Aware Inc (AWRE) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to Aware's second-quarter 2023 conference call. Joining us today is the company's CEO and President, Robert Eckel; CFO Dave Barcelo; and CRO Craig Herman.

下午好，歡迎參加 Aware 2023 年第二季度電話會議。今天加入我們的是公司首席執行官兼總裁 Robert Eckel；首席財務官戴夫·巴塞羅；和 CRO 克雷格·赫爾曼。

Following their remarks, we'll open the call for questions. (Conference Instructions)

在他們發表講話後，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 today 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，今天的演示文稿包含基於 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 please take note of the Safe Harbor paragraph that is included at the end of today's press release. This paragraph says the major uncertainties and risks inherent in forward-looking statements that management will be making today.

聽眾應注意今天新聞稿末尾包含的安全港段落。本段說明了管理層今天將做出的前瞻性陳述所固有的主要不確定性和風險。

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. 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.

Aware 希望提醒您，有些因素可能導致實際結果與此類聲明所表明的結果存在重大差異。該公司向 SEC 提交的文件中也概述了這些風險和不確定性，包括 10-K 表中的年度報告和 10-Q 表中的季度報告。任何前瞻性陳述都應根據這些因素予以考慮。請您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布之日的情況。

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 laws.

儘管 Aware 可能會不時自願這樣做，但它不承諾更新或修改前瞻性陳述，無論是由於新信息、未來事件還是其他原因，除非適用的證券法要求。

Additionally, this 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，本次電話會議還包含某些非 GAAP 財務指標，該術語由 SEC 在 G 條例中定義。非 GAAP 財務指標不應被視為獨立於或替代根據 GAAP 提供的財務信息。

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

因此，Aware 在今天發布的公司收益報告中提供了這些非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比的 GAAP 指標的調節表。

I would like to remind everyone that this presentation will be recorded and made available for replay via link in the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

我想提醒大家，本演示文稿將被錄製並可通過公司網站投資者關係部分的鏈接重播。

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

現在我想將電話轉給我們的首席執行官兼總裁鮑勃·埃克爾 (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 announcing our results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023. 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。收盤後，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的第二季度業績。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 first discuss our financial and operational performance for the second quarter. Next, I'll review the steps we've taken to drive growth and scale for Aware. Then our CFO, Dave Barcelo, will provide details on our second-quarter results. After Dave's remarks, our CRO, Craig Herman, will discuss our strategic initiatives to advance the company's go-to-market motions and increase sales. Finally, I'll review our key business drivers and 2023 outlook before opening the call for questions.

在今天的電話會議上，我將首先討論我們第二季度的財務和運營業績。接下來，我將回顧我們為推動 Aware 的增長和規模而採取的步驟。然後我們的首席財務官 Dave Barcelo 將提供有關我們第二季度業績的詳細信息。在戴夫發表講話後，我們的首席研究官克雷格·赫爾曼將討論我們的戰略舉措，以推進公司的上市計劃並增加銷售額。最後，在開始提問之前，我將回顧一下我們的關鍵業務驅動因素和 2023 年前景。

Like last quarter, I'd like to start by briefly introducing who we are and what we do for those of you who may be new to Aware and our industry. 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.

與上季度一樣，我想首先簡要介紹一下我們是誰，以及我們為那些可能不熟悉 Aware 和我們行業的人所做的事情。 Aware 是一家身份平台合作夥伴，致力於在日益互聯的世界中增強信任。我們的使命是通過為少數人提供大規模技術來平衡安全性和用戶體驗。

We reduce fraud and enable compliance and security needs as well as improve business efficiencies through our 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 multi-modal adaptive biometrics.

我們通過我們的產品解決當今的身份挑戰，同時為未來的身份挑戰做好準備，減少欺詐，滿足合規性和安全需求，並提高業務效率。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化登錄、身份驗證和生命週期管理。

Over the last 30 years, we've led with deep-rooted systems-level technical expertise and algorithms trained on the most diverse operational datasets in the world. Our reputation in the biometric industry has earned us trusted spots with many governments.

在過去的 30 年裡，我們憑藉根深蒂固的系統級技術專業知識和在世界上最多樣化的運營數據集上訓練的算法來發揮領導作用。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。

And today, our technology can be found and expanding in all three branches of the US federal government and more than 20 financial institutions and over 150 law enforcement agencies worldwide. Our technology, which spans four technology platforms, has been deployed by more than 60 partners in more than 20 countries and is protected by nearly 80 patents and numerous trade secrets.

如今，我們的技術已廣泛應用於美國聯邦政府的所有三個部門以及全球 20 多家金融機構和 150 多個執法機構。我們的技術跨越四個技術平台，已被20多個國家的60多個合作夥伴部署，並受到近80項專利和眾多商業秘密的保護。

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. These contribute to over a quarter of our revenue.

在我們珍惜我們的根源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轉變了公司。我們的商業模式已經改變。我們的文化已經改變。我們的基礎設施已經發生了變化，我們的目標客戶現在包括越來越多的商業客戶。這些貢獻了我們收入的四分之一以上。

We focus our technology to provide enterprise solutions for digital onboarding and authentication across verticals and to maximize business efficiencies. Our transformation has been accomplished with a significant emphasis and shift towards recurring revenue, which hit approximately $10 million in 2022 and is continuing to build in 2023.

我們專注於提供跨行業數字化入職和身份驗證的企業解決方案，並最大限度地提高業務效率。我們的轉型是在重點關注經常性收入並轉向經常性收入的情況下完成的，該收入在 2022 年達到約 1000 萬美元，並將在 2023 年繼續增加。

Now with that background and context, I'd like to discuss our operational and financial achievements for the second quarter of 2023. In Q2, we focused largely on protecting, securing, expanding our recurring customer base through product enhancements and improving our partner-centric sales strategy. This year, we renewed our largest Knomi customer for another three years. And in Q2, we continued to expand the scope and size of that contract.

現在，在這樣的背景和背景下，我想討論一下我們2023 年第二季度的運營和財務成就。在第二季度，我們主要關注通過產品增強和改進以合作夥伴為中心的方式來保護、保障和擴大我們的經常性客戶群。銷售策略。今年，我們與最大的 Knomi 客戶續約三年。在第二季度，我們繼續擴大該合同的範圍和規模。

We also secured our largest EME partner and their banking customers with our new upgraded biometric and identity verification platform and an additional use case along the way. Lastly, as the quarter closed, we signed a five-year $5 million contract with options up to $8 million, which include a facial recognition upgrade to our largest BioSP customer.

我們還通過新升級的生物識別和身份驗證平台以及一路上的額外用例，確保了我們最大的新興市場合作夥伴及其銀行客戶的安全。最後，在本季度結束時，我們簽署了一份價值 500 萬美元的五年合同，其中選項高達 800 萬美元，其中包括為我們最大的 BioSP 客戶進行面部識別升級。

I'll let Craig go into more detail on the progress we've made expanding the base, but I want to highlight a few more proof points of progress and success from this quarter. We signed several quality commercial customers in Latin America and Turkey, furthering Aware's wallet share overseas.

我會讓克雷格更詳細地介紹我們在擴大基地方面取得的進展，但我想強調本季度取得的進展和成功的更多證據。我們在拉丁美洲和土耳其簽署了多個優質商業客戶，進一步擴大了 Aware 的海外錢包份額。

We've also continued our momentum, winning ABIS contracts, having won two more ABIS awards, one of which is our first cloud ABIS award ever in Miami Valley, Ohio. And we expect these ABIS contracts to start generating revenue in Q3.

我們還繼續保持勢頭，贏得了 ABIS 合同，又贏得了兩個 ABIS 獎項，其中之一是我們在俄亥俄州邁阿密谷獲得的第一個雲 ABIS 獎項。我們預計這些 ABIS 合約將在第三季度開始產生收入。

The new logos signed in Q2 are a testament to the confidence corporations and governments have in Aware's technology to protect both consumers and nations alike. The key drivers behind our success securing and protecting the base this quarter have been our recently implemented customer success, focus, and processes, which Craig will talk about more in depth later, as well as a few product enhancements we recently rolled out.

第二季度簽署的新徽標證明了企業和政府對 Aware 技術保護消費者和國家的信心。我們本季度成功確保和保護基地的關鍵驅動因素是我們最近實施的客戶成功、重點和流程，克雷格稍後將更深入地討論這些內容，以及我們最近推出的一些產品增強功能。

With security challenges evolving every day, it's critical we are constantly improving and adapting Aware's technology to continue providing best-in-class security. This quarter, we focused on development efforts reinforcing the capabilities of AwareIDs, facial authentication, improving Knomi's liveness detection excellence, and upgrading our orchestration to address new identity verification use cases with document authentication.

隨著安全挑戰每天都在變化，我們不斷改進和調整 Aware 的技術以繼續提供一流的安全性至關重要。本季度，我們重點關注開發工作，加強 AwareID、面部身份驗證的功能，提高 Knomi 的活體檢測卓越性，併升級我們的編排，以通過文檔身份驗證解決新的身份驗證用例。

Given the enhancements to Knomi and AwareID, we are confident Aware is well positioned to capture additional market share in both existing and new use cases. In fact, these updates already have helped us secure contracts mentioned previously. With an improved partner-centric sales strategy, enhanced biometric solutions, and robust pipeline, we are confident we can expand our global footprint and capitalize on a growing biometric industry as a whole.

鑑於 Knomi 和 AwareID 的增強，我們相信 Aware 能夠在現有和新用例中佔據更多市場份額。事實上，這些更新已經幫助我們獲得了前面提到的合同。憑藉改進的以合作夥伴為中心的銷售策略、增強的生物識別解決方案和強大的渠道，我們有信心能夠擴大我們的全球足跡並利用整個不斷增長的生物識別行業。

Now I'll turn the call over to Dave to walk us through our financial results for the second quarter before discussing our initiatives and outlook for the remainder of 2023 and beyond. Dave, over to you.

現在，我將把電話轉給戴夫，讓他向我們介紹第二季度的財務業績，然後討論我們對 2023 年剩餘時間及以後的計劃和前景。戴夫，交給你了。

Thank you, Bob. Good afternoon to everyone on the call. Turning to our financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023. Total revenue was $3.2 million compared to $4.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $4.2 million for the same year-ago period. The sequential and year-over-year decrease in total revenue was primarily due to lower software license revenue in the period.

謝謝你，鮑勃。各位來電的人下午好。轉向我們截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的第二季度財務業績。總收入為 320 萬美元，而 2023 年第一季度為 430 萬美元，去年同期為 420 萬美元。總收入環比和同比下降主要是由於該期間軟件許可收入下降。

For Q2 of 2023, recurring revenue was $2.1 million or 65% of total revenue. The $2.1 million in recurring revenue was down 32% sequentially due to contract renewal timing.

2023 年第二季度，經常性收入為 210 萬美元，佔總收入的 65%。由於合同續籤時間的原因，210 萬美元的經常性收入比上一季度下降了 32%。

Looking at our operating expenses, our second quarter of 2023 operating expenses were $6.1 million, slightly down from $6.2 million in the prior quarter and up from $5.6 million in Q2 of last year. Operating loss for the second quarter of 2023 was $2.9 million compared to $1.9 million in the prior quarter and $1.4 million in the same year-ago period.

從我們的運營支出來看，我們 2023 年第二季度的運營支出為 610 萬美元，略低於上一季度的 620 萬美元，高於去年第二季度的 560 萬美元。 2023 年第二季度的運營虧損為 290 萬美元，上一季度為 190 萬美元，去年同期為 140 萬美元。

For the second quarter of 2023, GAAP net loss totaled $2.7 million or $0.13 per diluted share compared to a GAAP net loss of $1.6 million or $0.07 per diluted share in Q1 of 2023, and $1.3 million or $0.06 per diluted share in the same year-ago period.

2023 年第二季度，GAAP 淨虧損總計270 萬美元，即稀釋每股0.13 美元，而2023 年第一季度的GAAP 淨虧損為160 萬美元，即稀釋每股0.07 美元，同年則為130 萬美元，即稀釋每股0.06 美元。前一段時間。

Our adjusted EBITDA loss for the quarter, which we reconciled to GAAP net loss in our earnings release totaled $2.4 million, which compares to adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.4 million in the prior quarter and a loss $0.8 million in the same year-ago period.

我們本季度調整後的 EBITDA 虧損（我們在收益發布中根據 GAAP 淨虧損進行調整）總計 240 萬美元，而上一季度調整後的 EBITDA 虧損為 140 萬美元，去年同期虧損為 80 萬美元。

Looking at our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $25.1 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities compared to $27.3 million at the end of the prior quarter. While our cash position remains strong, we continue to optimize our cost structure to align with our business needs. Furthermore, our robust cash position allows us the flexibility to evaluate all high ROI opportunities that have the potential to drive scale and further Aware's growth roadmap.

從我們的資產負債表來看，本季度末我們的現金、現金等價物和有價證券為 2510 萬美元，而上一季度末為 2730 萬美元。雖然我們的現金狀況依然強勁，但我們繼續優化成本結構以適應我們的業務需求。此外，我們強勁的現金狀況使我們能夠靈活地評估所有有潛力擴大規模並進一步推進 Aware 增長路線圖的高投資回報率機會。

This completes my financial summary. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Craig to discuss the progress we're making on our go-to-market strategy. Craig?

我的財務摘要到此結束。現在我想將電話轉給克雷格，討論我們在上市策略方面取得的進展。克雷格？

Thanks, Dave. It's a pleasure to be here with you all today. As Bob mentioned, in the second quarter, we continued securing and expanding the base, allowing our customer success team to secure several significant contracts. We are seeing increasing interest for Aware's biometric solutions across all our verticals, which is reinforced by the sequential improvements in the fidelity of our sales pipeline.

謝謝，戴夫。很高興今天能和大家在一起。正如鮑勃提到的，在第二季度，我們繼續確保和擴大基礎，使我們的客戶成功團隊獲得了幾份重要合同。我們發現我們所有垂直領域對 Aware 生物識別解決方案的興趣日益濃厚，而我們銷售渠道保真度的連續改進也進一步增強了這種興趣。

In order to capitalize on the high-quality opportunities flowing through the pipeline, we are focused on our optimized go-to-market strategy which really comes down to three buckets or themes. The first is building on our customer success framework. Leading up to the second quarter, we laid the groundwork for this program by hiring the right people and shifting resources towards more customer-facing revenue streams.

為了利用渠道中流動的高質量機會，我們專注於優化的進入市場策略，該策略實際上可以歸結為三個桶或主題。第一個是建立我們的客戶成功框架。在第二季度之前，我們通過僱用合適的人員並將資源轉向更多面向客戶的收入流，為該計劃奠定了基礎。

This quarter, we continue building out these efforts to protect the base by cementing our customer relationships through contract expansions and renewals. Our customer success team has done a fantastic job maintaining customer relationships and upselling contracts. In fact, this quarter, one of our larger OEM partners increased their purchases by over 200%. And two bags in Latin America meaningfully increased both their usage and services because of our teams' endeavors.

本季度，我們將繼續努力通過擴大和續簽合同來鞏固我們的客戶關係，從而保護基地。我們的客戶成功團隊在維護客戶關係和追加銷售合同方面做得非常出色。事實上，本季度，我們的一個較大的 OEM 合作夥伴的採購量增加了 200% 以上。由於我們團隊的努力，拉丁美洲的兩個袋子的使用量和服務都顯著增加。

The second initiative is to solidify our customers and partners to counteract deals being pushed out due to the macro economic environment as well as introduce usage-based pricing. Pressures from the macro environment are still forcing customers and partners to delay signing.

第二項舉措是鞏固我們的客戶和合作夥伴，以抵消因宏觀經濟環境而取消的交易，並引入基於使用情況的定價。來自宏觀環境的壓力仍然迫使客戶和合作夥伴推遲簽約。

However, we are beginning to see these pressures ease with some deals getting close to closing. One contract in particular is a large government customer that our team has been working to secure over the past few quarters, but we finally anticipate closing this deal in Q3. It's important to note that contracts are not disappearing, just sliding into later quarters.

然而，隨著一些交易接近完成，我們開始看到這些壓力有所緩解。其中一份合同是我們的團隊在過去幾個季度一直在努力爭取的大型政府客戶，但我們最終預計在第三季度完成這筆交易。值得注意的是，合同並沒有消失，只是滑到了後面幾個季度。

A more recent evolution of our go-to-market strategy was the introduction of usage-based pricing, which the industry has been trending towards. Usage-based pricing not only allows our team to accelerate the sales process, but will also be a big push for our software services and subscription revenues.

我們進入市場策略的最新演變是引入基於使用情況的定價，這也是行業的趨勢。基於使用情況的定價不僅使我們的團隊能夠加快銷售流程，還將極大地推動我們的軟件服務和訂閱收入。

This reevaluated sales strategy enabled us to close the contract and move to onboarding faster with a very significant airport security player in Spain. It will positively impact our subscription base revenue in the coming quarters. By implementing this pricing tier, we can now cater to the customers' needs, allowing us to sign on partners and customers of all sizes in all types of macro environments.

這種重新評估的銷售策略使我們能夠與西班牙一家非常重要的機場安檢公司簽訂合同並更快地開始入職。這將對我們未來幾個季度的訂閱基礎收入產生積極影響。通過實施此定價層，我們現在可以滿足客戶的需求，使我們能夠在各種類型的宏觀環境中籤約各種規模的合作夥伴和客戶。

Lastly, almost half of our pipeline is partner driven. Therefore, we have prioritized investments in our partnership program. Coming in 2023, we made conscious efforts to widen our partner footprint, especially in Latin America as well as to procure partners that could drive organic growth and increase our market share.

最後，我們近一半的渠道是合作夥伴驅動的。因此，我們優先投資於我們的合作夥伴計劃。到 2023 年，我們有意識地努力擴大我們的合作夥伴足跡，特別是在拉丁美洲，並尋找能夠推動有機增長並增加我們市場份額的合作夥伴。

In Q2, we signed four additional partners in Latin America who will help expand our wallet share in the region through both organic opportunities as well as displacing competitors, which was the case with one of these new contracts. We are proactively seeking potential partners in the biometric space with active accounts to lay the groundwork for future business.

第二季度，我們在拉丁美洲簽署了另外四個合作夥伴，他們將通過有機機會以及取代競爭對手來幫助擴大我們在該地區的錢包份額，其中一份新合同就是這種情況。我們正在積極尋找生物識別領域擁有活躍賬戶的潛在合作夥伴，為未來的業務奠定基礎。

Moving forward, we're aiming to launch a formal partnership program in the latter half of Q3. This new program will be equipped with onboarding tiers, partnership incentives, and additional marketing to help fuel partner engagements.

展望未來，我們的目標是在第三季度後半段啟動正式的合作夥伴計劃。這項新計劃將配備入職級別、合作夥伴激勵措施和額外的營銷活動，以幫助促進合作夥伴的參與。

Another key development Bob touched on earlier was the product improvements for AwareID's facial recognition and Knomi liveness excellence. Through the market's feedback, we identified and adapted the functionalities of these two solutions, allowing our sales and partner teams to go to market with more robust and secured technologies.

Bob 早些時候提到的另一個關鍵發展是 AwareID 面部識別和 Knomi liveness 卓越的產品改進。通過市場反饋，我們確定並調整了這兩種解決方案的功能，使我們的銷售和合作夥伴團隊能夠以更強大、更安全的技術進入市場。

Already, these enhanced capabilities are generating significant momentum for Knomi and renewing the market's enthusiasm for AwareID, especially in document verification. Our customer success team is doing a tremendous job upselling the new functionalities and recently renewed a customer for another five years.

這些增強的功能已經為 Knomi 帶來了巨大的動力，並重新激發了市場對 AwareID 的熱情，特別是在文檔驗證方面。我們的客戶成功團隊在新功能的推銷方面做了大量工作，最近還為客戶續約了五年。

Now I would like to turn the call back to Bob for additional insights into our key business drivers. Bob?

現在我想將電話轉回鮑勃，以獲取有關我們關鍵業務驅動因素的更多見解。鮑勃？

Thanks, Craig. Backed by an enhanced product portfolio and optimized sales strategy, this quarter, we secured and protected our base by reinvigorating the market's excitement for Aware. We're exiting the first half of 2023 with significant contracts and partnerships that we expect to greatly contribute to recurring revenue and lay the foundation for additional prospects.

謝謝，克雷格。在增強的產品組合和優化的銷售策略的支持下，本季度我們通過重振市場對 Aware 的熱情，確保並保護了我們的基礎。我們將在 2023 年上半年結束時簽署重要合同和合作夥伴關係，我們預計這些合同和合作夥伴關係將極大地促進經常性收入，並為更多前景奠定基礎。

With a healthy pipeline of quality opportunities and an optimized enterprise sales strategy, we are reiterating our expectation to increase total revenue and annual recurring revenue or ARR by 15% in 2023. We also continue to expect operating cash flow exiting 2023 to be neutral, which means we'll be managing both inflows and outflows towards profitability while taking into consideration cash interest and timing expectations.

憑藉健康的優質機會渠道和優化的企業銷售策略，我們重申我們預計 2023 年總收入和年度經常性收入或 ARR 將增加 15%。我們還繼續預計 2023 年的運營現金流將保持中性，這意味著我們將管理流入和流出以實現盈利，同時考慮現金利息和時間預期。

Looking into the second half of the year, we are excited about our upcoming expanding partnerships and deliveries and believe we are well positioned to achieve our cash flow goals and remain confident in our ability to grow sustainably and deliver robust recurring revenue going forward. We appreciate everyone's continued support and are excited for Aware's future.

展望今年下半年，我們對即將擴大的合作夥伴關係和交付感到興奮，並相信我們有能力實現現金流目標，並對我們未來可持續增長和提供強勁經常性收入的能力保持信心。我們感謝大家的持續支持，並對 Aware 的未來感到興奮。

With that, we're 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）

Our first question: Bob, you mentioned that one of the main focuses this quarter was to protect and expand the recurring customer base. Can you provide some additional details on contract wins secured this quarter?

我們的第一個問題：鮑勃，您提到本季度的主要重點之一是保護和擴大經常性客戶群。您能否提供有關本季度獲得的合同的更多詳細信息？

Sure, Matt. Since we announced our business transformation and focus on our recurring revenue model, we continue to make considerable progress and we've expanded our recurring customer base. In fact, our recurring revenue as percentage of total revenue in Q2 was 65%, which is a 16% increase compared to the prior-year period.

當然，馬特。自從我們宣佈業務轉型並專注於我們的經常性收入模式以來，我們繼續取得了長足的進步，並且擴大了我們的經常性客戶群。事實上，我們第二季度的經常性收入佔總收入的百分比為 65%，比去年同期增長了 16%。

This quarter, we signed expansion and renewal contracts and agreements with some of our largest customers as well as secured our next-generation customers. When I mentioned in my previous prepared remarks, we renewed and expanded our largest customer in Knomi, which is Itaú for another three years. We also signed our biggest EME partner and their banking customers as well. And then we signed two new ABIS contracts, one of them being our first-ever SaaS cloud ABIS contract, which we talked about.

本季度，我們與一些最大的客戶簽署了擴展和續簽合同及協議，並確保了下一代客戶。當我在之前準備好的發言中提到時，我們續約並擴大了諾米最大的客戶，即伊塔奧，再延長三年。我們還簽署了我們最大的新興市場合作夥伴及其銀行客戶。然後我們簽署了兩份新的 ABIS 合同，其中之一是我們討論過的第一份 SaaS 雲 ABIS 合同。

Another key customer we secured this last quarter was a five-year $5 million contract with our largest BioSP customer, and this will be recognized over the next five-year period. This contract improves our annual recurring revenue, but also expands the capabilities of the customer system and it introduces facial recognition in addition to fingerprint capability.

我們上季度獲得的另一個重要客戶是與我們最大的 BioSP 客戶簽訂的一份為期 5 年、價值 500 萬美元的合同，這一點將在接下來的五年內得到認可。該合同提高了我們的年度經常性收入，同時也擴展了客戶系統的功能，除了指紋功能之外，還引入了面部識別功能。

This contract represents a significant win for Aware and reaffirms the confidence our customers have in our technology. And we're just continuing to build our foundation for future recurring revenue growth with each new contract signed. And we're excited about second half of 2023 and believe we have several promising opportunities in our pipeline.

該合同代表了 Aware 的重大勝利，並重申了客戶對我們技術的信心。我們只是通過簽訂每份新合同繼續為未來的經常性收入增長奠定基礎。我們對 2023 年下半年感到興奮，並相信我們的管道中有幾個有前途的機會。

Thanks, Bob. What was recurring revenue for the quarter? How much recurring subscription revenue and how much was recurring maintenance revenue?

謝謝，鮑勃。該季度的經常性收入是多少？經常性訂閱收入是多少，經常性維護收入是多少？

Yes, I'll take that, Matt. So our recurring revenue in Q2 was about $2.1 million. That's broken out to about $1.6 million of maintenance and the balance was our consumption or subscription-based revenue.

是的，我會接受的，馬特。因此，我們第二季度的經常性收入約為 210 萬美元。細分為大約 160 萬美元的維護費用，餘額是我們的消費或基於訂閱的收入。

Thanks, Dave. Bob, you talked about the fidelity, the pipeline improving. Can you talk about what this means and what Aware needs to do to convert its pipeline?

謝謝，戴夫。鮑勃，你談到了保真度和管道的改進。您能談談這意味著什麼以及 Aware 需要做什麼來轉換其管道嗎？

Yes. So, Matt, taking a step back and looking at the pipeline on a trailing 12, we've seen a big improvement in the quality of the opportunities. So we took a significant motion to implement rigorous opportunity qualification for the new opportunities, and we're seeing more through our established and growing customer base. So we're actually seeing through our customers that we've already signed up as partners their base increasing and improving.

是的。所以，馬特，退後一步，看看後面 12 個渠道，我們發現機會的質量有了很大的提高。因此，我們採取了一項重大舉措，對新機會實施嚴格的機會資格認證，並且我們通過我們已建立和不斷增長的客戶群看到了更多。因此，我們實際上通過我們已經簽約成為合作夥伴的客戶看到，他們的基礎正在不斷擴大和改善。

So we have a better grasp on their needs and business challenges so that we can solve that through our different products. And then I just mentioned through Craig's efforts, we're seeing a more expansive deals being negotiated as well as increased opportunities to secure new partnerships that will significantly expand our wallet share of the market.

因此，我們可以更好地掌握他們的需求和業務挑戰，以便我們可以通過不同的產品來解決這些問題。然後我剛剛提到，通過克雷格的努力，我們看到正在談判更廣泛的交易，以及獲得新合作夥伴關係的機會增加，這將顯著擴大我們的市場份額。

Craig already mentioned this in his remarks, but his team is laser focused on building out a formal partnership ecosystem. And that's going to help generate new business and broaden awareness reach globally.

克雷格已經在他的講話中提到了這一點，但他的團隊專注於建立一個正式的合作夥伴生態系統。這將有助於產生新業務並擴大全球知名度。

Thanks, Bob. Next question: how are operating expenses trending this year?

謝謝，鮑勃。下一個問題：今年運營費用趨勢如何？

Yeah. Our operating expenses have increased sequentially this quarter; I mentioned that earlier. And that's mainly due to investments in our sales team. We onboarded a new team of CSMs and BDRs in Q1 so those costs have increased. But we don't anticipate adding any significant OpEx in the second half of 2023.

是的。本季度我們的運營費用環比增加；我之前提到過。這主要歸功於我們對銷售團隊的投資。我們在第一季度組建了一個新的 CSM 和 BDR 團隊，因此這些成本有所增加。但我們預計 2023 年下半年運營支出不會大幅增加。

In fact, we're expecting our OpEx will be flat to down-ish in the third and fourth quarter. And we're, of course, working towards the cash flow neutrality.

事實上，我們預計第三季度和第四季度的運營支出將持平甚至下降。當然，我們正在努力實現現金流中性。

Thanks, Dave. The next question is for Craig. What have been the driving forces behind the sales team's success in the recent bookings?

謝謝，戴夫。下一個問題是問克雷格的。銷售團隊在最近的預訂中取得成功的驅動力是什麼？

Sure. I think our success is really a culmination of the groundwork that we have laid down over the last several quarters or last few quarters. The introduction of our usage-based pricing, coupled with the product enhancements that we made to Knomi and AwareID, all of these things have really helped drive the bookings as well as -- since I started working at Aware, we've worked to really perfect -- and we've talked a lot about this -- our customer success teams and our partnership programs.

當然。我認為我們的成功實際上是我們在過去幾個季度或過去幾個季度所奠定的基礎的結晶。基於使用情況的定價的推出，加上我們對 Knomi 和 AwareID 進行的產品增強，所有這些都確實有助於推動預訂——自從我開始在 Aware 工作以來，我們一直致力於真正推動預訂。完美——我們已經談論了很多——我們的客戶成功團隊和我們的合作夥伴計劃。

We now believe we have the right people, processes, and best-in-class products to position ourselves and CS teams for success. I know we've talked a lot of the improvements we made Knomi and AwareIDs so I won't rehash those details.

現在，我們相信我們擁有合適的人員、流程和一流的產品，可以幫助我們自己和客戶服務團隊取得成功。我知道我們已經討論了對 Knomi 和 AwareIDs 所做的很多改進，因此我不會重複這些細節。

But the combination of more robust products and the debut of usage-based pricing enabled our sales team to market to more customers than we ever have before and resulting in, in some cases, larger higher-quality deals that we signed in Q2.

但是，更強大的產品和基於使用情況的定價的推出相結合，使我們的銷售團隊能夠向比以往更多的客戶進行營銷，並在某些情況下導致我們在第二季度簽署了更大的更高質量的交易。

Thanks, Craig. Our next question is: how is the competitive environment?

謝謝，克雷格。我們的下一個問題是：競爭環境如何？

Craig, do you want to take this one?

克雷格，你想拿這個嗎？

Yeah, sure. Thanks, Bob. The competitive environment is frothy, to say in a word, and we are continuing to aggressively pursue deals. Everything is competitive right now in this market. Despite pressures on functionality, we are winning lucrative contracts and displacing competitors around the globe through our improved fraud prevention capabilities and our strong foothold in North America, Latin America, and the Middle East.

好，當然。謝謝，鮑勃。簡而言之，競爭環境充滿泡沫，我們將繼續積極尋求交易。現在這個市場上一切都具有競爭力。儘管面臨功能方面的壓力，我們仍通過提高欺詐預防能力以及在北美、拉丁美洲和中東的牢固立足點贏得了利潤豐厚的合同並取代了全球競爭對手。

Regarding our market opportunities, we are seeing the improvements in Knomi and AwareID gaining a lot of traction with commercial customers in Latin America and the Middle East, in particular, Brazil and Turkey, specifically. Not only did we sign four new partners in Latin America, but we also extended and upsold several deals like the one in with Itaú in Brazil that Bob mentioned earlier.

關於我們的市場機會，我們看到 Knomi 和 AwareID 的改進對拉丁美洲和中東（特別是巴西和土耳其）的商業客戶產生了很大的吸引力。我們不僅在拉丁美洲簽署了四個新合作夥伴，而且還延長並追加銷售了幾筆交易，例如鮑勃之前提到的與巴西 Itaó 的交易。

With the addition of contract management, the Knomi use cases, and strengthened fraud prevention capabilities, we really believe there are significant growth opportunities overseas and in these new verticals.

通過增加合同管理、Knomi 用例以及增強的欺詐預防能力，我們堅信海外和這些新的垂直領域存在巨大的增長機會。

Our next question: can you provide an update on the share repurchase program?

我們的下一個問題：您能否提供有關股票回購計劃的最新信息？

Yeah. I've got that, Matt. In short, our previous announced plan is in place. As a recap, in March of 2022, we announced a share repurchase program that would allow us to buy up to $10 million of our common stock. So that's active through the end of 2023. And as of June 30, we repurchased about $1.7 million worth of shares.

是的。我明白了，馬特。總之，我們之前宣布的計劃已經到位。回顧一下，2022 年 3 月，我們宣布了一項股票回購計劃，該計劃允許我們購買最多 1000 萬美元的普通股。因此，該活動將持續到 2023 年底。截至 6 月 30 日，我們回購了價值約 170 萬美元的股票。

Thanks, Dave. We've got a two-part question. First, can you talk more in-depth about the improvements that were made to AwareID and Knomi? Second question is: since deploying the product enhancements mentioned earlier, are you seeing increase traction for Knomi and AwareID?

謝謝，戴夫。我們有一個由兩部分組成的問題。首先，您能更深入地談談對 AwareID 和 Knomi 所做的改進嗎？第二個問題是：自從部署前面提到的產品增強功能後，您是否看到 Knomi 和 AwareID 的吸引力有所增加？

All right, Matt. I'll take the first part, and then I'll let Craig talk about the market's response. So just in general, today's security challenges are consistently and constantly evolving. And after we did a lot of -- voice the customer, speaking with a few customers, we continue to evolve. We've aligned our product market fit to identify the few areas that Knomi and AwareID solutions could benefit from, making them more secure, reducing additional customer friction, and expand our use cases with focus on some new use cases.

好吧，馬特。我先講第一部分，然後讓克雷格談談市場的反應。總的來說，當今的安全挑戰一直在不斷演變。在我們做了很多工作之後——為客戶發聲，與一些客戶交談，我們繼續發展。我們調整了我們的產品市場契合度，以確定 Knomi 和 AwareID 解決方案可以受益的幾個領域，使它們更加安全，減少額外的客戶摩擦，並擴展我們的用例，重點關註一些新用例。

For Knomi, we've concentrated on improving its liveness excellence to make it more robust while we revamped AwareIDs infrastructure to strengthen its facial recognition and document authentication from the bottom up.

對於 Knomi，我們專注於提高其卓越的活性，使其更加強大，同時我們改進了 AwareIDs 基礎設施，以自下而上地加強其面部識別和文檔身份驗證。

And now that we've enhanced product capabilities and we're seeing improved market fit for both AwareID and Knomi, I'll let Craig talk a little bit more about what he's seeing as well.

現在我們已經增強了產品功能，並且我們看到 AwareID 和 Knomi 的市場適應性都有所改善，我將讓 Craig 詳細談談他所看到的情況。

Sure. Thanks, Bob. With a stronger and more capable products, our sales team is going to market with these products and specifically what we're doing in SaaS, both with AwareID and ABIS is really opening up new markets for us. We've incorporated a lot of this feedback into our product, specifically around document authorization in some places and layered this all into our biometric portfolio.

當然。謝謝，鮑勃。有了更強大、更有能力的產品，我們的銷售團隊將利用這些產品進行營銷，特別是我們在 SaaS 領域所做的事情，無論是 AwareID 還是 ABIS，這確實為我們開闢了新市場。我們已將大量此類反饋納入我們的產品中，特別是在某些地方的文檔授權方面，並將這些反饋全部納入我們的生物識別產品組合中。

And the efforts are really beginning to pay off across the company. There is a renewed enthusiasm, not just to Knomi and AwareID, but also for Aware the company, which we capitalize to expand into new verticals and geographies and increasing our market shares, both with direct customers and partners.

這些努力確實開始在整個公司得到回報。不僅是 Knomi 和 AwareID，還有 Aware 公司，我們都重新燃起了熱情，我們利用該公司擴展到新的垂直領域和地區，並增加了我們與直接客戶和合作夥伴的市場份額。

The next one is for Dave. What are the company's capital allocation plans for the second half of 2023?

下一篇是寫給戴夫的。公司2023年下半年的資本配置計劃是怎樣的？

Thanks, Matt. Our capital allocation is about the same as it has been. But we finished Q2 with about $25 million, a little over $25 million in cash and marketable securities. So this quarter, we continued to capitalize on the high-interest rates in the market.

謝謝，馬特。我們的資本配置與以前大致相同。但我們第二季度結束時擁有大約 2500 萬美元，其中現金和有價證券略高於 2500 萬美元。所以本季度我們繼續利用市場的高利率。

And so we increased our investments in highly liquid marketable securities as you'll see from our balance sheet. For the remainder of 2023, we plan to maintain a strong cash position with no debt and giving us the freedom or optionality to evaluate any strategic opportunities that could help us drive some meaningful scale and accelerate our growth.

因此，我們增加了對高流動性有價證券的投資，正如您從我們的資產負債表中看到的那樣。在 2023 年剩餘時間內，我們計劃保持強勁的現金狀況，沒有債務，並讓我們可以自由或選擇性地評估任何有助於我們推動有意義的規模並加速增長的戰略機會。

Thanks, Dave. We have another one for you. It's a multi-part question. Can you provide the current estimated go-live date for the large-scale ABIS implementation that you referenced during both the Q4 2022 call and the first-quarter 2023 conference call?

謝謝，戴夫。我們還為您準備了另一份。這是一個由多部分組成的問題。您能否提供您在 2022 年第四季度電話會議和 2023 年第一季度電話會議中提到的大規模 ABIS 實施的當前預計上線日期？

Does the current quarterly revenue, Q2, have any engineering services revenue associated with the ABIS implementation? Would Q3 and Q4 have any significant engineering services revenue from this project? Do you expect any significant recurring revenue from the ABIS project? And lastly, if so, in what quarter do you expect it to hit top line?

當前季度收入（Q2）是否有與 ABIS 實施相關的工程服務收入？ Q3 和 Q4 是否會從該項目中獲得可觀的工程服務收入？您預計 ABIS 項目會帶來可觀的經常性收入嗎？最後，如果是這樣，您預計它會在哪個季度達到頂線？

Yeah, thanks, Matt. That's a long one. But so to be clear, what we're talking about here is the ABIS that was referenced in Q4 and Q1 is our first cloud ABIS. We talked about during the March call and then announced it as Miami Valley in our press last week. So we are still anticipating that contract to go live this summer as Craig mentioned last quarter, and we're currently in the planning phase with the customer.

是的，謝謝，馬特。那是一篇很長的文章。但需要明確的是，我們在這裡討論的是第四季度提到的 ABIS，而第一季度是我們的第一個雲 ABIS。我們在三月份的電話會議上討論過這個問題，然後上週在我們的媒體上宣布它為邁阿密谷。因此，正如克雷格上季度提到的那樣，我們仍然預計該合同將於今年夏天生效，目前我們正處於與客戶的規劃階段。

Now I think the thing to note is that unlike some of our historical programs that included significant customization and engineering services, our Aware ABIS deployments, especially the cloud ABIS, includes some configuration work to implement, but they're not expected to require significant engineering services, mainly software deals. So this contract will have a positive impact on recurring revenue once deployed.

現在我認為需要注意的是，與我們的一些包含重要定制和工程服務的歷史計劃不同，我們的Aware ABIS 部署，尤其是雲ABIS，包括一些要實施的配置工作，但預計它們不需要大量的工程設計服務，主要是軟件交易。因此，該合同一旦部署將對經常性收入產生積極影響。

And I think the other thing to note is our timing of awards and adoptions mean that Aware has quite a bit of quarterly variation in financials. And that's why I just want to emphasize to our investors that we continue to focus on the full-year outlook, not so much the quarters.

我認為另一件值得注意的事情是我們的獎項和採用的時間意味著 Aware 的財務狀況有相當大的季度變化。這就是為什麼我想向我們的投資者強調，我們繼續關注全年前景，而不是季度。

Thanks, Dave. We have another multi-part question. The PR announcement for A Safer Walk app on May 30, 2023, since that was the last official announcement of closing on new business, is it fair to say that no other business of that magnitude has closed since that date?

謝謝，戴夫。我們還有另一個由多個部分組成的問題。 2023 年 5 月 30 日發布了 A Safer Walk 應用程序的公關公告，因為這是最後一次關閉新業務的官方公告，可以公平地說，自該日期以來沒有其他同等規模的業務關閉嗎？

Can you provide any comment on the number of downloads of the A Safer Walk app and the likely revenue associated? My expectation is that the associated revenue with that specific application will be very small. However, if we close business of similar magnitude every day may add up to a significant revenue eventually. And finally, are we closing small deals on a nearly daily frequency?

您能否對 A Safer Walk 應用程序的下載量以及相關的可能收入發表評論？我的預期是，與該特定應用程序相關的收入將非常小。然而，如果我們每天關閉類似規模的業務，最終可能會產生可觀的收入。最後，我們是否幾乎每天都會完成小額交易？

So I'll take the first part and then I'll ask Craig to add some more color. But as I said, and we've said before, we aren't able to issue press releases on all awards, nor would we plan to. Often, it's limited to -- customer confidentiality agreements. And we typically focus our award releases on deals that are slightly in a new area of initial adoption like Safer Walk release.

所以我會先完成第一部分，然後我會請克雷格添加更多顏色。但正如我所說，我們之前也說過，我們無法、也不會計劃發布所有獎項的新聞稿。通常，它僅限於——客戶保密協議。我們通常將獎勵發布集中在稍微屬於初始採用的新領域的交易上，例如 Safer Walk 發布。

It demonstrates a use case in a customer-facing shared services application. Our choice to not issue a press release regarding an award should not be considered indicative of not winning awards or the only awards we receive.

它演示了面向客戶的共享服務應用程序中的用例。我們選擇不發布有關獎項的新聞稿不應被視為表示未獲獎或我們獲得的唯一獎項。

Craig, you want to add some more color on the awards and opportunities coming forward?

克雷格，您想為即將到來的獎項和機會增添更多色彩嗎？

Absolutely. We secured several bookings in Q2. And since announcing our partnership with A Safer Walk and our first SaaS cloud-based ABIS award with Miami Valley that Dave just highlighted, this Miami Valley deal is a five-year deal that will have a huge impact on our recurring revenue as we continue transitioning to a SaaS-based platform.

絕對地。我們在第二季度獲得了幾筆預訂。自從宣布我們與A Safer Walk 的合作夥伴關係以及戴夫剛剛強調的與邁阿密谷的第一個基於SaaS 雲的ABIS 獎項以來，邁阿密谷的這項交易是一項為期五年的交易，隨著我們繼續轉型，它將對我們的經常性收入產生巨大影響到基於 SaaS 的平台。

We can't formally announce every contracts but we are constantly winning new contracts as the fidelity of the pipeline continues to improve. So the opportunity type, size, and targets vary greatly based on the market and by region. So this is where I think trying to pigeonhole it into one or the other is not our business right now.

我們無法正式宣布每一份合同，但隨著管道保真度的不斷提高，我們不斷贏得新合同。因此，機會的類型、規模和目標因市場和地區的不同而有很大差異。因此，我認為，現在試圖將其歸為一類不是我們的事。

We continue to build on a very strong enterprise foundation globally. We have also seen a surge in the ABIS pipeline and opportunities business. This mid-market for ABIS has really opened up, with some vendors moving out or narrowing their focus. So the ability for organizations to leverage cloud ABIS, for example, opens up opportunities for a customer base that was out of our reach 12 months ago.

我們繼續在全球範圍內建立非常強大的企業基礎。我們還看到 ABIS 管道和機會業務的激增。 ABIS 的中端市場已經真正開放，一些供應商退出或縮小了關注範圍。例如，組織利用雲 ABIS 的能力為 12 個月前我們無法覆蓋的客戶群帶來了機會。

And finally, with AwareID, it's a new market. And although deal size may be small at the beginning, it does open the door for these customers to grow substantially as their business grows through our usage-based pricing model.

最後，AwareID 帶來了一個新市場。儘管一開始的交易規模可能很小，但它確實為這些客戶通過我們基於使用的定價模型隨著業務的增長而大幅增長打開了大門。

So Safer Walk is a really good example of this type of customer. But we are also seeing similar engagements in Internet banking, e-commerce, education, and gaming markets.

因此，Safer Walk 就是此類客戶的一個很好的例子。但我們在互聯網銀行、電子商務、教育和遊戲市場也看到了類似的參與。

Thanks, Craig. Our next question: are there any other large deals on the horizon that can make a significant contribution to revenue and earnings in addition to the ABIS implementation you just mentioned? If yes, what is the approximate probability they will have an impact in 2023?

謝謝，克雷格。我們的下一個問題是：除了您剛才提到的 ABIS 實施之外，是否還有其他即將到來的大型交易可以對收入和收益做出重大貢獻？如果是，它們在 2023 年產生影響的大概概率是多少？

So we have several six-figure deals; we have won the two. Seven-figure deals that we are targeting right now for -- and forecasting for 03 and 04 -- or in Q3 and Q4 of 2023. All of these opportunities, they have specific compelling events to get signed and implemented this year. So we are very confident that we will get them done. And then it will have a positive impact on our revenue targets for 2023.

所以我們有幾筆六位數的交易；我們贏了這兩場比賽。我們現在的目標是——並預測03 和04 年——或2023 年第三季度和第四季度的七位數交易。所有這些機會，他們都有特定的引人注目的活動需要在今年簽署和實施。因此，我們非常有信心能夠完成這些任務。然後它將對我們 2023 年的收入目標產生積極影響。

Great. Then a question along that line. Your annual outlook implies some pretty drastic revenue growth for the rest of the year. What gives you confidence you will make it? How much of the outlook for the two quarters is covered by signed contracts?

偉大的。然後沿著這條線提出一個問題。您的年度展望意味著今年剩餘時間的收入將出現相當大的增長。是什麼讓您有信心能夠成功？兩個季度的前景有多少是由已簽署的合同涵蓋的？

Yeah. That's great question, Matt. So Bob and Craig have already talked a lot about the success we've had with these recent bookings and improved pipeline. Craig just walked you through a bit of it. But let me try to be a little bit more specific.

是的。這是個好問題，馬特。鮑勃和克雷格已經談論了很多我們在最近的預訂和改進的渠道方面所取得的成功。克雷格剛剛向您介紹了其中的一些內容。但讓我嘗試說得更具體一些。

So our first-half results were below our growth targets, obviously. And that's primarily due to the timing of awards and delivery, as we've highlighted here. But our second half will benefit from a significant increase in recurring revenue, which was already booked. It includes the large contract announced in our earnings release, the expansion of renewals that we mentioned previously on this call, as well as the cloud ABIS delivery underway that Craig was just talking about.

因此，我們上半年的業績顯然低於我們的增長目標。這主要是由於獎勵和交付的時間安排，正如我們在此強調的那樣。但我們的下半年將受益於經常性收入的大幅增加，這些收入已經被預訂了。其中包括我們在財報中宣布的大額合同、我們之前在本次電話會議中提到的續約擴展，以及克雷格剛才談到的正在進行的雲 ABIS 交付。

So on top of that, on top of these recurring revenues, we also are expecting a spike in licensing revenue across the second half. Craig has talked about a few six- and seven-figure deals and a much better pipeline. So the combination of those two things gives us a good confidence in the second half of the year.

因此，除此之外，除了這些經常性收入之外，我們還預計下半年許可收入將出現激增。克雷格談到了一些六位數和七位數的交易以及更好的管道。因此，這兩件事的結合讓我們對下半年充滿信心。

Thanks, Dave. Our next question: what sort of growth can we expect in 2024?

謝謝，戴夫。我們的下一個問題：2024 年我們可以期待什麼樣的增長？

Yeah. I'll take that, Matt. Unfortunately, the answer is that (technical difficulty) 2024 guidance at this point in time. There's a lot left in 2023. And when we're ready, we'll come out with 2024 guidance.

是的。我會接受的，馬特。不幸的是，目前的答案是（技術難度）2024 年指導。 2023 年還有很多事情要做。當我們準備好時，我們將推出 2024 年指導。

Thanks, Dave. Our next question: to what extent are you pitching new customers directly versus through resellers or partners?

謝謝，戴夫。我們的下一個問題：您在多大程度上直接向新客戶推銷，而不是通過經銷商或合作夥伴？

Craig?

克雷格？

Sure. I'll take that one. This is Craig. You know, just over 50%. I think Bob mentioned this. 50% of our pipeline is through partners. It is absolutely a key differentiator. We are winning partners away from our competitors that are helping us get into and solidifying markets. So we really look at our partners as a significant differentiator for us.

當然。我會接受那個。這是克雷格。你知道，剛剛超過 50%。我想鮑勃提到過這一點。我們 50% 的渠道是通過合作夥伴實現的。這絕對是一個關鍵的差異化因素。我們正在從競爭對手中贏得合作夥伴，這些合作夥伴正在幫助我們進入並鞏固市場。因此，我們確實將合作夥伴視為我們的重要差異化因素。

And even when we are pitching through partners, we are very, very involved in the process. And again, I talked a little bit about varying by markets and regions. We are a global company. So having premier partners highly integrated with us all over the world gives us a reach much bigger than what we can do just going direct.

即使我們通過合作夥伴進行推介，我們也會非常非常參與這個過程。我再次談到了一些關於因市場和地區而異的問題。我們是一家全球性公司。因此，擁有與我們在世界各地高度融合的優質合作夥伴，使我們的影響力比直接開展的影響力大得多。

So right now, just over 50% of our pipeline is through partners. And a lot of our AwareID right now is very direct versus some of our other products that are much more tied to a partner.

因此，目前我們的渠道有超過 50% 是通過合作夥伴完成的。與我們其他一些與合作夥伴聯繫更加緊密的產品相比，我們現在的很多 AwareID 都非常直接。

Thanks, Craig. At this time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. If your question wasn't answered, please e-mail Aware's IR team at awre@gateway-grp.com.

謝謝，克雷格。至此，我們的問答環節就結束了。如果您的問題沒有得到解答，請發送電子郵件至 Aware 的 IR 團隊：awre@gateway-grp.com。

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

我現在想將電話轉回給鮑勃，讓他作結束語。

Yeah. I just want to thank everyone for joining us on the call today. And I also want to thank our employees, partners, shareholders for their continued support. And as a reminder, you may learn more about our strategy in investor presentation deck that's available on our website. And we look forward to updating you on Aware's progress on our next call. Matt?

是的。我只想感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。我還要感謝我們的員工、合作夥伴、股東的持續支持。提醒一下，您可以在我們網站上提供的投資者演示文稿中了解有關我們策略的更多信息。我們期待在下次電話會議上向您通報 Aware 的最新進展。馬特？

Thanks, Bob. I'd like to remind everyone that a recording of today's call will be available for replay via a link in the Investors section of the company's website. Thank you for joining us today for Aware's second-quarter 2023 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect.

謝謝，鮑勃。我想提醒大家，今天的電話錄音將可以通過公司網站投資者部分的鏈接重播。感謝您今天參加我們的 Aware 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。您現在可以斷開連接。