8x8 Inc (EGHT) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q2 2024 8x8, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 2024 年第二季 8x8, Inc. 收益電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Kate Patterson. Please go ahead.

我現在想把會議交給今天的發言人凱特·帕特森。請繼續。

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Today's agenda will include a review of our second quarter results with Samuel Wilson, our Chief Executive Officer; and Kevin Kraus, our Chief Financial Officer. Lisa Martin, our Chief Revenue Officer, has also joined our call today.

謝謝。大家下午好。今天的議程將包括與我們的執行長塞繆爾·威爾遜一起回顧我們的第二季度業績；和我們的財務長凱文克勞斯。我們的首席營收官麗莎馬丁 (Lisa Martin) 今天也加入了我們的電話會議。

Following our prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Before we get started, let me remind you that our discussion today includes forward-looking statements about our future financial performance, including investments in innovation and our focus on profitability and cash flow as well as statements regarding our business, products and growth strategies.

在我們準備好的發言之後，將進行問答環節。在開始之前，請允許我提醒您，我們今天的討論包括有關我們未來財務業績的前瞻性陳述，包括創新投資和我們對盈利能力和現金流的關注，以及有關我們業務、產品和增長戰略的陳述。

We caution you not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as they involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements as described in our risk factors in our reports filed with the SEC.

我們提醒您不要過度依賴這些前瞻性陳述，因為它們涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們向 SEC 提交的報告中的風險因素中描述的前瞻性陳述存在重大差異。

Any forward-looking statements made on this call and in the presentation slides reflect our analysis as of today, and we have no plans or obligations to update them.

本次電話會議和簡報幻燈片中所做的任何前瞻性陳述均反映了我們截至今天的分析，我們沒有計劃或義務對其進行更新。

Certain financial metrics that will be discussed on this call, together with year-over-year comparisons, in some cases, were not prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the closest comparable GAAP measure is provided in our earnings press release and earnings presentation slides which are available on 8x8 Investor Relations website at investors.8x8.com.

本次電話會議將討論的某些財務指標以及某些情況下的同比比較，並不是根據美國公認會計原則或公認會計準則制定的。我們的收益新聞稿和收益簡報幻燈片中提供了這些非GAAP 衡量標準與最接近的可比較GAAP 衡量標準的對賬，這些幻燈片和收益演示幻燈片可在8x8 投資者關係網站Investors.8x8.com上獲取。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Sam Wilson.

這樣，我會將電話轉給 Sam Wilson。

Much appreciated, Kate, and thank you to everyone on the call for joining us today. I am pleased to begin my remarks by saying we met or exceeded our guidance ranges for service revenue, total revenue and non-GAAP operating margin for Q2.

非常感謝凱特，並感謝今天參加我們電話會議的所有人。我很高興在開始講話時說，我們達到或超過了第二季度服務收入、總收入和非公認會計原則營業利潤率的指導範圍。

When I took over the CEO role, I outlined our innovation-led strategy to drive growth along with improving profitability and cash flow through disciplined capital allocation. We believe this balanced approach is the best way to build a durable business and deliver value to all our stakeholders. That's customers, employees, partners and shareholders.

當我接任執行長一職時，我概述了我們以創新為主導的策略，透過嚴格的資本配置來推動成長，同時提高獲利能力和現金流。我們相信這種平衡的方法是建立持久業務並為所有利害關係人提供價值的最佳方式。即客戶、員工、合作夥伴和股東。

Our continued progress on this journey was evident in our Q2 results. As a reminder, we are focused on investing in innovation to drive long-term durable growth; leading with contact center and XCaaS for new business and cross-selling our product portfolio into the installed base; focusing on our target customer, small- and medium-sized enterprises with the same technology customer experience needs as large enterprises, but without the same internal development resources; and lastly, building and enabling channel and technology partners ecosystem that allows 8x8 platform customer to deliver best-in-class customer experiences, all of this while growing revenues faster than expenses and returning excess cash to investors.

我們在這過程中不斷取得的進展在我們第二季的業績中得到了明顯體現。謹此提醒，我們專注於投資創新，以推動長期持久成長；以聯絡中心和 XCaaS 引領新業務，並將我們的產品組合交叉銷售到現有客戶群；專注於我們的目標客戶，與大企業有相同技術客戶體驗需求，但沒有相同內部開發資源的中小企業；最後，建立和支援通路和技術合作夥伴生態系統，使 8x8 平台客戶能夠提供一流的客戶體驗，同時收入成長速度快於支出，並將多餘現金回饋給投資者。

Our goal is to grow cash flow from operations by an average of 20% in fiscal years '24 through fiscal '26. We intend to return $250 million to investors over this period. We have already returned $25 million through early repayment of principal on our 2027 term loans.

我們的目標是在 24 財年至 26 財年將營運現金流平均成長 20%。我們打算在此期間向投資者返還 2.5 億美元。我們已經透過提前償還 2027 年定期貸款本金返還了 2,500 萬美元。

Let's take a look at the highlights for our Q2 performance. Service revenue increased sequentially by $2.5 million and was roughly flat year-over-year. Improvement in our CPaaS business was a significant driver of the quarter-on-quarter growth as existing customers increase their business with us and we added new customers.

讓我們來看看我們第二季業績的亮點。服務收入季增 250 萬美元，年比基本持平。隨著現有客戶增加與我們的業務以及新客戶的增加，我們的 CPaaS 業務的改善是季度環比成長的重要推動力。

The CPaaS team has done a great job retooling the business over the past year, and I'm excited by the new opportunities we have identified both in the APAC region and worldwide.

CPaaS 團隊在過去一年中在業務重組方面做得非常出色，我對我們在亞太地區和全球範圍內發現的新機會感到興奮。

Now more than ever, I believe our CPaaS business will prove to be a competitive advantage for us. Our UC, CC core business continues to perform as expected, and we see new products as a bright spot. We demonstrated continued discipline in managing our operating costs which allowed us to deliver non-GAAP operating profit above our guidance range.

現在，我比以往任何時候都更相信我們的 CPaaS 業務將被證明是我們的競爭優勢。我們的UC、CC核心業務持續表現符合預期，新產品是我們的亮點。我們在管理營運成本方面表現出持續的紀律，這使我們能夠實現高於指導範圍的非公認會計原則營運利潤。

Cash from operations for the quarter was $17.5 million, and cash and investments increased to approximately $150 million. We have doubled cash from operations in the first 6 months of the fiscal year compared to last year.

本季營運現金為 1,750 萬美元，現金和投資增加至約 1.5 億美元。與去年相比，本財年前 6 個月我們的營運現金增加了一倍。

Customer satisfaction and retention remained high within the 8x8 customer base, reflecting the investments we made in our customer success organization as well as continued innovation in our solutions. This is reflected in the feedback we received from the thousands of customers who participate in our first ever 8x8 day on August 8 as well as the recent recognition from numerous industry organizations.

8x8 客戶群中的客戶滿意度和保留率仍然很高，這反映了我們對客戶成功組織的投資以及解決方案的持續創新。這反映在我們從參加 8 月 8 日首個 8x8 天的數千名客戶那裡收到的回饋以及最近眾多行業組織的認可中。

To celebrate the first 8x8 day, we ask customers what they loved about 8x8 and after we could publish their response. As a thank you, we sent them what's cooking at 8x8, an e-book of employee recipes and case studies from our food and beverage customers. A few lucky winners also received e-bikes from our customer track who we love.

為了慶祝第一個 8x8 天，我們詢問客戶他們喜歡 8x8 的哪些方面，然後我們可以發布他們的答案。作為感謝，我們向他們發送了《8x8 的烹飪指南》，這是一本包含員工食譜和食品和飲料客戶案例研究的電子書。一些幸運的獲獎者還收到了我們喜愛的客戶追蹤的電動自行車。

The volume and enthusiasm of the responses tell us the investments we are making in innovation and customer success are resonating. Check out the videos on the website.

回覆的數量和熱情告訴我們，我們在創新和客戶成功方面所做的投資正在引起共鳴。查看網站上的影片。

Adoption of our recently introduced CCaaS product portfolio continues to accelerate. Early adopters of our AI-powered intelligent customer assistant, both digital and voice versions are seeing high rates of case deflection for specific use cases. Customers are rapidly finding new use cases. The volume of conversations is up over 50% quarter-on-quarter and accelerating. Our ICA pipeline is up over triple digits quarter-on-quarter.

我們最近推出的 CCaaS 產品組合的採用持續加速。我們的人工智慧智慧客戶助理（無論是數位版還是語音版）的早期採用者都發現特定用例的案例偏轉率很高。客戶正在迅速尋找新的用例。對話量較上季成長超過 50%，而且還在加速成長。我們的 ICA 通路季度環比成長超過三位數。

We saw significant growth in our North American reseller channel. We are committed to a channel first strategy and been investing in building out our network of value-added resellers. We have built a strong value-added reseller channel in the U.K. And while it takes time and investment to build, it pays long-term dividends in sales productivity, customer satisfaction and durable growth.

我們看到北美經銷商通路的顯著成長。我們致力於通路優先策略，並一直投資建立我們的加值經銷商網路。我們在英國建立了強大的加值經銷商通路，雖然需要時間和投資來建立，但它會在銷售生產力、客戶滿意度和持久成長方面帶來長期紅利。

Partially offsetting these early indications of success was continued downsell and to a lesser extent, attrition in the Fuse customer base. This created a headwind in our enterprise ARR metrics and the customer count. As we've said before, we are 100% committed to retaining Fuse customers. The number of lost Fuse customers decreased significantly measured by logos quarter-on-quarter, and we are accelerating the pace of customer upgrades on the 8x8 platform.

持續的降價銷售以及 Fuse 客戶群的流失在一定程度上抵消了這些早期成功跡象。這對我們的企業 ARR 指標和客戶數量帶來了不利影響。正如我們之前所說，我們 100% 致力於留住 Fuse 客戶。從Logo來看，Fuse客戶流失量較上季明顯下降，我們正在加快8x8平台客戶升級的腳步。

Our progress this quarter gives me confidence that our strategy is working. We deliver value to our customers by enabling agile workplaces, empowering users across an organization to deliver great customer experiences and harnessing the power of AI and machine learning.

我們本季的進展讓我相信我們的策略正在發揮作用。我們透過打造敏捷的工作場所、讓整個組織的使用者能夠提供出色的客戶體驗以及利用人工智慧和機器學習的力量，為客戶創造價值。

We have dramatically increased our investment in innovation over the past 2 years, and the products and features resulting from those investments are now coming to market. Customer interest has been high, and we are seeing increasing adoption and use. Let me share a few examples of our innovation and action at our customers.

過去兩年，我們大幅增加了創新投資，這些投資產生的產品和功能現已上市。客戶的興趣一直很高，而且我們看到越來越多的採用和使用。讓我分享一些我們針對客戶的創新和行動的例子。

First off, Westminster City Council, who has been an 8x8 voice and contact center customer since 2020. We recently introduced ICA as part of their user-centered operating model. They are regularly achieving 80% resolution rates on inbound inquiries and in some days as high as 100%. I encourage you to watch the view of their experience, there is a link in the slides.

首先是威斯敏斯特市議會，自 2020 年以來，他們一直是 8x8 語音和聯絡中心客戶。我們最近引入了 ICA，作為其以用戶為中心的營運模式的一部分。他們的入站查詢解決率通常達到 80%，有時甚至高達 100%。我鼓勵您觀看他們的經驗觀點，幻燈片中有一個連結。

Next up is Acer, a top technology company with customers in 160 countries. They are using our intelligent customer assistant to expedite customer assistants with millions of products, including warranty information. I have spoken personally to them, and they told me ICA was a game changer.

接下來是宏碁，頂尖科技公司，客戶遍及 160 個國家。他們正在使用我們的智慧客戶助理來加快客戶助理處理數百萬種產品的速度，包括保固資訊。我親自與他們交談過，他們告訴我 ICA 改變了遊戲規則。

Our superpower is empowering users and administrators in these organizations with best-in-breed capabilities, including AI-powered apps, intuitive interfaces and ultra-high reliability in a wrapper of extreme simplicity. Our goal is to make our users superheroes of their own organizations.

我們的超能力正在為這些組織中的使用者和管理員提供同類最佳的功能，包括人工智慧驅動的應用程式、直覺的介面和極其簡單的包裝中的超高可靠性。我們的目標是讓我們的用戶成為他們自己組織的超級英雄。

CPaaS innovations further extend our UCaaS and CCaaS portfolios. We recently introduced Remote Fix, a prepackaged second-generation video escalation solution targeting field service organizations. We also introduced OmniShield to our CPaaS customers, safeguarding enterprises from fraudulent SMS activity and a host of other enhancements outlined in our press release last week.

CPaaS 創新進一步擴展了我們的 UCaaS 和 CCaaS 產品組合。我們最近推出了 Remote Fix，這是一種針對現場服務組織的預先包裝第二代視訊升級解決方案。我們還向 CPaaS 客戶推出了 OmniShield，保護企業免受欺詐性簡訊活動的侵害，並在上週的新聞稿中概述了一系列其他增強功能。

Our strategy is to be a leading AI-powered customer experience platform for small and medium enterprises. The quotes from all the customers profiled in our earnings slide demonstrate our progress in this strategy. They love 8x8 solutions for ease of use, simple deployment and deep native like integrations into the contact center. Our customers see tangible business benefits from our products every day.

我們的策略是成為領先的中小企業人工智慧客戶體驗平台。我們的收益投影片中介紹的所有客戶的報價都證明了我們在這項策略上的進展。他們喜歡 8x8 解決方案，因為它易於使用、部署簡單，並且可以與聯絡中心進行深度原生整合。我們的客戶每天都能從我們的產品中看到實際的商業利益。

When I look back, I'm amazed at how many innovations we have introduced in a very short time period. The list of significant product introduction enhancements include conversational IQ for UCaaS, bringing CC level speech analytics to UCaaS, integration of Open AI's Whisper for transcription and translation. We launched this within weeks of ChatGPT's unveiling and are now transcribing more than 3 million hours a month with a 20% to 25% improved accuracy versus previous solutions.

當我回顧過去時，我驚訝於我們在很短的時間內推出瞭如此之多的創新。重要的產品介紹增強功能包括 UCaaS 的會話 IQ、將 CC 級語音分析引入 UCaaS、整合 Open AI 的 Whisper 進行轉錄和翻譯。我們在 ChatGPT 發布後幾週內就推出了該解決方案，目前每月轉錄時間超過 300 萬小時，與先前的解決方案相比，準確度提高了 20% 到 25%。

Composable user experiences, empowering agents and supervisors with the information they need to be more productive, powerful, user-friendly, AI-enabled self-service capabilities in both voice and digital. Expansion of our omnichannel capabilities, including embedded secure video and enhancements in SMS and chat apps; an updated version of Microsoft Teams phone app as well as deeper native integration with teams that simplify administration and ease of use and so much more. We are pushing out hundreds of micro updates every week using our automated CICD process, adding incremental capabilities and improving performance.

可組合的用戶體驗，為代理商和主管提供所需的信息，以提高生產力、強大、用戶友好、人工智慧支援的語音和數位自助服務功能。擴展我們的全通路功能，包括嵌入式安全視訊以及簡訊和聊天應用程式的增強功能； Microsoft Teams 手機應用程式的更新版本以及與團隊的更深入的本機集成，可簡化管理並易於使用等等。我們每週都會使用自動化 CICD 流程推出數百個微更新，增加增量功能並提高效能。

Before the end of the fiscal year, we plan to introduce a host of additional products into beta. Just a few big ones are AI-powered interaction summarization and conversation categorization; a next-generation version of our AI-powered agent assist through our ecosystem partnerships and expanded contact center features for employees outside the contact center that will continue to blur the lines between UC and CC.

在本財年結束之前，我們計劃將大量其他產品引入測試版。人工智慧驅動的互動總結和對話分類是其中幾個重要的領域；我們的下一代人工智慧代理版本透過我們的生態系統合作夥伴關係提供協助，並為聯絡中心之外的員工擴展了聯絡中心功能，這將繼續模糊 UC 和 CC 之間的界限。

Our CCaaS and UCaaS solutions have come a long way in the last 18 months. And this is reflected in the recent recognition from both industry analysts and customers. As I have traveled around the world talking with customers and partners, innovation roadshows in the U.S. and Europe, I have come to the conclusion that our biggest challenge is awareness. It is clear that our velocity of our new product introductions has outpaced our customers and partners' awareness of our phenomenal innovation.

我們的 CCaaS 和 UCaaS 解決方案在過去 18 個月中取得了長足的進步。這反映在最近行業分析師和客戶的認可上。當我走遍世界各地與客戶和合作夥伴交談、在美國和歐洲進行創新路演時，我得出的結論是，我們最大的挑戰是意識。顯然，我們推出新產品的速度已經超過了客戶和合作夥伴對我們非凡創新的認識。

Solving this issue and overcoming outdated perceptions of our solution is a multifaceted challenge. We must do a better job of keeping our customers informed, educating our channel, increasing our visibility and creating word of mouth references.

解決這個問題並克服對我們解決方案的過時看法是一個多方面的挑戰。我們必須更好地讓客戶了解情況、教育我們的管道、提高我們的知名度並創造口碑。

We have barely scratched the surface of the opportunity that exists within our installed base, let alone the tens of thousands of small- and medium-sized enterprises, SLED organizations and public sector entities that are just beginning to migrate their contact centers to the cloud.

我們僅僅觸及了我們的安裝基礎中存在的機會的表面，更不用說剛開始將其聯絡中心遷移到雲端的數以萬計的中小企業、SLED 組織和公共部門實體。

Lisa Martin, who joined 4 months ago as our Chief Revenue Officer, is up to the challenge. She is joined by Bruno Bertini, who recently joined us as CMO.

麗莎馬丁 (Lisa Martin) 於 4 個月前加入我們，擔任我們的首席營收官，她已做好迎接挑戰的準備。 Bruno Bertini 最近加入我們，擔任行銷長。

Lisa and Bruno both have extensive experience in the contact center and have a track record of building high-performance teams in sales and marketing. They've worked together in the past, are fully aligned and are already having an impact within the organization. Transitions don't happen overnight, but I am confident we now have the right team in place, the right strategy for growth and the financial and technical resources necessary to achieve our goals.

麗莎和布魯諾都在聯絡中心擁有豐富的經驗，並且在銷售和行銷方面擁有建立高績效團隊的記錄。他們過去曾一起工作，完全一致，並且已經在組織內產生了影響。過渡不會在一夜之間發生，但我相信我們現在擁有合適的團隊、正確的成長策略以及實現我們目標所需的財務和技術資源。

I've asked Lisa to join us on the call today to talk about her vision and priorities as she and Bruno build a world-class go-to-market engine. Take it away, Lisa.

我邀請麗莎參加今天的電話會議，談論她和布魯諾打造世界一流的上市引擎時的願景和優先事項。把它拿走，麗莎。

Thank you for that nice introduction, Sam, and for inviting me to speak on today's call. I'm thrilled to be at 8x8. In fact, I accepted this role because I see tremendous opportunity for 8x8 as the UCaaS and CCaaS market continue to evolve. I have spent the majority of my career focused on customer engagement solutions, the past 2 years at Twilio, and prior to that, a number of years at both Genesis and Verizon, leading high-performing sales organizations as the customer experience and communications industries have dramatically changed.

感謝 Sam 的精彩介紹，並邀請我在今天的電話會議上發言。我很高興能參加 8x8 比賽。事實上，我接受了這個角色，因為隨著 UCaaS 和 CCaaS 市場的不斷發展，我看到了 8x8 的巨大機會。我職業生涯的大部分時間都專注於客戶互動解決方案，過去兩年在Twilio，在此之前，我在Genesis 和Verizon 工作了數年，隨著客戶體驗和通訊行業的發展，我領導著高績效的銷售組織。發生了巨大的變化。

In well over a decade of sales leadership, I've learned to appreciate how important, strong and well-defined go-to-market motions are to successful sales organization and how critical it is to align those motions with the buyer journey. I have spent the first few months at 8x8 doing a deep dive into really understanding current sales processes, the channel strategy and marketing motions to figure out what was holding us back from better sales performance.

在十多年的銷售領導生涯中，我逐漸認識到，強而有力且明確的上市動議對於成功的銷售組織來說是多麼重要，以及將這些動議與買家旅程保持一致是多麼重要。在 8x8 工作的最初幾個月，我深入了解了目前的銷售流程、通路策略和行銷活動，以找出是什麼阻礙了我們取得更好的銷售業績。

We are transforming our organization as our go-to-market motions migrate from UC led to contact center led and from a single product focus to a portfolio of products. I am focused on optimizing sales operations and enablement, building the processes, playbooks and packages that make it easier for our customers to do business with us and for our business development team, salespeople and partners to position and sell our solutions.

我們正在對我們的組織進行轉型，因為我們的市場走向從統一通訊主導轉向聯絡中心主導，從單一產品轉向產品組合。我專注於優化銷售營運和支持，建立流程、手冊和軟體包，使我們的客戶更輕鬆地與我們開展業務，並使我們的業務開發團隊、銷售人員和合作夥伴更輕鬆地定位和銷售我們的解決方案。

My go-to-market partner, our new Chief Marketing Officer, Bruno Bertini, will focus on lead generation and overall brand visibility and awareness in the CCaaS market. We are 100% aligned on our priorities.

我的市場合作夥伴、新任首席行銷長 Bruno Bertini 將專注於 CCaaS 市場的潛在客戶開發以及整體品牌知名度和認知度。我們在優先事項上 100% 一致。

With the recent innovations introduced in last year, we can effectively compete head-to-head in the CCaaS market with or without the incredibly strong foundation of our market-leading UCaaS solution. And the timing is right. I believe the market is at an inflection point and the adoption of AI will continue to drive migration to the cloud because of the benefits companies can realize. The fact is 8x8's portfolio offers the flexibility and innovative technologies for small and medium enterprise companies to optimize customer and employee experiences.

憑藉去年推出的最新創新成果，無論我們市場領先的 UCaaS 解決方案是否擁有極其強大的基礎，我們都可以在 CCaaS 市場上有效地進行正面競爭。而且時機恰到好處。我相信市場正處於拐點，人工智慧的採用將繼續推動向雲端的遷移，因為公司可以實現這些好處。事實上，8x8 的產品組合為中小型企業提供了靈活性和創新技術，以優化客戶和員工體驗。

I could not be more excited for our future from my due diligence during the interview process and my first few months here, I'm extremely confident that there is tremendous potential for 8x8. We have great product market fit. We have strong leaders in our regions, and we have the cross-functional collaboration and support that is crucial to any successful revenue organization.

從面試過程中的盡職調查以及來到這裡的頭幾個月，我對我們的未來感到非常興奮，我非常有信心 8x8 的巨大潛力。我們的產品非常適合市場。我們在我們的地區擁有強大的領導者，並且我們擁有對任何成功的收入組織至關重要的跨職能協作和支援。

I will now turn it over to Kevin for his review of our financial performance. Thank you.

現在我將把它交給凱文，讓他對我們的財務表現進行審查。謝謝。

Thank you, Lisa. And good afternoon, everyone. Our Q2 performance exceeded expectations in several key areas as we delivered service revenue and total revenue above our guidance midpoint. We continued the trend of delivering solid bottom line profitability as we achieved 12.8% non-GAAP operating margin, well above the high end of our guidance range.

謝謝你，麗莎。大家下午好。我們第二季的業績在幾個關鍵領域超出了預期，因為我們的服務收入和總收入高於我們的指導中點。我們繼續保持穩健盈利能力的趨勢，實現了 12.8% 的非 GAAP 營業利潤率，遠高於我們指導範圍的上限。

Year-over-year non-GAAP operating profit grew 162% and cash flow from operations increased 26% versus the prior year. We have delivered positive non-GAAP operating income and cash flow from operations for 11 consecutive quarters, and we plan to continue generating positive cash from operations and operating margin as we build momentum.

與前一年相比，非 GAAP 營運利潤年增 162%，營運現金流量成長 26%。我們已連續 11 個季度實現正的非公認會計原則營業收入和營運現金流，並且我們計劃在發展勢頭的同時繼續從營運和營運利潤中產生正現金。

Total revenue for the quarter was $185 million, and service revenue was $177.8 million, exceeding the midpoint of our guidance range by $2.3 million. Our service revenue performance reflected better-than-expected usage activity for our CPaaS business in the Asia Pacific region as well as contribution from new products. This quarter, we recorded year-over-year growth in CPaaS revenue for the first time in many quarters.

本季總收入為 1.85 億美元，服務收入為 1.778 億美元，超出我們指導範圍的中位數 230 萬美元。我們的服務收入表現反映了亞太地區 CPaaS 業務的使用活動優於預期以及新產品的貢獻。本季度，我們的 CPaaS 收入在多個季度以來首次實現同比增長。

Other revenue for the quarter was $7.2 million slightly below the prior quarter and generally in line with expectations. Total ARR was $707 million at quarter end, up 2% year-over-year.

該季度的其他收入為 720 萬美元，略低於上一季度，整體符合預期。截至季末，總 ARR 為 7.07 億美元，年增 2%。

Enterprise customers accounted for 58% of total ARR, consistent with the prior quarter and prior year. Enterprise ARR was up approximately $3 million sequentially and grew 1% year-over-year. We ended the quarter with approximately 1,250 enterprise customers. The number of enterprise customers was impacted by approximately 50 customers moving from enterprise to mid-market as we saw some effects from the current economic environment.

企業客戶佔總 ARR 的 58%，與上一季和去年一致。企業 ARR 環比成長約 300 萬美元，年增 1%。本季末，我們約有 1,250 家企業客戶。由於我們看到當前經濟環境的一些影響，大約 50 個客戶從企業轉向中端市場，從而影響了企業客戶的數量。

Turning to gross margin, operating expenses and operating profit. Please remember that all items discussed are non-GAAP, unless otherwise noted. Overall, second quarter gross margin was 71.5%, an increase of 140 basis points year-over-year. Q2 '24 gross profit dollars grew approximately 1% year-over-year, higher than overall revenue growth as we continue to focus on profitability.

轉向毛利率、營業費用和營業利潤。請記住，除非另有說明，否則討論的所有項目均非公認會計準則。整體而言，第二季毛利率為71.5%，年增140個基點。由於我們持續關注獲利能力，24 年第二季毛利年增約 1%，高於整體營收成長。

Service revenue gross margin came in at 74.6%, up 50 basis points year-over-year. We continuously manage our COGS and expect service revenue gross margins to remain healthy. Other revenue gross margin came in at negative 3.5% for the quarter compared to negative 11.2% in Q2 '23. The timing of hardware shipments and professional services deployments impacted other revenue, which in turn impacted the gross margin on other revenue in the quarter.

服務收入毛利率為74.6%，較去年成長50個基點。我們持續管理我們的銷貨成本，並預期服務收入毛利率保持健康。本季其他營收毛利率為負 3.5%，而 2023 年第二季為負 11.2%。硬體出貨和專業服務部署的時間影響了其他收入，進而影響了本季其他收入的毛利率。

Turning to operating expenses. R&D was 15.2% of revenue, in line with our 15% target and indicative of the continued investment we are making in product innovation. As we mentioned on our previous earnings call, we expect that our investment in R&D will generate a desirable return on investment, but this will take time as we build world-class software, generate awareness and close deals.

轉向營運費用。研發佔營收的 15.2%，符合我們 15% 的目標，也顯示我們在產品創新方面持續投資。正如我們在先前的財報電話會議上提到的，我們預計我們對研發的投資將產生理想的投資回報，但這需要時間，因為我們建立世界一流的軟體，提高知名度並完成交易。

Sales and marketing expense was 33.1% of revenue, slightly up from 32.8% in Q1 but well below the 37.4% of revenue in Q2 '23. Sales and marketing expenses were down year-over-year as we have realigned our resources to focus on our target customers. G&A as a percentage of revenue was 10.4% and down 50 basis points sequentially as we incurred lower compensation, employer taxes and benefits costs.

銷售和行銷費用佔營收的 33.1%，略高於第一季的 32.8%，但遠低於 23 年第二季的 37.4%。由於我們重新調整資源以專注於目標客戶，銷售和行銷費用較去年同期下降。由於薪資、雇主稅和福利成本降低，一般管理費用佔收入的百分比為 10.4%，較上季下降 50 個基點。

Total non-GAAP spending as measured by cost of goods sold plus R&D, plus sales and marketing plus G&A, was down approximately $17 million or nearly 10% year-over-year and reflects our strategic cost realignment actions taken in the prior fiscal year. Keep in mind that fiscal Q2 also included annual pay increases for our global employee population. At this point, we believe our overall cost structure is appropriate to drive our strategy.

以銷售商品成本加上研發、銷售和行銷加上一般行政費用衡量的非公認會計準則總支出年減了約1,700 萬美元，即近10%，這反映了我們在上一財年採取的策略成本調整行動。請記住，第二財季還包括我們全球員工的年度加薪。目前，我們相信我們的整體成本結構適合推動我們的策略。

The combination of improved revenue and carefully managed operating expenses resulted in non-GAAP operating profit of $23.8 million, up approximately 160% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA, which is reconciled to GAAP results in our Q2 '24 press release was $30.5 million, 16.5% of revenue and up 75% year-over-year. We have generated over $120 million of adjusted EBITDA over the past 4 quarters.

收入的提高和營運費用的精心管理相結合，實現了非 GAAP 營運利潤 2,380 萬美元，年增約 160%。調整後的 EBITDA（根據 2024 年第二季新聞稿中的 GAAP 業績調整後的 EBITDA）為 3,050 萬美元，佔營收的 16.5%，較去年同期成長 75%。過去 4 個季度，我們的調整後 EBITDA 超過 1.2 億美元。

Cash flow from operations was $17.5 million for the quarter, driven by strong profitability and solid cash collections, partially offset by cash interest paid of $12.9 million. Given that cash flow can vary quarter-to-quarter due to the timing of interest payments, collections and changes in other balance sheet items, I prefer to look at rolling 4 quarters cash flow when I evaluate our performance.

本季營運現金流為 1,750 萬美元，得益於強勁的獲利能力和穩定的現金回款，部分被支付的 1,290 萬美元現金利息所抵銷。鑑於由於利息支付、收款時間和其他資產負債表項目的變化，現金流量可能會因季度而異，因此在評估我們的業績時，我更願意考慮滾動 4 個季度的現金流量。

Over the last 4 quarters, we have generated approximately $73 million in cash flow from operations, an increase of 62% compared to the comparable trailing 12-month period ending September 30, 2022. We are very pleased with our financial performance so far this year. We ended the quarter with approximately $150 million in cash, restricted cash and investments, up approximately $11 million from the prior quarter.

在過去 4 個季度中，我們的營運現金流量約為 7,300 萬美元，與截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日的過去 12 個月期間相比增長了 62%。我們對今年迄今為止的財務表現非常滿意。本季結束時，我們擁有約 1.5 億美元的現金、限制性現金和投資，比上一季增加約 1,100 萬美元。

As we have said on prior calls, our plan remains to return $250 million to our investors from fiscal 2024 through fiscal 2026. Our next step in that plan will be to repay the remaining $63 million of the 2024 convertible notes using cash generated entirely from our operations.

As we have said on prior calls, our plan remains to return $250 million to our investors from fiscal 2024 through fiscal 2026. Our next step in that plan will be to repay the remaining $63 million of the 2024 convertible notes using cash generated entirely from our營運.

As we move into fiscal 2025, we intend to begin repaying the adjustable rate term loan as quickly as possible, which will have a significant and immediate impact on our operating cash flow by reducing our cash interest payments. You can expect us to begin voluntarily early repayment of principal immediately after the expiration of the prepayment penalty in August 2024.

隨著我們進入 2025 財年，我們打算盡快開始償還可調整利率定期貸款，這將透過減少現金利息支付對我們的營運現金流產生重大而直接的影響。您可以期待我們在 2024 年 8 月提前還款罰金到期後立即開始自願提前償還本金。

Remaining performance obligation, or RPO, was approximately $780 million for the quarter, increasing $65 million year-over-year on healthy multiyear customer commitments.

本季的剩餘履約義務 (RPO) 約為 7.8 億美元，由於健康的多年客戶承諾，比去年同期增加了 6,500 萬美元。

Before turning to guidance, I want to recap what we are doing as a company to build shareholder value over time. First, we are investing in innovation with a goal to drive long-term durable growth. Second, we are focused on leading with our CCaaS solutions to our target small and medium enterprise customers.

在轉向指導之前，我想回顧一下我們作為一家公司正在做的事情，以隨著時間的推移建立股東價值。首先，我們投資創新，目標是推動長期持久成長。其次，我們專注於將 CCaaS 解決方案引導至中小型企業目標客戶。

Third, we are reducing the mix of equity-based compensation, which will moderate the pace of new share issuances due to employee stock programs over the long term. And fourth, we are focused on growing revenue faster than expenses, leading to increased profitability and cash flow.

第三，我們正在減少以股權為基礎的薪酬組合，從長遠來看，這將減緩因員工持股計畫而發行新股的步伐。第四，我們專注於收入成長快於支出，進而提高獲利能力和現金流。

Increasing cash flow from operations while reducing shareholder dilution is our financial North Star and we are very focused on driving improvement in those metrics over the long term as the best way to build shareholder value over time.

增加營運現金流，同時減少股東稀釋是我們的財務北極星，我們非常注重長期推動這些指標的改進，作為隨著時間的推移建立股東價值的最佳方式。

For operating expenses, let me walk you through how our strategies to build shareholder value over time drive our expense structure. We expect sales and marketing to be in the range of 33% to 34% of revenue for fiscal 2024, down from 36% in fiscal 2023 as we focus our go-to-market motions on our target small to medium enterprise customers and cross-selling into our installed base.

對於營運費用，讓我向您介紹我們隨著時間的推移建立股東價值的策略如何推動我們的費用結構。我們預計 2024 財年的銷售和行銷將佔收入的 33% 至 34%，低於 2023 財年的 36%，因為我們將進入市場的行動重點放在目標中小型企業客戶和跨領域客戶上。銷售到我們的安裝基地。

I believe this cost envelope can accommodate programs to drive awareness of our innovations as well as incremental investments to develop our value-added reseller channel in North America. We expect R&D as a percentage of revenue to remain about 15% as we continue on the path of investment in our customer-focused product strategy.

我相信這個成本範圍可以容納提高我們創新意識的計劃以及增量投資以開發我們在北美的增值經銷商通路。隨著我們繼續投資以客戶為中心的產品策略，我們預計研發佔收入的比例將保持在 15% 左右。

Finally, we expect G&A expense to remain at approximately 11% of revenue for fiscal 2024 and we believe we can achieve leverage from our G&A functions over time as revenue increases and we achieve greater efficiencies through automation. However, in the near term, our expectation is for G&A to remain in the range of 10% to 11% of revenue as we absorb the increases in cash payroll expenses and investments in automation.

最後，我們預計2024 財年的G&A 費用將保持在收入的11% 左右，並且我們相信，隨著時間的推移，隨著收入的增加，我們可以從G&A 職能中獲得槓桿作用，並且我們可以透過自動化實現更高的效率。然而，在短期內，隨著我們吸收現金工資支出和自動化投資的增加，我們預計一般管理費用將保持在收入的 10% 至 11% 範圍內。

Regarding non-GAAP gross margin, we anticipate the second half of the fiscal year to be similar to the first half year average of 72% and note that this metric can be influenced by product mix. With this framework in mind, we reiterate our fiscal year revenue and operating margin guidance ranges and establish outlook ranges for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 ending December 31 2023 as follows.

關於非 GAAP 毛利率，我們預計本財年下半年將與上半年 72% 的平均值相似，並注意到該指標可能受到產品組合的影響。考慮到這一框架，我們重申了我們的財年收入和營業利潤率指導範圍，並確定了截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的 2024 財年第三季度的展望範圍，如下。

For the third quarter, we anticipate service revenue to be in the range of $173 million to $178 million. We anticipate total revenue to be in the range of $180 million to $186 million. We are targeting an operating margin between 11% and 12%. We expect cash flow from operations to decline sequentially but remain over $10 million. We anticipate interest expense of approximately $9 million and cash interest payments of approximately $7 million.

我們預計第三季的服務收入將在 1.73 億美元至 1.78 億美元之間。我們預計總收入將在 1.8 億至 1.86 億美元之間。我們的目標是營業利潤率在 11% 到 12% 之間。我們預計營運現金流將環比下降，但仍將超過 1000 萬美元。我們預計利息支出約為 900 萬美元，現金利息支付約為 700 萬美元。

Note that interest expenses can change as our term loan is subject to monthly interest rate adjustments. We estimate a fully diluted share count of approximately 125 million shares.

請注意，利息支出可能會發生變化，因為我們的定期貸款會根據每月利率進行調整。我們估計完全稀釋後的股數約為 1.25 億股。

We are reiterating guidance for fiscal 2024 ending March 31, 2024. As a reminder, the ranges were: Service revenue in the range of $701 million to $711 million. We anticipate total revenue to be in the range of $732.5 million to $742.5 million. Please note that other revenue can vary based on customer-specific deployment schedules and hardware shipments, so there could be some movement in the Q4 '24 other revenue as a result of these dynamics.

我們重申截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的 2024 財年指引。提醒一下，範圍為： 服務收入在 7.01 億美元至 7.11 億美元之間。我們預計總收入將在 7.325 億美元至 7.425 億美元之間。請注意，其他收入可能會根據客戶特定的部署計劃和硬體發貨量而有所不同，因此，由於這些動態，24 年第 4 季的其他收入可能會出現一些變化。

We continue to focus on delivering a solid operating margin and anticipate achieving between 12% and 13% for the year versus the 8.4% achieved in fiscal 2023. We expect cash flow from operations to be directionally aligned with the non-GAAP operating margin trend subject to timing differences in collections, debt interest and other payables.

我們繼續專注於實現穩健的營業利潤率，預計今年將實現 12% 至 13% 的目標，而 2023 財年為 8.4%。我們預計營運現金流將與非 GAAP 營業利潤率趨勢主題保持一致收款、債務利息和其他應付款項的時間差異。

We anticipate debt interest expense and cash paid for debt interest of $35 million to $36 million, again, noting that our term loan is subject to monthly interest rate adjustments, which have been increasing in recent quarters.

我們預計債務利息支出和債務利息支付的現金為 3500 萬至 3600 萬美元，並指出我們的定期貸款每月利率調整，最近幾個季度一直在增加。

We estimate an average fully diluted share count of approximately 123 million shares for fiscal 2024. In closing, I believe that our continued focus on profitability and cash flow from operations is the correct financial strategy for us at this time. This approach will enable us to continue making targeted investments in innovation and growth while we return value to our investors, primarily through debt prepayments.

我們預計 2024 財年的平均完全稀釋股數約為 1.23 億股。最後，我相信，我們目前持續關注獲利能力和營運現金流是我們正確的財務策略。這種方法將使我們能夠繼續在創新和成長方面進行有針對性的投資，同時我們主要透過債務預付款向投資者回報價值。

Fiscal 2024 is a period of transition, and our goal is to show some revenue reacceleration in fiscal 2025. I would like to thank the entire 8x8 team for working together to deliver this quarter's solid results, and I look forward to the continued execution of our strategy as we move forward in our quest to become an innovation-led growth company.

2024 財年是一個過渡時期，我們的目標是在 2025 財年實現收入重新加速。我要感謝整個 8x8 團隊的共同努力，交付了本季度的穩健業績，我期待著繼續執行我們的計劃我們在努力成為一家以創新為主導的成長型公司的過程中不斷前進。

Operator, we are ready for questions.

接線員，我們準備好回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Meta Marshall with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指令）我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Meta Marshall。

Thanks for all the additional disclosure. It's very helpful. Sam, in the past, you've kind of talked pretty openly about where there are opportunities in contact center with AI and where some of those are likely just given the amount of investment in the space to kind of reduce the opportunity. As you kind of build out that portfolio and start utilizing your own services in some of these third-party services? Just kind of how has that view evolved? And just kind of how do you view the gross margin opportunity with some of the CCaaS products?

感謝所有額外的披露。這非常有幫助。 Sam，過去，您相當公開地談論了人工智慧聯絡中心的哪些機會，以及其中一些機會可能只是因為對該領域的投資量而減少了機會。當您建立該產品組合併開始在其中一些第三方服務中使用您自己的服務？這種觀點是如何演變的？您如何看待某些 CCaaS 產品的毛利率機會？

All right. So how has that view -- it's hard for me to answer this with a flat out quick soundbite answer. Because the #1 thing I see over and over again is that partners and prospects and customers don't even know our full range of capabilities at 8x8 as we've brought things like intelligent customer interaction, video -- customer assistant, video interaction 2.0 and everything to market, we have a gap. I would say just relative to what your question is, the first question I hear is there's the day-to-day of a contact center manager trying to put an AI product into production, have it feel native to his contact center, have it fully integrated, have a way to have it work well inside the contact center and the hype that CNN or whatever CNBC puts out about how AI is going to revolutionize the world.

好的。那麼，這種觀點如何──我很難用一個簡單、簡短的回答來回答這個問題。因為我一遍又一遍地看到的第一件事是，合作夥伴、潛在客戶和客戶甚至不知道我們 8x8 的全部功能，因為我們帶來了智慧客戶互動、視訊客戶助理、視訊互動 2.0 等功能和一切上市相比，我們還有差距。我想說的是，相對於你的問題，我聽到的第一個問題是，聯絡中心經理每天都在嘗試將人工智能產品投入生產，讓它感覺適合他的聯絡中心，充分利用它集成，有辦法讓它在聯絡中心內良好運行，以及CNN 或CNBC 發布的關於人工智慧將如何徹底改變世界的炒作。

And so we are very much on the pragmatic side. We're seeing very rapid adoption of our AI-based intelligent customer assistant voice and digital versions. Because those are fully integrated into the contact center, they work really flawlessly and seamlessly and it's just sort of straightforward and easy to put into production. We've got agent assist available. We've got a new kind of a next-generation version of agent assist that we're working on right now. So those are all things that I think are very practical, very easy to put into the contact center show immediate agent productivity, case deflection benefits, those kinds of things.

因此，我們非常務實。我們看到基於人工智慧的智慧客戶助理語音和數位版本得到了非常迅速的採用。因為它們完全整合到聯絡中心中，所以它們的工作確實完美無缺、無縫，而且非常簡單且易於投入生產。我們有代理協助。我們現在正在開發一種新型的下一代版本的代理協助。因此，我認為這些都是非常實用、非常容易放入聯絡中心的東西，可以顯示座席的即時生產力、案例偏轉優勢，諸如此類的東西。

What was the second part of question?

問題的第二部分是什麼？

She wanted to know about the CCaaS.

她想了解 CCaaS。

CCaaS, the effect on gross margins. Look, what we see really clearly is, as we start to sell a portfolio of products to a customer, our retention rates go up and our revenue ability to generate from a given customer goes up. And so when that happens, our gross margins have a tendency to trend higher, but it can also be offset by seasonality of the CCaaS business and everything else. And so the underlying trends is contact center is a more margin-rich landscape for us as a business. And so there's upward ability to grow margins, but it's always in the overall product mix of the company.

CCaaS，對毛利率的影響。看，我們真正清楚地看到的是，當我們開始向客戶銷售產品組合時，我們的保留率就會上升，我們從特定客戶產生收入的能力也會上升。因此，當這種情況發生時，我們的毛利率有上升的趨勢，但它也可能被 CCaaS 業務和其他業務的季節性所抵消。因此，潛在的趨勢是聯絡中心對我們企業來說是一個利潤更豐厚的領域。因此，利潤率有上升的能力，但它始終存在於公司的整體產品組合中。

Our next question comes from Ryan MacWilliams with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Ryan MacWilliams。

I think your SMB ARR definitely held up better than investors, it might have expected this in a tough environment. But Sam, maybe just on the macro overall, how do you think 8x8 fared during the quarter? And like do you see any changes throughout the quarter? And how has October been so far?

我認為你們的中小企業 ARR 肯定比投資者表現得更好，它可能在艱難的環境下預料到了這一點。但是 Sam，也許就整體宏觀而言，您認為 8x8 在本季的表現如何？您認為整個季度有什麼變化嗎？十月到目前為止怎麼樣？

Well, I'll just sort of make it general about macro. So I think last quarter was a tougher quarter for macro. We definitely are starting to see the bite of the increasing interest rates and change in economic sort of environment overall. I mean, there's the natural places you would see at credit card default rates, a little bit more downsell pressure on renewals where customers -- if they're at 100 seats before, become 97 seats at renewal, those kinds of things. I think we see a little bit more of that.

好吧，我只是簡單地概括一下宏觀。所以我認為上個季度對於宏觀經濟來說是一個更艱難的季度。我們肯定開始看到利率上升和整體經濟環境變化的影響。我的意思是，在信用卡違約率方面，你會自然地看到一些情況，續訂時會面臨更大的降價壓力，如果客戶之前有100 個席位，那麼在續訂時就會變成97 個席位，諸如此類的事情。我認為我們看到了更多這樣的情況。

It does make us a little bit more cautious in terms of our forward guidance and expectations. And just to be clear, sort of relating it back to the company. I don't think October is any different than the rest of the quarter. The last place we saw, and I just sort of just give you a sense of I look at on the story is, we set a DocuSign out to close the deal at the end of the quarter. And I think originally it had 4 signatures on it from the customer. And by the time we went back and forth a couple more times, we ended up with 10 customer signatures required to get the deal done.

這確實讓我們在前瞻性指導和期望方面更加謹慎。需要明確的是，將其與公司聯繫起來。我認為十月與本季其餘時間沒有什麼不同。我們看到的最後一個地方，我只是讓你們了解我對這個故事的看法，我們設定了一個 DocuSign 來在季度末完成交易。我認為最初它上面有 4 個客戶的簽名。當我們又來回幾次時，我們最終得到了 10 個客戶的簽名才能完成交易。

Now we got the deal done. But that's -- when people ask me like, what does the economic slowdown look like? It's the customer requiring 10 people to sign it, including that 1 person who's on vacation and whatever the Poconos today, and we had to track that person now and get on the side on their phone. But that's what an economic slowdown looks like.

現在我們完成了交易。但這是──當人們問我，經濟放緩是什麼樣子的？客戶要求 10 個人簽名，其中包括 1 個人正在度假以及今天 Poconos 的任何事情，我們現在必須跟踪該人並透過他們的手機進行支援。但這就是經濟放緩的樣子。

You kind of front ran my weekend plans because I will be heading to the Poconos. So fair enough. And look, you guys have done a lot to get ahead of refinancing your debt and you've significantly improved the cost structure of your business over the last year. And I appreciate the information slide deck and Kevin's prepared remarks just on your capital structure. But I think it might be worthwhile and helpful for folks. Just if you can walk through like the high level of plan of attack on how to address or your thoughts on like addressing the capital structure over the next few years.

你有點提前安排了我的周末計劃，因為我要去波科諾斯。很公平。看，你們在債務再融資方面做了很多工作，並且在過去一年中顯著改善了企業的成本結構。我很欣賞資訊幻燈片和凱文就你們的資本結構準備的評論。但我認為這對人們來說可能是值得的並且有幫助的。只要您能夠詳細了解如何解決未來幾年的資本結構問題的高級攻擊計劃或您的想法。

Yes. And I can wrap in the SMB comments also. So look, I mean, Kevin was really clear. In last quarter, we put out a financial North Star, right? So our financial North Star is cash from operations per share because of SEC rules, we obviously can't guide to that number, but that's how we think about the company. We want to use that cash from operations that we generate to return money to investors, and that's primarily through debt repayments because that just makes the most logical sense. And then eventually, if we sort of pay off a majority of the debt or pay all the debt, we'll start with stock repurchases. I mean, that would be the next logical step to do with some future point, especially with our valuation at (inaudible) levels.

是的。我也可以包含 SMB 評論。所以看，我的意思是，凱文真的很清楚。上個季度，我們推出了財務北極星，對嗎？因此，由於美國證券交易委員會的規定，我們的財務北極星是每股營運現金，我們顯然無法指導這個數字，但這就是我們對公司的看法。我們希望利用我們產生的營運現金將資金返還給投資者，這主要是透過債務償還，因為這才是最合乎邏輯的。最終，如果我們償還了大部分債務或償還了所有債務，我們將從股票回購開始。我的意思是，這將是未來某個點的下一個合乎邏輯的步驟，特別是在我們的估值處於（聽不清楚）水平的情況下。

And so I think the key there -- it's all about capital allocation. We're cash flow positive business. We continue to generate very solid levels of cash. We're going to use that cash to strengthen our balance sheet, first. And then continue to invest in growth, second. You also said something earlier about SMB held up particularly well, given the macroeconomic environment. And I think a lot of that has been that we've restructured some things down there. We've got it running more -- look, the comps are easier. I'm not a fool. But the comps are easier. We've also got it restructured. We've got the right people in the right seats doing the right things. And we care a lot about customers there. And so we're seeing some benefit from that and some efficiency improvement.

所以我認為關鍵在於資本配置。我們是現金流為正的企業。我們繼續產生非常穩定的現金水準。首先，我們將使用這些現金來加強我們的資產負債表。然後繼續投資於成長，第二。您之前也曾說過，考慮到宏觀經濟環境，中小企業的表現尤其出色。我認為其中很大一部分是我們重組了一些東西。我們讓它運行得更多——看，比賽更容易了。我不是傻子。但比較更容易。我們也對其進行了重組。我們讓合適的人坐在適當的位置做合適的事情。我們非常關心那裡的客戶。因此，我們看到了一些好處和效率的提升。

Next question comes from Catharine Trebnick with Rosenblatt.

下一個問題來自 Catharine Trebnick 和 Rosenblatt。

Yes, Sam, nice job. So 2 things. One, can you parse the difference between your traditional channel partner and your Microsoft Elevate program? And how are each one helping you layering the new products for growth?

是的，山姆，幹得好。所以有兩件事。第一，您能分析一下您的傳統通路合作夥伴和 Microsoft Elevate 計畫之間的差異嗎？每個人如何幫助您分層新產品以促進成長？

Okay. So the biggest difference -- I mean, so Elevate is the name of our channel program overall and actually encapsulates TSDH and VAR, et cetera. It's just the general name of our program. The big difference between the Microsoft partners -- so these are traditional Microsoft VARs. And so they're best known for selling Office 365 and Exchange and Azure and those kinds of things. But with the rise in Teams, we obviously have a presence there. And so we've gone out over the last couple of years and recruited Microsoft partners to resell our products in that space. I think it's very successful because we view Microsoft as a strong partnership. And I think Microsoft, and I don't want to speak for them, but at least from what I hear from them is they view us as a strong partner.

好的。所以最大的區別 - 我的意思是，Elevate 是我們整個渠道計劃的名稱，實際上封裝了 TSDH 和 VAR 等。這只是我們程式的通用名稱。 Microsoft 合作夥伴之間的巨大差異 - 因此這些都是傳統的 Microsoft VAR。因此，他們以銷售 Office 365、Exchange 和 Azure 等產品而聞名。但隨著 Teams 的興起，我們顯然在那裡佔有一席之地。因此，我們在過去的幾年裡招募了微軟合作夥伴來在該領域轉售我們的產品。我認為這是非常成功的，因為我們將微軟視為強而有力的合作夥伴。我認為微軟，我不想代表他們說話，但至少從我從他們那裡聽到的消息來看，他們認為我們是一個強大的合作夥伴。

We don't view each other as competitors. We think we enable Microsoft Teams deployment in the enterprise, and we can do great things for it, and we embrace it. And I'm sort of a big fan of Microsoft teams. And so for that, it was just a matter of going out and getting partners that when they're selling Teams know that we have a great direct routing solution. Stay tuned on the operator Connect side. But there's lots of great things to talk about on that.

我們不將彼此視為競爭對手。我們認為我們能夠在企業中部署 Microsoft Teams，我們可以為此做一些很棒的事情，並且我們擁抱它。我是微軟團隊的忠實粉絲。因此，這只是一個走出去並讓合作夥伴在銷售團隊時知道我們有一個很棒的直接路由解決方案的問題。請繼續關注運營商 Connect 端。但對此有很多值得討論的事情。

And since Lisa is here, Lisa is there anything you care to add on Microsoft and the partnership?

既然 Lisa 來了，Lisa 您對 Microsoft 及其合作夥伴關係還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No. I mean, I think you covered it, Sam. I would also just add the Elevate program in general really drives loyalty and rewards our partners for working with us, whether that's our solution or jointly with Microsoft.

不，我是說，我想你已經報道過了，山姆。我還想補充一點，總體而言，Elevate 計劃確實可以提高忠誠度，並獎勵與我們合作的合作夥伴，無論是我們的解決方案還是與 Microsoft 合作的解決方案。

Our next question comes from Josh Nichols with B. Riley.

我們的下一個問題來自 Josh Nichols 和 B. Riley。

My question, great to see the company coming in above the guidance range pretty much across the board with good cash flow. So I think most of the questions have been hit on at this point. One thing I did want to touch on a little bit is I know longer term, you've talked about one seeing some more revenue growth acceleration next year and maybe ultimately getting back to somewhere around like 10% growth longer term as some of these AI and ML investments come to fruition. Like what's the timing on potentially monetizing that? And how are you approaching it differently whereas you're not really competing with hyperscalers relative to some of the peers and what makes you kind of unique in that factor?

我的問題是，很高興看到該公司幾乎全面高於指導範圍，而且現金流良好。所以我認為現在大部分問題都已經解決了。我確實想談一點的一件事是，我知道從長遠來看，你談到明年的收入成長會進一步加速，並且最終可能會像其中一些人工智慧一樣，最終回到 10% 左右的長期成長水平機器學習投資已初見成效。例如什麼時候可以將其貨幣化？在相對於某些同行而言，您並沒有真正與超大規模企業競爭的情況下，您如何以不同的方式處理它？是什麼讓您在這個因素上獨一無二？

I appreciate it, Josh. I laughed as you were saying that, because whatever answer I'm about to give you, now in my heart, I'd like it to happen faster, but I just have to be realistic, right? So I think that you're asking a great question. And the question is really around we are changing fundamentally, we're transforming as a company. And we're being innovation led. And the place you see that the most is today, we can sell 8 products to a customer. And just a couple of years ago, we sold 2. We sold UC and CC. And unlike some of our competitors, they fundamentally sell one, UC, we can sell 8 UC, CC, ICA digital, ICA Voice, workforce management, and on professional services, CPaaS and Secure Pay. And so what -- now the question we're doing is we're restructuring our go-to-market motions around becoming that portfolio sale.

我很感激，喬許。當你這麼說的時候我笑了，因為無論我要給你什麼答案，現在在我心裡，我都希望它發生得更快，但我必須現實一點，對吧？所以我認為你問了一個很好的問題。問題實際上是我們正在從根本上改變，我們正在作為一家公司進行轉型。我們正在以創新為主導。而你看到最多的地方就是今天，我們可以向一個客戶銷售8種產品。就在幾年前，我們賣了 2。我們賣了 UC 和 CC。與我們的一些競爭對手不同，他們從根本上銷售一種，UC，我們可以銷售 8 種 UC、CC、ICA 數字、ICA 語音、勞動力管理，以及專業服務、CPaaS 和 Secure Pay。那麼，現在我們正在做的問題是，我們正在圍繞成為投資組合銷售來重組我們的上市動議。

As we sell more of the portfolio to a given customer, we see higher retention rates and higher ARPU, higher stuff. Some of these are usage-based, and I don't want to get into all the sort of minutia details. The timing behind that is a lot of the products are in beta or exiting beta now. So we saw, as I mentioned on my prepared remarks, we saw, for example, in ICA, the number of interactions doubled 50% quarter-on-quarter and accelerate on a month-on-month basis throughout the quarter as we're starting to expand out the number of customers. And the number of customers in the pipeline is up triple digits, a couple of hundred percent quarter-on-quarter as that moves to GA.

當我們向特定客戶銷售更多的產品組合時，我們會看到更高的保留率和更高的 ARPU，更高的東西。其中一些是基於使用情況的，我不想討論所有細節。背後的時機是許多產品現在處於測試階段或退出測試階段。因此，正如我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們看到，例如，在 ICA 中，交互數量環比增加了一倍 50%，並且整個季度環比加速，因為我們開始擴大客戶數量。隨著通用化的推進，管道中的客戶數量增加了三位數，季度環比增加了百分之幾百。

And so I think we'll start to see -- but we see it internally, the question you're really asking is when will it be on the income statement? I think later this fiscal year, early next year, I'm hoping (inaudible) on board, it will be big enough that you'll see it in the income statement as moving the needle and starting to drive that reacceleration.

所以我認為我們會開始看到 - 但我們在內部看到它，你真正問的問題是它什麼時候會出現在損益表上？我認為本財年晚些時候，明年初，我希望（聽不清楚）加入，它會足夠大，你會在損益表中看到它正在推動並開始推動重新加速。

And I think the important thing here is that we're really getting a positive response from the customers who are using some of these products in beta today. And it's really, really great to see the traction that we're developing internally, starting out with small numbers, but the acceleration of this can be significant. And the sooner the better.

我認為這裡重要的是，我們確實得到了今天使用其中一些測試版產品的客戶的積極回應。看到我們內部發展的吸引力真的非常非常好，從少量開始，但這種加速可能是顯著的。而且越早越好。

Okay. Your second question is great, which is like how am I not competing with the hyperscalers? So what we've done is we've built a platform that allows a series of integration, native like feeling integrations with this host of next-generation start-ups. And you're seeing these start-ups that are raising. I mean it's now how to raise $250 million rounds or $500 million rounds on these next-generation technologies, but they need a contact center to work on. They need a contact center workflow to ride on top of. And we've developed and we've reengineered our platform over the last 3, 4 years to enable those next-generation technologies to ride on top of our platform.

好的。你的第二個問題很好，這就像我如何不與超大規模企業競爭？因此，我們所做的是建立了一個平台，允許與眾多下一代新創公司進行一系列集成，類似原生的集成。你會看到這些新創企業正在籌集資金。我的意思是，現在的問題是如何為這些下一代技術籌集 2.5 億美元或 5 億美元的資金，但他們需要一個聯絡中心來開展工作。他們需要一個可以依賴的聯絡中心工作流程。在過去的三、四年裡，我們開發並重新設計了我們的平台，以使這些下一代技術能夠在我們的平台上運作。

This is very much different than most of our competitors in the contact center space who haven't reengineered their technology stack and therefore, mainly forced to fight a native battle, which means they buy companies, they hardwire in the integration, and they basically have to use their in-house solution.

這與我們在聯絡中心領域的大多數競爭對手有很大不同，他們沒有重新設計他們的技術堆棧，因此主要被迫進行本地戰鬥，這意味著他們購買公司，他們在集成中進行硬連接，並且他們基本上擁有使用他們的內部解決方案。

For example, we offer 3 or 4 different agent assist platforms, and we can offer a few more that are coming shortly. We offer our chatbot ICA, which is based on Cognigy, but we also have customers running Balto and Awake and others that are phenomenally successful. And so what's that enabling us is that we're not competing with those companies, they all want to partner with us.

例如，我們提供 3 或 4 個不同的代理協助平台，我們可以提供更多即將推出的平台。我們提供基於 Cognigy 的聊天機器人 ICA，但我們也有客戶運行 Balto 和 Awake 以及其他非常成功的機器人。因此，我們的優勢在於我們不與這些公司競爭，他們都想與我們合作。

Lisa, anything you had to add?

麗莎，你有什麼要補充的嗎？

I mean, I think what these partners allow us to do is really continue to blur the lines between customer and employee engagement with those native integrations. And that really gives the end customer the right toolkit to be able to deliver that experience.

我的意思是，我認為這些合作夥伴允許我們做的實際上是繼續模糊客戶和員工參與與這些原生整合之間的界線。這確實為最終客戶提供了能夠提供這種體驗的正確工具包。

Yes. I think right now, we, as a company, can handle more and use cases than just about anybody out there with our ecosystem.

是的。我認為現在，作為一家公司，我們可以比我們的生態系統中的任何人處理更多的用例。

Our next question comes from George Sutton with Craig Hallum.

我們的下一個問題來自喬治·薩頓和克雷格·哈勒姆。

Sam, I wondered if you could walk through the math of the -- or the thought process of the push and pull between this $250 million return to shareholders, which is great against the potential for growth investments. How are you kind of driving that line?

山姆，我想知道您是否可以詳細介紹一下這 2.5 億美元股東回報之間的推力和拉力的數學過程，這對於成長投資的潛力來說是巨大的。你在這條線上行駛得怎麼樣？

Yes. So let me tackle a couple of these things. So first of to investors, not to shareholders, we all share buyback. And my lawyers always like me to say that the bondholders are not considered shareholders. So I have to correct that because I'll get a nasty gram for my GC. Look, the push and pull, it's a fair comment. I think I would invest more in growth after we get our GTM engine sort of retooled for our next generation of portfolio selling.

是的。那麼讓我來解決一些問題。因此，首先是對投資者，而不是股東，我們都會進行股票回購。我的律師總是喜歡我說債券持有人不被視為股東。所以我必須糾正這個問題，因為我的 GC 會得到令人討厭的克數。看，推拉，這是一個公平的評論。我認為，在我們為下一代投資組合銷售重新調整 GTM 引擎後，我會在成長方面投入更多資金。

That's why I always leave the optionality out there. Now look, I think, I want to strengthen the balance sheet. So I want to get rid of term loans, that's the $250 million. We get that taken care of, plus the 63 and 24, and we'll be like financially well set. We want to have a lot of interest costs, those kinds of things. But really to me, it's about retooling the GTM then spending more.

這就是為什麼我總是留下選擇性。現在看，我想，我想加強資產負債表。所以我想擺脫那 2.5 億美元的定期貸款。我們解決了這個問題，再加上 63 和 24，我們的財務狀況就會很好。我們希望有很多利息成本，諸如此類的事情。但對我來說，真正重要的是重新裝備 GTM，然後花更多錢。

We have enough money and we're generating enough operating income that if we see an investment opportunity with a very high ROIC, we'll go after it. We have margin room to play with. It's not like our backs against the wall. And so right now, we're more focused on putting the incremental dollar into reaccelerating growth in the company and just maintaining margins generally where they're at, plus/minus, depending on timing and a bunch of other things, like trade shows and all those things that drive op margins in any particular quarter.

我們有足夠的資金，並且正在產生足夠的營業收入，如果我們看到投資回報率非常高的投資機會，我們就會抓住它。我們還有餘地可以發揮。這不像我們背靠牆。因此，現在，我們更專注於將增量資金投入到公司的重新加速成長中，並將利潤率維持在原來的水平，正負值，這取決於時間安排和其他一些事情，例如貿易展和所有這些因素都會在任何特定季度推動營運利潤率。

But really, it's continued to strengthen the balance sheet, continue to strengthen the company overall and reaccelerate growth as quickly as possible. I don't think an incremental dollar right now in sales and marketing is the right play. As soon as it is the right play, we'll happily make that investment.

但實際上，它正在繼續強化資產負債表，繼續強化公司整體實力，並儘快重新加速成長。我認為目前在銷售和行銷方面增加資金並不是正確的選擇。只要這是正確的做法，我們就會很樂意進行投資。

And just to restate, we are and continue to be investing in innovation. So that investment is going 15% of revenue is our target. So we continue to do that because we believe it's going to result in fantastic products that are attractive in the market. So that investment is going to continue.

重申一下，我們正在並將繼續投資於創新。因此，我們的目標是投資佔收入的 15%。因此，我們繼續這樣做，因為我們相信這將帶來在市場上有吸引力的出色產品。因此，這種投資將持續下去。

As a follow-up on the contact center, a couple of your large competitors have come out and talked about disruptive pricing with relatively new platforms. I think what I'm hearing from you is given your way of having built the platform, you really don't compete directly because you're offering a lot of things that none of them have really even contemplated. Is that -- am I hearing that correctly?

作為聯絡中心的後續行動，您的幾個大型競爭對手已經站出來談論相對較新的平台的顛覆性定價。我認為我從你那裡聽到的是你建立平台的方式，你真的不會直接競爭，因為你提供了很多他們都沒有真正考慮過的東西。那是——我沒聽錯嗎？

I think that's absolutely true. And a lot of the disruptive pricing models aren't nearly as disruptive. I mean, the 1 that comes to mind is the one that's interaction-based. And anybody with like a calculator, leaving a basic calculator can quickly figure out that an interaction-based system and an average contact center cost you more than buying a per seat. So it's great from a marketing billboard perspective, but it's actually not going to win that much business once anybody gets a calculator out.

我認為這絕對是真的。而且許多顛覆性的定價模式並沒有那麼顛覆性。我的意思是，我想到的第一個是基於互動的。任何擁有計算器的人，只要有一個基本的計算器，就可以很快發現基於互動的系統和平均聯絡中心的成本比購買每個席位的成本更高。因此，從行銷廣告看板的角度來看，它很棒，但實際上，一旦有人拿出計算器，它就不會贏得那麼多業務。

Our next question comes from Michael Turrin with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的麥可‧特林。

This is Michael Berg on for Michael Turrin. Just going back to the contact center space. Just be curious there on overall progress and pricing trends as you incorporate more and more AI into this? Any feedback there would be helpful.

我是邁克爾伯格 (Michael Berg) 替邁克爾特林 (Michael Turrin) 發言。回到聯絡中心空間。當你將越來越多的人工智慧融入其中時，只是對整體進展和定價趨勢感到好奇嗎？那裡的任何反饋都會有幫助。

I mean, I would say, on average, I mean, it's hard to tease it out completely. But like when we sell a portfolio of products, we see the dollars of revenue that we generate from a customer go up. Now part of that is a mix of seat plus usage or seat plus consumption based. Because like we said, when you have a bot, you can't charge a seat bot or bot per seat. I don't know exactly how the math -- the English should work because it's not a user. You charge based on the interactions and so it's a little different.

我的意思是，我想說，平均而言，我的意思是，很難完全弄清楚它。但就像我們銷售產品組合時一樣，我們會看到從客戶那裡獲得的收入增加。現在其中一部分是基於座位加使用或座位加消費的組合。因為就像我們說的，當你有一個機器人時，你不能對一個座位機器人或每個座位機器人收費。我不知道數學-英文到底是如何運作的，因為它不是使用者。您根據互動進行收費，因此略有不同。

I think one of the things -- and I'm going to expand your question slightly, one of the things that people talk a lot about is, "Oh my goodness, AI is going to put the contact center out of business," completely false. I think it's completely false for at least until I am 40 years retired.

我認為其中一件事 - 我將稍微擴展你的問題，人們經常談論的一件事是，「天哪，人工智慧將使聯絡中心徹底破產」錯誤的。我認為至少在我退休 40 歲之前這是完全錯誤的。

What we see today is when we deploy our next-generation technologies, we get more productive agents. Maybe we get 1 agent or 2 agents less than a 250-seat contact center. But what we see generally is attrition rates, which are 40% and 50% go down, the actual hourly paid to agents goes up because they're adding more value. And the root parts of their jobs go away and the value-added parts of their jobs increase.

今天我們看到的是，當我們部署下一代技術時，我們將獲得更有效率的代理。也許我們需要 1 或 2 名座席，而不是擁有 250 個座位的聯絡中心。但我們普遍看到的是，流失率下降了 40% 和 50%，但支付給代理商的實際每小時工資卻上升了，因為他們增加了更多價值。他們工作的根本部分消失了，而工作的增值部分卻增加了。

And so I'm super bullish on AI making contact center jobs substantially better. Last year, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the average contact center work in the United States made $18.31 an hour, which is about 30% less below the median wage of an hourly employee. Corporate America is waking up that you can't have your lowest priced employees, the ones dealing with your customers if you want customer loyalty. And that's what AI is enabling a change too.

因此，我非常看好人工智慧會讓聯絡中心的工作變得更好。去年，根據美國勞工統計局的數據，美國聯絡中心工作人員的平均薪資為每小時 18.31 美元，比時薪員工的中位數薪資低約 30%。美國企業界正在覺醒，如果你想要客戶忠誠度，你就不能僱用價格最低的員工來與你的客戶打交道。這也是人工智慧正在帶來的改變。

We can have more productive contact center agents that we pay more to that offer better customer experiences that improve reorder and renewal rates across industries. And I think that's the magic that's happening.

我們可以為聯絡中心客服人員支付更多的費用，從而提高生產力，從而提供更好的客戶體驗，從而提高各行業的再訂購和續約率。我認為這就是正在發生的魔力。

Our next question comes from Peter Levine with Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Peter Levine。

Great. Maybe just one for Lisa. Your experience Trilio, Genesis. So I guess, you've been in the role for a couple of months, Explain to us from a higher level, where do you see the opportunity? What are your priorities? And if you can share like what are some of the changes? Or I think anything to the technology to grow a market that you're implementing today, where you think will have a change to this business over the next, call it, 12 months?

偉大的。也許只是給麗莎的一個。你的經歷 Trilio，Genesis。所以我猜，你擔任這個職位已經有幾個月了，從更高的層面向我們解釋一下，你在哪裡看到了機會？你的優先事項是什麼？如果可以分享一下有哪些變化嗎？或者我認為，對於您今天正在實施的市場發展技術，您認為在接下來的 12 個月內，該業務將會改變？

Yes. Thank you for that question. I think the first thing I would go back to is what I mentioned earlier, which is the way that our portfolio of products really starts to blur the lines between customer and employee engagement. And what that really allows companies to do, which is to use the insights and the analytics that we give them to drive the right business outcome. And I think we're really uniquely positioned to capture that.

是的。謝謝你提出這個問題。我想我首先要回顧的是我之前提到的，這就是我們的產品組合真正開始模糊客戶和員工敬業度之間界線的方式。這真正讓公司能夠做到的是利用我們為他們提供的見解和分析來推動正確的業務成果。我認為我們確實處於獨特的位置來捕捉這一點。

I think when I look at the organization that I've come into, we were very much tooled to focus on the UC positioning in the marketplace. And the contact center discussion was not front and center. And what I'm doing is building out the organization from a skill set perspective, from a tools and sales motion perspective so that we are coming to the customers with the right use cases to drive the right business outcome. And that is number one, my focus.

我認為，當我審視我所加入的組織時，我們非常適合專注於 UC 在市場中的定位。而且聯絡中心的討論並不是最重要的。我正在做的是從技能集的角度、工具和銷售活動的角度來建立組織，以便我們向客戶提供正確的用例，以推動正確的業務成果。這是第一，我的重點。

So there's a lot of enablement going on within my organization. We're looking at the tools that we use, the insights that we're able to provide our teams in terms of the accounts they're working with and making sure that we're able to capitalize on that.

因此，我的組織內部正在進行大量的支援工作。我們正在研究我們使用的工具，我們能夠為我們的團隊提供有關他們正在使用的客戶的見解，並確保我們能夠利用這些工具。

And then maybe just a follow-up. You mentioned within the Fuse customer base, you saw, I think, more downsells attrition. Is that something that popped up this quarter? Or any color you can provide on when you think that kind of trough out here?

然後也許只是後續行動。您提到在 Fuse 客戶群中，我認為您看到了更多的降價銷售流失。這是本季突然出現的事情嗎？或者當你認為這裡有這種低谷時你可以提供任何顏色？

Yes. We talked about it last quarter. So far Fuse has performed better than our original financial model. And we had double industry churn rates in the first year and then we expect it to moderate. In the first year, it was substantially better than we expected, but the second year has been slightly worse than we expected. What we've seen is a little bit of -- I think last quarter is probably the worst. It got a little bit better this quarter in the sense that we saw a quarter on and quarter significant improvement in the number of logo churn.

是的。我們上個季度討論過這個問題。到目前為止，Fuse 的表現比我們原來的財務模型更好。第一年我們的行業流失率翻了一番，然後我們預計它會放緩。第一年，它比我們預期的要好得多，但第二年比我們預期的要差一些。我們所看到的是——我認為上個季度可能是最糟糕的。本季情況有所好轉，我們看到徽標流失數量逐季度顯著改善。

We're still dealing with a little bit of rightsizing, especially as we upgrade the customers to 8x8, to think it will get better next quarter and the quarter after. What we are seeing really clearly is we've accelerated our move of moving Fuse customers to 8x8 and the CCaaS scores when they get to 8x8, are awesome. I'm super happy.

我們仍在處理一些規模調整問題，特別是當我們將客戶升級到 8x8 時，我們認為下個季度和下個季度情況會變得更好。我們非常清楚地看到，我們已經加快了將 Fuse 客戶遷移到 8x8 的步伐，當他們達到 8x8 時，CCaaS 分數非常好。我超高興。

The customer satisfaction once they're on the 8x8 platform is outstanding, and the renewal rates are high once they're on 8x8. So we need to accelerate it kind of through the bubble that we -- the sort of self-inflicted gunshot wound that we had around it. I think probably the worst quarter was last quarter. We saw a little bit of signs of improvement this quarter and knock on wood, hopefully, it will be a little bit better next quarter.

一旦他們進入 8x8 平台，客戶滿意度就會非常高，一旦他們進入 8x8，續約率就會很高。因此，我們需要加速它穿過我們周圍的泡沫，就像我們周圍的自傷槍傷一樣。我認為最糟糕的季度可能是上個季度。本季我們看到了一些改善的跡象，希望下個季度會好一點。

Our next question comes from Michael Funk with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的麥可‧芬克。

For the question. So first on general Contact Center Health, do you have any comments on agent hiring, maybe that you're able to see during the quarter and usage trends as well. And if you do have any color, how did that trend during October heading into the holidays?

對於這個問題。首先，關於聯絡中心的整體健康狀況，您對代理商招聘有何評論，也許您可以在本季度看到以及使用趨勢。如果你確實有任何顏色，十月到假期的趨勢如何？

It's a good question. I mean, Lisa, you can chime up here anytime you want. I mean look, what we're seeing is the normal purchase of bursting seats by our retail customers. So the seasonality, the normal activities that you would expect to see by the retail customers of adding agents in September and October, getting them trained. I don't think -- I mean, I think that's happening. In general, I still see more onshoring than offshoring. I still see the trend of bringing contact centers back from developing countries back onshore to drive higher CCaaS scores and higher NPS scores to drive renewal and retention rates, those kinds of things.

這是一個好問題。我的意思是，麗莎，你可以隨時在這裡插話。我的意思是，我們看到的是我們的零售客戶正常購買爆滿的座位。因此，季節性，您期望零售客戶在 9 月和 10 月添加代理商並對其進行培訓的正常活動。我不認為——我的意思是，我認為這種情況正在發生。總的來說，我仍然認為在岸外包多於離岸外包。我仍然看到將聯絡中心從發展中國家帶回國內的趨勢，以提高 CCaaS 分數和更高的 NPS 分數，從而提高更新率和保留率等。

So I think underlying -- I don't know...

所以我認為潛在的——我不知道…

Yes. I think the other thing that I would add in terms of our retail customer base is that they're really looking to get more out of the folks who are front and center with their end consumer and giving them the tools to be more effective. So I think what we're seeing more is the interest in wanting to give someone who's in its retail store location, access to the same insights and tools that's someone who does sit in a contact center, so that they're able to serve that consumer just like the person would in that contact center.

是的。我認為，就我們的零售客戶群而言，我要補充的另一件事是，他們確實希望從最終消費者的前沿和中心人員那裡獲得更多收益，並為他們提供提高效率的工具。因此，我認為我們看到更多的是希望為零售店內的人員提供與聯絡中心人員相同的見解和工具，以便他們能夠提供服務消費者就像聯絡中心的人一樣。

I think the other thing is on, as Lisa said, that kind of occur to me is, look, it's a little hard for us. Like we've never been the world's biggest player in contact center, right? There's others. And so what we see is a lot of our customers, especially when we launched this host of new products, mean I'm utterly surprised by the -- just the sheer volume and wonderfulness of the products we're launching right now, kind of sure our customers are just happy with us right now when they get these new products in their hands and they get to play with them and see what the capabilities are.

我認為另一件事正在發生，正如麗莎所說，我想到的是，看，這對我們來說有點困難。就像我們從來都不是世界上最大的聯絡中心參與者一樣，對吧？還有其他人。因此，我們看到的是許多客戶，特別是當我們推出這一系列新產品時，這意味著我對我們現在推出的產品的數量和精彩程度感到非常驚訝，當然，當我們的客戶拿到這些新產品並開始試用並了解其功能時，他們現在對我們感到非常滿意。

That was great color. One more, Sam, if I could. I'm trying to parse your comments on Fuse. I think you said that churn had risen to about 2x the industry average. I think you mentioned this last quarter, you saw the highest level of pressure on the business. So just trying to map that to when Fuse may no longer be a headwind to the business. So if I take that math in my head, is it fair to assume that at the earliest second half of next year, we're back in line with industry type churn migrations are progressing and the Fuse business is no longer a headwind. Is that the right way to think about timing for that?

那是很棒的顏色。如果可以的話，山姆，再來一張。我正在嘗試解析您對 Fuse 的評論。我想你說過客戶流失率已經上升到產業平均的 2 倍左右。我想您在上個季度提到過，您看到了業務面臨的最大壓力。因此，只要嘗試將其映射到 Fuse 何時不再成為業務的阻力即可。因此，如果我在腦海中進行數學計算，可以公平地假設，最早在明年下半年，我們將與行業類型流失遷移的進展保持一致，並且 Fuse 業務不再是逆風。這是考慮時機的正確方法嗎？

I'm trying to do to my head, hard to say. I mean, the second half of next year, I and Walter are going to have a bit of a discussion. I want it faster. Look, I think we've sort of peaked in the worstness. The question is how fast can we get it better. We're very -- we've got a triple-digit number of migrations underway -- sorry, upgrades underway right now. And so I think like the basis -- the basics are happening. I think we're past the worst.

我正在努力做自己想做的事，很難說。我的意思是，明年下半年，我和沃爾特將進行一些討論。我想要更快。聽著，我認為我們已經達到了最糟糕的頂峰。問題是我們能以多快的速度讓它變得更好。我們正在進行三位數的遷移，抱歉，現在正在進行升級。所以我認為就像基礎一樣——基礎正在發生。我認為我們已經度過了最糟糕的時期。

The question really is the top 400 customers -- and they're a little bit of -- each 1 is a little bit of a snowflake. And it's hard for me to nail down the timing when we'll get them all moved over, and it will no longer be a thing we ever mentioned again, right? Everybody will be on the 8x8 platform. I'm hoping in the next few years, I'm not going to force that top 400 to move over. I think what's also interesting is we are starting to see more cross-sell opportunities in that top 400. So it's a balancing act right now. I don't know if I can answer for you if I am honest.

問題實際上是前 400 位客戶——他們是一點點——每一位都是一小片雪花。我很難確定我們什麼時候會把它們全部搬過來，而且我們也不會再提這件事了，對吧？每個人都將在 8x8 平台上。我希望在接下來的幾年裡，我不會強迫排名前 400 名的球隊轉移。我認為同樣有趣的是，我們開始在前 400 強中看到更多交叉銷售機會。所以現在這是一個平衡行為。如果我誠實的話，我不知道是否可以回答你。

One more quick one, if I could. Renewals have been top of mind. A lot of companies talking about seat contraction at renewal contact center, you see how are your renewals looking for fourth quarter this year and then beginning of next year? Is there any kind of stake in the python to worry about?

如果可以的話，再快一點。續訂一直是首要考慮的事情。許多公司都在談論續訂聯絡中心的席次縮減，您知道今年第四季和明年初的續約情況如何？蟒蛇有什麼好擔心的嗎？

No, there's no stake in the python to worry about. We have seen as asked earlier a little bit about economic pictures and I'm seeing, Michael. What I'm seeing is a little bit of downsell pressure, not so much on the logo side, but a little on the downward on the downsell side, 100 seats becomes 97 seats because they've shrunk their employee (inaudible) What's interesting is we'll usually pick that up a year or 2 later as a run rate order at the [Flex Black] up. So I would say, look, it's not it's a little worse than it was a quarter ago, but it's not meaningful for us.

不，不需要擔心蟒蛇的利害關係。正如之前所問的，我們已經看到了一些關於經濟狀況的問題，我明白了，邁克爾。我看到的是一點點向下銷售的壓力，不是在徽標方面那麼大，而是在向下銷售方面有一點向下，100 個席位變成了97 個席位，因為他們減少了員工（聽不見清）有趣的是我們通常會在一兩年後將其作為 [Flex Black] 的運行率訂單來選擇。所以我想說，你看，這並不是比一個季度前差一點，而是對我們來說沒有意義。

Our next question comes from Ryan Koontz with Needham & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Needham & Company 的 Ryan Koontz。

Question. Really nice job on the cash flow, obviously here. I want to ask you about the geographic theaters and any comments you could make, either that around your customer segment, Sam? It seems like the malaise is kind of broad-based and as you've kind of retooled your go-to-market machine. But any kind of color you can share across the theaters, be your strength in U.K. or APAC or across the different U.S. segments would be helpful.

問題。現金流方面確實做得很好，顯然在這裡。我想問您有關地理劇院的情況以及您可以發表的任何評論，無論是圍繞您的客戶群，Sam？看起來這種不適感是一種廣泛的問題，而且你已經重新調整了你的上市機器。但是，任何一種你可以在戲院分享的顏色，無論是你在英國、亞太地區或美國不同細分市場的優勢，都會有所幫助。

Well, I mean, look, I'd be remiss in not starting with the basics, like CPaaS killed it in Southeast Asia. They had a great quarter. The changes we've made over the last 6 to 9 months really started to kick in. Their pipeline activity is up. The revenue produced was up. It was a great quarter in CPaaS, and there's a lot of room to run there. We have to get all the ducks lined up to make that show up in the income statement, but there's a lot of potential and activity there. So that would be first and foremost.

好吧，我的意思是，如果我不從基礎開始，那就太失職了，就像 CPaaS 在東南亞殺死了它一樣。他們度過了一個美好的季度。我們在過去 6 到 9 個月中所做的改變確實開始發揮作用。他們的管道活動有所增加。產生的收入增加了。這是 CPaaS 的一個很棒的季度，而且還有很大的發展空間。我們必須讓所有的鴨子都排好隊才能將其顯示在損益表中，但那裡有很多潛力和活動。所以這將是首要的。

I think secondly, we are retooling our go-to-market, but there are a lot of green shoots around our new products, and the uptick in customer activity and the referenceability of coming out of beta, the raw number of customers that are interested in our new products, those kinds of things, the pipeline activities, et cetera, big plus.

我認為其次，我們正在重新調整我們的上市計劃，但我們的新產品出現了很多新芽，客戶活動有所增加，測試結束後的參考性、感興趣的客戶的原始數量在我們的新產品中，這些東西、管線活動等等，都是很大的優勢。

Definitely with sort of a bent on airlines, retail, public sector in the U.K. You obviously mentioned Westminster, those kinds of things. Those are logical places for chatbots and those high-velocity common questions get answered over and over again.

肯定是對英國的航空公司、零售業、公共部門感興趣。你顯然提到了威斯敏斯特，諸如此類的事情。對於聊天機器人來說，這些都是合乎邏輯的地方，那些高速的常見問題會得到一遍又一遍的答案。

I think third is we saw a sizable improvement in pipeline in our North American value-added resellers or VAR community. We've been making more investments in that space, as I'm sure a number of your channel checks show that we've been investing more in the VAR side of the business than the TSD agent side of the business. And we're seeing some sizable pipeline increases there, and I think that's a pretty sizable benefit. And then in terms of verticals, anything -- I mean, we've had good last quarter or 2 in health care. And Lisa, do you want to add a couple?

我認為第三是我們看到北美增值經銷商或 VAR 社群的通路有了相當大的改善。我們一直在該領域進行更多投資，因為我確信你們的一些管道檢查表明我們在 VAR 業務方面的投資比 TSD 代理業務方面的投資更多。我們看到那裡的管道數量大幅增加，我認為這是一個相當大的好處。然後就垂直領域而言，任何事情——我的意思是，上一兩個季度我們在醫療保健領域取得了不錯的成績。麗莎，你想加幾個嗎？

Yes. I think health care field services. Field services is a great 1 where anyone rolls a truck or has someone like a car towing, all those types of things have really been resonating with the video APIs that we've introduced as well.

是的。我認為醫療保健領域服務。現場服務是一個很棒的服務，任何人都可以開卡車或有人拖車，所有這些類型的事情都與我們推出的視訊 API 產生了共鳴。

Yes. Yes.

是的。是的。

That's helpful. And on your comment on North America VARs, are you seeing increased kind of engagement on the contact center arena from these VARs? Or do you have to really change out to a new set of VARs to drive that business?

這很有幫助。關於您對北美 VAR 的評論，您是否看到這些 VAR 在聯絡中心領域的參與度增加？或者您是否真的需要更換一套新的 VAR 來推動該業務？

No, no. We see them very interested in the contact center side of the house, and we're adding new VARs. We're actively bidding on a number of VARs, RFPs that are out there and recruiting new VARs in general. I think this actually plays in the earlier answer around Microsoft. It plays into contact center -- and I think that holy grail of our community is really starting to open up.

不，不。我們發現他們對聯絡中心方面非常感興趣，因此我們正在增加新的加值經銷商。我們正在積極競標一些現有的 VAR、RFP，並總體招募新的 VAR。我認為這實際上在之前圍繞微軟的答案中發揮了作用。它在聯絡中心發揮作用——我認為我們社區的聖杯真的開始開放了。

Our next question comes from William Power with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自威廉·鮑爾和貝爾德。

Okay. I guess a couple if I can squeeze in here. Sam, you just touched on this actually a bit. But on the CPaaS business, I think you noted upside in the quarter. I think you just indicated there was some go-to-market improvement. But anything else there that you'd point to that really drove the better performance? And I guess, even more importantly, the confidence we going forward, those improvements stick.

好的。如果我能擠在這裡的話，我想有幾個。山姆，你剛才確實觸及了一點。但在 CPaaS 業務方面，我認為您注意到了本季的上升趨勢。我認為您剛剛表示市場進入情況有所改善。但您認為還有什麼其他因素真正推動了更好的性能嗎？我想，更重要的是，我們對前進的信心和這些改進會持續下去。

Well, I mean, I'd be remiss. I mean the guy we hired and I won't mention his name because it'll probably get inbound with recruiting calls has done a phenomenal job. And so leadership matters and leadership matters, right? On top of that, we've announced new products, we've improved and streamlined our go-to-market activity. So as the company grew its go-to-market activities need to synchronize with what it was doing. I can't speak kindly enough about OmniShield and the new products and innovation we're driving. We've launched a new platform over the last year. So our stability, our availability, our dynamic routing capabilities on our platform, absolutely phenomenal.

嗯，我的意思是，我會失職。我的意思是我們僱用的那個人，我不會提及他的名字，因為它可能會收到招募電話，他做得非常出色。所以領導力很重要，領導力也很重要，對嗎？最重要的是，我們也發布了新產品，改進並簡化了我們的上市活動。因此，隨著公司的發展，其上市活動需要與其正在做的事情同步。我無法對 OmniShield 以及我們正在推動的新產品和創新進行熱情的評價。去年我們推出了一個新平台。因此，我們平台上的穩定性、可用性和動態路由功能絕對是驚人的。

And we've been in the box because of those capabilities. By the way, because of that omnichannel and because of the platform capabilities, we're in the box for just some super large CPaaS deals. I don't know if we're going to win them. They're certainly not in the financial model, but we're planning the big leagues in CPaaS in Southeast Asia.

由於這些能力，我們一直處於困境。順便說一句，由於全通路和平台功能，我們有機會進行一些超大型 CPaaS 交易。我不知道我們能否贏得他們。它們當然不在財務模型中，但我們正在規劃東南亞 CPaaS 的大聯盟。

Okay. No. Great to see the improvement there. And I guess second question would be around Teams, which I know it's been a positive area for some time. Maybe just any other color you can share on trends, seat growth and kind of what you're seeing competitively from others that are trying to go after that base of user too?

好的。不。很高興看到那裡的改進。我想第二個問題是關於 Teams 的，我知道這一段時間以來一直是一個積極的領域。也許您可以分享任何其他顏色的趨勢、席位增長以及您從其他也試圖追求該用戶群的競爭中看到的內容？

So keep me kicking in to the table, I'm sliding away from her to tell you, we just passed 400,000 seats of Microsoft teams is in the slide, sorry. We got over 400,000 seats of Microsoft teams. I think we're growing still. 67% year-over-year. So those are all -- like those are the -- we have the quantitative stuff. Here's what I'm most proud of, to be fair. So Microsoft, I got a chance to see Microsoft's partner slides. I think they presented in June. And we were listed as a strong partner of Microsoft versus our competitors, which were all listed as Microsoft competitors.

所以，請讓我繼續踢桌子，我從她身邊滑開是為了告訴你，我們剛剛通過了 400,000 個 Microsoft 團隊席位，抱歉。我們擁有超過 40 萬個 Microsoft 團隊席位。我認為我們仍在成長。較去年同期成長 67%。所以這些都是──就像那些──我們有定量的東西。公平地說，這是我最自豪的事。所以微軟，我有機會看到微軟合作夥伴的幻燈片。我認為他們是在六月提出的。我們被列為微軟的強大合作夥伴，而我們的競爭對手都被列為微軟的競爭對手。

So I am very happy with our relationship with our relationship with Microsoft. And I wish them nothing but the best of luck every day of the week.

所以我對我們與微軟的關係感到非常滿意。我祝他們一周每一天都好運。

Our next question comes from Matthew VanVliet with BTIG.

我們的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Matthew VanVliet。

Maybe I'll ask one in the interest of time here. But Sam, you talked about a number of years until the contact center may or may not be fully automated. And so maybe more importantly, what are your customers' sort of goals over the next couple of years in terms of whether it's called deflection or at least reduced time of the agent on the phone, what's realistic? What are the customers asking you to do? And then as you wrap that all together, how additive versus moving revenue from one pocket to the other, can that be over the next couple of years as you embark on some of those goals for your customers?

也許我會為了時間在這裡問一個。但是 Sam，您談到了聯絡中心可能會或可能不會完全自動化之前的幾年時間。因此，也許更重要的是，您的客戶在未來幾年的目標是什麼，無論是所謂的偏轉還是至少減少座席的電話時間，什麼是現實的？客戶要求你做什麼？然後，當你把所有這些放在一起時，當你開始為你的客戶實現其中一些目標時，在接下來的幾年裡，與將收入從一個口袋轉移到另一個口袋相比，這會帶來多大的增加呢？

All right. So that's a great question. Like when I talk to contact center leaders and Lisa chime in any time you want here.

好的。這是一個很好的問題。就像當我與聯絡中心領導人交談時，麗莎會隨時插話。

I think what I hear is like it'd be great if we could get overall like a 20%, 30% case deflection type of number, to get the run-of-the-mill cases, the simple use cases out of the system.

我認為我聽到的是，如果我們能夠獲得 20%、30% 案例偏轉類型的總體數字，以將普通案例、簡單用例從系統中剔除，那就太好了。

Number 2 is we improve mean time to resolution through things like agent assist. And number 3 is -- and -- the Street never talks about this, but it's such a day-to-day activity and a context on a leader is get attrition down. Almost every contact center leader I talk to deals with attrition at 40% to 50%. And through things like bots and agent assist and health scoring and those kinds of things, if they can make the job better and bring attrition down, I mean, I don't think anyone on this call can imagine what it's like to literally turn over almost your entire workforce every other year.

第二是我們透過代理協助等方式縮短解決問題的平均時間。第三點是——而且——華爾街從來沒有談論過這一點，但這是一項日常活動，領導者的背景是減少人員流失。幾乎與我交談過的每位聯絡中心負責人都面臨著 40% 到 50% 的員工流動率。透過機器人、代理商協助和健康評分之類的東西，如果他們能讓工作變得更好並減少人員流失，我的意思是，我認為這次通話中的任何人都無法想像真正的翻身是什麼感覺幾乎每隔一年你的整個員工隊伍就會進行一次。

That would just be winding in terms of trying to improve customer satisfaction and those kinds of things. And so to me, the big 3 are case deflection, mean time to resolution and agent attrition.

就試圖提高客戶滿意度和諸如此類的事情而言，這只會是曲折的。對我來說，三大因素是案件偏轉、平均解決時間和代理人流失。

Okay. And then what does it mean for us in terms of revenue, a lot more revenue and a lot higher retention rates, which means a lot more revenue, right? We generate more revenue. And we know, for example, when we sell -- and these are rough numbers, I'm not going to get -- but like when we sell 1 product to a customer, we have a mid-80s type of retention rate given our small business base. We sell 2 products, low 90s, 3 products, mid-90s, 4 more products, high-90s. Right?

好的。那麼這對我們的收入意味著什麼，更多的收入和更高的保留率，這意味著更多的收入，對嗎？我們創造更多收入。例如，我們知道，當我們銷售時——這些都是粗略的數字，我不會得到——但就像我們向客戶銷售一種產品時，考慮到我們的產品，我們的保留率處於80 年代中期的水平。小型企業基地。我們銷售 2 種產品，90 年代低階產品，3 種產品，90 年代中期產品，另外 4 種產品，90 年代高階產品。正確的？

And so as a recurring revenue model, the more products we sell, the higher our retention rates and the higher dollars of revenue we generate. Not magic, every large software company, Oracle, Salesforce, Microsoft, et cetera, does this. We're just at the point given our size to start to transition to that portfolio of products that allows us to sell more and more and get stickier and stickier.

因此，作為一種經常性收入模式，我們銷售的產品越多，我們的保留率就越高，我們產生的收入也越高。這並不神奇，每個大型軟體公司（Oracle、Salesforce、Microsoft 等）都會這麼做。考慮到我們的規模，我們正處於開始過渡到產品組合的階段，這使我們能夠銷售越來越多的產品，並且變得越來越有黏性。

I'm not showing any further questions. I'd like to turn the call back to Sam Wilson for any closing remarks.

我不會提出任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回薩姆·威爾遜，讓其結束語。

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. To everyone out there, we remain confident in our future. We have all the building blocks in place to achieve our long-term objectives.

太感謝了。對此，我真的非常感激。對所有人來說，我們對未來仍然充滿信心。我們已具備實現長期目標的所有基礎要素。

We saw early indications of success in our results this quarter as our adoption of new products increased. I just want to sort of reiterate, transitions don't happen overnight. But what the market we address is huge we're coming at it from a position of strength. We have an installed base that loves us and the products we're launching. We have a terrific contact center platform that can enable next-generation AI technologies. For Kevin's sake, I mentioned we're very cash flow positive and profitable and we're driving a return of money to investors.

隨著我們對新產品的採用增加，我們在本季度的業績中看到了成功的早期跡象。我只是想重申一下，轉變不會在一夜之間發生。但我們所面對的市場是巨大的，我們是從一個優勢地位來進入這個市場的。我們擁有熱愛我們和我們推出的產品的客戶群。我們擁有出色的聯絡中心平台，可以支援下一代人工智慧技術。看在凱文的份上，我提到我們的現金流量非常積極且盈利，並且我們正在推動投資者的資金回報。

And lastly, I think most importantly, for everybody on this call, I feel like we have the right team in place to drive this business to the next level. So thank you for your time today. Thank you to all the employees that are listening to this. Thank you to all the partners and customers that listen to this. And I look forward to talking to you again in 3 months. Thank you.

最後，我認為最重要的是，對於這次電話會議的每個人來說，我覺得我們擁有合適的團隊來推動這項業務更上一層樓。謝謝您今天抽出時間。感謝所有收聽此內容的員工。感謝所有收聽此內容的合作夥伴和客戶。我期待 3 個月後再次與您交談。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

女士們、先生們，今天的演講到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接，並度過美好的一天。