實現了近 1000 萬美元的經常性收入。

When I came aboard a few years ago, I outlined the need for the company to transition the business and technology models to improve the quality and repeatability of revenue versus the one-time program and project wins. I'm excited for the progress to date and confident we'll continue in this direction.

當我幾年前上任時，我概述了公司需要轉變業務和技術模型，以提高收入的質量和可重複性，而不是一次性的計劃和項目勝利。我對迄今為止取得的進展感到興奮，並相信我們會繼續朝著這個方向前進。

In 2023, we're continuing to focus on driving recurring revenue and increase our percentage of recurring to total revenue, enabling us to focus on new logos while improving our leverage and efficiencies. The focus on ARR will continue to have varying degrees of maintenance subscription and SaaS makeup as Aware is able to provide the fulfillment model of choice for our customers, a flexibility that sets us apart from the competition.

2023 年，我們將繼續專注於推動經常性收入並提高經常性收入佔總收入的百分比，使我們能夠專注於新徽標，同時提高我們的槓桿作用和效率。對 ARR 的關注將繼續有不同程度的維護訂閱和 SaaS 構成，因為 Aware 能夠為我們的客戶提供選擇的履行模式，這種靈活性使我們在競爭中脫穎而出。

That said, for 2023, we have three strategic goals: to drive growth by focusing on scalability through partners and marketplaces; to protect the base by retaining and expanding core customers and business areas; and to confirm and establish AwareID's product market fit through targeting adoption in select industry verticals. As you heard, the revenue team is working diligently to boost our partner program and improve and accelerate customer onboarding to allow us to enter new markets faster, thereby reducing the time to revenue.

也就是說，對於 2023 年，我們有三個戰略目標：通過關注合作夥伴和市場的可擴展性來推動增長；通過保留和擴大核心客戶和業務領域來保護基地；並通過在選定的垂直行業中採用有針對性的採用來確認和建立 AwareID 的產品市場契合度。正如您所聽到的，收入團隊正在努力推進我們的合作夥伴計劃並改進和加速客戶入職，以使我們能夠更快地進入新市場，從而縮短實現收入的時間。

Furthermore, having team members with a dedicated focus on retention and expansion within our core base of customers will also contribute to our continued transformative progress while other members of the team focus on new logos. It's not all on Craig's team though; the entire organization is unified and aligned behind these goals and is leveraging the optimized organizational resources I mentioned earlier to ensure collective success.

此外，讓團隊成員專注於保留和擴展我們的核心客戶群也將有助於我們持續的轉型進步，而團隊的其他成員則專注於新徽標。不過，克雷格的團隊並不全是這樣。整個組織在這些目標的背後是統一和一致的，並且正在利用我之前提到的優化的組織資源來確保集體成功。

We expect that our success on our strategic goals will translate to a 15% growth in annual recurring revenue or ARR in 2023. We also anticipate that the measures we took last year to optimize our organization and resources, when combined with this growth, will allow us to achieve positive operating cash flow exiting 2023.

我們預計我們在戰略目標方面的成功將轉化為 2023 年年度經常性收入或 ARR 增長 15%。我們還預計，我們去年為優化組織和資源而採取的措施與這一增長相結合，將使我們要在 2023 年實現正經營現金流。

Looking ahead, we are gaining strong operational momentum and are focused on the execution of our strategic roadmap to scale Aware for sustainable future growth. We remain confident in our ability to deliver promising results in 2023 and beyond. We appreciate your continued support and are excited for what lies ahead for our company and the industry.

展望未來，我們正在獲得強勁的運營勢頭，並專注於執行我們的戰略路線圖，以擴展意識以實現可持續的未來增長。我們仍然相信我們有能力在 2023 年及以後取得有希望的成果。我們感謝您一直以來的支持，並對我們公司和行業的未來感到興奮。

With that, we are ready to open the call to questions. Matt, please provide the appropriate instructions.

這樣，我們就可以開始提問了。馬特，請提供適當的說明。

Thank you, Bob. (Conference Instructions)

謝謝你，鮑勃。 （會議須知）

The first question is for Bob. You mentioned the healthy pipeline. Can you provide some color on any contract or product wins?

第一個問題是給鮑勃的。你提到了健康的管道。你能為任何合同或產品獲勝提供一些顏色嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Matt. As we mentioned in the earnings release, we signed seven new Knomi partners in 2022, and that's with coverage throughout the world. I'd have to say that our Knomi product line is gaining momentum and will be a cornerstone of our growth in 2023. And that further fuels our confidence to increase our ARR by at least 15%.

是的。謝謝，馬特。正如我們在財報中提到的那樣，我們在 2022 年簽署了七個新的 Knomi 合作夥伴，並且覆蓋全球。我不得不說，我們的 Knomi 產品線正在獲得動力，並將成為我們 2023 年增長的基石。這進一步增強了我們將 ARR 提高至少 15% 的信心。

Already this year, we've extended one of our largest Knomi customers for an additional three years and more use cases. We are also working closely with our partner, Intercede, on some interesting deals in the federal government. And lastly, I expect us to be announcing our first cloud ABIS award in US law enforcement in the near future, along with other exciting firsts.

今年，我們已經將我們最大的 Knomi 客戶之一延長了三年和更多用例。我們還與我們的合作夥伴 Intercede 密切合作，在聯邦政府中開展一些有趣的交易。最後，我希望我們能在不久的將來宣布我們在美國執法部門的第一個雲 ABIS 獎項，以及其他令人興奮的第一。

Thanks, Bob. What are the company's capital allocation plans for 2023?

謝謝，鮑勃。公司2023年的資本配置計劃是什麼？

Hey, thanks, Matt. As you probably saw in the earnings release, we had $29 million of cash and marketable securities at the end of the quarter. At the end of Q3 and into Q4, we took advantage of the higher interest rates in the overall markets and invested a large portion of our cash in highly liquid marketable securities.

嘿，謝謝，馬特。正如您在收益發布中看到的那樣，本季度末我們擁有 2900 萬美元的現金和有價證券。在第三季度末和第四季度，我們利用整體市場利率較高的優勢，將大部分現金投資於高流動性的有價證券。

More broadly, the leadership team and I and the Board, we continually evaluate opportunities that will provide the most attractive risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. That includes repurchasing our stock, investing in internal growth opportunities, and evaluating M&A and some strategic partnership opportunities that would drive our scale and accelerate our growth strategy.

更廣泛地說，領導團隊、我和董事會，我們不斷評估將為我們的股東提供最具吸引力的風險調整後回報的機會。這包括回購我們的股票、投資於內部增長機會、評估併購和一些戰略合作機會，這些機會將推動我們的規模並加速我們的增長戰略。

Thanks, Dave. Our next question, when do you anticipate AwareID contributing to topline revenue?

謝謝，戴夫。我們的下一個問題是，您預計 AwareID 何時會對收入做出貢獻？

Yes, thanks for the question. AwareID nominally contributed to our top line in Q4. But I'd say it's important to note that the focus is on ARR. So that's not exclusive to AwareID and its deployment of SaaS. So our ARR will continue to have varying degrees of maintenance subscription and SaaS makeup as we provide the fulfillment model that's of choice to our customers.

是的，謝謝你的提問。 AwareID 名義上為我們第四季度的收入做出了貢獻。但我想說重要的是要注意重點是 ARR。所以這並不是 AwareID 及其 SaaS 部署所獨有的。因此，我們的 ARR 將繼續提供不同程度的維護訂閱和 SaaS 構成，因為我們為客戶提供了選擇的履行模式。

And this flexibility is central to how we stand out from the others in this space. So we offer a full portfolio of solutions and however they want it to be deployed in several ways that best meets their demand. So it's important to know that it's -- we're looking at the ARR in particular over across the deployment methods.

這種靈活性是我們如何在這個領域脫穎而出的核心。因此，我們提供了完整的解決方案組合，但是他們希望以最能滿足他們需求的多種方式進行部署。因此，重要的是要知道它是——我們正在研究跨部署方法的 ARR。

Thanks, Bob. What was the number of Knomi transactions in Q4 as well as in 2022?

謝謝，鮑勃。 Q4 和 2022 年的 Knomi 交易數量是多少？

Yes, I can take that. So this question has popped up a couple times. And while our Knomi transactions continue to grow each year, we believe that recurring revenue is the best metric to track the continued adoption of Knomi and our overall company's transition into a subscription-based platform company.

是的，我可以接受。所以這個問題已經出現了幾次。雖然我們的 Knomi 交易每年都在繼續增長，但我們認為經常性收入是跟踪 Knomi 的持續採用以及我們整個公司向基於訂閱的平台公司過渡的最佳指標。

Because now we're selling a mix of transaction-based, user-based, and device-based subscriptions. So the transaction count would minimize our overall Knomi momentum. It's all encapsulated in recurring revenue. And in 2022, our recurring revenue totaled nearly $10 million or more than 60% of our total revenue for the year, which is an 80% increase from 2019 after which we started this transformation.

因為現在我們銷售的是基於交易、基於用戶和基於設備的訂閱組合。因此，交易數量將使我們的整體 Knomi 勢頭最小化。這一切都包含在經常性收入中。到 2022 年，我們的經常性收入總計接近 1000 萬美元，佔全年總收入的 60% 以上，比我們開始轉型的 2019 年增長了 80%。

Thanks, Dave. Next question, is Aware working on software for the AI market? If not, do you plan to in the future?

謝謝，戴夫。下一個問題，Aware 是否在為 AI 市場開發軟件？如果沒有，您打算將來這樣做嗎？

Yes, I'll take that one, Matt. Aware's artificial intelligence or AI and deep learning are our part and package to our advanced software solutions. And those are the ones we take to the market through offerings that can be on-prem or in a cloud. And Aware has and will continue to invest significantly in deep learning and with our team of in-house PhD scientists and engineers.

是的，我要那個，馬特。 Aware 的人工智能或 AI 和深度學習是我們高級軟件解決方案的組成部分和軟件包。這些是我們通過本地或云端產品推向市場的產品。 Aware 已經並將繼續對深度學習以及我們內部的博士科學家和工程師團隊進行大量投資。

So our extensive portfolio of platforms, frameworks, and associated AI is used to vet, improve identities, and then protect them against known and emerging attack vectors. With extension -- extensive access to operational data to train and optimize our portfolio, Aware is going to continue to use AI to improve performance of our offerings as well as introducing new features to respond to fast-changing security needs. This will enable organizations to take advantage of Aware's innovations in an extremely timely manner.

因此，我們廣泛的平台、框架和相關 AI 產品組合用於審查、改進身份，然後保護它們免受已知和新興攻擊媒介的侵害。通過擴展——廣泛訪問運營數據來訓練和優化我們的產品組合，Aware 將繼續使用人工智能來提高我們產品的性能，並引入新功能來響應快速變化的安全需求。這將使組織能夠非常及時地利用 Aware 的創新。

Thanks, Bob. Another one for you. Please comment on your assessment of company performance. And over the next 3.5 years, what circumstances influence your expectations of the future? And would the company consider a merger or sale if sub-optimal performance persists?

謝謝，鮑勃。另一個給你。請評論您對公司業績的評估。在接下來的 3.5 年裡，什麼情況會影響您對未來的預期？如果持續表現不佳，公司會考慮合併或出售嗎？

Thanks for the question. When I took over as CEO in September of 2019, the company was doing approximately $12 million of revenue and recurring revenue was around 50% of that total. The operating side of the business, when I assumed the CEO position, was far more challenging than expected and required significant restructuring to position the company to grow into profitability.

謝謝你的問題。當我於 2019 年 9 月接任首席執行官時，公司的收入約為 1200 萬美元，經常性收入約佔總收入的 50%。當我擔任 CEO 職位時，業務的運營方面比預期更具挑戰性，需要進行重大重組才能使公司實現盈利。

Part of that initial challenge was that the company was a strong innovator, but did not have a product suite. It had integral hardened and proven components that made the sales process overly complicated. And on top of this, the company doesn't have a proven go-to-market strategy for subscription and it was not properly equipped to sell.

最初挑戰的部分原因是該公司是一個強大的創新者，但沒有產品套件。它具有完整的硬化和經過驗證的組件，使銷售過程過於復雜。最重要的是，該公司沒有行之有效的訂閱上市策略，也沒有適當的銷售能力。

So if we fast-forward three years, Aware has grown its top line by nearly a third, while simultaneously grown our recurring revenue by two-thirds So to put that in perspective, our annual recurring revenue at the end of 2022 was approximately $10 million or approximately 80% of the company's total revenue in 2019. And we are able to achieve this business and technology transformation despite a global pandemic, which everybody knew about or knows about.

因此，如果我們快進三年，Aware 的收入增長了近三分之一，同時我們的經常性收入增長了三分之二所以從這個角度來看，我們到 2022 年底的年度經常性收入約為 1000 萬美元或約占公司 2019 年總收入的 80%。我們能夠在全球大流行的情況下實現這一業務和技術轉型，這是每個人都知道或知道的。

And today, we have the right products, the right team, right strategy to scale our business to greater heights. And now that we have the foundation, our attention has turned to executing in sustainable ways to drive scale and improve profitability. While we're all encouraged by our operational progress and business momentum, the Board continually evaluates all strategic options that will produce the greatest long-term value for our shareholders.

今天，我們擁有合適的產品、合適的團隊和正確的戰略，可以將我們的業務擴展到更高的高度。現在我們有了基礎，我們的注意力已經轉向以可持續的方式執行以擴大規模並提高盈利能力。雖然我們都對我們的運營進展和業務勢頭感到鼓舞，但董事會不斷評估所有將為我們的股東帶來最大長期價值的戰略選擇。

Thanks. Our next question, what is the average deal size?

謝謝。我們的下一個問題，平均交易規模是多少？

So this is a -- could be a complicated question, but I'll just give a quick simple view of it. So our deal size varies across product lines and business models. And there isn't such a metric that we do at a company level. But what I can say is our average Knomi customer contributed about $100,000 in 2022 revenues; and our average BioSP customer, which is a mixture of maintenance and services and licenses, contribute to about $140,000 in 2022.

所以這是一個 - 可能是一個複雜的問題，但我將給出一個快速簡單的看法。因此，我們的交易規模因產品線和商業模式而異。而且我們在公司層面上沒有這樣的指標。但我可以說的是，我們的平均 Knomi 客戶在 2022 年的收入中貢獻了大約 100,000 美元；而我們的平均 BioSP 客戶，即維護、服務和許可證的混合體，在 2022 年貢獻了約 140,000 美元。

Dave, the next question is for you. How do you anticipate OpEx trending in 2023?

戴夫，下一個問題是給你的。您如何預測 2023 年的運營支出趨勢？

Yes. So, Matt, we're very comfortable with our current cost structure. We're running at about $5.5 million to $6 million per quarter, and we don't anticipate adding any significant OpEx in 2023.

是的。所以，馬特，我們對目前的成本結構非常滿意。我們每季度的運營成本約為 550 萬至 600 萬美元，我們預計 2023 年不會增加任何顯著的運營支出。

Thanks, Dave. Craig, this next one's for you. Please list and describe your repeatable sales activities. What are you doing to sell your products and services? Do you show them at a tradeshow or list them with a reseller? How much did you actually go out and pitch new business in Q4 2022 and so far in Q1 2023?

謝謝，戴夫。克雷格，下一個是給你的。請列出並描述您的重複銷售活動。你在做什麼來銷售你的產品和服務？您是在貿易展上展示它們還是在經銷商處列出它們？ 2022 年第 4 季度和 2023 年第 1 季度到目前為止，您實際開展了多少新業務？

Yes, absolutely. So you know, for a refined sales strategy, that's a pretty big topic. If I drill down into it, first, we are constantly going out and connecting directly with customers, supporting our partners in the sales process, whether it's new logos or expansion.

是的，一點沒錯。所以你知道，對於完善的銷售策略，這是一個相當大的話題。如果我深入研究，首先，我們不斷走出去，直接與客戶聯繫，在銷售過程中支持我們的合作夥伴，無論是新標識還是擴張。

But from a sales strategy or sales process, the first piece is specialization, so by building out a customer success team that is focused on upsells, renewals, expansion. We have an AE team that is focused on new logo growth specifically, as well as partner managers that are working and supporting our partners. We also added the BDRs that are very focused on the leads that are coming in and then the follow-up.

但從銷售策略或銷售流程來看，第一部分是專業化，因此通過建立一個專注於追加銷售、續訂和擴張的客戶成功團隊。我們有一個專門專注於新徽標增長的 AE 團隊，以及為我們的合作夥伴工作和支持的合作夥伴經理。我們還添加了 BDR，這些 BDR 非常關注即將到來的潛在客戶，然後是跟進。

The second piece is territory product vertical focus, and making sure that our messaging, our differentiation, is unique for each one of those areas. So having the right message for the right vertical, the right product against the competition.

第二部分是區域產品垂直焦點，並確保我們的消息傳遞，我們的差異化，對於每個區域都是獨一無二的。因此，為正確的垂直領域提供正確的信息，以正確的產品對抗競爭。

And the third is a defined process. How do we qualify opportunities? How do we follow up on opportunities? But again, what is our messaging? We've instituted some sales technology that helps us do this more efficiently and more effectively. So again, the sales strategy is encompassing a lot of different pieces, but those are some of the things we've instituted just in the last few months.

第三個是定義的過程。我們如何確定機會？我們如何跟進機會？但同樣，我們的信息是什麼？我們已經制定了一些銷售技術來幫助我們更有效地做到這一點。因此，銷售策略再次包含許多不同的部分，但這些是我們在過去幾個月才制定的一些內容。

Thanks, Craig. Craig, another one for you. What is your refined sales strategy?

謝謝，克雷格。克雷格，另一個給你。您的精細化銷售策略是什麼？

So yes, I kind of went through that. But basically, again, the focus is on making sure that the message that we are going out with based on the product solution that's needed, the problems that our customers and prospects are facing that aligns with both our product and our skill sets here.

所以是的，我有點經歷過。但基本上，再次強調，重點是確保我們要傳達的信息基於所需的產品解決方案，我們的客戶和潛在客戶面臨的問題與我們的產品和我們的技能組合相一致。

Thanks, Craig. Dave, of the $2.6 million recurring revenue in Q4, how much was subscription and how much was maintenance?

謝謝，克雷格。戴夫，在第四季度 260 萬美元的經常性收入中，有多少是訂閱收入，多少是維護收入？

Thanks, Matt. That's an easy one. We did $1.7 million of maintenance in Q4 and about $800,000 of subscription. In 2022, those numbers are about $6.7 million of maintenance, $3.1 million a subscription.

謝謝，馬特。這是一個簡單的。我們在第四季度進行了 170 萬美元的維護和大約 80 萬美元的訂閱。到 2022 年，這些數字約為 670 萬美元的維護費用，310 萬美元的訂閱費。

Great, thanks. Our next question, please explain the new cloud ABIS contract coming soon.

十分感謝。我們的下一個問題，請解釋即將推出的新雲 ABIS 合約。

Yes. So we're extremely excited. So we're not at a point where we can actually announce the name. But what -- ABIS, is, again, a large-scale biometric ID and duplication service, de-duplication service. We are one of the few companies globally that can offer this in the cloud and hosted. Most of them are on-premise.

是的。所以我們非常興奮。所以我們還沒有到可以實際宣布名稱的地步。但是，ABIS 又是一種大規模生物識別 ID 和重複數據刪除服務。我們是全球為數不多的可以在雲端和託管中提供此服務的公司之一。他們中的大多數都在內部部署。

This obviously has an impact on recurring revenue and this is an area of focus for people to be able to get into this product at an easier price point and can get stood up and running faster and more efficiently. So we're extremely excited as being one of the leaders in this market and we're looking forward to the announcement pretty soon.

這顯然對經常性收入有影響，這是人們關注的一個領域，可以讓人們以更容易的價格購買該產品，並且可以更快、更高效地站起來運行。因此，作為這個市場的領導者之一，我們感到非常興奮，我們期待著很快宣布這一消息。

Thanks, Craig. Next question, can you address the stated sales from Q3 2022 that were delayed/pushed to Q4?

謝謝，克雷格。下一個問題，您能否解決從 2022 年第三季度延遲/推遲到第四季度的規定銷售額？

Yes, I can take that, Matt. So you are, as you know, our Q3, we faced some headwinds as we talked about last quarter. We had a number of government customers that we were expecting to go live; they were delayed. They have materialized here in Q1 actually. So not much that pushed into Q4.

是的，我可以接受，馬特。如您所知，您是我們的第三季度，我們在上個季度談到時遇到了一些不利因素。我們有許多政府客戶，我們希望它們能夠上線；他們被耽擱了。他們實際上已經在第一季度實現了。進入第四季度的影響不大。

But Q1, we've got a launch of a couple of great government projects and some other revenue that shifted over to the right. So we're happy to see that.

但是第一季度，我們啟動了幾個偉大的政府項目和一些其他收入，這些收入轉移到了右邊。所以我們很高興看到這一點。

Next question. What is the size of your current share repurchase plan as you plan to continue to buyback stock?

下一個問題。當您計劃繼續回購股票時，您當前的股票回購計劃規模是多少？

Yes. Thanks, Matt. Our published plan is $10 million, so we can buy up to $10 million of stock. And at this point in time, we plan on continuing that stock buyback plan. If that changes, if we were to cancel the plan, we would publish that decision.

是的。謝謝，馬特。我們公佈的計劃是 1000 萬美元，因此我們最多可以購買 1000 萬美元的股票。在這個時候，我們計劃繼續執行股票回購計劃。如果這種情況發生變化，如果我們要取消該計劃，我們將公佈該決定。

Thanks, Dave. next question, what range of total revenue do you expect in 2023?

謝謝，戴夫。下一個問題，您預計 2023 年總收入的範圍是多少？

Yes. I'll take that. I mean, we're looking at -- as I said earlier in the script, but then even earlier than that, we're looking at a 15% annual recurring revenue increase, and we're looking at the same amount at the total cost. So that gives you the range. So when you multiply that out, we finished at $16 million for this year.

是的。我會接受的。我的意思是，我們正在考慮——正如我之前在腳本中所說的那樣，但更早的是，我們正在考慮每年增加 15% 的經常性收入，而且我們正在考慮總收入相同的數額成本。所以這給了你範圍。所以當你乘以它時，我們今年的收入為 1600 萬美元。

Great. Thanks, Bob. Does Aware expect to burn cash in 2023? And if so, how much?

偉大的。謝謝，鮑勃。 Aware 是否預計會在 2023 年燒錢？如果是這樣，多少錢？

Yes, I'll take that, Matt. Aware is currently a cash user. Our goal, of course, is to become profitable. We believe that as we hit the end of the year, we plan on exiting the year as cash neutral to cash positive. In the meantime, our usage will continue much the same, or I should specify our operating cash usage should continue much the same as it has for the last few quarters.

是的，我會接受的，馬特。 Aware 目前是一名現金用戶。當然，我們的目標是盈利。我們相信，在年底到來之際，我們計劃以現金中性轉為現金積極的方式結束這一年。與此同時，我們的使用量將繼續保持不變，或者我應該指定我們的運營現金使用量應該與過去幾個季度大致相同。

There are cycles to it. In Q1, we typically use more cash than we do the other quarters. You can look at our track record into 2022. And we are incrementally improving each quarter until we get to that cash flow breakeven.

它有循環。在第一季度，我們通常比其他季度使用更多的現金。你可以看看我們到 2022 年的業績記錄。我們每個季度都在逐步改進，直到我們實現現金流收支平衡。

Bob, can you talk about the competitive environment?

Bob，你能談談競爭環境嗎？

Yeah. You know what I'm going to do, I'm going to have to Craig put a little color on this as he has been talking to and has been out the field. So let him give a little bit of perspective on it. Craig?

是的。你知道我要做什麼，我將不得不讓克雷格在這件事上加點顏色，因為他一直在和他談話並且已經離開了現場。因此，讓他對此給出一點看法。克雷格？

Sure. You know, again, this tracks back a little bit to the sales strategy. Depending on the product that we're running, the solution that we're talking about, the geography that we're in, the competitive differentiation shifts.

當然。你知道，這又有點回到了銷售策略。根據我們正在運行的產品、我們正在談論的解決方案、我們所處的地理位置，競爭差異會發生變化。

What I would say is we face pressures from price, we face pressures on functionality. But in the end where we are kind of standing out from a differentiation standpoint when it comes to competition is the fact that we are a platform that can be delivered in a variety of ways, specifically in the cloud or on-premise, are two of the big ones that we see right now.

我要說的是，我們面臨價格壓力，我們面臨功能壓力。但最終我們在競爭中從差異化的角度脫穎而出的事實是，我們是一個可以通過多種方式交付的平台，特別是在雲端或本地，有兩種我們現在看到的大的。

So typically, we're running against competition that does it one way or the other. And then the other piece is the customization that can be done with Knomi, which is the on-premise, leveraging our partner networks. So again, our partners are able to take this tool and solve customer problems that are very unique and custom using our workflow tools in Knomi.

因此，通常情況下，我們正在與以一種或另一種方式進行的競爭競爭。然後另一部分是可以使用 Knomi 完成的定制，這是內部部署，利用我們的合作夥伴網絡。因此，我們的合作夥伴再次能夠使用此工具並使用我們在 Knomi 中的工作流工具解決非常獨特和自定義的客戶問題。

Thanks, Craig. At this time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. And if your question wasn't answered, please email Aware's IR team at AWRE@gatewayir.com.

謝謝，克雷格。至此，我們的問答環節到此結束。如果您的問題沒有得到解答，請發送電子郵件至 AWRE@gatewayir.com 聯繫 Aware 的 IR 團隊。

I'd now like to turn the call back over to Bob for closing remarks.

我現在想把電話轉回給鮑勃，讓他發表結束語。

Yes. I'd just like to say thanks to all of you for joining us on today's call, and I want to thank our employees, partners, and our investors for your continued support.

是的。我只想感謝大家參加今天的電話會議，我要感謝我們的員工、合作夥伴和投資者一直以來的支持。

And if anyone would like to learn more about our strategy, please keep an eye out for an updated investor presentation. We're going to make that available on our website in Q2.

如果有人想了解更多關於我們戰略的信息，請留意最新的投資者介紹。我們將在第二季度在我們的網站上提供它。

And as the final stage of our multiyear transformation continues, we're energized by our progress to date, our strong momentum kicking off 2023, and we're confident in the bright future that lies ahead. We look forward to updating you on Aware's progress on our next call. So Matt?

隨著我們多年轉型的最後階段繼續進行，我們為迄今為止取得的進展、我們在 2023 年拉開序幕的強勁勢頭而充滿活力，並且我們對未來的光明未來充滿信心。我們期待在下次電話會議上向您通報 Aware 的最新進展。那麼馬特？

Thanks, Bob. As a reminder, a recording of today's call will be available for replay via link in the Investor section of the company's website.

謝謝，鮑勃。提醒一下，今天的電話錄音可以通過公司網站投資者部分的鏈接重播。

Thank you for joining us today for Aware's fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect.

感謝您今天加入我們參加 Aware 的第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。您現在可以斷開連接。