Forrester Research Inc (FORR) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and thank you for standing by welcome to Forrester's second quarter 2024 conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

下午好，感謝您隨時歡迎參加 Forrester 2024 年第二季電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Ed Bryce Morris. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給企業發展和投資者關係副總裁 Ed Bryce Morris。請繼續。

Thank you. And hello, everyone. Thanks for joining today's call. Earlier this afternoon, we issued our press release for the second quarter 2024. If you need a copy, you can find one on our website in the Investors section.

謝謝。大家好。感謝您參加今天的電話會議。今天下午早些時候，我們發布了 2024 年第二季的新聞稿。如果您需要一份副本，您可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到一份。

Here with us today to discuss our results are George Colony, Forrester's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman; and Chris Finn, Chief Financial Officer. Carrie Johnson, our Chief Product Officer; and Nate Swan, Chief Sales Officer, are also here with us for the Q&A section of the call.

今天與我們一起討論我們結果的是 Forrester 執行長兼董事長 George Colony；和財務長克里斯·芬恩。Carrie Johnson，我們的首席產品長；首席銷售官內特·斯旺 (Nate Swan) 也出席了電話會議的問答環節。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that this call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as expects, believes, anticipates, intends, plans, estimates or similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議將包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。期望、相信、預期、打算、計劃、估計或類似表達等詞語旨在識別這些前瞻性陳述。

These statements are based on the company's current plans and expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause future activities and results of operations to be materially different from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

這些陳述基於公司目前的計劃和預期，涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致未來的活動和營運結果與前瞻性陳述中所述的存在重大差異。

Factors that could cause actual results to differ are discussed in our reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的報告和文件中討論了可能導致實際結果不同的因素。該公司沒有義務公開更新任何前瞻性陳述，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。

Lastly, consistent with our previous calls, today we will be discussing our performance on an unadjusted basis, which excludes items affecting comparability. While reporting on an unadjusted basis is not in accordance with GAAP, we believe that reporting numbers on this adjusted basis provides a meaningful comparison and an appropriate basis for our discussion. You can find a detailed list of items excluded from these adjusted results in our press release.

最後，與我們先前的呼籲一致，今天我們將在未經調整的基礎上討論我們的業績，其中不包括影響可比性的項目。雖然未經調整的基礎上的報告不符合公認會計原則，但我們相信，在此調整後的基礎上報告的數字為我們的討論提供了有意義的比較和適當的基礎。您可以在我們的新聞稿中找到排除在這些調整結果之外的項目的詳細清單。

And with that, I'll hand it over to George.

這樣，我就把它交給喬治了。

Thank you, [Ed.] And I'd like to welcome everyone to Forrester's second quarter 2024 investor call. I will cover the following four themes before turning the call over to Chris Finn for our financial update. Number one, Forrester's Q2 financial performance two, Forrester Decisions and the enhancements we're making to the product three, our second quarter events and four, changes in Forrester's management team and Board.

謝謝，[編輯] 我歡迎大家參加 Forrester 的 2024 年第二季投資者電話會議。在將電話轉給克里斯·芬恩（Chris Finn）以了解我們的財務更新之前，我將討論以下四個主題。第一，Forrester 第二季度的財務表現；第二，Forrester 決策和我們對產品所做的改進；第三，我們第二季度的活動；第四，Forrester 管理團隊和董事會的變化。

Turning first to second quarter performance. While total contract value or CV showed a decrease of 3%, we beat our CV bookings plan in the quarter, representing growth of 5% year-over-year. These results were driven by improved renewal rates of Forrester Decisions, a greater-than-expected volume of cross-sell deals, and improving new business flow from both vendor and enterprise user clients.

轉向第一季和第二季的表現。雖然合約總價值或 CV 下降了 3%，但我們在本季度超出了 CV 預訂計劃，年增 5%。這些結果的推動因素包括 Forrester Decisions 更新率的提高、交叉銷售交易量超出預期以及來自供應商和企業用戶客戶的新業務流程的改善。

As a result, wallet retention increased by one point to 89%. Despite positive movement in contract value bookings, Q2 revenue was down 10% year-over-year, primarily driven by underperformance in our Events and Consulting businesses.

結果，錢包保留率增加了一個百分點，達到 89%。儘管合約價值預訂量出現正面變化，但第二季營收年減 10%，這主要是由於我們的活動和諮詢業務表現不佳。

We continue to stay on track converting contract value over to Forrester Decisions. In Q2, 73% of our CV was in Forrester Decisions, up from 70% at the end of Q1. We remain on plan to hit our target of 80% of CV in Forrester Decisions by year-end.

我們繼續致力於將合約價值轉換為 Forrester Decisions。第二季度，我們的履歷中有 73% 屬於 Forrester Decisions，高於第一季末的 70%。我們仍計劃在年底前實現 80% CV 納入 Forrester Decisions 的目標。

As contracts convert, we are seeing an increase in the percentage of deals that are multiyear. 68% of FD contract value is now two or more years in length. These longer terms make sense for clients as their initiatives and transformation projects span a series of years.

隨著合約的轉換，我們發現多年期交易的比例增加。目前 68% 的 FD 合約價值為兩年或兩年以上。這些較長的期限對客戶來說很有意義，因為他們的措施和轉型專案跨越了數年。

For Forrester, multiyear deals are beneficial as they renew at higher rates and give the company a more predictable flow of revenue. Our long-term goal is to move 80% of our FD research contracts to multiyear. We are becoming increasingly confident that our research CV business is stabilizing, and we expect to show modest net contract value increase, or NCVI, by year-end as we exit the Forrester Decisions transition.

對於 Forrester 來說，多年期協議是有利的，因為它們可以以更高的利率續訂，並為公司帶來更可預測的收入流。我們的長期目標是將 80% 的 FD 研究合約轉為多年期。我們對我們的研究簡歷業務正在穩定越來越有信心，並且預計隨著我們退出 Forrester Decisions 過渡，到年底我們將顯示出適度的淨合約價值 (NCVI) 增長。

I would now like to give you an update on our ongoing product enhancements. In Q2, we made our generative AI tool, Izola, available to all clients of Forrester Decisions. The Izola prompt is now the third most common action taken by clients, behind selecting a report and conducting a traditional indexed search.

我現在想向您介紹我們正在進行的產品增強的最新情況。在第二季度，我們向 Forrester Decisions 的所有客戶提供了生成式 AI 工具 Izola。Izola 提示現在是客戶採取的第三大常見操作，僅次於選擇報告和進行傳統的索引搜尋。

The percentage of questions that Izola answers from a single prompt reached 91% in Q2, up from 86% in Q1. And here are a few client quotes. And this first one is from a VP of supply chain. There's so much research and assets and goodness from Forrester. Izola helps me carve through all of that to find exactly what I want.

Izola 透過單一提示回答問題的百分比在第二季達到 91%，高於第一季的 86%。以下是一些客戶的報價。第一個來自供應鏈副總裁。Forrester 提供了大量的研究、資產和優點。伊佐拉幫助我克服所有這些困難，找到我想要的東西。

And here's a quote from a VP of customer experience. Before Izola was launched, I spent hours trying to remember where I had found a nugget of information in your research. Instead of having to go back and thumb through research, I can now just type my question to Izola and the right research will pop right up for me.

這是客戶體驗副總裁的一句話。在 Izola 推出之前，我花了幾個小時試圖記住在你們的研究中我在哪裡找到了一些重要資訊。我現在只需向 Izola 輸入我的問題，然後就會立即為我彈出正確的研究，而不必返回並瀏覽研究。

We continue to enhance Izola, adding question-and-answer history logging two weeks after the full launch. I believe that Gen AI will make our research more accessible and useful for our clients. It is the most important change in our business since the web in 1991.

我們繼續增強 Izola，在全面發布兩週後添加問答歷史記錄。我相信 Gen AI 將使我們的研究對我們的客戶更容易理解和有用。這是自 1991 年出現網路以來我們業務中最重要的變化。

Now the company is not only leading in the use of AI, we are aggressively expanding our research coverage of the technology for our clients. In Q2, we published a comprehensive evaluation of large language models. The AI Foundation Wave breaks down LLM offerings strategy and market presence across 21 criteria for 10 providers.

現在，該公司不僅在人工智慧的使用方面處於領先地位，我們還積極為客戶擴大該技術的研究範圍。第二季度，我們發布了大型語言模型的綜合評估。AI Foundation Wave 根據 10 家提供者的 21 項標準詳細分析了法學碩士課程的策略和市場佔有率。

This evaluation is the first of its kind from any major research firm, and it brings clients critical insight as they begin to build out their first Gen AI applications. Available for just two months, it is already in the top 15 most-read Forrester reports year-to-date.

這項評估是任何主要研究公司的首次此類評估，它為客戶在開始建立第一代人工智慧應用程式時提供了重要的見解。該書僅推出兩個月，就已躋身今年迄今閱讀量最高的 Forrester 報告前 15 名。

Now as investors know, Forrester Wave, which evaluates over 1,000 vendor offerings per year, are a central pillar of the Forrester Decisions' value proposition. Technology purchases constitute significant long-term financial risk for large companies. The Wave de-risks those decisions.

現在，正如投資者所知，Forrester Wave 每年評估 1,000 多家供應商的產品，是 Forrester Decisions 價值主張的核心支柱。技術購買對大公司構成重大的長期財務風險。浪潮降低了這些決策的風險。

In Q2, the Wave was enhanced with a new interactive tool, enabling our clients to clearly see each Wave's evaluation criteria, scale explanations and scores. Clients can customize Wave findings based on their company priorities to easily compare vendors and create shortlists based on their specific requirements. This new tool is driving platform use and bringing added value to our clients who rely on Forrester Wave for an assessment of the market.

第二季度，Wave 透過新的互動工具得到了增強，使我們的客戶能夠清楚地看到每個 Wave 的評估標準、量表解釋和分數。客戶可以根據公司的優先順序自訂 Wave 調查結果，以便輕鬆比較供應商並根據其特定要求建立候選名單。這項新工具正在推動平台的使用，並為依賴 Forrester Wave 進行市場評估的客戶帶來附加價值。

Reprints are an important ancillary business to research, and we have built a new platform to administer and distribute this product. Our newly launched Reprints hub will allow clients to easily manage their licenses within the core digital forrester.com platform.

重印是研究的重要輔助業務，我們建立了一個新的平台來管理和分發該產品。我們新推出的重印中心將允許客戶在核心數位 forrester.com 平台內輕鬆管理其許可證。

Switching to our new in-house platform brings us operational efficiencies and cost savings, and it has enabled the creation of a new product, Flexible Reprints, which launched at the end of the second quarter.

切換到我們新的內部平台為我們帶來了營運效率和成本節約，並且它使得我們能夠創建新產品Flexible Reprints，該產品於第二季末推出。

The continuous improvement of our contract value products is having an impact. Twice a year, we administer a client satisfaction survey, and in Q2, the results of that survey ticked up by three points, a significant swing. Improved products and increased customer satisfaction set the stage for higher renewal, enrichment and new business rates, which will result in strong contract value growth.

我們的合約價值產品的持續改進正在產生影響。我們每年進行兩次客戶滿意度調查，在第二季度，調查的結果上升了三個百分點，這是一個顯著的波動。產品的改進和客戶滿意度的提高為更高的更新、豐富和新業務率奠定了基礎，這將導致合約價值的強勁成長。

In Q2, we held our two largest events, B2B Summit in Austin and CX Summit in Nashville. Both events scored at high levels for content, value and experience valuable case studies were presented from a number of companies, including Prudential, Nedbank and IHH Healthcare Singapore. While our content and value delivery excelled, we did not meet our sponsorship targets for either event, and this will have an impact on our full year revenue.

第二季度，我們舉辦了兩場最大的活動：奧斯汀 B2B 高峰會和納許維爾 CX 高峰會。這兩項活動在內容、價值和經驗方面都獲得了高水準的評價，來自保誠集團(Prudential)、萊利銀行(Nedbank) 和新加坡IHH 醫療保健公司(IHH Healthcare Singapore) 等多家公司提供了有價值的案例研究。雖然我們的內容和價值交付非常出色，但我們沒有達到這兩項活動的贊助目標，這將對我們的全年收入產生影響。

I'd like to end my remarks with some recent additions to the Board and the leadership team. At our Board meeting last week, I introduced two new members Cory Munchbach and Bob Bennett. Cory is the CEO of the customer data platform BlueConic. She is a former Forrester analyst who covered business and consumer tech trends and the mar-tech landscape, whose expertise will help us in the B2B marketing space.

我想以董事會和領導團隊最近新增的一些成員來結束我的演講。在上週的董事會會議上，我介紹了兩位新成員 Cory Munchbach 和 Bob Bennett。Cory 是客戶資料平台 BlueConic 的執行長。她是 Forrester 的前分析師，負責商業和消費者技術趨勢以及行銷技術領域的研究，其專業知識將為我們在 B2B 行銷領域提供協助。

Bob Bennett is a serial entrepreneur and inventor, most recently the CEO of payments company EngageSmart, which Bob founded and took public. Bob has been a relentless driver of annual recurring revenue in the software space, and valuable to us as we look to drive CV growth. Both Cory and Bob will be excellent representatives for shareholders.

鮑勃貝內特 (Bob Bennett) 是一位連續創業家和發明家，最近擔任鮑伯創立並上市的支付公司 EngageSmart 的執行長。鮑伯一直是軟體領域年度經常性收入的不懈推動者，在我們尋求推動履歷成長時對我們很有價值。科里和鮑伯都將成為優秀的股東代表。

Turning to the management team. We announced the appointment of Jobina Gonsalves as our new Chief People Officer in Q2. Jobina has more than 20 years of global HR experience across Asia, Europe and North America. She is a great addition.

轉向管理團隊。我們宣佈在第二季度任命 Jobina Gonsalves 為新任首席人力長。Jobina 在亞洲、歐洲和北美擁有 20 多年的全球人力資源經驗。她是一個很好的補充。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Chris for a full update on our financial performance. Chris?

現在我想將電話轉給克里斯，以了解我們財務表現的完整最新情況。克里斯？

Thanks, George, and good afternoon, everyone. We saw positive signs in our CV business in the second quarter as CV bookings exceeded our plan, revenue performed in line with expectations, and retention metrics improved modestly from Q1.

謝謝喬治，大家下午好。我們在第二季度看到了履歷業務的積極跡象，因為履歷預訂超出了我們的計劃，收入表現符合預期，並且保留指標較第一季略有改善。

However, the non-CV portion of the business continues to be challenged. Our Events business underperformed in what is our largest Events quarter, and the headwinds we have seen in Consulting continue. Although we believe these headwinds are transitory in nature, the challenges of our non-CV businesses have led us to lower our financial guidance for the year.

然而，該業務的非簡歷部分繼續面臨挑戰。我們的活動業務在我們最大的活動季度表現不佳，而我們在諮詢領域看到的不利因素仍在繼續。儘管我們認為這些不利因素本質上是暫時的，但我們非CV業務的挑戰導致我們降低了今年的財務指引。

Despite the mixed results, we are encouraged by the continuation of positive trends in our CV business from Q1 into Q2, including reaching 73% of CV in Forrester Decisions, an ever-growing contribution of multiyear deals, and the ongoing improvements in our retention metrics.

儘管結果好壞參半，但我們的履歷業務從第一季到第二季持續的正面趨勢令我們感到鼓舞，包括Forrester Decisions 中的履歷比例達到73%、多年交易的貢獻不斷增長，以及我們的保留指標不斷改進。

Our continued go-to market work involving sales, marketing and customer success is starting to pay dividends from a pipeline, new business and renewal perspective. This gives us renewed confidence in our ability to deliver flat to slightly positive CV performance by year-end.

我們持續進行的涉及銷售、行銷和客戶成功的市場進入工作正開始從管道、新業務和更新的角度帶來紅利。這讓我們對到年底實現持平甚至略為積極的履歷表現的能力重新充滿信心。

CV declined 3% in Q2, a slight improvement from the 4% decline in Q1. And overall revenue decreased 10%. For the total company, we generated $121.8 million in revenue, compared to $135.6 million in the prior-year period.

第二季 CV 下降 3%，比第一季 4% 的下降略有改善。整體收入下降了10%。對於整個公司而言，我們創造了 1.218 億美元的收入，而去年同期為 1.356 億美元。

In terms of our revenue breakdown for the quarter, research revenues decreased 5% compared to the second quarter of 2023, with revenue from our subscription research products down 1%, coupled with declines in our reprint and our other smaller and discontinued products.

就本季的收入細分而言，研究收入與2023 年第二季度相比下降了5%，其中訂閱研究產品的收入下降了1%，再加上我們的重印品和其他較小型和停產產品的收入下降。

Overall client retention of 73% and wallet retention of 89% improved slightly compared to Q1, while Forrester Decisions specific client retention of 81% was down slightly and wallet retention of 90% improved versus the first quarter. As we complete the Forrester Decisions migration in 2024, we expect retention metrics to slowly improve throughout the year.

與第一季相比，整體客戶保留率為73%，錢包保留率為89%，略有提高，而Forrester Decisions 特定客戶保留率為81%，與第一季相比略有下降，錢包保留率為90%。隨著我們在 2024 年完成 Forrester Decisions 遷移，我們預計保留指標將在全年中緩慢改善。

Although overall client count is down from the prior quarter, Forrester Decisions client count continues to grow, and Forrester Decisions client retention remains well above overall client retention by approximately 8 points.

儘管整體客戶數量較上一季有所下降，但 Forrester Decisions 客戶數量持續成長，且 Forrester Decisions 客戶保留率仍遠高於整體客戶保留率約 8 個百分點。

It should also be noted that even though client count is down, CV per client continues to grow. And with the cross-sell and up-sell opportunities inherent with the Forrester Decisions platform, we believe CV per client will continue to grow meaningfully into the future.

還應該指出的是，儘管客戶數量減少，但每個客戶的履歷仍在增長。憑藉 Forrester Decisions 平台固有的交叉銷售和追加銷售機會，我們相信每個客戶的履歷在未來將繼續有意義地成長。

We remain on track for our Forrester Decisions migration plan, and we now have approximately $237 million of CV or 73% of total CV on the platform. We are targeting approximately 80% of total CV on Forrester Decisions at year-end. The remaining 20% will be in the non-Forrester Decisions products like Reprints and our Feedback Now business, as well as less than 5% in the legacy research products.

我們的 Forrester Decisions 遷移計劃仍在按計劃進行，現在我們在該平台上擁有約 2.37 億美元的簡歷，佔總簡歷的 73%。我們的目標是到年底將約 80% 的履歷放在 Forrester Decisions 上。剩下的 20% 將用於非 Forrester Decisions 產品，例如 Reprints 和我們的 Feedback Now 業務，以及不到 5% 的傳統研究產品。

Our Consulting business posted revenues of $24.8 million, which was down 17% compared to the prior year. Both the Consulting and Advisory product lines had a challenging quarter. Macro headwinds impacting our Consulting business will continue throughout 2024. These headwinds are causing our clients to put off buying decisions and limit their discretionary spending on Consulting.

我們的諮詢業務收入為 2,480 萬美元，比上年下降 17%。諮詢和諮詢產品線都經歷了充滿挑戰的季度。影響我們諮詢業務的宏觀阻力將持續到 2024 年。這些不利因素導致我們的客戶推遲購買決定並限制他們在諮詢方面的可自由支配支出。

And finally, regarding our Events business, we held four events in the second quarter and posted revenues of $13.4 million, representing a decrease of 25% compared to the second quarter of 2023. The Events challenges were primarily driven by sponsorship declines and, to a lesser extent, lower ticket sales.

最後，關於我們的活動業務，我們在第二季度舉辦了四場活動，收入為 1,340 萬美元，比 2023 年第二季下降了 25%。賽事面臨的挑戰主要是由贊助商減少以及門票銷售量下降所造成的。

We saw conditions worsen in Events from our prior outlook, and we are being cautious with our revised outlook for both Consulting and Events for the remainder of the year. This is the cause of the adjustment to our guidance this quarter.

與先前的展望相比，我們看到活動的情況有所惡化，因此我們對今年剩餘時間的諮詢和活動的修訂後的前景持謹慎態度。這是我們本季調整指引的原因。

Continuing down our P&L on an adjusted basis, operating expenses for the first quarter decreased by 5%, primarily driven by lower compensation and related costs. Specifically on headcount, for the second quarter, we were down 8% compared to the same period in 2023. We continue to monitor headcount, hiring and attrition very closely.

調整後的損益表持續下降，第一季的營運費用下降了 5%，主要是因為薪資和相關成本下降。具體來說，第二季的員工人數與 2023 年同期相比下降了 8%。我們將繼續密切監控員工人數、招募和人員流失。

Operating income decreased by 30% to $17.9 million or 14.7% of revenue in the current quarter, compared to $25.7 million or 19% of revenue in the second quarter of 2023. Lower operating income and margin were primarily driven by the revenue declines in our Consulting and Events businesses. Interest expense for the quarter was $0.8 million, up slightly versus the second quarter of 2023.

本季營業收入下降 30%，至 1,790 萬美元，佔營收的 14.7%，而 2023 年第二季營業收入為 2,570 萬美元，佔營收的 19%。營業收入和利潤率下降主要是因為我們的諮詢和活動業務收入下降所致。該季度的利息支出為 80 萬美元，較 2023 年第二季略有上升。

Finally, net income and earnings per share decreased 29% and 28%, respectively, compared to Q2 of last year, with net income at $12.9 million and earnings per share at $0.68 for the current quarter, compared with net income of $18.1 million and earnings per share of $0.94 in the second quarter of 2023.

最後，淨利潤和每股收益與去年第二季度相比分別下降了29%和28%，本季淨利潤為1290萬美元，每股收益為0.68美元，而本季淨利潤為1810萬美元，每股收益為0.68美元。

Looking at our capital structure, during the first half of 2024, cash flow from operating activities was negative $2.3 million and capital expenditures were $2.3 million. Cash flows were negatively impacted by the payment of the litigation settlement last quarter, as well as severance payments under our restructuring plans. We had $110.8 million of cash and investments as we exited the quarter. We repurchased approximately $3.9 million worth of shares in the quarter. This leaves approximately $88 million of our stock repurchase authorization intact.

從我們的資本結構來看，2024年上半年，經營活動現金流為負230萬美元，資本支出為230萬美元。現金流受到上季訴訟和解金以及重組計劃下的遣散費的負面影響。本季結束時，我們擁有 1.108 億美元的現金和投資。我們在本季回購了價值約 390 萬美元的股票。這使得我們約 8,800 萬美元的股票回購授權完好無損。

As noted earlier, guidance for 2024 has been updated, so let me provide some additional commentary on the outlook for the year. Revenue is now expected to be in the range of $425 million to $435 million. This guidance assumes the outlook for the research business remains unchanged with a mid-single-digit decline, a decline in our consulting business in the low 20s, and a decline in our Events business in the high 20s for the year.

如前所述，2024 年的指引已更新，因此讓我對今年的前景提供一些額外的評論。目前預計營收在 4.25 億美元至 4.35 億美元之間。本指引假設研究業務的前景保持不變，全年將出現中個位數下降，諮詢業務下降 ​​20 多歲，活動業務下降 ​​20 多歲。

Operating margins are now expected to be in the range of 8.5% to 9.5%. Interest expense is expected to be approximately $3 million for the year. We are continuing to guide to a full year tax rate of approximately 29%.

目前預計營業利潤率在 8.5% 至 9.5% 之間。預計全年利息支出約 300 萬美元。我們繼續將全年稅率指引為約 29%。

Taking all of this into account, we are now expecting earnings per share in the range of $1.37 to $1.57, down from our previous guidance of $1.50 to $1.70.

考慮到所有這些因素，我們目前預計每股收益為 1.37 美元至 1.57 美元，低於先前 1.50 美元至 1.70 美元的預期。

As expected, 2024 is proving to be a challenging year as we finish the Forrester Decisions migration amid an uneven macroeconomic backdrop. We're starting to see some positive signals as we progress through the first half of 2024, specifically within our core research business.

正如預期的那樣，2024 年將是充滿挑戰的一年，因為我們在宏觀經濟背景不平衡的情況下完成了 Forrester Decisions 遷移。隨著 2024 年上半年的進展，我們開始看到一些正面訊號，特別是在我們的核心研究業務方面。

The ongoing improvements to the Forrester Decisions product, the importance of generative AI disruption, and the go-to-market enhancements are setting the stage for growth in 2025.

Forrester Decisions 產品的持續改進、生成式 AI 顛覆的重要性以及上市增強功能正在為 2025 年的成長奠定基礎。

We believe in our product strategy, the value of Consulting and Events to drive retention and new business, our ability to guide clients through technology change, and the long-term trends supporting the business.

我們相信我們的產品策略、諮詢和活動在推動保留和新業務方面的價值、我們引導客戶進行技術變革的能力以及支持業務的長期趨勢。

Thank you all for taking the time today. And with that, I will hand the call back to George.

感謝大家今天抽出時間。然後，我會將電話轉回給喬治。

Thank you, Chris. Before we go to Q&A, I'd like to reiterate the main themes. Number one, our CV business is stabilizing. Number two, the Forrester Decisions transition is on track, and we expect it to be complete by year-end. Three, there were a number of product innovations, led by Izola. Four, Events in Q2 scored well in content but fell short in sponsorships. And five, two excellent new members have joined the Forrester Board.

謝謝你，克里斯。在我們進行問答之前，我想重申主題。第一，我們的履歷業務正在穩定。第二，Forrester Decisions 的過渡已步入正軌，我們預計將在年底前完成。三是伊佐拉主導的多項產品創新。第四，第二季的活動在內容方面得分良好，但在贊助方面卻表現不佳。還有五、兩位優秀的新成員加入了Forrester 董事會。

Thank you for listening, and I will now hand the call over to the operator for Q&A.

感謝您的收聽，我現在將電話轉交給接線員進行問答。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Anja Soderstrom from Sidoti.

來自西多蒂的安雅·索德斯特羅姆。

Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. You have a lot of internal transitions going on this year. So how dependent are you in the macro environment to improve to show some revenue growth in 2025?

你好。感謝您回答我的問題。今年發生了很多內部轉變。那麼，您對宏觀環境的改善有多大程度的依賴才能在 2025 年實現收入成長呢？

Your question was, are we looking for macro to change?

你的問題是，我們是否正在尋找宏觀變化？

Yes. How dependent are you for that to change, given you're transitioning and the expansion you have with existing clients seems like you have a lot of internal things going on that could help you in 2025. So how dependent are you on also the macro environment improving?

是的。考慮到您正在轉型，並且您對現有客戶的擴展似乎有很多內部事情正在進行，可以在 2025 年為您提供幫助，您對這種變化的依賴程度有多大。那麼，您對宏觀環境改善的依賴程度如何？

I think somewhat, I mean, this is going through a transition like this, Anja, has been it's always difficult, but doing it in this economic environment has made it much more challenging.

我認為，我的意思是，安雅正在經歷這樣的轉變，這一直很困難，但在這種經濟環境下做到這一點使其更具挑戰性。

That being said, I think there are glimmers around the edges. I know on our Board meeting there was talk about the US looking better, Europe looking maybe a little bit worse. But I think we're going to see some rate cuts here in the second half of the year, and I know Chris has stronger views than I do on this. But some rate cuts in the second half of the year and early in 2025. And that's going to I think that's going to help the general economy. It's going to help us. That's my.

話雖這麼說，我認為邊緣還是有閃光的。我知道在我們的董事會會議上有人談論美國看起來更好，歐洲看起來可能更糟。但我認為下半年我們將看到一些降息，而且我知道克里斯對此的看法比我更強烈。但下半年和 2025 年初會進行一些降息。我認為這將有助於整體經濟。它會對我們有幫助。那是我的。

Yes. I agree with that, George. I would think, in general, though, look, given this challenging environment, I don't think it's really changed significantly. I think it's still tough out there. But to your point, we're making a lot of addressing, a lot of issues on our end, and the work that the go-to market team and Nate and the sales organization has made, I think, are helping tremendously. We're starting to see some of that positive result and positive results from a CV perspective.

是的。我同意這一點，喬治。但我認為，總的來說，考慮到這個充滿挑戰的環境，我認為它並沒有真正發生重大變化。我認為那裡仍然很艱難。但就你的觀點而言，我們正在解決很多問題，我們這邊也解決了很多問題，我認為，市場推廣團隊、內特和銷售組織所做的工作正在發揮巨大作用。我們開始看到一些正面的結果，以及從履歷角度來看的正面結果。

But it's early yet, and so but nothing that we're doing right now from a forecast perspective is relying on anything changing in the macro environment. I mean this is just continuing to delve into the issues and try to find growth where we can.

但現在還為時過早，因此從預測的角度來看，我們現在所做的一切都不依賴宏觀環境的任何變化。我的意思是，這只是繼續深入研究問題並盡力尋找增長點。

And the tech economy, Anja, is still recovering, no doubt about that, even the large for the large vendors.

毫無疑問，安雅的科技經濟仍在復甦，即使對大型供應商也是如此。

Yes. And how is the government clearance coming along?

是的。政府審批進度如何？

We feel very Anja, it's Nate. We feel very confident in our plan with the government. We're seeing, not just US. but around the world, we have opportunity to earn that business. It's obviously a big quarter in the US for the federal government in Q3. Feel like we're well positioned and are expecting big things from that team this quarter. So really excited, and excited about what we're seeing across government around the world.

我們感覺很安雅，是內特。我們對與政府的計劃非常有信心。我們看到的不僅僅是美國。但在世界各地，我們有機會贏得這項業務。對美國聯邦政府來說，第三季顯然是一個重要的季度。感覺我們已經處於有利位置，並且期待球隊本季取得重大成果。我們對世界各地政府所看到的一切感到非常興奮。

We're hearing from government teams, Anja, that they want an alternative in the research space. And so we've been engaging on that.

我們從政府團隊 Anja 那裡得知，他們希望在研究領域找到替代方案。所以我們一直在致力於這個問題。

Okay. Sounds exciting. And then in terms of the Events business, it seems like that was a bit of surprise maybe, mostly on the sponsorship side. What are you hearing there? And what do you think the reason is for that? And what kind of initiatives are you taking for next year to improve that?

好的。聽起來很令人興奮。然後就活動業務而言，這似乎有點令人驚訝，主要是在贊助方面。你在那裡聽到什麼？您認為原因是什麼？明年您將採取哪些措施來改善這一點？

I'll take that. Anja, it's Carrie. The sponsorship business, as you can imagine, is 100% tied to the high-tech industry. And as we saw companies look to get more value out of, obviously, what we talked about as already a very good event, I think we struggled a bit to react to a more challenging sales environment there, more of a solution sell on that event, similar to what we've seen in the sort of core Forrester business.

我會接受的。安雅，是嘉莉。正如你可以想像的那樣，贊助業務100%與高科技產業掛鉤。當我們看到公司希望從我們所談論的已經是一個非常好的活動中獲得更多價值時，我認為我們在應對更具挑戰性的銷售環境方面遇到了一些困難，更多的是在該活動中銷售解決方案，類似於我們在 Forrester 核心業務中看到的情況。

We do have new leadership in our event sales sponsorship business that has this leader has an outstanding track record of elevating the skills needed of a sponsorship team. So we're confident that we can adjust to the changing market, and the new leadership will help us get there, especially based off the strengths of the events experience that we're offering.

我們的活動銷售贊助業務確實有了新的領導層，這位領導者在提高贊助團隊所需的技能方面有著出色的記錄。因此，我們有信心能夠適應不斷變化的市場，新的領導層將幫助我們實現這一目標，特別是基於我們提供的活動體驗的優勢。

Vincent Colicchio

文森特·科里奇奧

Yes. Nate, I'd like an update on how you're feeling about the sales force. There's was a drop in the number of total number of salespeople in the quarter. Wondering if that's involuntary and then just wondering if you feel like you've got a strong, balanced sales force, or if the strength there is more concentrated in a few members.

是的。內特，我想了解您對銷售人員的最新看法。本季銷售人員總數有所下降。想知道這是否是非自願的，然後想知道您是否覺得自己擁有一支強大、平衡的銷售隊伍，或者力量是否更多地集中在少數成員身上。

Yes, Vince. Great question. Thanks very much. Feel very good about the progress that we're making with the sales force. So we really focused in Q2, we had three specific messages that we were working on with the sales organization, building pipeline, number one.

是的，文斯。很好的問題。非常感謝。對我們與銷售人員的進展感到非常滿意。因此，我們真正關注的是第二季度，我們正在與銷售組織合作處理三個具體訊息，即建立管道，第一。

Rolling out our retention process across the organization, so lots of great work across the Forrester ecosystem, including customer success, the sales organization and the analyst community, to make sure we were delivering for our clients and get an operational retention system in place and structured.

在整個組織中推出我們的保留流程，在整個 Forrester 生態系統中進行了大量出色的工作，包括客戶成功、銷售組織和分析師社區，以確保我們為客戶提供服務，並建立一個可操作的保留系統。

And then finally, we've rolled out our Forrester sales process to make sure that we are consistently working with more senior-level executives and connecting with them on the issues and initiatives that they're working on.

最後，我們推出了 Forrester 銷售流程，以確保我們始終與更多高階主管合作，並就他們正在處理的問題和舉措與他們保持聯繫。

All three of those, it was a lot of work, across the sales and sales operations, customer success, and really across Forrester, are operating really well. Very pleased with the progress that we've made. Pipelines are improving. We saw a 30% improvement in-quarter of our pipelines. We need to just convert that to growth. But the first step is actually getting it into the pipeline. So feel really good about that.

所有這三個方面都需要大量工作，包括銷售和銷售營運、客戶成功以及整個 Forrester，都運作得非常好。對我們所取得的進展感到非常滿意。管道正在改善。我們發現我們的通路在本季改善了 30%。我們需要將其轉化為成長。但第一步實際上是將其納入管道。所以對此感覺很好。

The sales headcount is just normal attrition. We are stepping into our performance management. We hire really good people into the sales organization. We're trying to bring them back into the organization if they're not performing. And then some people will choose to opt out if it's not the place that they want to be. But our intention with our performance management program is to manage people back into the business and help them be successful. So we've been doing that.

銷售人員數量只是正常流失。我們正在步入績效管理。我們聘請非常優秀的人才加入銷售組織。如果他們表現不佳，我們會盡力將他們帶回組織。如果這裡不是他們想去的地方，有些人會選擇退出。但我們績效管理計劃的目的是管理人員重返業務並幫助他們取得成功。所以我們一直在做這件事。

We're seeing a little bit higher attrition than we did in 2023, but that was expected going into this year. So, nothing outside of the plan. And we'll continue to bring in head count where we see a really good opportunity. So the plan is staying steady with that single-digit headcount growth throughout this year. So anything else I can clarify?

我們發現員工流動率比 2023 年高一些，但預計今年會出現這種情況。所以，計劃之外沒有任何事。我們將繼續增加人員數量，因為我們認為這是一個非常好的機會。因此，該計劃今年將保持穩定個位數的員工成長。那麼還有什麼我可以澄清的嗎？

Good candidates on the street though, right?

不過，街上的好候選人，對吧？

That's a great point, George. We have seen some really good candidates. I know several of my regions have been commenting about the high quality that we're seeing coming into the organization, which is a big change from a couple of years ago where it was really difficult to find high-end talent.

這是一個很好的觀點，喬治。我們看到了一些非常優秀的候選人。我知道我所在的幾個地區一直在評論我們看到該組織的高素質人才，這與幾年前相比是一個很大的變化，當時很難找到高端人才。

Very helpful color. It was nice to see CV stabilize. And Chris, you had mentioned the outlook for CV in the next two quarters. I missed that. Did you say flat to up slightly?

非常有用的顏色。很高興看到 CV 穩定下來。克里斯，您提到了未來兩個季度履歷的前景。我錯過了。你是說平到稍微上升嗎？

Yes. Well, for the full year, Vince, we expect CV to be flat to slightly up as we continue through the migration. We're confident in getting to 80% plus of our CV to be in FD by the end of the year. And from a heritage perspective, I mean, we're less than 12% at this point on heritage, and we're continuing to drive migration pretty significantly.

是的。好吧，Vince，我們預計全年 CV 將持平或略有上升，因為我們將繼續進行遷移。我們有信心在今年年底前將 80% 以上的履歷用於 FD。我的意思是，從遺產的角度來看，我們目前在遺產方面的比例還不到 12%，而且我們將繼續大力推動移民。

And then for the high-risk portion, that sub-50, I mean, we're less than 4% at this point. And we expect overall heritage in general by the end of the year to be less than 5%. So we are really on track to be fully through the migration effort by the end of the year.

然後對於高風險部分，即低於 50 的部分，我的意思是，我們目前還不到 4%。我們預計到今年年底，整體遺產數量將低於 5%。因此，我們確實有望在今年底前全面完成遷移工作。

Yes. And Vince, the sub-50 is small vendors, below $50 million in revenue.

是的。Vince 是 50 歲以下的小型供應商，收入低於 5000 萬美元。

Yes.

是的。

And George, are you seeing the effectiveness of Izola, it sounds impressive, helping spur additional sales of seats?

喬治，你是否看到伊佐拉的有效性，這聽起來令人印象深刻，有助於刺激額外的座位銷售？

I'll jump in on this, Vince. I wouldn't say we can say there is a quantified number based on what we see with Izola, but our clients like it. We have a lot of valuable research, so to be able to cut through to exactly what they're looking for, it helps. We want people to access, use and come back. So the quicker they can get that, the more likely they are to engage with Forrester.

我會介入這一點，文斯。我不會說我們可以說根據我們在伊佐拉身上看到的情況有一個量化的數字，但我們的客戶喜歡它。我們有很多有價值的研究，因此能夠準確地切入他們正在尋找的內容，這很有幫助。我們希望人們能夠訪問、使用並回來。因此，他們越快了解這一點，就越有可能與 Forrester 合作。

Our sales people love to be prepared with it. So they go out to a meeting with a client and they use Izola to help prep on some of the issues and show how it can help them. And then, frankly, we've gotten a lot of clients that have come back to us and said,

我們的銷售人員喜歡做好準備。因此，他們出去與客戶會面，並使用 Izola 幫助準備一些問題，並展示它如何幫助他們。然後，坦白說，我們有很多客戶回來告訴我們，

Hey, we really like how you've done this within your business. We'd actually like to talk to your product tech team as to how did they actually make that happen so quickly.

嘿，我們真的很喜歡您在業務中做到這一點的方式。實際上，我們想與您的產品技術團隊討論他們是如何如此快速地實現這一目標的。

So we're seeing some really good signs from our clients and prospects that this is helping them. They're really interested in how we did this and made it work so quickly.

因此，我們從客戶和潛在客戶那裡看到了一些非常好的跡象，表明這正在幫助他們。他們對我們如何做到這一點並使其如此迅速地發揮作用非常感興趣。

One thing I'll add, Vince, it's Carrie, is, as a reminder, Izola is only available to customers in Forrester Decisions and Forrester Market Insights, so the new portfolio. So it's also helping our sales discussions from a migration perspective. It's not available to our heritage clients.

Vince，我是 Carrie，我要補充的一件事是，提醒一下，Izola 僅適用於 Forrester Decisions 和 Forrester Market Insights 中的客戶，因此是新的產品組合。因此，從遷移的角度來看，這也有助於我們的銷售討論。我們的遺產客戶無法使用它。

I think what's interesting, Vince, is that some of the heritage clients are saying, Hey, can we get Izola with the heritage product? And we're saying, no, you cannot. But the fact that they're even asking for it is a great sign.

我認為有趣的是，文斯，一些傳統客戶說，嘿，我們可以用傳統產品獲得伊佐拉嗎？我們說，不，你不能。但事實上他們甚至要求這樣做是一個很好的跡象。

And one last one. Chris, should we expect you to be proactive on the buyback activity in the second half?

還有最後一張。克里斯，我們是否應該期望您在下半年積極主動地進行回購活動？

Yes. We're going to absolutely continue to look to be opportunistic about buybacks for the rest of the year as we watch performance closely, and that hasn't changed.

是的。當我們密切關注業績時，我們絕對會在今年剩餘時間繼續尋找機會回購股票，這一點並沒有改變。

I'm showing no further questions in the queue. At this time, I would like to turn the conference back to Chris Finn, CFO, for closing remarks.

我在隊列中沒有顯示任何其他問題。這次，我想請財務長克里斯‧芬恩 (Chris Finn) 致閉幕詞。

Yes. I'd like to just thank everybody for joining us today. Any follow-up questions, please contact Ed and myself. Thank you very much.

是的。我想感謝大家今天加入我們。如有任何後續問題，請聯絡 Ed 和我本人。非常感謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。