Epam Systems Inc (EPAM) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Eric, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the First Quarter 2024 EPAM Systems Earnings Conference Call.

感謝您的支持。我叫 Eric，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 2024 年第一季 EPAM Systems 收益電話會議。

(Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to David Straube, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

（操作員指示）現在，我想將電話轉給投資者關係主管 David Straube。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. By now, you should have received a copy of the earnings release for the company's first quarter 2024 results. If you have not, a copy is available on epam.com in the Investors section. With me on today's call are Arkadiy Dobkin, CEO and President; and Jason Peterson, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝您，接線生。大家早安。到目前為止，您應該已經收到了該公司 2024 年第一季業績報告的副本。如果您還沒有，可以在 epam.com 的「投資者」部分找到一份副本。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有執行長兼總裁 Arkadiy Dobkin；以及財務長 Jason Peterson。

I'd like to remind those listening that some of the comments made on today's call may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties as described in the company's earnings release and SEC filings. Additionally, all references to reported results that are non-GAAP measures have been reconciled to the comparable GAAP measures and are available in our quarterly earnings materials located in the Investors section of our website.

我想提醒聽眾，今天電話會議上的一些評論可能包含前瞻性陳述。這些聲明受到公司收益報告和美國證券交易委員會文件中所述風險和不確定性的影響。此外，所有對非 GAAP 指標的報告結果的引用都已與可比較的 GAAP 指標進行協調，並可在我們網站「投資者」部分的季度收益資料中查閱。

With that said, I'd like to now turn the call over to Ark.

話雖如此，我現在想將電話轉給 Ark。

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. First, about our guidance change. As you saw from our press release, we are seeing some continuing volatility in our global demand environment. And while there are encouraging signs of new deals in new types of very different domain-specific demands, then even in cyclical nature of 2023 follow as well in 2024, which now leads us to adjust our thinking for both Q2 and for all -- full year outlook.

謝謝你，大衛。大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。首先，關於我們的指導變化。正如您從我們的新聞稿中看到的，我們看到全球需求環境持續波動。儘管有令人鼓舞的跡象表明，在非常不同的特定領域需求的新類型中，會出現新的交易，但即使 2023 年的周期性特徵也將於 2024 年延續，這促使我們調整對第二季度以及全年前景的思考。

As I mentioned during our fourth quarter earnings call, our initial view was the 2024 environment will be, at least for the first half of the year, a continuation of second part of 2023's trends with a potential demand upturn right after, and that would take us into sequential growth for 2024. This view, which we now believe was optimistic, was supported by broadly anticipated more positive macro assumptions and our active interactions with the clients during the very end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024.

正如我在第四季度財報電話會議上提到的那樣，我們最初的看法是，至少在 2024 年上半年，2024 年的環境將延續 2023 年下半年的趨勢，隨後需求可能會出現回升，這將使我們在 2024 年實現連續增長。

That was directing our belief that clients will more quickly come back to growth in re-prioritization for the remainder of 2024. We also believe that once we enter into Q2, we would have much more measurable indicators for the improvements of the demand environment for digital engineering, data, cloud and AI and from which we can build further out 2024 revenue scenarios and plans.

這讓我們相信，在 2024 年剩餘時間內，客戶將在重新排序中更快地恢復成長。

What we now understand is that the macroeconomic and geopolitical factors that continue to drive volatility in overall markets and specifically in the IT services and digital transformation sectors are still with us throughout the reminder of the year. While the programs we anticipated to start by now are still in place, and some are in active discussions, many of them have been postponed to future periods or decided to be implemented in much more modest scopes.

我們現在了解到，宏觀經濟和地緣政治因素將繼續推動整個市場的波動，特別是 IT 服務和數位轉型領域的波動，而這種波動將持續到今年年底。雖然我們預計現在啟動的項目仍然在實施，而且有些項目正在積極討論中，但其中許多項目已被推遲到未來時期或決定在更為溫和的範圍內實施。

In addition, we need for -- rebalancing our delivery platform to lower cost locations forced some level of slowdown in our revenue growth, too. And so our expectation for considerably high level of accelerated revenue trends in second part of the year will not be materializing as we anticipated, at least as we see it now.

此外，我們需要重新平衡我們的配送平台到成本較低的地點，這也在一定程度上導致我們的收入成長放緩。因此，我們對今年下半年營收趨勢大幅加速的預期並不會像我們預期的那樣實現，至少目前看來是如此。

Jason will provide more details in our updated outlook for 2024 but let me share some current highlights of our business from Q1 up to today. Throughout the last quarter, and continuing into now, we've been making progress across all critically important areas for us, which were discussed in depth during our previous call. We are strengthening and repositioning our Italian delivery platform as well as the cost effectiveness of our offerings by rebalancing our Italian distribution from more expensive locations to less expensive ones while maintaining our commitment to our traditionally strong [years.]

傑森將在我們更新的 2024 年展望中提供更多細節，但讓我分享一下從第一季到今天的一些業務亮點。整個上個季度直到現在，我們在所有對我們來說至關重要的領域都取得了進展，這些領域我們在上次電話會議上已經進行了深入討論。我們正在加強和重新定位我們的義大利配送平台以及產品的成本效益，透過重新平衡我們在義大利的分銷管道，從價格較高的地點轉移到價格較低的地點，同時保持我們對傳統強勢[年份]的承諾。

India, our second-largest delivery location is growing rapidly, not only in terms of headcount, but also by creating new capability centers in data, cloud, digital transformation and AI-enabled managed services. We recently opened our Gurugram office and plan to open additional locations to support our client growing needs.

印度是我們的第二大交付地點，它正在迅速發展，不僅在員工數量方面，而且還在數據、雲端、數位轉型和人工智慧託管服務方面建立了新的能力中心。我們最近開設了古爾岡辦事處，並計劃開設其他辦事處以滿足客戶日益增長的需求。

LATAM is another of our stated priorities in overall rebalancing. As we refine and expand our locations there, we're expanding our key engineering genAI capabilities and division. In the first quarter, we announced the acquisition of Vates, a multi award-winning software development company with offices in Argentina and Chile. We are continuously investing in our existing and new technical capabilities including, crucial for the future, genAI, data and ML and predictive AI and in corresponding IP development. We also continued to improve our domain industry capabilities in consulting and advisory services.

LATAM 是我們整體重新平衡的另一個優先事項。隨著我們完善和擴大在那裡的工廠，我們正在擴大我們的關鍵工程 genAI 能力和部門。第一季度，我們宣布收購 Vates，這是一家屢獲殊榮的軟體開發公司，在阿根廷和智利設有辦事處。我們持續投資於現有和新的技術能力，包括對未來至關重要的 genAI、數據和 ML 以及預測 AI 以及相應的 IP 開發。我們也持續提高我們在域名產業的諮詢和顧問服務能力。

During the beginning of 2024, we have seen encouraging signs of more balanced demand environment across our business with both new and existing logos, equally weighted between cost takeout and business change and modernization. This portfolio-wide perspective, combined with our efforts to establish domain-specific and relevant approaches for go-to-market, both independently and with our partners, leads us to believe that our ongoing reinvestment in consulting experience, cloud data, AI and vertical-led solutions will provide the unique edge we need to secure a long-term growth.

在 2024 年初，我們看到了令人鼓舞的跡象，即整個業務的需求環境更加平衡，無論是新標識還是現有標識，在成本削減、業務變革和現代化之間都佔有同等重要的地位。這種全投資組合的視角，加上我們為進入市場而獨立和與合作夥伴共同建立領域特定和相關的方法的努力，使我們相信，我們對諮詢經驗、雲端數據、人工智慧和垂直解決方案的持續再投資將提供我們確保長期成長所需的獨特優勢。

Couple of short stories to illustrate the above. EPAM recently teamed up with AWS health and a leading energy company in the U.K. to transform its customer experience, responding to a market that is characterized by the need for enhanced customer expectations, emerging competitors, regulatory demands, smart metering adoption and sustainability growth. Our engagement was built around key transformations of payment channels, customer service frameworks and shift to agile processes to ensure service flexibility.

用幾個短篇故事來說明上述內容。 EPAM 最近與 AWS Health 以及英國一家領先的能源公司合作，以改變其客戶體驗，以滿足市場對增強客戶期望、新興競爭對手、監管要求、智慧計量採用和永續成長的需求。我們的參與圍繞著支付管道、客戶服務框架的關鍵轉型以及向敏捷流程的轉變，以確保服務靈活性。

For a new logo, one of the world's best known global car rental brands, we are helping to redesign a critical data platform that will enhance intelligent real-time pricing capabilities and drive better experiences for customers and further increasing their price and market leadership. We believe it is the next iteration of platform engineering into a truly intelligent application empowered by AI that will drive the future of our demand.

對於新標誌，作為全球最知名的汽車租賃品牌之一，我們正在幫助重新設計一個關鍵的數據平台，以增強智慧即時定價功能，為客戶提供更好的體驗，並進一步提高他們的價格和市場領導地位。我們相信，這是平台工程的下一個迭代，將成為由人工智慧賦能的真正智慧的應用程序，並將推動我們未來的需求。

Finally, and another encouraging sign, our long-term clients are also returning to us with newer streams related to modernization and next-gen support, which now include much expanded engagement footprint with largest shares of India and Latin America, including net new delivery locations in Argentina and Brazil.

最後，另一個令人鼓舞的跡像是，我們的長期客戶也帶著與現代化和下一代支援相關的新流程回歸，這些流程現在包括大大擴大的參與範圍，其中印度和拉丁美洲的份額最大，包括在阿根廷和巴西新增的交付地點。

In general, our focus on domain-led propositions is the reason we believe we saw much stronger growth in some verticals this past quarter. For example, in our healthcare and life science portfolio, we are part of a number of strategic programs helping clients in areas of cloud, data platform, physical digital product development and engineering as well as new genAI-driven initiatives.

總的來說，我們專注於領域主導的主張，這是我們相信上個季度某些垂直領域成長更強勁的原因。例如，在我們的醫療保健和生命科學產品組合中，我們參與了多項策略計劃，為客戶提供雲端、數據平台、實體數位產品開發和工程以及新一代人工智慧驅動計劃等領域的幫助。

On another side, in some of our verticals, namely business information and media, we continue to work through the impact of ramp-downs from a few large clients initiated previously. And while we aren't able yet to offset this with revenue coming from new opportunities, we are still seeing a more balanced picture emerging over the course of the next quarters.

另一方面，在我們的一些垂直領域，即商業資訊和媒體，我們繼續努力解決先前一些大客戶業務下滑帶來的影響。雖然我們還無法透過來自新機會的收入來抵消這一影響，但我們仍然看到未來幾季將出現更加平衡的局面。

Across all our verticals and geos, we are seeing more interest and higher level of program starts related to generative AI. In Q1, a number of our key clients formerly selected EPAM as strategic partners for their AI transformation journeys, where EPAM will help to scale AI, including genAI to unlock the power of data and to establish valuable insights. These engagements are often starting today from advisory and from the use of our differentiating IP and then ramping up to specific use cases. We believe that will lead us to a new level of engagement with our buyers by allowing to drive meaningful business breakthroughs with our tools and in combination with our consulting and scaled delivery capabilities. And while the revenue impact of these programs is still limited today, we see it's a very visible progression of the AI-enabled services market for us.

在我們所有的垂直行業和地區，我們看到與生成式人工智慧相關的越來越多的興趣和更高水平的專案啟動。在第一季度，我們的許多重要客戶已選擇 EPAM 作為其 AI 轉型之旅的策略合作夥伴，EPAM 將幫助擴大 AI 規模，包括使用 genAI 來釋放資料的力量並建立有價值的見解。這些合作通常從今天的諮詢和使用我們的差異化 IP 開始，然後逐漸擴展到特定的用例。我們相信，透過利用我們的工具並結合我們的諮詢和規模交付能力來推動有意義的業務突破，這將使我們與買家的互動達到一個新的水平。雖然這些項目對收入的影響目前仍然有限，但我們認為這對我們來說是人工智慧服務市場的一個非常明顯的進步。

To summarize, while in Q1, across our core business, we are seeing a more balanced demand outlook than in the most part of 2023, and a gradual return to modernization and business change programs as well as ramping up genAI-related opportunities. As mentioned already today, by the end of Q1, we realized that the speed and scale of those changes were not in line with our earlier expectations.

總而言之，在第一季度，在我們的核心業務中，我們看到的需求前景比 2023 年大部分時間更加均衡，並且逐步恢復現代化和業務變革計劃，同時增加了與 genAI 相關的機會。正如今天所提到的，到第一季末，我們意識到這些變化的速度和規模並不符合我們先前的預期。

Moving to how we managing our business in this part of the cycle. As we focus on driving new demand and proactively converting and expanding our wallet share with clients, we're also looking for opportunities to drive efficiency and focus throughout the organization. We have shared our ongoing efforts to rebalance the business from a geographical perspective over the course of last year, and that program is ongoing.

轉向我們如何在這個週期部分管理我們的業務。在我們專注於推動新需求並積極轉換和擴大我們在客戶的錢包份額的同時，我們也在尋找機會提高整個組織的效率和重點。去年，我們分享了我們從地理角度重新平衡業務的持續努力，該計劃仍在進行中。

Our attention now is tilting towards a more finely-tuned approach to both geographic investment as well as our areas of capability and market, particularly around our stated market segments, AI cloud, data, experience and domain-led consulting.

我們現在的注意力傾向於對地理投資以及我們的能力和市場領域採取更精細的調整方法，特別是圍繞我們所述的細分市場、人工智慧雲、數據、經驗和領域主導的諮詢。

We've gone to market in much more intentional way with key propositions and strategic partners and are now looking to refine some of those propositions and investment as we look to balance near-term and long-term demand with our investments. Throughout the remainder of this year, we will be focusing on driving enhanced efficiency and further rebalancing of our geographical footprint, resizing portions of our in-market and some other teams, enhancing operational efficiencies and engineering productivity through application of AI and automation internally at EPAM and driving a singular focus on client centricity for the entire company.

我們透過關鍵主張和策略夥伴以更有針對性的方式進入市場，目前正尋求改進其中的一些主張和投資，以尋求透過投資平衡短期和長期需求。今年剩餘時間裡，我們將專注於提高效率、進一步重新平衡我們的地理覆蓋範圍、調整我們的內部市場和其他一些團隊的規模、透過在 EPAM 內部應用人工智慧和自動化來提高營運效率和工程生產力，並推動整個公司以客戶為中心。

Those continual efforts are critically important as we navigate the current environment while taking the necessary steps for the eventual return for build and transform programs, which have been slowed down during the last 2 years.

這些持續的努力至關重要，因為我們要在當前環境下前行，同時採取必要措施，最終恢復建設和轉型項目，這些項目在過去兩年裡已經放緩。

Our fundamentals are strong, and we are fully confident that EPAM will be in a lead position in this rebound, enabled by our significantly diversified global delivery platform and driven by long-term precious legacy modernization, needs for advanced customer-centric solutions and the significant interest in applying and integrating genAI and genAI capabilities into new and existing enterprise platforms, innovative intelligent applications and new transformative business models.

我們的基本面強勁，我們完全有信心 EPAM 將在此次反彈中處於領先地位，這得益於我們高度多樣化的全球交付平台，並受到長期寶貴遺產現代化、對先進的以客戶為中心的解決方案的需求以及將 genAI 和 genAI 功能應用和集成到新舊企業平台、創新智能應用程序和新的變革性商業模式中的濃厚興趣的推動性。

With that, let me pass to Jason to provide details on our Q1 results and our guidance for 2024.

接下來，請容許我讓 Jason 提供有關我們第一季業績和 2024 年指引的詳細資訊。

Thank you, Ark, and good morning, everyone. In the first quarter, EPAM generated revenue of $1.165 billion, a year-over-year decrease of 3.8% on a reported basis or 4.3% in constant currency terms, reflecting a favorable foreign exchange impact of 50 basis points. Due to our exit from the Russian market, we will longer generate revenue from Russian clients. The impact of this exit had an approximate 50 basis point negative impact on year-over-year revenue growth. Excluding Russia revenues, year-over-year revenue for reported and constant currency would have decreased by 3.3% and 3.8%, respectively.

謝謝你，阿克，大家早安。第一季度，EPAM 實現營收 11.65 億美元，按報告基礎計算較上年同期下降 3.8%，按固定匯率計算較上年同期下降 4.3%，反映了 50 個基點的有利外匯影響。由於我們退出俄羅斯市場，我們將不再從俄羅斯客戶獲得收入。此次退出對年收入成長產生了約 50 個基點的負面影響。若不計俄羅斯收入，以報告和固定匯率計算的年比收入分別下降 3.3% 和 3.8%。

Moving to our vertical performance. Life sciences and healthcare delivered very strong year-over-year growth of 26%. Growth in the quarter was driven by clients in both life sciences and healthcare. To reflect a more diverse end market, our travel and consumer vertical has been renamed consumer goods, retail and travel. On a year-over-year basis, the vertical decreased 6.9%, largely due to declines in retail, partially offset by solid growth in travel. Sequentially, the vertical grew modestly driven by solid sequential growth in the travel portion of the portfolio.

轉向我們的垂直表現。生命科學和醫療保健領域年增 26%，表現十分強勁。本季的成長主要得益於生命科學和醫療保健領域的客戶。為了反映更多樣化的終端市場，我們的旅遊和消費者垂直市場已更名為消費品、零售和旅遊。與去年同期相比，垂直行業下降了 6.9%，主要原因是零售業的下滑，但旅遊業的穩健成長部分抵消了這一影響。與上一季相比，垂直業務取得了適度成長，這得益於投資組合中旅遊部分業務的穩健成長。

Software and hi-tech contracted 8.3% year-over-year and grew 2.6% on a sequential basis, suggesting some level of stability in the vertical. Financial services decreased 10.3% year-over-year, driven by declines in banking, asset management and the payment sector.

軟體和高科技產業年減 8.3%，季增 2.6%，顯示該垂直產業具有一定程度的穩定。金融服務年減 10.3%，主要是由於銀行、資產管理和支付產業的下滑。

Business information and media declined 15.8% compared to Q1 in 2023. Revenue in the quarter was substantially impacted by the previously discussed ramp down of a top-20 client. And finally, our emerging verticals delivered solid year-over-year growth of 12.9%, driven by clients in energy and telecom.

商業資訊和媒體與 2023 年第一季相比下降了 15.8%。最後，在能源和電信產業客戶的推動下，我們的新興垂直產業實現了 12.9% 的年成長。

From a geographic perspective, Americas, our largest region, representing 59% of our Q1 revenues, declined 2.4% year-over-year on a reported and constant currency basis. Sequentially, growth was 2.4%, reflecting ongoing signs of stabilization in the geography. EMEA representing 39% of our Q1 revenues contracted 3.2% year-over-year and 4.8% in constant currency. And finally, APAC declined 13.1% year-over-year or 11.5% in constant currency terms and now represents 2% of our revenues. Revenue in the quarter was impacted primarily by the ramp-down of work within our financial services vertical.

從地理角度來看，美洲是我們最大的地區，占我們第一季營收的 59%，按報告和固定匯率計算年減 2.4%。與上一季相比，成長率為 2.4%，反映出該地區持續呈現穩定跡象。歐洲、中東和非洲地區占我們第一季營收的 39%，年減 3.2%，以固定匯率計算下降 4.8%。最後，亞太地區年減 13.1%，以固定匯率計算下降 11.5%，目前占我們營收的 2%。本季的收入主要受到金融服務垂直業務量減少的影響。

In Q1, revenues from our top-20 clients declined 8.6% year-over-year while revenues from clients outside our top 20 declined 1%. The relatively stronger performance of this latter group was driven by both new logo revenue and inorganic revenue contributions.

第一季度，來自我們前20名客戶的營收年減8.6%，來自前20名以外客戶的營收下降1%。後者表現相對較強，主要得益於新標誌收入和無機收入貢獻。

Moving down the income statement. Our GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 28.4% compared to 29.3% in Q1 of last year. Non-GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 30.4% compared to 31.5% for the same quarter last year. Gross margin in Q1 2024 was negatively impacted by foreign exchange due to strengthening of currencies in certain of our delivery locations. Additionally, the inability to adjust prices after EPAM's Q2 2023 promotion campaign continues to have a negative impact on profitability.

降低損益表。本季我們的 GAAP 毛利率為 28.4%，去年第一季為 29.3%。本季非公認會計準則毛利率為 30.4%，去年同期為 31.5%。由於我們某些交貨地點的貨幣走強，2024 年第一季的毛利率受到外匯的負面影響。此外，EPAM 2023 年第二季促銷活動後無法調整價格，繼續對獲利能力產生負面影響。

GAAP SG&A was 17% of revenue compared to 17.5% in Q1 of last year. Non-GAAP SG&A in Q1 2024 came in at 14.1% of revenue compared to 15.3% in the same period last year. SG&A improvement in the quarter is a result of our ongoing focus on managing our cost base and increasing efficiency in our spend. GAAP income from operations was $111 million or 9.5% of revenue in the quarter compared to $120 million or 9.9% of revenue in Q1 of last year. Non-GAAP income from operations was $174 million or 14.9% of revenue in the quarter compared to $178 million or 14.7% of revenue in Q1 of last year.

GAAP 銷售、一般及行政費用佔收入的 17%，去年第一季為 17.5%。 2024 年第一季非 GAAP 銷售、一般及行政費用佔收入的 14.1%，去年同期為 15.3%。本季銷售、一般及行政開支的改善是我們持續注重管理成本基礎和提高支出效率的結果。本季 GAAP 營業利潤為 1.11 億美元，佔營收的 9.5%，去年同期為 1.2 億美元，佔營收的 9.9%。本季非公認會計準則營業利潤為 1.74 億美元，佔營收的 14.9%，去年同期為 1.78 億美元，佔營收的 14.7%。

Our GAAP effective tax rate for the quarter came in at 6%, which included a higher level of excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation. Non-GAAP effective tax rate was 23.4%. Diluted earnings per share on a GAAP basis was $1.97. Our non-GAAP diluted EPS was $2.46 compared to $2.47 in Q1 of last year, reflecting a $0.01 decrease year-over-year. In Q1, there were approximately 58.9 million diluted shares outstanding.

我們本季的 GAAP 有效稅率為 6%，其中包括與股票薪酬相關的更高水準的超額稅收優惠。非公認會計準則有效稅率為23.4%。根據 GAAP 計算的每股攤薄收益為 1.97 美元。我們的非 GAAP 稀釋每股收益為 2.46 美元，去年第一季為 2.47 美元，年減 0.01 美元。第一季度，稀釋流通股數約 5,890 萬股。

Turning to our cash flow and balance sheet. Cash flow from operations for Q1 was $130 million compared to $87 million in the same quarter of 2023. Cash flow from operations in the quarter reflected a lower level of variable compensation payout related to 2023. Free cash flow was $123 million compared to free cash flow of $79 million in the same quarter last year. At the end of Q1, DSO was 73 days and compares to 71 days for Q4 2023 and 69 days for the same quarter last year. The uptick in DSO reflects an increase in the time some clients are taking in the review and approval of payments.

轉向我們的現金流和資產負債表。第一季的經營活動現金流為 1.3 億美元，而 2023 年同期為 8,700 萬美元。第一季末，DSO 為 73 天，而 2023 年第四季為 71 天，去年同期為 69 天。 DSO 的上升反映了一些客戶審查和批准付款所花費的時間的增加。

Share repurchases in the first quarter were approximately 396,000 shares for $121 million at an average price of $304.21 per share. As of March 31, we had approximately $214 million of share repurchase authority remaining. We ended the quarter with approximately $2 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

第一季股票回購量約為 396,000 股，回購金額為 1.21 億美元，平均價格為每股 304.21 美元。截至 3 月 31 日，我們剩餘的股票回購權約為 2.14 億美元。截至本季末，我們的現金和現金等價物約為 20 億美元。

Moving on to a few operational metrics. We ended Q1 with more than 47,050 consultants, designers, engineers and architects, a decline of 8% compared to Q1 2023. This is the result of lower levels of hiring, combined with both voluntary and involuntary attrition as we continue to balance supply and demand. Our total headcount for the quarter was more than 52,800 employees. Utilization was 76.8% compared to 74.9% in Q1 of last year, and 74.4% in Q4 2023.

接下來討論一些營運指標。截至第一季度，我們擁有超過 47,050 名顧問、設計師、工程師和建築師，與 2023 年第一季度相比下降了 8%。本季我們的員工總數超過 52,800 名。利用率為 76.8%，而去年第一季為 74.9%，2023 年第四季為 74.4%。

Now let's turn to our business outlook. We are continuing to see a modest improvement in demand. However, client decision-making continues to be cautious, and demand is not improving to the degree expected when we set our original 2024 guidance. At that time, based on the modest sequential growth achieved in Q4 2023 and our forecast of modest growth in Q1, we expected Q2 to show flat to modest sequential improvement, followed by solid sequential growth averaging at least 3% for Q3 and Q4. As a reminder, based on the sequential declines in 2023 quarterly revenue, we needed to generate regular sequential growth in 2024 to produce year-over-year growth.

現在讓我們來談談我們的業務展望。我們繼續看到需求略有改善。然而，客戶決策仍然保持謹慎，需求並沒有達到我們最初設定的 2024 年指引所預期的程度。當時，基於 2023 年第四季度實現的溫和環比增長以及我們對第一季溫和增長的預測，我們預計第二季度將呈現持平至溫和的環比改善，隨後第三季度和第四季度將實現平均至少 3% 的穩健環比增長。提醒一下，基於 2023 年季度營收的連續下降，我們需要在 2024 年實現正常的連續成長才能實現同比增長。

For the remainder of the year, with limited demand improvement, we now expect seasonal factors to have a more pronounced impact on sequential revenue growth with Q2 showing a modest decline, Q3 improving followed by flat to a possible modest decline in revenues in Q4. Additionally, although we are seeing some modest incremental contribution to revenue from recently completed acquisitions, that contribution is largely offset by foreign exchange headwinds, resulting from the ongoing strength of the U.S. dollar. We're maintaining our focus on demand generation and will continue to prioritize revenue growth throughout 2024.

對於今年剩餘時間，由於需求改善有限，我們目前預計季節性因素將對連續收入成長產生更明顯的影響，其中第二季度將出現小幅下滑，第三季度將有所改善，隨後持平，第四季度收入可能出現小幅下滑。此外，雖然我們看到最近完成的收購對收入做出了一些適度的增量貢獻，但由於美元持續走強導致的外匯逆風，這一貢獻在很大程度上抵消了這一貢獻。我們將繼續專注於需求創造，並將在 2024 年繼續優先考慮收入成長。

In 2024, we will incur incremental costs related to compensation. Additionally, lower utilization for EPAM's in-market resources and some ongoing pricing pressure will continue to negatively impact gross margins. However, we are committed to running the business at a profitability level of at least 15% for non-GAAP adjusted IFO. We are planning to initiate additional cost savings measures to ensure that we can achieve our profit objectives while still focusing on long-term growth.

2024年，我們將發生與薪酬相關的增量成本。此外，EPAM 市場資源利用率較低以及持續的定價壓力將繼續對毛利率產生負面影響。然而，我們致力於以非 GAAP 調整後 IFO 至少 15% 的盈利水平經營業務。我們計劃採取額外的成本節約措施，以確保我們能夠實現利潤目標，同時仍專注於長期成長。

Finally, our operations in Ukraine continue to run at high levels of utilization, a testament to our team's dedication and focus on maintaining uninterrupted quality of delivery. Our guidance assumes that we will continue to be able to deliver from our Ukraine delivery centers at productivity levels similar to levels achieved in 2023.

最後，我們在烏克蘭的業務繼續保持高利用率，這證明了我們團隊的奉獻精神和對維持不間斷交付品質的關注。我們的指導假設是，我們將繼續能夠從烏克蘭交付中心以與 2023 年類似的生產力水平進行交付。

Moving to our full-year outlook. Revenue is now expected to be in the range of $4.575 billion to $4.675 billion, a negative growth rate of 1.4% at the midpoint of the range. The impact of foreign exchange on growth is now expected to have a negative impact of approximately 30 basis points. At this time, we expect approximately 1% of revenue contribution from already completed acquisitions. We expect GAAP income from operations will now be in the range of 10% to 10.5% and non-GAAP income from operations will now be in the range of 15% to 15.5%.

轉向我們的全年展望。目前預計營收在 45.75 億美元至 46.75 億美元之間，中間值為負成長率 1.4%。目前預期外匯對成長的影響將產生約30個基點的負面影響。目前，我們預計已完成的收購將貢獻約 1% 的收入。我們預計，目前 GAAP 營業收入將在 10% 至 10.5% 之間，非 GAAP 營業收入將在 15% 至 15.5% 之間。

We expect our GAAP effective tax rate will now be 20%. Our non-GAAP effective tax rate, which excludes excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation, will continue to be 24%. Earnings per share, we expect the GAAP diluted EPS will now be in the range of $7.34 to $7.64 for the full year, and we are focused on maintaining non-GAAP diluted EPS so as to remain in the range of $10 to $10.30 for the full year. We now expect weighted average share count of 58.7 million fully diluted shares outstanding.

我們預計我們的 GAAP 有效稅率現在為 20%。我們的非公認會計準則有效稅率（不包括與股票薪資相關的超額稅收優惠）將繼續為 24%。每股收益，我們預計全年 GAAP 稀釋每股收益將在 7.34 美元至 7.64 美元之間，我們專注於維持非 GAAP 稀釋每股收益，以便全年保持在 10 美元至 10.30 美元之間。我們現在預計，加權平均流通股數為 5,870 萬股。

Moving to our Q2 2024 outlook. We expect revenue to be in the range of $1.135 billion to $1.145 billion, producing a year-over-year decline of 2.6% at the midpoint of the range with the expected impact of foreign exchange to be negative 0.6%. For the second quarter, we expect GAAP income from operations to be in the range of 9% to 10% and non-GAAP income from operations to be in the range of 13.5% to 14.5%. We expect GAAP effective tax rate to be approximately 25% and our non-GAAP effective tax rate to be approximately 24%.

轉向我們的 2024 年第二季展望。我們預計營收在 11.35 億美元至 11.45 億美元之間，中間值將年減 2.6%，預計外匯影響為負 0.6%。對於第二季度，我們預計 GAAP 營業利潤將在 9% 至 10% 之間，非 GAAP 營業利潤將在 13.5% 至 14.5% 之間。我們預期 GAAP 有效稅率約為 25%，非 GAAP 有效稅率約為 24%。

For earnings per share, we expect GAAP diluted EPS to be in the range of $1.52 to $1.60 for the quarter, and non-GAAP diluted EPS to be in the range of $2.21 to $2.29 for the quarter. We expect a weighted average share count of 58.8 million diluted shares outstanding.

對於每股收益，我們預計本季 GAAP 稀釋每股收益在 1.52 美元至 1.60 美元之間，非 GAAP 稀釋每股收益在 2.21 美元至 2.29 美元之間。我們預計加權平均流通股數為 5,880 萬股。

Finally, a few key assumptions that support our GAAP to non-GAAP measurements for the remainder of the year. Stock-based compensation expense is expected to be approximately $38 million for Q2, $46 million for Q3 and $47 million for Q4. Amortization of intangibles is expected to be approximately $6 million for each of the remaining quarters. The impact of foreign exchange is expected to be a $1 million loss for each of the remaining quarters. Tax effective non-GAAP adjustments is expected to be around $10 million for Q2 and $11 million for each of the remaining quarters. We expect excess tax benefits to be around $1 million for Q2 and $1.7 million for each of the remaining quarters.

最後，有幾個關鍵假設支持我們在今年剩餘時間內從 GAAP 到非 GAAP 的衡量標準。預計第二季股票薪資費用約為 3,800 萬美元，第三季股票薪資費用約為 4,600 萬美元，第四季股票薪資費用約為 4,700 萬美元。預計剩餘每季的無形資產攤銷約 600 萬美元。預計外匯的影響將導致剩餘每季損失 100 萬美元。預計第二季非 GAAP 稅收有效調整約為 1,000 萬美元，剩餘每季約為 1,100 萬美元。我們預計第二季的超額稅收優惠約為 100 萬美元，剩餘每季的超額稅收優惠約為 170 萬美元。

We expect incremental restructuring charges in the second half of 2024 and at this time, cannot estimate the amounts with reasonable certainty. We expect to provide detailed estimates during our Q2 call. Incremental restructuring charges are currently not included in our guidance. However, these charges will not impact our non-GAAP results.

我們預計 2024 年下半年將出現增量重組費用，目前無法合理確定估計金額。我們預計將在第二季電話會議中提供詳細的估算。增量重組費用目前尚未包含在我們的指引中。然而，這些費用不會影響我們的非公認會計準則績效。

Finally, one more assumption outside of our GAAP to non-GAAP items. With our significant cash position, we are generating a healthy level of interest income and are now expecting interest and other income to be approximately $15 million for Q2, $20 million for Q3 and $15 million for Q4. While we work our way through the cycle of lower demand, we will continue to run EPAM efficiently, positioning the company to capitalize on a more normalized demand environment.

最後，我們對 GAAP 以外的非 GAAP 項目還有一個假設。憑藉我們充足的現金狀況，我們正在產生健康的利息收入水平，目前預計第二季度的利息和其他收入約為 1500 萬美元，第三季度的利息和其他收入約為 2000 萬美元，第四季度的利息和其他收入約為 1500 萬美元。在我們努力度過需求較低週期的同時，我們將繼續有效地營運 EPAM，使公司能夠利用更正常化的需求環境。

Lastly, my continued thanks to all of our employees for their dedication and focus on serving our clients and driving results for EPAM.

最後，我要繼續感謝我們所有的員工，感謝他們為客戶服務的奉獻和專注，以及為 EPAM 帶來成果。

Operator, let's open the call up for questions.

接線員，讓我們開始提問吧。

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

（操作員指示）您的第一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Bryan Bergin。

Wanted to start with some more detail on the change in the growth outlook here and ultimately trying to unpack attribution here to macro market-driven slowness versus more idiosyncratic factors to your turnaround and your exposure. Can you talk about whether this is really broad-based across the portfolio or more so due to a handful of larger client-specific slowdowns? And is there any attribution to a change in clients' reception to Ukraine or Belarus delivery?

我想先詳細闡述這裡的成長前景的變化，並最終嘗試解析宏觀市場驅動的放緩與導致您的轉變和風險敞口的更多特殊因素之間的關係。您能否談談這是否真的是整個投資組合普遍存在的問題，還是更多是由於少數較大客戶的特定業務放緩造成的？客戶接收貨物轉向烏克蘭或白俄羅斯是否有什麼原因？

Thank you. I think in our opening remarks, we -- exactly reflecting what was happening from our standpoint. I think, based on the Q4 level of optimism, I would say, and beginning of Q1, we were trying to predict how potential growth for would look like versus conversations and [standard] opportunities.

謝謝。我認為，在我們的開場白中，我們——準確地反映了從我們的立場所發生的事情。我認為，基於第四季度的樂觀程度，以及第一季初，我們試圖預測與對話和[標準]機會相比，潛在成長會是什麼樣子。

So in the second part of Q1, at the same time, we realized that many programs were delayed and some of them were started, but at very different level of the scope. And that was -- put us in a position to not try to predict the future market and economic trends and other things but actually focus on what we see right now and with all this volatility, put our guidance in more realistic scenario based on what we really know.

因此，在第一季的第二部分，我們同時意識到許多專案被推遲了，其中一些專案已經啟動，但範圍的層級非常不同。這就是說——我們不會試圖預測未來的市場和經濟趨勢等，而是真正關注我們現在所看到的，面對所有這些波動，我們根據真正了解的情況，將我們的指導置於更現實的情景中。

So there is nothing happening kind of -- but we're not losing clients. We're not having some unexpected problems. So there are some more specific trends when we're increasing India share of our delivery. So there are foreign exchange, there are locations and billable hours availability in Q2, and that's -- I can pass to Jason to -- more details.

所以沒有發生什麼事——但我們並沒有失去客戶。我們並沒有遇到一些意外的問題。因此，當我們增加印度的交付份額時，會出現一些更具體的趨勢。因此，存在外匯、第二季度的地點和計費小時數，這些我可以讓 Jason 提供更多詳細資訊。

Yes, Bryan, the -- I think what Ark said is that we're -- at this point rather than trying to predict that there's going to be an improvement in demand, we're just taking kind of what we see today, which is still client decision-making is slow, budgets are being partially released, some programs are being descoped. And so we're just not seeing quite improvement that obviously, we had hoped for. So obviously, it was a miss on our part.

是的，布萊恩，我認為阿克所說的是，我們此時此刻並不是試圖預測需求將會改善，我們只是根據今天所看到的情況，即客戶決策仍然緩慢，預算正在部分釋放，一些項目正在被縮減。因此，我們顯然沒有看到我們所希望的改善。很明顯，這是我們的失誤。

The one thing that Ark referenced, which we've talked about over the last couple of quarters, but we've now been able to do some more analysis on it is we still see strong sufficient demand for Ukraine, Poland, locations like that. So utilization is still very good in Ukraine, for instance. However, we are seeing more pronounced growth in India.

Ark 提到的一件事，我們在過去幾個季度已經談論過，但現在我們可以對其進行更多的分析，我們仍然看到對烏克蘭、波蘭等地有足夠強勁的需求。因此，例如在烏克蘭，利用率仍然很高。然而，我們看到印度的成長更為明顯。

And so what -- in the calculations that we've done over the last couple of weeks, what we're seeing is that an ongoing mix shift towards India, particularly for new engagements is beginning to produce a bit of a headwind in terms of our revenue growth rate measured in dollars. And so that is beginning to show up in terms of a sequential impact and a somewhat larger impact for the full year. Some of that was anticipated when we did the guidance, but my guess is probably not fully.

那麼，根據我們過去幾週所做的計算，我們發現，業務組合持續向印度轉移，特別是新的業務，開始對我們以美元衡量的收入成長率產生一些阻力。因此，這開始以連續影響和全年稍大的影響的形式顯現出來。我們在製定指導時已經預料到了一些情況，但我猜測可能還沒有完全預料到。

Okay. Okay. That's very good detail. I appreciate that. My follow-up here is partly on that. So as you're refining the global operations and rebalancing the delivery platform, if I heard correctly, it sounds like the structure became a bit too distributed across countries, and you're trying to rein that in. Can you just add more color on what -- how long this may ultimately take?

好的。好的。這是非常好的細節。我很感激。我在此的後續內容部分與此有關。因此，如果我沒有聽錯的話，當您改進全球營運並重新平衡交付平台時，聽起來結構在各個國家之間有點過於分散，而您正在努力控制這種狀況。

And then, Jason, just on that last point, are you able to quantify how much the shift to the lower-cost locations weighs on this year's growth?

然後，傑森，關於最後一點，您能否量化轉移到低成本地區對今年的成長有多大影響？

Yes. So -- and again, it's a calculation, if we -- think of a constant currency calculation, where we go if the mix were the same as in 2023. In 2024, what would the impact be? Again, I do want to confirm that we still have demand for Central Europe and Eastern Europe, but again, a lot of the incremental demand due to client sensitivity is coming into India. It could be something approaching $100 million if you did a constant currency impact on a year-over-year basis.

是的。所以 — — 再說一次，這是一個計算，如果我們 — — 考慮一個恆定貨幣計算，如果組合與 2023 年相同，我們會去哪裡。再次，我確實想確認我們仍然對中歐和東歐有需求，但由於客戶敏感性，許多增量需求都進入了印度。如果以同比計算，匯率影響力保持不變，這個數字可能會接近 1 億美元。

India continues to -- I'm just going to step ahead to the obvious next questions, how profitable is India? Is that a drag on profitability? The cost structure is lower in India. The bill rates are lower in India, but the profitability in India is still very solid. So it's not dragging down profitability by any means. But what it is doing is beginning to produce some headwinds against revenue growth. Some of that, again, would have been anticipated in our traditional guidance or our guidance that we provided at the beginning of the year. My guess is it wasn't fully anticipated.

印度繼續——我只是想先問一下顯而易見的下一個問題，印度的獲利能力如何？這是否會拖累獲利能力？印度的成本結構較低。印度的帳單利率較低，但印度的獲利能力仍然非常穩固。所以它不會以任何方式拖累盈利能力。但其行為開始對收入成長產生一些阻力。同樣，其中的一些情況在我們的傳統指導或年初提供的指導中已經預料到了。我的猜測是它並沒有完全預料到。

Your next question is from the line of Jonathan Lee with Guggenheim Securities.

您的下一個問題來自古根漢證券公司的喬納森李。

Given the way you positioned the demand environment in your prepared remarks, what, in your customer conversation, gives you confidence that you're able to achieve sequential growth in 3Q and potentially flat 4Q? And is the 3Q dynamic more of a function of bill days?

鑑於您在準備好的發言中對需求環境的定位，在與客戶交談中，什麼讓您有信心能夠在第三季度實現連續增長，並且第四季度可能持平？第三季的動態是否更取決於帳單天數？

You're talking about sequential growth in Q3?

您說的是第三季的連續成長嗎？

Yes, Jonathan. So just to -- the question about whether or not we see sequential growth in Q3. The way we have laid out the guidance, okay, really is the seasonal factors are going to drive. And so the Q2 to Q3 growth would substantially be driven by seasonality, which is more available bill days in Q3.

是的，喬納森。所以問題是，我們是否會看到第三季的連續成長。我們制定指導的方式確實是受季節性因素的影響。因此，第二季至第三季的成長將主要受到季節性因素的推動，即第三季的帳單天數較多。

And just a follow-up, I want to build on Bryan's earlier question. You've -- you're seeing your India expansion actually take place. And are you comfortable with the level of delivery, quality, harmonization that you're seeing there, given you've highlighted that in the past? And how much more work needs to happen there?

作為一個後續問題，我想繼續回答 Bryan 之前的問題。您已經看到您的印度擴張實際上正在發生。鑑於您過去曾強調過這一點，您對目前看到的交付、品質和協調程度感到滿意嗎？那裡還需要做多少工作呢？

I think we feel quite good about the quality of our India delivery, and we think it's differentiated, okay, our India versus, let's say, our peers or competitors' India. We still feel very good about the quality of our Eastern European delivery. And we clearly have a number of clients who still prefer Eastern Europe, but we feel good about the work that we've done in India to differentiate. And again, we've got good ability to continue to scale the geography, and we have relatively low levels of attrition.

我認為我們對我們在印度的交付品質感到非常滿意，而且我們認為我們的印度與我們的同行或競爭對手的印度相比是有差異的。我們對於東歐貨物的品質仍然感到非常滿意。顯然，我們有許多客戶仍然喜歡東歐，但我們對自己在印度所做的差異化工作感到很滿意。而且，我們有能力持續擴大地域範圍，而且我們的員工流動率相對較低。

Your next question comes from the line of Maggie Nolan with William Blair.

您的下一個問題來自威廉布萊爾的瑪吉諾蘭。

I understand the commentary about the rate cards in India and how that's impacting your top line, but it also sounded like there were some delays, some pushouts of projects. It didn't sound like much in the way of cancellations, which is encouraging. But I'm trying to understand were there particular types of projects, particular verticals in that vein that drove your change in expectations?

我了解關於印度費率表的評論以及這對您的營業收入有何影響，但聽起來也有一些延誤和專案延遲。聽起來取消的情況不多，這是令人鼓舞的。但我想了解是否有特定類型的項目、特定的垂直行業導致了您期望的改變？

So I think it's broad -- there is no specific on verticals. We actually highlighted that there are some vertical, which impacted by decisions which were done practically in previous period. There are some verticals which operate better, like we highlighted healthcare, life sciences as well. Energy for example, in the same bucket.

所以我認為它很廣泛——沒有針對垂直領域的具體規定。我們實際上強調，存在一些垂直因素，這些因素受到前一時期實際做出的決策的影響。有些垂直領域的運作較好，例如我們強調的醫療保健、生命科學。以能源為例，在同一個桶子裡。

So -- but in general, it's pretty broad, cautions, and again, a number of programs, which we were -- expected to jump start in Q2, delayed or again, were put down kind of in the scope of implementation. But conversation happening, there is no cancellations, but rather definitely delays and slowness in decisions.

所以 — — 但總的來說，它是相當廣泛的，謹慎的，而且，我們預計在第二季度啟動的許多項目，都被推遲了，或者再次被納入實施範圍。但對話正在進行，沒有取消，而是決策肯定出現延遲和緩慢。

And the feedback that we're getting is that certain clients, although they appear to have budget are sort of slow to begin to activate the budget. And I would say probably if we were to talk to a specific portion of the portfolio, we have feared that at some point, we may see more caution in Europe, and I think that's where we're seeing kind of a relative change in the business.

我們收到的回饋是，某些客戶雖然看起來有預算，但在啟動預算方面卻有點慢。我想說，如果我們談論投資組合的某個特定部分，我們擔心在某個時候我們可能會看到歐洲採取更加謹慎的態度，我認為這就是我們看到業務相對變化的地方。

In North America, it does feel like it's stabilized, and we did see sequential growth as we talked about in our prepared remarks. But we're beginning to see some incremental weakness in our European...

在北美，確實感覺它已經穩定下來，而且我們確實看到了連續的增長，正如我們在準備好的發言中談到的那樣。但我們開始看到歐洲出現一些漸進的疲軟跡象...

Okay. And then you've obviously made some changes in terms of pricing, in terms of delivery. You've been putting extra attention on some of your largest, longest-duration clients. So is there any notable change in client retention or win rates? Are those progressing differently than they were roughly a year ago when you announced some of the changes that you intended to make?

好的。然後你顯然在定價、交貨方面做出了一些改變。您一直對一些最大、合作時間最長的客戶給予額外的關注。那麼客戶保留率或贏率有顯著變化嗎？與大約一年前您宣布打算進行的一些變革相比，這些進展是否有所不同？

I think we just kind of repeat the (inaudible). In general, there is no any kind of dramatic changes. Mostly, it's attributed to delayed decisions and very specific things like if we're talking about Q2, which we have already shared. Billable hours, it's FX, it's multiple parameters, which is calculated one. So the rest of this is in line with what we were seeing before. But again, decisions slow down, and now we try to project exactly what we see versus what we kind of thinking might happen.

我認為我們只是重複（聽不清楚）。整體來說，沒有什麼劇烈的變化。主要是，這歸因於決策延遲和非常具體的事情，例如我們正在談論已經分享的第二季。計費小時數，它是 FX，它是多個參數，是計算出來的。因此其餘部分與我們之前看到的一致。但是，決策速度再次放慢了，現在我們試圖準確地預測我們所看到的情況，而不是我們認為可能發生的事情。

Yes, clearly no longer have the confidence of sequential demand improvement in the second half than we had when we released the guidance.

是的，顯然我們對下半年需求連續改善的信心已不如發布指引時那麼足。

The next question comes from the line of Surinder Thind with Jefferies.

下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Surinder Thind。

Is there any color that you can provide on intra-quarter trends in 1Q in the sense of how the quarter started? And then at what point did you kind of start to see clients begin to push off projects? Just any color there would be helpful.

從季度開局來看，您能提供第一季的季度內趨勢嗎？那麼您什麼時候開始看到客戶開始推遲專案？任何顏色都有用。

Yes. Maybe what I'll do is unpack, I guess, is the word I'll use, what happened in Q1. So we entered Q1 with the guide that we had, and we expected that we probably could get to the top or maybe a little bit above the high end of the range and had come in with a range that we wanted to make sure that we could make.

是的。也許我要做的是解開，我想，我會用這個詞來表達，第一季發生的事情。因此，我們根據現有的指導進入第一季度，我們預計我們可能能夠達到最高水平，或者可能略高於該範圍的高端，並且已經確定了我們希望確保能夠實現的範圍。

What we saw during the quarter is that things were a little bit slower than expected, and we did get some benefit from foreign exchange, which I would size at about $2 million and just a modest amount of M&A contribution that was not in our original guide, and that would be about $800,000. To be adjusted for those two factors, we're pretty much closer to the middle point of the range, pretty much at consensus rather than this revenue beat.

我們在本季看到的情況是，事情比預期的要慢一些，我們確實從外匯中獲得了一些收益，我估計約為 200 萬美元，還有少量的併購貢獻不在我們最初的指導範圍內，約為 80 萬美元。經過這兩個因素的調整，我們幾乎更接近範圍的中間點，幾乎符合共識，而不是這個收入超出預期。

So things were a little bit slower than we expected in Q1, not much, but somewhat. We have been able to calculate that this India shift even showed up in sort of sequential impact. And as Ark said, at this point, we're just not willing to continue to guide with an assumption that we're going to see improving demand. And we -- but we are seeing stability in the portfolio and probably feel a little bit of improvement if you adjust for the shift towards India.

因此，第一季的情況比我們預期的要慢一點，雖然不是很多，但還是有一點。我們已經能夠計算出這種向印度的轉變甚至會產生某種連續的影響。正如阿克所說，目前，我們只是不願意繼續以需求將改善的假設來做指導。而且我們 — — 但我們看到投資組合處於穩定狀態，如果你調整向印度的轉移，可能會感覺到一點改善。

And then in terms of just understanding trends within the top-20 clients versus those outside the top 20. You called out a pretty material difference in the growth rates. Part of that, I believe you attributed to just the acquisition, but also others to new logo activity. Just any color on how much new logos are contributing to the growth at this point and just where things are within the cycle there?

然後，僅就了解前 20 名客戶與前 20 名之外的客戶趨勢而言。我相信您將其中的一部分歸因於收購，但也將其他部分歸因於新標誌的活動。目前，新標誌對成長的貢獻有多大？

Yes. And so let me talk about the top 20. So the top 20 does have a significant number of business information and media clients in it. That is a more challenged portion of the portfolio, I would say, due to their end markets, in addition to the client that we talked about over the last couple of quarters that had ramped down in Q1 and again in Q2 as they kind of exit. We -- and again, this is all known, and we've talked about -- okay? But we are seeing some reduction in spend in another business information and media client in Europe, and that is the top 20-client. So those things kind of show up.

是的。那麼讓我來談談前 20 名。我想說，這是投資組合中更具挑戰性的一部分，因為他們的終端市場，加上我們在過去幾季談到的客戶，他們在第一季和第二季退出時數量再次減少。我們——再說一次，這一切都是眾所周知的，我們也討論過了——好嗎？但我們看到歐洲另一家商業資訊和媒體客戶的支出減少，這是排名前 20 位的客戶。所以這些事情就顯現出來了。

And then from a new logo standpoint, part of what's going on in North America is, again, stability in the existing client portion of the portfolio, but we are beginning to see growth in North America in terms of new logo revenues. And then Europe, there's an awful lot of activity, but generally, it's kind of smaller in size from a contribution standpoint. Again, encouraging but obviously not enough to drive the type of growth rate that we had originally expected.

然後從新標誌的角度來看，北美發生的部分事情再次證明了現有客戶組合部分的穩定性，但我們開始看到北美新標誌收入的成長。然後是歐洲，那裡的活動非常多，但從貢獻的角度來看，整體來說，規模較小。再次，這是令人鼓舞的，但顯然不足以推動我們最初預期的成長率。

The next question comes from the line of Jason Kupferberg with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Jason Kupferberg。

I wanted to just stay on the India topic for a minute and talk about competition there. Obviously, it's pretty crowded. Just in terms of the vendor landscape and on a relative basis, EPAM is somewhat more of a newcomer. So curious to see how you see the competitive landscape there versus your more traditional service delivery geographies?

我想就印度話題停留片刻並談論那裡的競爭。顯然，那裡非常擁擠。僅從供應商格局來看，相對而言，EPAM 更像是個新手。我很好奇，與更傳統的服務交付地區相比，您如何看待那裡的競爭格局？

And then just if we look at headcount mix, I think at the end of last year, Ukraine was still #1 at 19%, India was 15%. I mean, do you think in the not-too-distant future, India could potentially become your largest country?

然後，如果我們看一下員工人數組合，我認為在去年年底，烏克蘭仍然以 19% 的比例位居第一，印度則為 15%。我的意思是，您是否認為在不久的將來印度有可能成為您最大的國家？

I think we're very satisfied with our progress in India. So -- and by the end of the year, we might be closer to 20% of the total headcount. So it's still going to be the largest -- fastest growing. And probably we'll be on par with Ukraine or maybe larger than Ukraine.

我認為我們對在印度的進展非常滿意。所以 — — 到今年年底，我們的員工總數可能會接近 20%。因此它仍然將是規模最大、成長最快的。我們可能會與烏克蘭平起平坐，甚至可能比烏克蘭更大。

So from the quality perspective, we talked about it in the past many times. We invested there firmly, and we're doing this for a long time and India become fastest growing location. I think even in 2021 or maybe even in 2019, I don't remember it now, but it was one of the fastest one like before market went down.

所以從品質角度來看，我們過去已經多次談論這個問題。我們在那裡進行了堅定的投資，並且已經進行了很長時間，印度已經成為了成長最快的地區。我想即使在 2021 年，甚至可能是 2019 年，我現在不記得了，但它是市場下跌之前最快的一次。

So -- and we're also trying to build, and we mentioned today -- like not trying to build. We built significant data practice or built significant digital engagement practice. So we put in all necessary things there to build genAI practice as well. So it's a location, which [embodies] all what we see in EPAM traditionally. And that's a differentiation as well because we don't try to duplicate just kind of scale, but exactly the quality which we [growing].

所以 — — 我們也在嘗試建設，正如我們今天提到的 — — 就像不嘗試建設一樣。我們建立了重要的數據實踐或建立了重要的數位參與實踐。因此，我們投入了所有必要的東西來建立 genAI 實踐。所以它是一個位置，它體現了我們傳統上在 EPAM 中看到的一切。這也是一種差異化，因為我們不是試圖複製某種規模，而是試圖複製我們正在成長的品質。

So there is different type of competition. At the same time, we also mentioned that our competition for talents there is mostly captive and technology companies, and that continues to be for us as well. So I think, in general, very positive experience, and we think it will play bigger and more important role. While we are very committed to our kind of talent, which we built over the years in Europe and -- yes. As we said before, we probably will be the most kind of diverse from the talent perspective company in our sector.

因此存在不同類型的競爭。同時，我們也提到，我們在那裡的人才競爭主要是自營公司和科技公司，對我們來說這也將持續如此。因此我認為，總體而言，這是非常積極的體驗，而且我們認為它將發揮更大、更重要的作用。我們非常重視我們的人才，這是我們多年來在歐洲培養的——是的。正如我們之前所說，從人才角度來看，我們可能是我們所在行業中最具多元化的公司。

The only thing I'll add to that, similar to what we do in Eastern Europe, we don't seek to be the lowest cost provider in any market in which we operate. Again, we -- differentiated quality in India, and we charge a premium relative to other peers' kind of India rates based on what we believe is a differentiated offering there.

我唯一要補充的是，與我們在東歐所做的類似，我們並不尋求成為我們經營的任何市場上成本最低的供應商。再次，我們在印度提供差異化的質量，並且根據我們認為的差異化產品，我們收取相對於其他同行印度費率的溢價。

Okay. And I think in response to an earlier question, you said that your win rate on new logos is intact, which is good to hear. I'm just curious whether you've seen any material change in your wallet share within, say, your top-20 existing clients?

好的。我認為在回答之前的問題時，您說過新標誌的成功率保持不變，聽到這個消息我很高興。我只是好奇，您是否發現您在現有前 20 名客戶中的錢包份額發生了重大變化？

Like again, there are several clients, which we mentioned already. So -- but in general, I think it's very good, at least from wallet-share point of view. We have visible increase in some of the clients. We have pretty good stability and then saying again, there are some companies, which we mentioned before, which make like long-term decision. And we've seen actually visible slowdown in the execution kind of like when decrease [capacity] with us and there are a couple which turned back and starting to growing with us. So I think we're pretty comfortable with what we do in this -- our top 20.

再次，有幾個客戶，我們已經提到過。所以 — — 但總的來說，我認為這非常好，至少從錢包份額的角度來看是如此。我們的一些客戶數量明顯增加。我們的穩定性相當好，然後再說一遍，我們之前提到過，有些公司做出了長期決策。而且我們已經看到執行速度明顯放緩，就像當我們減少[容量]時，有些又回頭開始與我們一起增長。所以我認為，我們對於我們在這方面所做的工作——我們的前 20 名——感到非常滿意。

Your next question comes from the line of Moshe Katri with Wedbush Securities.

您的下一個問題來自 Wedbush Securities 的 Moshe Katri。

So the pipeline is there. It's just not converting at the pace that you guys expected it to be, and you have some deferrals out there. The question here is, and obviously, the environment is pretty fluid, how quickly can these be switched around? Let's say, the Fed cut rates and let's say, the macro volatility kind of maybe is improving. How quickly can these programs get back on board? Just -- again, just what I'm hearing -- is just that the demand environment is pretty fluid and obviously, things can turn on and off pretty quickly. How would you see that? How would you characterize this one?

因此管道就在那裡。它的轉換速度並沒有按照你們預期的那麼快，而且你們還遇到了一些延期。這裡的問題是，顯然，環境是相當不穩定的，這些能多快轉變？假設聯準會降息，宏觀波動可能會有所改善。這些項目多久可以恢復？只是 — — 再說一遍，我所聽到的只是需求環境是相當不穩定的，而且顯然事情可以很快地開始和結束。您怎麼看待這一點？您如何描述這個特徵？

That's exactly what we say -- we said already, we don't want to predict anymore. So we try to be more kind of pragmatic in this situation. Historically, whether or not -- volatility can change, and demand could be very fast. I'm not sure that it will be very fast in this current environment. But I only can repeat what we were saying before that the whole point for us starting from all this thing during the last couple of years to prepare ourselves well when environment will change.

這就是我們所說的——我們已經說過了，我們不想再預測了。因此，在這種情況下，我們嘗試更加務實。從歷史上看，波動性可能會發生變化，而且需求變化可能非常快。我不確定在當前環境下它是否會非常快。但我只能重複我們之前說過的話，那就是我們從過去幾年的所有事情開始的重點是，當環境改變時，我們要做好充分的準備。

And that's why we very carefully kind of managing all our capabilities necessary for this restart if needed. And I think that's why, in general, we feel very comfortable. The fundamentals then that we're actually becoming a better company from diversification of our risks, from our delivery kind of capabilities and again, the real change will happen when demand will change. And again, that could happen relatively fast, but let's see. I don't have any more opinion right now.

這就是為什麼我們會非常小心地管理重啟所需的所有必要功能（如果需要）。我認為這就是為什麼我們總體上感覺非常舒服的原因。從根本上講，我們實際上正在透過分散風險、提高交付能力而成為一家更好的公司，而且，當需求改變時，真正的改變就會發生。再次強調，這可能相對較快地發生，但讓我們拭目以待。我目前沒有其他意見。

Okay. That's fair. And then just a follow-up. Last quarter, you spoke about some clients that were coming back to EPAM. Originally, EPAM clients, when they expanded scope, they went somewhere else, and they came back. Are you continuing to see the same trend throughout this quarter?

好的。這很公平。然後只是後續行動。上個季度，您談到了一些回歸 EPAM 的客戶。最初，EPAM 客戶在擴大範圍時，就去了其他地方，然後又回來了。您是否在本季繼續看到同樣的趨勢？

Yes. This is happening, and this is happening not necessarily just when clients come back. It's also happening when clients were going down and now become comfortable with our kind of [diversification] of delivery and starting to come back to us. It's again, it's not huge things, but it's a very positive message.

是的。這種情況正在發生，而且這種情況不一定只在客戶回來時才發生。同樣的情況也發生在客戶數量下降的時候，他們現在對我們的這種多樣化交付方式感到滿意，並開始回到我們身邊。再說一遍，這不是什麼大事，但卻是一個非常正面的訊息。

And another thing that developments, vision to some new locations where we open as well, and that's again exactly not necessarily optically visible for proportional revenue growth because we're doing more work in India. And I think that's exactly what we were plan to do to make sure that we stabilize and that we're protecting our market share and clients. But exactly to your question, yes, it is continuously happening.

另一件事是，我們也計劃在一些新地點開設新店，但這對於收入比例增長來說並不一定是顯而易見的，因為我們在印度做了更多的工作。我認為這正是我們計劃要做的，以確保我們保持穩定並保護我們的市場份額和客戶。但正如你剛才的問題一樣，是的，它正在不斷發生。

Your next question comes from the line of Ramsey El-Assal with Barclays.

您的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的拉姆齊·埃爾阿薩勒 (Ramsey El-Assal)。

Could you provide some additional color on margins and the margin cadence as we progress through the year? And if you could help us with that, that would be appreciated.

隨著時間的推移，您能否提供一些有關利潤率和利潤率節奏的額外資訊？如果您能幫助我們，我們將非常感激。

Yes. So in Q2, we've got the lower bill days as we talked about, and that usually does have a depressive effect on margins, and so right now for Q2, I am expecting that we could be at 30% gross margin, or slightly below that, on a non-GAAP basis. I think for the first half of 2024, you'll see gross margins around 32%. And then the second half, I think you'd see margins in the 32% to 33% range, and that would kind of blend us into this sort of 31% to 32%.

是的。因此，正如我們之前所說，在第二季度，我們的帳單天數較低，這通常會對利潤率產生抑製作用，因此就目前第二季度而言，我預計我們的毛利率可能會達到 30％，或者在非 GAAP 基礎上略低於這一水平。我認為到 2024 年上半年，毛利率將達到 32% 左右。然後下半年，我認為你會看到利潤率在 32% 到 33% 的範圍內，這將使我們的利潤率達到 31% 到 32% 左右。

So again, you'll see somewhat improving margins as we continue to focus on our costs, and at the same time, you get a little bit of benefit from the stronger bill days in the second half.

因此，隨著我們繼續關注成本，您會看到利潤率有所提高，同時，您也會從下半年更強勁的帳單日中獲得一點好處。

And a quick follow-up. A lot of your peers who are also calling out big demand headwinds right now, they view these headwinds in terms of sort of discretionary headwinds versus nondiscretionary spend. Do you have a view of your own portfolio in that context? What percentage of your portfolio is sort of discretionary?

並快速跟進。許多同行現在也呼籲巨大的需求阻力，他們從可自由支配的支出和非可自由支配的支出的角度來看待這些阻力。從這個角度來看，您對自己的投資組合有什麼看法？你的投資組合中有多少比例是可自由支配的？

Yes. I guess it all depends on how you define that. We've never have -- as I think we all know, we had a large portfolio of multiyear maintenance, multiyear BPO or that type of thing. So a lot of our work generally is kind of newer build, digital. And as we talked about, the modernization programs, which we still believe are generally intact but are slow to ramp, in some cases, as Ark indicated, is that people have kind of descoped some of those programs. So we still think that demand is in the future. But arguably, when it comes to discretion, you can certainly delay those programs and expenditures.

是的。我想這完全取決於你如何定義它。我們從來沒有——我想我們都知道，我們擁有大量的多年期維護、多年期 BPO 或諸如此類的東西。因此，我們的許多工作總體上都是較新的、數位化的。正如我們所討論的，我們仍然認為現代化計劃總體上是完整的，但進展緩慢，在某些情況下，正如阿克所指出的，人們已經取消了其中一些計劃的範圍。因此我們仍然認為未來還有需求。但可以說，當談到自由裁量權時，你當然可以推遲這些計劃和支出。

Your next question comes from the line of Ryan Potter with Citigroup.

您的下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Ryan Potter。

I wanted to start on pricing. Have you seen any changes to the pricing environment since last earnings? And are you still offering some discounting to when business in certain areas like you were in the past? Just trying to figure out if you're finding a greater presence from certainly lower cost locations like India that's leading maybe to some client pushback on current arrangements or if the pricing pressure is more on net new engagements?

我想從定價開始。自上次獲利以來，您是否發現定價環境有任何變化？您是否仍像過去一樣對某些地區的企業提供折扣？只是想弄清楚，您是否發現印度等成本較低地區的存在感更強，這是否會導致一些客戶對當前安排產生抵觸情緒，或者定價壓力是否更多地來自於淨新業務？

So we believe the pricing environment did not improve. So -- as the only improvement could happen if demand will go up. So -- and with the current status quo, I think pricing environment is pretty tough and challenging continuously in India.

因此我們認為定價環境並未改善。所以——只有需求上升才有可能出現改善。所以——在目前的現狀下，我認為印度的定價環境相當嚴峻，並且持續面臨挑戰。

So it's not incrementally worse, but it continues to be challenging. It's one of the reasons why there is kind of a bias towards India at the lower bill rates. And the market is -- yes, with, what I would call kind of an imbalance in supply and demand, it continues to be a less-friendly market when it comes to trying to get rate increases for certain.

因此，情況不會逐漸惡化，但仍充滿挑戰。這就是為什麼在較低的票據利率上對印度存在某種偏見的原因之一。是的，市場存在著我所說的供需不平衡，當試圖提高利率時，市場仍然不太友善。

Got it. And a follow-up, I guess, on your investment level and kind of net hiring. Now that you're seeing more of a challenging demand environment, will you look to dial back some of the growth investments you were trying to do when you started the year or re-prioritize those?

知道了。我想問您關於投資水平和淨僱用情況的後續問題。現在您看到需求環境越來越具有挑戰性，您是否會考慮減少今年年初嘗試進行的一些成長投資或重新調整這些投資的優先順序？

And then from a headcount perspective, are you expecting the headcount to decrease further sequentially off these levels? Are you likely to kind of maintain the bench you have to meet demand as it returns?

那麼從員工人數的角度來看，您是否預期員工人數會進一步持續減少？當需求回升時，您是否可能會保留現有的板凳以滿足需求？

I think you'll see us continue to invest in India as we've talked on this call. I think you'll see us continue to increase our position in Latin America. I do think, and I implied this, or I think maybe even stated it in our prepared remarks, is that with this kind of budget caution with clients, we are seeing less demand for in-market resources. That continues to be a place where we do have more bench than we would like. So that's a bit of a challenge for us.

我想你會看到我們繼續在印度投資，正如我們在這次電話會議上談到的那樣。我想你會看到我們在拉丁美洲的地位繼續提升。我確實認為，而且我暗示過這一點，或者我認為甚至可能在我們準備好的評論中提到過這一點，那就是由於對客戶採取這種預算謹慎的態度，我們看到對市場資源的需求減少了。我們仍然在那裡擁有比我們所希望的更多的替補席。這對我們來說是一個挑戰。

And again, I think what you'll see us do, at least for the coming couple of quarters is to continue to invest more in, again, India and Latin America. We still think that there's a demand environment in our future for Central and Eastern Europe and also for that market. But today, it certainly continues to be a challenging environment, particularly for the higher cost in market resources.

而且我認為，至少在接下來的幾個季度裡，我們將繼續在印度和拉丁美洲加大投資。我們仍然認為，未來中歐和東歐以及該市場仍有需求環境。但今天，它無疑仍然是一個充滿挑戰的環境，特別是在市場資源成本較高的情況下。

Your next question comes from the line of James Friedman with Susquehanna.

您的下一個問題來自 Susquehanna 的詹姆斯·弗里德曼 (James Friedman)。

Jason, in your prepared remarks, you called out some of the trends in billing and on the DSO. I remember when you first started there, that was a big conversation. You improved that immeasurably. I'm just wondering is what's going on in the DSO? Is this something that we need to watch for like billability and collections?

傑森，在你準備好的發言中，你提到了計費和 DSO 的一些趨勢。我記得當你剛開始在那裡工作時，那是一次重要的談話。您已經取得了巨大的進步。我只是想知道 DSO 中發生了什麼事？這是否是我們需要關注的，例如計費和收款？

Yes. So we're really focused on managing that. And again, very careful to make certain that, obviously, our revenue recognition is appropriate and also that we're trying to avoid any potential kind of write-off of AR. So I'm not concerned about that.

是的。因此我們確實專注於管理這一點。再次，我們要非常小心地確保我們的收入確認是適當的，同時我們也試圖避免任何潛在的應收帳款註銷。所以我並不擔心這個。

What we are seeing clients are taking more time to review and make payments and that type of thing. And I assume it's just based on the environment. And so we are trying to manage it, but I suspect that DSO is going to remain above 70 for the remainder of the year. Again, I don't have concerns about it either in terms of revenue recognition or potential write-offs, okay? But yes, I wish we could maintain at 70 or 69 and I think that's a little bit unlikely in today's environment where everyone is kind of managing their cash flow a little bit more carefully.

我們看到客戶花更多時間來審核、付款等等。我認為這只是基於環境。因此我們正在努力管理它，但我預計 DSO 在今年剩餘時間內仍將保持在 70 以上。再說一遍，我對此沒有任何擔心，無論是收入確認還是潛在的註銷，好嗎？但是的，我希望我們能夠維持在 70 或 69，但我認為在當今的環境下這有點不可能，因為每個人都在更謹慎地管理現金流。

Got it. And then is there any way to unpack the revenue because you alluded to this -- you both alluded to this in your prepared remarks, the ramp downs versus the sluggishness in everything else. Like how much is the ramp-down dynamic impacting the revenue commentary and guidance?

知道了。那麼，有沒有辦法解釋收入問題，因為您提到了這一點——你們在準備好的發言中都提到了這一點，即收入的下降與其他一切的低迷。例如，降價動態對收入評論和指導的影響有多大？

Well, so we had this -- the BIM customer that we talked about where a competitor has sort of taken over their IT function. And that obviously had a step down on a year-over-year basis as well as a quarterly -- a sequential impact, Q4 to Q1. There'll be another slightly sequential impact associated with that same client between Q1 and Q2.

好吧，我們有這個——我們談論的 BIM 客戶，競爭對手已經接管了他們的 IT 功能。顯然，與去年同期相比，以及與第一季相比，第四季都有所下降。在第一季和第二季之間，同一客戶也會產生另一個稍微連續的影響。

And then we had a large BIM client who is continuing to sort of tighten up their spending. And because they are a large client, if they tighten up their spending, that's certainly reducing the level of revenue that we were generating from them, and it is showing up in our growth rates. I don't know whether I'd call it kind of a ramp down, but certainly, they're reducing the level of headcount that...

然後我們有一位大型 BIM 客戶，他正在繼續縮緊開支。而且由於他們是我們的大客戶，如果他們縮減開支，這肯定會降低我們從他們那裡獲得的收入水平，而且這會在我們的成長率中反映出來。我不知道是否可以稱之為一種削減，但可以肯定的是，他們正在減少員工人數...

Just to kind of -- there is no any real impact from ramp downs, which kind of new to us. There is a redistribution of delivery, and we talked about it when there is a switch to lower-cost locations. There are new business, which are faster growing there as well, and this is all related again to pricing environment. So -- but, no, ramp downs, right now, not as a real factor. It's more like a normal -- like it's always would happen. It's happening as well, but in a very normal way.

只是有點——產量下降並沒有帶來任何實際影響，這對我們來說是新鮮事。送貨方式進行了重新分配，我們在轉移到成本較低地點時也談到了這一點。那裡還有一些新業務，成長速度也更快，而這一切都與定價環境有關。所以 — — 但是，現在，下降並不是一個真正的因素。這更像是一種正常現象——就像它總是會發生一樣。這也正在發生，但以一種非常正常的方式。

The next question comes from the line of James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 James Faucette。

Wanted to ask just in terms of your planning assumptions and kind of given the experiences of the last few quarters, how are you thinking about -- or how are you changing your planning assumptions in terms of pipeline, conversion rates or timing, et cetera, not just in terms of like what you're seeing right now, but are you building in more conservatism from that perspective? And how does that impact your planning from a hiring perspective, et cetera, right now?

想問一下，僅就您的規劃假設而言，並且根據過去幾個季度的經驗，您是如何考慮的——或者您是如何改變您的規劃假設的，包括渠道、轉換率或時間等等，不僅僅是從您現在所看到的情況來看，而且您是否從這個角度建立了更多的保守主義？那麼這對您目前的招聘計劃等有何影響？

We definitely are learning our lessons, and we put much more pragmatic view because, yes, we were a little bit more optimistic in the past when markets will come back. So right now, we're looking at this very pragmatically with a good level of -- strong level of kind of conservatism. And I don't know what to add. So I think that's actually, exactly what is happening.

我們確實在吸取教訓，並且採取了更務實的觀點，因為是的，我們過去對市場復甦更為樂觀。因此現在，我們以非常務實的態度看待這個問題，並且保持高度的保守態度。我不知道該添加什麼。所以我認為這實際上就是正在發生的事情。

We're looking for the next 90 days, where we can predict it and predict the future based on this. But if by the end of the quarter situation will change, we will start doing this differently. Until, we will say that general conditions is directionally good, more like to one or another direction.

我們正在展望未來 90 天，我們可以對其進行預測，並在此基礎上預測未來。但如果到本季末情況發生變化，我們將開始採取不同的做法。直到，我們會說整體情況在方向上是好的，更像是朝著一個或另一個方向發展。

Great. That makes sense. And then in terms of like from a revenue perspective with the mixing geographic shifts and kind of pricing that your customers are asking for, any sense for how long we should think about that being a revenue headwind? Do you have in your mind like, I guess, a distribution of delivery and when we might hit a stable level there?

偉大的。這很有道理。然後從收入角度來看，考慮到地理變化和客戶要求的定價類型的混合，我們應該將其視為收入阻力多長時間？我想，您是否考慮過交付的分佈情況以及何時才能達到穩定水平？

Let me comment, and then Ark will probably say something much smarter and more insightful. How I think about it is going to be a trend that we're going to see throughout 2024, but I don't see it as a forever trend. At some point, I think it kind of stabilizes. And I think that we've done a good job of sort of creating a balanced delivery with options or optionality for our clients. And at the same time, I still believe that there's demand for Central and Eastern Europe so far.

讓我發表評論，然後 Ark 可能會說出一些更聰明、更有見地的話。我認為這將成為我們在 2024 年看到的趨勢，但我不認為這是永遠的趨勢。在某種程度上，我認為它會穩定下來。我認為我們在為客戶提供具有多種選擇和可選性的平衡交付方面做得很好。同時，我仍然相信到目前為止中歐和東歐地區還是有需求的。

I'll say -- we said before, we do believe that we will be able to put very balanced global delivery capability, as well as from geographical point of view, and equalize as much as possible the quality kind of component of it.

我想說的是——我們之前說過，我們確實相信，我們能夠實現全球交付能力的平衡，並且從地理角度盡可能均衡其品質組成部分。

With this, it's, again, in our segment and our IT services and specifically and kind of subsegment, which we believe we plan, which is more transformational platform build, complex enterprise solutions. Right now, difficult to miss GenAI, and GenAI-enabled solutions, which we consider it a -- playing, and we'll be playing in the future. And this situation, it's an old factor of change in demand when actually our client base will feel that modernization is not just a shift to cloud, but actually changes the applications, changes the platforms to actually benefit from this with maximum.

有了它，再次回到我們的細分市場和 IT 服務領域，特別是我們認為我們計劃的子細分市場，即更具變革性的平台構建和複雜的企業解決方案。現在，很難錯過 GenAI 和支援 GenAI 的解決方案，我們認為這是一個遊戲，而且我們將來還會繼續玩這個遊戲。而這種情況，是需求變化的一個舊因素，實際上我們的客戶群會感覺到現代化不僅僅是向雲端的轉變，而是實際上改變應用程序，改變平台，以從中獲得最大利益。

And this is very different world to me. As soon as this will be happening, then demand for the talent will be equalized as well. And then it will be growing all over the place. And I think from this point of view, very similar to what Jason just said. I think India will be a very big portion of EPAM, but we will be balanced, and demand will be coming to Central Europe and Eastern Europe and Latin America and it would be all about the quality of delivery and kind of value per dollar versus just dollar per hour. And I think it should happen. Still, we were hoping it would happen in the -- kind of sooner.

對我來說，這是一個截然不同的世界。一旦發生這種情況，對人才的需求也將均衡。然後它就會到處生長。我認為從這個角度來看，這與 Jason 剛才所說的非常相似。我認為印度將佔 EPAM 的很大一部分，但我們將保持平衡，需求將來自中歐、東歐和拉丁美洲，而這將完全取決於交付品質和每美元的價值，而不僅僅是每小時的美元。我認為這應該會發生。儘管如此，我們還是希望它能夠盡快發生。

But I think all of us here and vendor side and investor side, I think we all believe that this will turn around because there is no way right now.

但我認為我們所有人，無論是供應商還是投資者，都相信這種情況會好轉，因為現在還沒有辦法。

Your next question comes from the line of Arvind Ramnani with Piper Sandler.

您的下一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Arvind Ramnani。

I just wanted sort of really better understand when you kind of consider guidance, do you look at like -- do you go account by account? Like just trying to get an understanding of kind of the procedure to basically come up with guidance because kind of clearly things have -- are we just in an environment where things that are just so fluid and the velocity of change is something that's difficult to predict?

我只是想更好地理解，當您考慮指導時，您是否會考慮——您是否會逐個帳戶地進行？就像試圖了解基本上提出指導的程序一樣，因為事情顯然已經——我們是否處在一個事物如此流動且變化速度難以預測的環境中？

Yes. And so it's hard to predict kind of moving quarters at this stage. We've talked about the unevenness or the choppiness or the -- in some cases, we've had programs that we have been awarded and then they either haven't started or as Ark talked about, they've been descoped. We have clients who come back to us and said, "We'd like you to do this, but in a lower-cost geography." And again, all those things kind of impact the revenue growth rate.

是的。因此，現階段很難預測季度的變動情況。我們討論過不平衡或不穩定的問題——在某些情況下，我們已經獲得了一些項目，但它們要么還沒有啟動，要么像阿克所說的那樣，已經被取消了。有客戶回頭告訴我們：“我們希望你們能做這件事，但要選擇成本較低的地區。”所有這些都會對收入成長率產生影響。

So again, there is a significant amount of sort of client level and RFP win estimation and all that, but we're just finding that the demand environment continues not to evolve the way we had originally expected.

因此，再次強調，存在大量客戶等級和 RFP 獲勝估計等等，但我們發現需求環境並沒有按照我們最初預期的方式發展。

Okay. That makes sense. And then just with kind of uses of cash as you kind of think about doing additional M&A or basically doing kind of buybacks, or just trying to see -- or is it just one of these things that you'll continue to build?

好的。這很有道理。然後，就現金的用途而言，您是否考慮進行額外的併購或基本上進行回購，或者只是想看看 - 或者這只是您會繼續構建的事情之一？

Arvind, I'm going to be a little short of my response just because we're kind of at the end of the call or past the time. But I would say yes to both. So you will see us continue to do more and more acquisitions that again, are all strategic and do allow us to continue to expand our position, both end markets and in delivery locations. And you will also clearly see us do more buybacks in the coming quarters.

Arvind，我的回答會稍微簡短一些，因為我們的通話已經結束了，或者說時間已經過去了。但我對兩者都回答是。因此，你會看到我們繼續進行越來越多的收購，這些收購都是策略性的，確實使我們能夠繼續擴大我們的地位，包括終端市場和交付地點。而且您還會清楚地看到我們在未來幾季進行更多回購。

And this concludes our Q&A session. I would like to turn the call back over to Arkadiy Dobkin for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將電話轉回給阿爾卡季·多布金 (Arkadiy Dobkin)，請他作最後發言。

As always, thank you, everybody for joining today. I think we're looking forward for the next call. And I think we're not going to bring surprises next time, at least similar to today. So let's look pragmatically to everything. So fortunately, we didn't have any questions today about genAI and how we're doing there because we're doing pretty good and feel very good about this area, but probably we can spend more time on this topic next time. Thank you very much.

一如既往，感謝大家今天的參加。我想我們都期待著下一次通話。而且我認為下次我們不會帶來驚喜，至少不會像今天這樣。所以讓我們務實地看待一切。所以幸運的是，我們今天沒有任何關於 genAI 以及我們在那裡做得如何的問題，因為我們做得很好並且對這個領域感覺很好，但下次我們可能會在這個主題上花更多時間。非常感謝。

This concludes today's conference call. Enjoy the rest of your day. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。祝你剩餘的時光愉快。您現在可以斷開連線。