Hackett Group Inc (HCKT) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Hackett Group fourth quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised, the conference is being recorded.

歡迎參加 Hackett Group 第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，會議正在錄音。

Hosting tonight's call are Mr. Ted Fernandez, Chairman and CEO; and Mr. Rob Ramirez, Chief Financial Officer.

今晚的電話會議主持人是董事長兼首席執行官 Ted Fernandez 先生；以及首席財務官 Rob Ramirez 先生。

Mr. Ramirez, you may begin.

拉米雷斯先生，您可以開始。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss the Hackett Group's fourth quarter results. Speaking on the call today and here to answer your questions are Ted Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of the Hackett Group; and myself, Rob Ramirez, Chief Financial Officer.

大家下午好，感謝大家加入我們討論哈克特集團第四季的業績。今天參加電話會議並回答大家問題的是 Hackett Group 董事長兼執行長 Ted Fernandez；還有我本人，財務長 Rob Ramirez。

A press announcement was released over the wires at 4:05 PM Eastern time. For a copy of the release, please visit our website at www.thehackettgroup.com. We will also place any additional financial or statistical data discussed on this call that is not contained in the release on the Investor Relations page of our website.

美國東部時間下午 4:05，一則新聞公告透過電報發布。如需該新聞稿的副本，請造訪我們的網站 www.thehackettgroup.com。我們還將把本次電話會議中討論的、未包含在新聞稿中的任何其他財務或統計數據放在我們網站的投資者關係頁面上。

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that in the following comments and in the question-and-answer session, we will be making statements about expected future results, which may be forward-looking statements for the purposes of the federal securities laws. These statements relate to our current expectations, estimates and projections and are not a guarantee of future performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and which may not be accurate. Actual results may vary.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，在接下來的評論和問答環節中，我們將對預期的未來結果做出陳述，根據聯邦證券法，這些陳述可能是前瞻性的陳述。這些聲明與我們目前的預期、估計和預測有關，並不能保證未來的表現。它們涉及難以預測且可能不準確的風險、不確定性和假設。實際結果可能有所不同。

These forward-looking statements should be considered only in conjunction with the detailed information, particularly the risk factors that are contained in our SEC filings.

這些前瞻性陳述應僅與詳細資訊結合考慮，特別是我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的風險因素。

At this point, I would like to turn it over to Ted.

現在，我想把發言權交給泰德。

Thank you, Rob, and welcome, everyone, to our fourth quarter earnings call. As we normally do, I'll open the call with some overview comments on the quarter. I will then turn it back over to Rob to comment on detailed operating results, cash flow and guidance. We will then review our market and strategy-related comments, after which we will open it up to Q&A.

謝謝你，羅布，歡迎大家參加我們的第四季財報電話會議。像往常一樣，我將在電話會議上對本季發表一些概述性評論。然後，我將把話題交還給 Rob，讓他對詳細的經營業績、現金流和指導進行評論。然後，我們將回顧與市場和策略相關的評論，之後我們將開放問答環節。

This afternoon, we reported total revenues of $79.2 million and adjusted earnings per share of $0.47, both exceeding our quarterly guidance. Our results were driven by the overperformance of our SAP segment and the strong performance of our GSBT segment, which continued to see increased revenue growth from our GenAI engagements. GenAI revenues have a higher margin than our traditional consulting and implementation revenues and are driven by highly differentiated capabilities of our AI XPLR platform and our recently acquired ZBrain platform as well as the LeewayHertz implementation team.

今天下午，我們報告總收入為 7,920 萬美元，調整後每股收益為 0.47 美元，兩者都超過了我們的季度預期。我們的業績得益於 SAP 部門的出色表現和 GSBT 部門的強勁表現，該部門的收入繼續因我們的 GenAI 項目而增長。GenAI 的收入利潤率高於我們傳統的諮詢和實施收入，這得益於我們的 AI XPLR 平台和我們最近收購的 ZBrain 平台以及 LeewayHertz 實施團隊的高度差異化能力。

We are seeing clients moving from awareness and education to budgeted projects. And we saw that really towards the end of the fourth quarter, and we're also seeing it in the beginning of this quarter. Total GSBT segment revenues, which were up 4% were partially offset by the weakness in our e-procurement practice.

我們看到客戶正從意識和教育轉向預算項目。我們在第四季度末確實看到了這一點，並且在本季度初也看到了這一點。GSBT 部門總收入成長了 4%，但被電子採購業務的疲軟部分抵消。

We believe GenAI-enabled transformation is a generational opportunity that will fundamentally change the way companies operate as well as the way consulting services are sold and delivered. The GenAI platform capabilities of AI XPLR have now been extended with ZBrain's ability to orchestrate and build complex multi-agent workflows, which should allow us to compete strongly in this rapidly growing space.

我們相信，GenAI 推動的轉型是一個時代機遇，它將從根本上改變公司的營運方式以及諮詢服務的銷售和交付方式。AI XPLR 的 GenAI 平台功能現已擴展，ZBrain 能夠協調和建立複雜的多代理工作流程，這使我們能夠在這個快速發展的領域中展開強勁競爭。

More importantly, what's most differentiating is the power of our combined end-to-end capability. AI XPLR's capability to dynamically ideate and evaluate agentic GenAI solutions with the advanced open source orchestration capabilities of ZBrain is very unique. This capability allows us to serve clients from ideation to implementation in one fully integrated platform. It also provides a client with a single platform that they can license to fully support their entire AI center of innovation or as we refer to it, our AI COI.

更重要的是，最顯著的是我們綜合端到端能力的強大。AI XPLR 能夠利用 ZBrain 先進的開源編排功能動態地構思和評估代理 GenAI 解決方案，這是非常獨特的。此功能使我們能夠在一個完全整合的平台上為客戶提供從構思到實施的服務。它還為客戶提供了一個單一平台，他們可以授權該平台全面支援他們的整個 AI 創新中心，或我們所說的 AI COI。

Although Oracle activity continues to be solid, the segment was impacted by the wind down of one of our large post-go-live engagements. We continue to see strong overall EPM activity resulting from Oracle's reestablishment of their dedicated EPM sales force. Our SAP solutions segment overperformed for the fourth quarter in a row as it closed several significant value-added reseller transactions, which strongly benefited the quarter. This increased reseller activity is directly attributable to our decision to expand our sales force in that group.

儘管 Oracle 的業務活動持續穩健，但該部門還是受到了我們一項大型上線後的業務結束影響。由於 Oracle 重建了專門的 EPM 銷售隊伍，我們繼續看到整體 EPM 活動表現強勁。我們的 SAP 解決方案部門連續第四個季度表現出色，完成了幾項重要的增值經銷商交易，為本季帶來了巨大的收益。經銷商活動的增加直接歸因於我們決定擴大集團的銷售團隊。

We are also experiencing increasing demand from our market-leading life sciences services group after several years of tempered spend in the sector. We continue to see GenAI opportunities emerge. We conducted hundreds of meetings with Global 2000 organizations from our introduction of AI XPLR earlier in the year.

經過數年在該領域的控制支出後，我們市場領先的生命科學服務集團的需求也在不斷增長。我們不斷看到 GenAI 機會的出現。自今年稍早引進 AI XPLR 以來，我們已與全球 2000 強企業舉行了數百次會議。

These demo meetings and conversations have provided us with valuable adoption insight along with the implementation concerns and limitations of our prospects. These initial meetings are now starting to become new GenAI-enabled transformation opportunities that position us to serve our clients strategically and broadly.

這些演示會議和對話為我們提供了寶貴的採用見解以及我們的潛在客戶的實施問題和限制。這些初步會議現在開始成為新的由 GenAI 支援的轉型機會，使我們能夠策略性地、廣泛地為客戶服務。

We also continue to innovate and make powerful improvements to AI XPLR. In fact, we will release a new Version 3 during this first quarter. The most important of the enhancements in Version 3 is our ability to dynamically simulate an organization's enterprise GenAI solutions by leveraging Hackett's proprietary IP to identify automation opportunities and related data source requirements at a workstep level. This enables us to identify, design and evaluate meaningful AI use cases and identify the related AI agents required to build these solutions.

我們也不斷創新並對 AI XPLR 做出強而有力的改進。事實上，我們將在第一季發布新的版本 3。版本 3 中最重要的增強功能是我們能夠利用 Hackett 的專有 IP 來動態模擬組織的企業 GenAI 解決方案，以在工作步驟層級識別自動化機會和相關資料來源需求。這使我們能夠識別、設計和評估有意義的 AI 用例，並識別建立這些解決方案所需的相關 AI 代理程式。

Given the strategic access and proprietary and expanding platform capabilities of AI XPLR, it was natural for us to extend our AI implementation capabilities to be able to fully develop and implement GenAI solutions that we were identifying. This is what resulted in our acquisition of LeewayHertz at the tail end of the third quarter, a highly recognized provider of advanced GenAI solutions. This acquisition also included a sophisticated GenAI orchestration platform, ZBrain, which we agreed to contribute into a joint venture with the LeewayHertz founder.

鑑於 AI XPLR 的策略存取權和專有且不斷擴展的平台功能，我們自然會擴展我們的 AI 實施能力，以便能夠全面開發和實施我們正在確定的 GenAI 解決方案。這促使我們在第三季末收購了 LeewayHertz，這是一家備受認可的先進 GenAI 解決方案提供商。此次收購還包括一個複雜的 GenAI 編排平台 ZBrain，我們同意將其投入與 LeewayHertz 創辦人的合資企業。

The JV, which is to be named ZBrain, brings together the AI XPLR and ZBrain software platforms and will focus on licensing the platforms and creating what we believe to be a first-of-a-kind GenAI ideation through implementation Software-as-a-Service offering. We believe this JV creates an entirely new value creation opportunity for our shareholders that should result from the growth of ARR or annual recurring licensing revenues. It would also allow the JV to have the opportunity to raise capital and achieve stand-alone valuations due to the GenAI software focus.

該合資公司將被命名為 ZBrain，它將整合 AI XPLR 和 ZBrain 軟體平台，並將專注於授權平台，並透過實施軟體即服務產品來創造我們認為獨一無二的 GenAI 理念。我們相信，該合資企業將為我們的股東創造一個全新的價值創造機會，這將源於 ARR 或年度經常性許可收入的成長。由於專注於 GenAI 軟體，這也將使合資企業有機會籌集資金並實現獨立估值。

Our acquisition of LeewayHertz resulted in accretive revenue growth in the fourth quarter and when combined with our AI XPLR and GenAI consulting capabilities are expected to have a consequential impact on our 2025 results. There is no doubt that in just one year, our aggressive pivot to become the architects of our clients' GenAI journey is being well received and has significant value creation potential for our organization.

我們對 LeewayHertz 的收購帶來了第四季度的營收成長，再加上我們的 AI XPLR 和 GenAI 諮詢能力，預計將對我們的 2025 年業績產生重大影響。毫無疑問，在短短一年的時間裡，我們積極轉型成為客戶 GenAI 之旅的架構師，這一舉措受到了廣泛歡迎，並為我們的組織帶來了巨大的價值創造潛力。

On the executive advisory front, we continue to invest in growing our IP-based programs. We believe our move to fully integrate GenAI content, which is now being further augmented by our GenAI -- the content infused by the LeewayHertz acquisition will be responsive to our clients' strong interest in this area. We experienced sequential and year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter, driven by improved advisory program sales and renewals.

在執行諮詢方面，我們繼續投資發展基於 IP 的項目。我們相信，我們全面整合 GenAI 內容的舉措（目前正透過 GenAI 進一步增強）將響應客戶對此領域的濃厚興趣。受諮詢計劃銷售和續約改善的推動，我們的第四季度收入實現了環比和同比增長。

We are now working on launching a premium GenAI solutioning advisory program to fully leverage our solutioning innovation and implementation knowledge from our platforms and client engagements that will be directly targeted and the program will be directly targeted to AI leaders, CIOs and CTOs who require this knowledge.

我們目前正致力於推出一項優質的 GenAI 解決方案諮詢計劃，以充分利用我們從平台和客戶參與中獲得的解決方案創新和實施知識，該計劃將直接針對需要這些知識的 AI 領導者、首席資訊長和首席技術官。

On the balance sheet side, in the near term, you can expect us to use our strong cash flow from operations to continue our stock buyback program rather than just focus on paying down the remaining outstanding balance of our credit facility while continuing to invest in our business.

在資產負債表方面，在短期內，您可以預期我們將利用強勁的經營現金流來繼續我們的股票回購計劃，而不是僅僅專注於償還信貸額度的剩餘未償餘額，同時繼續投資於我們的業務。

With that said, let me ask Rob to provide details on our operating results, cash flow and also comment on outlook. I will make additional comments on strategy and market conditions following Rob's comments. Rob?

話雖如此，我還是想請羅布提供有關我們的經營業績、現金流的詳細資訊以及對前景的評論。我將根據 Rob 的評論對策略和市場狀況發表補充評論。搶？

Thank you, Ted. As I typically do, I'll cover the following topics during my portion of the call. I'll comment and make a commentary on an overview of our 2024 fourth-quarter results, along with an overview of related key operating statistics. I'll cover an overview of our cash flow activities during the quarter, and I'll then conclude with a discussion on our financial outlook for the first quarter of 2025.

謝謝你，泰德。和我通常會做的那樣，我將在通話中討論以下主題。我將對我們 2024 年第四季的業績概覽以及相關關​​鍵營運統計數據的概覽進行評論。我將概述本季的現金流活動，然後最後討論我們對 2025 年第一季的財務前景。

For purposes of this call, I will comment separately regarding the revenues of our global S&BT segment, our Oracle solutions segment, our SAP solutions segment and the total company.

為了本次電話會議的目的，我將分別評論我們全球 S&BT 部門、Oracle 解決方案部門、SAP 解決方案部門和整個公司的收入。

Our global S&BT segment includes the results of our North America and international GenAI consulting and implementation and licensing revenues, benchmarking and business transformation offerings, Executive Advisory market intelligence and IPaaS programs, and our OneStream and e-procurement implementation offerings.

我們的全球 S&BT 部門包括我們在北美和國際 GenAI 諮詢和實施及許可收入、基準測試和業務轉型產品、高管諮詢市場情報和 IPaaS 計劃以及我們的 OneStream 和電子採購實施產品的結果。

Our Oracle solutions and our SAP solutions segments include the results of our Oracle and SAP offerings, respectively. Please note that we will be referencing both total revenues and revenue before reimbursements in our discussion. Reimbursable expenses are primarily project travel-related expenses passed through to our clients that have no associated impact on our profitability.

我們的 Oracle 解決方案和 SAP 解決方案部門分別包含我們的 Oracle 和 SAP 產品的結果。請注意，我們在討論中將參考總收入和報銷前收入。可報銷費用主要是轉嫁給客戶的專案差旅相關費用，對我們的獲利能力沒有影響。

During our call today, we will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide useful information to investors. We have included reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures in our press release filed earlier today, and we'll post any additional information based on the discussions from this call to the Investor Relations page of the company's website.

在今天的電話會議中，我們還將參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標，我們認為這些指標可以為投資者提供有用的信息。我們在今天稍早提交的新聞稿中納入了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的對賬，並且我們將根據本次電話會議的討論將任何補充資訊發佈到公司網站的投資者關係頁面。

Moving on. For the fourth quarter of 2024, our total revenue was $79.2 million. Our revenues before reimbursements were $77.5 million, which was above the high end of our quarterly guidance. The fourth quarter of 2024 reimbursable expense ratio on revenues before reimbursements was 2.3% as compared to 2.3% in the prior quarter and 1.7% in the same period in the prior year.

繼續。2024 年第四季度，我們的總收入為 7,920 萬美元。我們的報銷前收入為 7,750 萬美元，高於季度預期的上限。2024 年第四季報銷前收入的可報銷費用率為 2.3%，而上一季為 2.3%，去年同期為 1.7%。

Total revenues from our global S&BT segment were $43.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenues before reimbursements for our global S&BT segment were $43.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of 4% when compared to the same period in the prior year. The revenue growth from our GenAI consulting and implementations in this segment was primarily offset by weakness in our e-procurement and OneStream implementation offerings.

2024 年第四季度，我們全球 S&BT 部門的總收入為 4,390 萬美元。2024 年第四季度，我們全球 S&BT 部門的報銷前收入為 4,320 萬美元，比去年同期成長 4%。我們在該部門的 GenAI 諮詢和實施帶來的收入成長主要被我們的電子採購和 OneStream 實施產品的疲軟所抵消。

Total revenues from our Oracle solutions segment were $18.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenues before reimbursements for our Oracle solutions segment were $17.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, a decrease of 6% when compared to the same period in the prior year.

2024 年第四季度，Oracle 解決方案部門的總收入為 1,820 萬美元。2024 年第四季度，Oracle 解決方案部門的報銷前收入為 1,740 萬美元，與去年同期相比下降了 6%。

This decrease is primarily due to the post go-live wind-down of a large engagement, which will also impact the Oracle momentum in the first quarter. Total revenues from our SAP solutions segment were $17.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenues before reimbursements for our SAP solutions segment were $16.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of 51% when compared to the same period in the prior year, primarily driven by strong software-related sales in the quarter resulting from the increased sales investments we made in late 2023.

這一下降主要是由於上線後大規模合作的逐漸減少，這也將影響 Oracle 在第一季的發展勢頭。2024 年第四季度，我們的 SAP 解決方案部門總收入為 1,720 萬美元。2024 年第四季度，SAP 解決方案部門的報銷前收入為 1,680 萬美元，較上年同期成長 51%，這主要得益於我們在 2023 年末增加銷售投資導致本季軟體相關銷售強勁成長。

The overperformance in the fourth quarter will temper our first-quarter outlook, but we expect demand for our SAP services to be strong throughout the balance of the year. Approximately 22% of our total company revenues before reimbursements consist of recurring multiyear and subscription-based revenues, which includes our executive advisory, IP as a Service and application managed service contracts.

第四季的優異表現將會影響我們第一季的前景，但我們預計全年對 SAP 服務的需求將保持強勁。我們公司在償還費用之前的總收入中約有 22% 來自經常性多年收入和基於訂閱的收入，其中包括我們的高階主管諮詢、IP 即服務和應用程式託管服務合約。

Total company adjusted cost of sales, which excludes reimbursable expenses, non-cash stock-based compensation expense and all acquisition-related cash and non-cash compensation expense totaled $40.5 million or 52.3% of revenues before reimbursements in the fourth quarter of 2024 as compared to $40.4 million or 56.7% of revenues before reimbursements in the prior year.

2024 年第四季度，公司調整後銷售成本總額（不包括可報銷費用、非現金股票薪酬費用以及所有與收購相關的現金和非現金薪酬費用）總計 4,050 萬美元，佔報銷前收入的 52.3%，而去年同期為 4,040 萬美元，佔報銷前收入的 56.7%。

Total consultant headcount was 1,284 at the end of the fourth quarter as compared to 1,262 in the previous quarter and 1,168 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023. Fourth-quarter ending headcount was primarily driven by increases from our GenAI acquisition and increasing hiring in our GenAI practices.

截至第四季末，顧問總數為 1,284 人，而上一季為 1,262 人，2023 年第四季末為 1,168 人。第四季末員工人數的成長主要得益於我們收購 GenAI 以及 GenAI 業務部門招募人數的增加。

Total company adjusted gross margin on revenues before reimbursements, which excludes reimbursable expenses and non-cash stock-based compensation expense and all acquisition-related cash and non-cash compensation expense was 47.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024 as compared to 43.3% in the prior year. The improvement in gross margin was primarily driven by higher value-added reseller sales during the quarter and the higher-margin GenAI consulting and implementation revenue in Global and SMBT.

2024 年第四季度，公司補償前總收入調整毛利率（不包括可補償費用和非現金股票薪酬費用以及所有收購相關的現金和非現金薪酬費用）為 47.7%，而去年同期為 43.3%。毛利率的提高主要得益於本季增值經銷商銷售額的提高以及全球和 SMBT 中利潤率更高的 GenAI 諮詢和實施收入。

Adjusted SG&A, which excludes non-cash stock-based compensation expense and all acquisition-related cash and non-cash expenses, amortization of intangible assets and onetime legal settlements was $18.4 million, or 23.7% of revenues before reimbursements in the fourth quarter of 2024. This is compared to $15.4 million, or 21.6% of revenues before reimbursements in the prior year. The year-over-year absolute dollar increase is primarily due to incremental commissions from increased SAP segment sales and increased incentive compensation expense commensurate with company performance.

調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用（不包括非現金股票薪酬費用和所有與收購相關的現金和非現金費用、無形資產攤銷和一次性法律和解）為 1,840 萬美元，佔 2024 年第四季度償還前收入的 23.7%。相比之下，上一年償還前的收入為 1,540 萬美元，佔償還前收入的 21.6%。絕對美元金額較去年同期增加主要歸因於 SAP 部門銷售額增加所帶來的佣金增量，以及與公司績效相稱的激勵薪酬費用增加。

Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes non-cash stock-based compensation expense, all acquisition-related cash and non-cash expenses, amortization of intangible assets and onetime legal settlements was $19.5 million, or 25.2% of revenues before reimbursements in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to $16.3 million, or 23% of revenues before reimbursements in the prior year.

2024 年第四季度，調整後 EBITDA（不包括非現金股票薪酬費用、所有收購相關的現金和非現金費用、無形資產攤銷以及一次性法律和解）為 1,950 萬美元，佔補償前收入的 25.2%，而去年同期為 1,630 萬美元，佔補償前收入的 23%。

GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2024 totaled $3.6 million or diluted earnings per share of $0.12 as compared to GAAP net income of $7.9 million or diluted earnings per share of $0.28 in the fourth quarter of the prior year. Our 2024 GAAP net income includes non-cash stock compensation expense from our recently approved stock price award program of $5.1 million and acquisition-related cash and non-cash compensation and related expenses of $2.3 million, which in total impacted our Q4 2024 GAAP results by $0.23. 2023 GAAP net income includes the Gartner legal settlement and related costs of $1.2 million or $0.03 per diluted earnings per share.

2024 年第四季的 GAAP 淨收入總計 360 萬美元或每股稀釋收益 0.12 美元，而去年同期第四季的 GAAP 淨收入為 790 萬美元或每股稀釋收益 0.28 美元。我們的 2024 年 GAAP 淨收入包括我們最近批准的股票價格獎勵計劃中的 510 萬美元非現金股票薪酬費用以及 230 萬美元的收購相關現金和非現金薪酬及相關費用，這總共對我們 2024 年第四季度 GAAP 業績產生了 0.23 美元的影響。 2023 年 GAAP 淨收入包括 Gartner 法律和解金及相關費用 120 萬美元或每股稀釋收益 0.03 美元。

Adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share, which exclude non-cash stock-based compensation expense, all acquisition-related cash and non-cash expenses, amortization of intangible assets and onetime legal settlements for the fourth quarter of 2024 totaled $13.6 million or adjusted diluted net income per common share of $0.47, which is above the top end of our earnings guidance range and compares to prior year adjusted diluted net income per common share of $0.39.

2024 年第四季度，調整後淨收入和稀釋每股收益（不包括非現金股票薪酬費用、所有收購相關的現金和非現金費用、無形資產攤銷和一次性法律和解）總計 1,360 萬美元，或調整後每股普通股稀釋淨收入為 0.47 美元，高於我們預期盈利範圍的上限，而去年調整後每股普通股稀釋淨收入為 0.39 美元，高於我們預期盈利範圍的上限，而去年調整後每股普通股稀釋淨收入為 0.39 美元。

Acquisition-related cash and non-cash stock compensation expense relates to a portion of the purchase consideration for the LeewayHertz acquisition completed in September 2024. The consideration contains either performance or service vesting requirements and as such is reflected as compensation expense under GAAP rather than purchase consideration.

收購相關的現金和非現金股票薪酬費用與 2024 年 9 月完成的 LeewayHertz 收購的部分購買對價有關。對價包含績效或服務歸屬要求，因此根據 GAAP 反映為薪酬費用，而不是購買對價。

The company's cash balances were $16.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter as compared to $10 million at the end of the previous quarter. Net (technical difficulty) from operating activities in the quarter was $20.6 million, primarily driven by net income adjusted for non-cash activity, increases in accrued expenses and decreases in accounts receivable.

該公司第四季末的現金餘額為 1,640 萬美元，而上一季末的現金餘額為 1,000 萬美元。本季營運活動淨收入（技術難度）為 2,060 萬美元，主要受非現金活動調整後的淨收入、應計費用增加和應收帳款減少的影響。

Our DSO, or days sales outstanding, was 66 days at the end of the quarter as compared to 70 days at the end of the previous quarter and 65 days in the prior year. During the fourth quarter of 2024, the company paid down $7 million on its credit facility. The balance of the company's total debt outstanding at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024 was approximately $13 million.

本季末，我們的 DSO（應收帳款週轉天數）為 66 天，而上一季末為 70 天，去年同期為 65 天。2024 年第四季度，該公司償還了 700 萬美元的信貸額度。截至2024年第四季末，本公司未償還債務總額餘額約1,300萬美元。

During the quarter, we repurchased 117,000 shares of the company's stock for an average of $30.95 per share at a total cost of approximately $3.6 million. Our remaining stock repurchase authorization at the end of the fourth quarter was $27.5 million.

本季度，我們以平均每股 30.95 美元的價格回購了 117,000 股公司股票，總成本約為 360 萬美元。第四季末我們剩餘的股票回購授權為 2,750 萬美元。

At its most recent meeting, the company's Board of Directors authorized a 9% increase in its annual dividend from $0.44 to $0.48 per share to be paid quarterly and declared the first quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share for shareholders of record on March 21, 2025, to be paid on April 4, 2025.

在最近一次會議上，公司董事會批准將年度股息增加 9%，從每股 0.44 美元增加到每股 0.48 美元，按季度支付，並宣布向 2025 年 3 月 21 日登記在冊的股東派發第一季度股息，每股 0.12 美元，將於 2025 年 4 月 4 日支付。

Before I move to guidance for the first quarter of 2025, I'd like to remind everyone of the seasonality of our business relative to costs as we move sequentially from Q4 to Q1. Specifically, consistent with previous years, our first quarter guidance for 2025 will reflect the sequential increase in US payroll-related taxes and sequential buildup of our [vacation goals]. The company estimates that total revenues before reimbursements for the first quarter of 2025 to be in the range of $75 million to $76.5 million.

在介紹 2025 年第一季的業績指引之前，我想提醒大家，隨著我們逐步從第四季度過渡到第一季度，我們的業務相對於成本具有季節性。具體而言，與往年一致，我們對 2025 年第一季的指引將反映美國工資相關稅的連續成長以及我們[假期目標]。該公司估計，2025 年第一季報銷前的總收入將在 7,500 萬美元至 7,650 萬美元之間。

We expect global S&BT segment revenue before reimbursements to be up 5% to 10% when compared to the prior year, driven by strong GenAI revenue growth, partially offset by declines in OneStream and e-procurement practices. We expect both Oracle solutions and SAP solutions segment revenue before reimbursements to be down when compared to the prior year. On a combined basis, we expect them to be down 8% to 10%.

我們預計，全球 S&BT 部門報銷前收入將比上年增長 5% 至 10%，這得益於 GenAI 收入的強勁增長，但 OneStream 和電子採購業務的下滑部分抵消了這一增長。我們預計，與前一年相比，Oracle 解決方案和 SAP 解決方案部門的報銷前收入都將下降。總體而言，我們預計它們的銷量將下降 8% 至 10%。

We estimate adjusted diluted net income per common share in the first quarter of 2025 to be in the range of $0.39 to $0.41, which assumes a GAAP effective tax rate on adjusted earnings of 22%. We expect the adjusted gross margin as a percentage of revenues before reimbursements to be approximately 43% to 44%. We expect adjusted SG&A and interest expense for the first quarter to be approximately $18.8 million.

我們估計 2025 年第一季調整後每股普通股稀釋淨收益將在 0.39 美元至 0.41 美元之間，假設調整後收益的 GAAP 有效稅率為 22%。我們預計調整後的毛利率佔報銷前收入的百分比約為 43% 至 44%。我們預計第一季調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用和利息支出約為 1,880 萬美元。

We expect first-quarter adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenues before reimbursements to be in the range of approximately 21% to 22%. Lastly, we expect cash balances in the first quarter, excluding the impact of share buyback activity, to be tempered primarily due to the payment of 2024 performance-related bonuses.

我們預計第一季調整後的 EBITDA 佔償還前收入的百分比將在約 21% 至 22% 之間。最後，我們預計第一季的現金餘額（不包括股票回購活動的影響）將因支付 2024 年績效獎金而受到緩和。

At this point, I'll turn it back over to Ted to review our market outlook and strategic priorities for the coming months.

現在，我將把時間交還給泰德，讓他回顧我們未來幾個月的市場前景和戰略重點。

Thank you, Rob. As we look forward, let me share our thoughts on the near and long-term demand environment and the growth opportunity it offers our organization. Although the demand for digital transformation remains strong in traditional areas, it continues to be impacted by thoughtful decision-making as organizations assess competing priorities due to economic concerns and the consideration of emerging GenAI technologies.

謝謝你，羅布。展望未來，讓我分享我們對近期和長期需求環境以及它為我們的組織提供的成長機會的看法。儘管傳統領域對數位轉型的需求依然強勁，但由於企業出於經濟方面的考慮以及對新興 GenAI 技術的考慮，需要評估相互競爭的優先事項，因此數位轉型的需求仍然受到深思熟慮的決策的影響。

In 2025, we expect IT budgets to increase with increasing attention and allocations to the rapidly emerging GenAI solutions and the related opportunities and threats it brings to all industries. While in 2024 GenAI budgets were primarily focused on developing awareness of AI, in 2025, you will see increasing amount of IT budgets specifically allocated to GenAI initiatives in high feasibility and high-impact areas.

2025 年，我們預計 IT 預算將會增加，因為對快速崛起的 GenAI 解決方案及其為所有產業帶來的相關機會和威脅的關注和分配將會增加。雖然 2024 年 GenAI 預算主要集中在提高人們對 AI 的認識，但到 2025 年，您將看到越來越多的 IT 預算專門分配給高可行性和高影響力領域的 GenAI 計劃。

We also expect to see an increasing investment in data quality and value initiatives that are critical to any GenAI strategy. The unlimited potential of AI will define an entirely new level of GenAI-enabled world-class performance standards, driving all software and services providers to extend the value of their existing offerings with the introduction of AI agent extensions. We believe this will result in unprecedented innovations, which all organizations will have to consider. This shift is consistent with our aggressive pivot to GenAI-enabled transformations, which we believe positions a generational value creation opportunity for our organization.

我們也希望看到對任何 GenAI 策略都至關重要的數據品質和價值計劃的投資不斷增加。人工智慧的無限潛力將定義全新水準的 GenAI 世界級效能標準，推動所有軟體和服務供應商透過引入人工智慧代理擴充來擴展其現有產品的價值。我們相信這將帶來前所未有的創新，所有組織都必須考慮。這種轉變與我們積極轉向 GenAI 轉型的策略一致，我們相信這為我們的組織帶來了世代價值創造機會。

Strategically, we continue to focus on recurring high-margin IP-related services. But what is new is the accelerated focus and investments we are making in all of our GenAI capabilities. The most significant investments have been in the development of our AI XPLR platform and in the training and development of our associates.

從策略上講，我們繼續專注於經常性的高利潤的智慧財產權相關服務。但新鮮的是，我們正在加速關注和投資所有 GenAI 功能。最重要的投資是我們的 AI XPLR 平台的開發以及員工的培訓和發展。

Our strategic acquisition of LeewayHertz further expanded and accelerated all of our efforts. This will further accelerate as we fund the expansion of our joint venture. We are utilizing the AI XPLR platform as the vehicle to integrate the GenAI capabilities and impact across all of our offerings.

我們對 LeewayHertz 的策略性收購進一步擴大並加速了我們的所有努力。隨著我們為合資企業的擴張提供資金，這一進程將進一步加速。我們正在利用 AI XPLR 平台作為工具，將 GenAI 功能和影響力融入我們所有的產品中。

We also continue to hire and upgrade our skills in critical data and technology architect resources to further support our efforts. These efforts are rapidly allowing us to become key architects, advisers and consultants of our clients' GenAI journey. We now believe that AI XPLR will be our primary strategic entry point to clients that we will use to position our traditionally strong benchmarking digital transformation and executive advisory offerings and the platforms that result in our latest digital transformation and cloud application consulting relationships.

我們也將繼續聘用和提升關鍵數據和技術架構師資源的技能，以進一步支持我們的努力。這些努力使我們迅速成為客戶 GenAI 之旅的關鍵架構師、顧問和諮詢師。我們現在相信，AI XPLR 將成為我們面向客戶的主要策略切入點，我們將利用它來定位我們傳統上強大的基準數位轉型和高階主管諮詢產品以及導致我們最新的數位轉型和雲端應用諮詢關係的平台。

The halo or downstream revenue impact of these offerings has traditionally been around 40% over the last several years. We believe this will only be expanded by our AI XPLR offering and the enterprise-wide strategic access it provides.

在過去幾年中，這些產品帶來的光環或下游收入影響通常約為 40%。我們相信，只有透過我們的 AI XPLR 產品及其提供的企業範圍的策略存取才能擴大這一範圍。

AI XPLR significantly enhances the value of our IP and fully aligns it with emerging GenAI world-class performance standards. Another critical investment that we have made is to build our own GenAI-assisted knowledge-based solution called Ask Hackett AI. We expect the integration of our valuable IP and content that leverages GenAI to significantly enhance the delivery of our insight that we are asked to provide to our clients every day, but much faster and with significantly more personalized insight.

AI XPLR 顯著提升了我們的 IP 價值，並使其與新興的 GenAI 世界級性能標準完全一致。我們進行的另一項重要投資是建立我們自己的 GenAI 輔助知識解決方案，稱為 Ask Hackett AI。我們期望透過整合我們寶貴的 IP 和利用 GenAI 的內容來顯著增強我們每天向客戶提供的洞察力，但速度更快，洞察力更加個人化。

We are ingesting proprietary IP, including benchmarking best practices, research IP to support the myriads of queries that we're required to support our executive advisory consulting and consulting. We have also embarked on a new initiative called Accelerator. It intends to address the efficiency and quality of the delivery of our technology implementation-related services.

我們正在吸收專有 IP，包括基準最佳實踐、研究 IP，以支援我們執行諮詢和諮詢所需的大量查詢。我們還啟動了一項名為「加速器」的新計畫。它旨在解決我們技術實施相關服務的交付效率和品質。

All these initiatives are harnessing the power of GenAI to improve and accelerate the delivery of our solutions and services with the intent of differentiating our capabilities and result in improved revenue growth and margins. We also see the potential commercial value of these innovations beyond our internal use.

所有這些舉措都在利用 GenAI 的力量來改善和加速我們的解決方案和服務的交付，旨在使我們的能力與眾不同，並提高收入成長和利潤率。我們也看到了這些創新除了內部使用之外的潛在商業價值。

On the talent side, competition for experienced executives with high technology agility continue. Overall, we saw turnover continue to moderate and remain low during the quarter. We expect that trend to continue.

在人才方面，對具有高技術敏捷性且經驗豐富高階主管的競爭仍在繼續。總體而言，我們看到本季營業額繼續放緩並保持在低位。我們預計這一趨勢將會持續下去。

We also continue to explore strategic partnerships and acquisitions that will allow us to extend our GenAI capabilities and sell our IP through new channels that will allow us to reach beyond our current Global 1000 focus in an efficient manner. We are continuing to add videos of our new and expanding platforms on the Investor Relations page of our website that investors can review to become more familiar with our new capabilities.

我們還將繼續探索策略合作夥伴關係和收購，這將使我們能夠擴展我們的 GenAI 能力並透過新管道銷售我們的 IP，使我們能夠以有效的方式超越我們目前的全球 1000 強重點。我們將繼續在我們網站的投資者關係頁面上添加有關我們新的和擴展的平台的視頻，投資者可以通過查看這些視頻來熟悉我們的新功能。

Lastly, even though we believe we have the client base and the offerings to grow our business, we continue to look for acquisitions and alliances that strategically leverage our IP and add scope, scale and capability, which can accelerate our growth. As always, let me close by congratulating our associates on our performance and by thanking them for their tireless efforts and always ask them to remain to stay focused on our clients and our people no matter what challenges we may encounter.

最後，儘管我們相信我們擁有客戶群和產品來發展我們的業務，但我們仍在繼續尋求能夠策略性地利用我們的智慧財產權並增加範圍、規模和能力的收購和聯盟，這可以加速我們的成長。像往常一樣，最後，我要祝賀我們的同事所取得的成績，並感謝他們的不懈努力，並始終要求他們無論遇到什麼挑戰，都繼續關注我們的客戶和員工。

Those conclude my comments. Let me turn it over to the operator, who will move us into the Q&A section of our call. Operator?

我的評論到此結束。讓我把麥克風交給接線員，接線員會將我們帶入通話的問答環節。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) George Sutton, Craig-Hallum.

（操作員指示）喬治·薩頓，克雷格·哈勒姆。

Ted, it was nice to hear you call out some revenues and the influence that GenAI had in the fourth quarter and will have in Q1. I wondered if you could give us a little more detail on the breadth of what you're working on, give us a sense of what the pipeline might look like?

泰德，很高興聽到您談到 GenAI 在第四季度以及第一季產生的一些收入和影響。我想知道您是否可以向我們詳細介紹您正在進行的工作，讓我們了解整個流程是什麼樣的？

Well, let me say at the highest level, let's just say that both the -- our client entry points or meetings that we're having and even the content which our Executive Advisory and Market Intelligence clients are leveraging is being significantly skewed to GenAI-related questions and comments and interest. So that really drives our meeting counts. It drives our client engagements.

好吧，讓我從最高層面來說，我們舉辦的客戶切入點或會議，甚至我們的執行顧問和市場情報客戶所利用的內容，都嚴重偏向與 GenAI 相關的問題、評論和興趣。這確實增加了我們的會議次數。它推動了我們的客戶參與。

And look, George, you know we've worked really hard to get out in front of this by launching AI XPLR at the beginning of last year. All of that work we did in 2024, when you bring that together with the acquisition of LeewayHertz and the fact that they bring not only great engineering capability but an orchestration, an agentic workflow orchestration platform really allows us to be incredibly competitive.

喬治，你知道，我們去年年初推出了 AI XPLR，為此付出了很多努力。我們在 2024 年所做的所有工作，加上對 LeewayHertz 的收購，以及他們不僅帶來強大的工程能力，而且還帶來編排、代理工作流編排平台的事實，確實讓我們具有了極強的競爭力。

We believe we're at the tip of the spear on these opportunities. So look, whether it's meeting counts, whether it's discussion with clients and/or revenue that we both then saw on a sequential basis, look, the opportunities are expanding for us. And I think we're just -- if you look back just a year, we're dramatically different organizations with, we believe, very unique capabilities, which we've assembled throughout 2024. And so hopefully that provides some context to your question.

我們相信，我們正處於這些機會的前沿。所以看看，無論是會議計數，還是與客戶的討論和/或我們都連續看到的收入，看看，我們的機會正在擴大。我認為，如果回顧一年，我們就是一個截然不同的組織，我們相信，我們擁有非常獨特的能力，這些能力是我們在 2024 年累積的。希望這能為您的問題提供一些背景資訊。

So I thought about you immediately when I really understood what DeepSeek had done, which was dramatically reduce the power of compute or the cost of compute. And it seemed right down central to really accelerate the application side of AI, which I thought you would be a direct beneficiary of. Can you give us a sense of how that news might have affected things in your pipeline?

因此，當我真正了解 DeepSeek 所做的事情時，我立即想到了你，那就是大幅降低運算能力或運算成本。這似乎是真正加速人工智慧應用的關鍵，我認為你會直接受益於此。您能否告訴我們這個消息可能對您的管道工作產生什麼影響？

Well, the capability of these foundational large language models is key and central to this GenAI revolution. And it powers the GenAI solutions, which we identify, evaluate and are working with our clients with. So, one, to see capabilities expand, supposedly the price points relative to those capabilities go down, in my mind, is very positive for the end user. It infers that you're going to get greater -- you're going to get access to this knowledge base with all of this GPU power and now with growing capability on its ability to infer, reason and help you and assist you in many ways.

這些基礎大型語言模式的能力對於 GenAI 革命來說至關重要。它為 GenAI 解決方案提供支持，我們識別、評估解決方案並與客戶合作。因此，首先，看到功能的擴展，據說與這些功能相關的價格點會下降，在我看來，這對最終用戶來說是非常有利的。這意味著你將變得更強大——你將能夠利用所有這些 GPU 功能來存取這個知識庫，並且現在其推理和推理能力正在不斷增強，並能夠以多種方式幫助你和協助你。

For us, our capability, we have focused and believe we are experts at solutioning a GenAI opportunity from ideation all the way through a fully deployed solution at scale. So I can tell you that the innovation that we've had in developing our capability with every version of AI XPLR that we've released with the third one coming out this quarter. And now the addition -- I can't tell you how capable this LeewayHertz team. Its founder is an incredibly talented individual and the ZBrain platforms that they bring.

對我們來說，我們的能力在於，我們專注並相信我們是解決 GenAI 機會的專家，從構思一直到大規模全面部署的解決方案。因此，我可以告訴您，我們在開發 AI XPLR 的每個版本的能力方面都進行了創新，第三個版本將於本季度發布。現在又增加了——我無法告訴你這支 LeewayHertz 團隊的能力有多強大。它的創始人是一位非常有才華的人，他們帶來了 ZBrain 平台。

But look, the capabilities are improving across all dimensions of GenAI deployment. And the DeepSeek, I'll call it a wake-up call, I think is great news for end users and people that plan to adopt GenAI capabilities throughout these next few years.

但請看，GenAI 部署的各個方面的能力都在不斷提高。而 DeepSeek，我稱之為一個警鐘，我認為對於最終用戶和計劃在未來幾年採用 GenAI 功能的人來說是個好消息。

One other question, if I could. SAP is typically fairly lumpy business for you. Sounds like it really picked up this past quarter. Can you just give us a duration expectation? Is this a new level for the SAP business given the investments you've made? Or are these more onetime projects?

如果可以的話，還有一個問題。SAP 對您來說通常是一項相當棘手的業務。聽起來上個季度確實有回升。您能告訴我們預計的持續時間嗎？考慮到您所做的投資，這對 SAP 業務來說是一個新水平嗎？或者這些只是一次性項目？

Look, we strongly benefited from the sale of software at the tail end of the year. It was the highest level we've ever achieved. In fact, unfortunately, I can't say that we can continue at that pace from Q4 to Q1, primarily because one is end-of-the-year activity and the other is first quarter.

你看，我們從年底的軟體銷售中獲得了巨大的利益。這是我們所達到的最高水準。事實上，不幸的是，我不能說我們可以從第四季到第一季繼續保持這種速度，主要是因為一個是年底活動，另一個是第一季。

But our SAP demand, when we look throughout 2025, we're expecting it to be very strong. And that's before we see some of the SAP agentic capabilities that it's now starting to tout. So we hope it's a strong year for SAP and our SAP group.

但是，展望 2025 年，我們預計 SAP 需求將會非常強勁。而這還是在我們看到 SAP 現在開始吹捧的一些代理功能之前。因此，我們希望對於 SAP 和我們的 SAP 集團來說，這將是強勁的一年。

(Operator Instructions) Jeffrey Martin, ROTH Capital Partners.

（操作員指示）Jeffrey Martin，ROTH Capital Partners。

I wanted to drill in a little bit more on your meetings in the past quarter or two specific to AI XPLR. Are you seeing those convert into implementation contracts? And what kind of visibility do you have on pipeline conversion over the next couple of quarters here?

我想更深入地了解您在過去一兩個季度中與 AI XPLR 相關的會議。您是否看到這些轉化為實施合約？您對未來幾季的管道轉換有何展望？

We see increasing activity. But more importantly, we see clients with budgeted 2025 initiatives planned which really changes the engagement for us. So it's a combination of both. We're better-prepared than when we were a year ago. And clients don't need to be convinced about the GenAI opportunity, what it means to their industry of them.

我們看到活動不斷增加。但更重要的是，我們看到客戶已經制定了預算的 2025 年計劃，這確實改變了我們的參與。所以這是兩者的結合。與一年前相比，我們準備得更充分。客戶不需要確信 GenAI 的機會以及它對他們的行業意味著什麼。

So we think that we're just going to see velocity in the pipeline, and we're also hoping that entry points are just that entry points and a client that learns how to leverage the GenAI capabilities that we have to develop and build and deploy solutions will be spending -- will increase their spend throughout the year with us. So we're hoping for a combination of both a better budgeted client.

因此，我們認為我們將看到管道中的速度，我們也希望切入點只是切入點，而學習如何利用我們必須開發、構建和部署解決方案的 GenAI 功能的客戶將會花費——將在全年與我們一起增加他們的支出。因此，我們希望能夠找到預算更充足的客戶。

We're significantly, I'll call it, more prepared than we were 12 months ago. And the fact that an entry point is just that. Once you're able to demonstrate value with a select or a few use cases or solutions, as we refer to them, we believe that clients will continue to increase their spend in the category. So look, it's very promising.

我認為，與 12 個月前相比，我們已經做好了充分的準備。事實上，入口點就是這樣的。一旦您能夠透過精選或少數幾個用例或解決方案展示價值（正如我們所說的），我們相信客戶將繼續增加在該類別中的支出。所以看起來，這是非常有前景的。

And then I wanted to get your perspective on implementation projects, both in terms of scale and scope, what kind of duration are we looking at? What kind of average implementation projects are you doing today? And where could that go one to two years out from here?

然後我想了解您對實施專案的看法，包括規模和範圍，我們需要多長時間？您目前平均在做哪些類型的實施專案？那麼一兩年後這情況會如何發展呢？

Well, if you really think through the 2024 cadence, right, and then the fact that we didn't close LeewayHertz until the end of September. So consider that as you think of the progress that we've made in our capabilities today versus where it was at the beginning, mid and now at the beginning of 2025. Both our capabilities and the opportunities are just better-defined.

好吧，如果你真的考慮過 2024 年的節奏，那麼事實是我們直到 9 月底才關閉 LeewayHertz。因此，當您思考我們今天的能力所取得的進步與 2025 年初、中期和現在相比時，請考慮這一點。我們的能力和機會都更加明確。

Our clients are better prepared to have a conversation on how to prioritize. And to give you some examples, look, we go all the way from offering a client something we call a fast-start program, so they have a chance to become familiar with our platforms and our capabilities.

我們的客戶已做好更充分的準備來討論如何確定優先順序。舉幾個例子，我們為客戶提供所謂的快速啟動計劃，以便他們有機會熟悉我們的平台和能力。

And they have resulted in licensing agreements that have been as long as three years. But know that all of these contracts and all of this activity kind of happened in the tail end and towards the second half of the year. So just know -- I'm just adding context to how they're building and how they built for us.

他們達成了長達三年的許可協議。但要知道，所有這些合約和所有這些活動都是在年底和下半年發生的。所以只要知道——我只是在添加他們如何建造以及他們如何為我們建造的背景。

But I can't tell you the difference between budgeted clients with knowledge of GenAI versus educating clients, trying to understand and assess their opportunities in 2024 without having meaningful budgeted dollars last year. I think it's a significant difference. And we'll have a significant difference in the number of clients that we bring on board and the way clients scale throughout the year.

但我無法告訴你，預算內了解 GenAI 的客戶與教育客戶之間的區別，在去年沒有有意義的預算資金的情況下，試圖了解和評估他們在 2024 年的機會。我認為這是一個顯著的差異。我們全年新增的客戶數量和客戶規模的擴大方式都會有顯著差異。

And then last question for me is, you mentioned e-procurement and OneStream were headwinds to the fourth quarter. I was just curious if you could quantify that and then also give us a sense of what your outlook is for those two areas for the balance of this year.

然後我的最後一個問題是，您提到電子採購和 OneStream 是第四季度的阻力。我只是好奇您是否可以量化這一點，然後讓我們了解您對今年剩餘時間這兩個領域的展望。

Well, there is no doubt that the -- let's call it the GenAI, I'll call it opportunities, are somewhat or can be disruptive to the enterprise application companies. So as you've seen, just in recent weeks, I'm not even going to say months, virtually every enterprise application company has announced some form of extended AI in their first introduction of AI agents or agentic workflows that extend the value of their existing enterprise applications. So that will be disruptive.

嗯，毫無疑問——我們稱之為 GenAI，我稱之為機遇，它在某種程度上或者說可能會對企業應用公司造成破壞。正如您所看到的，就在最近幾週，我什至不想說幾個月，幾乎每個企業應用程式公司都在首次引入 AI 代理或代理工作流程時宣布了某種形式的擴展 AI，以擴展其現有企業應用程式的價值。這將會造成破壞。

But if you go to the person who, I'll say, moved earliest to capture the power of foundational model, which was Salesforce and you look at the kind of momentum that they're seeing both in their new agent force as well as what it's meant to their, I'll call it, traditional cloud application sales, I think you get a feel for both the opportunity, which I think Salesforce is starting to harvest. But if you go back and look at Salesforce maybe six months earlier as it was building out its Einstein capability, they had some disruption as well as they were looking at what GenAI meant to them.

但是，如果你去找最早抓住基礎模式力量的人，也就是 Salesforce，看看他們在新代理商隊伍中看到的發展勢頭，以及這對他們的（我稱之為）傳統雲端應用程式銷售意味著什麼，我想你就會感受到 Salesforce 正在開始收穫的機會。但如果你回顧一下大約六個月前 Salesforce 在建立其 Einstein 功能時遇到的一些混亂情況，他們也在思考 GenAI 對他們意味著什麼。

So are we surprised that it's creating a little bit of a pause when people think of their technology investment? The answer is no. Are the enterprise applications quickly responding to the challenge? The answer is yes. And you're going to see the fight for, I'll call it, agentic workflow and the delivery of enterprise functionality, utilizing and leveraging foundational models either through an enterprise application or through, I'll call them, independently built solutions is just going to be fun to watch.

那麼，當人們考慮他們的技術投資時，我們是否會感到驚訝呢？答案是否定的。企業應用程式是否能夠快速應對挑戰？答案是肯定的。您將會看到爭奪代理工作流程和企業功能交付的鬥爭，無論是透過企業應用程式還是透過獨立建立的解決方案來利用和利用基礎模型，這將會很有趣。

Clients are going to have significant opportunities to improve and they're going to have technologies available to them they didn't have 18 months ago. But that does not come without some disruption. So I'm not surprised that we're seeing that happen, and we'll see that happen as people integrate agentic capabilities into their current cloud apps.

客戶將擁有重大的改進機會，並且將獲得 18 個月前所沒有的技術。但這並非不會帶來一些混亂。因此，我對這種情況的發生並不感到驚訝，而且隨著人們將代理功能整合到他們當前的雲端應用程式中，我們也會看到這種情況的發生。

And then are you able to quantify the headwind from e-procurement and OneStream in the fourth quarter?

那麼，您能否量化第四季度來自電子採購和 OneStream 的阻力？

Well, they were meaningful enough for us to mention. So for us to say that our GSBT group up 4%, let's just say that without that disruption that GSBT group would have been up meaningfully higher, just to give you some reference. But it was meaningful enough to affect the reported growth of the segment.

嗯，它們夠有意義，值得我們提及。因此，對我們來說，GSBT 集團上漲了 4%，我們只能說，如果沒有這種幹擾，GSBT 集團的漲幅會更高，只是為了給你一些參考。但它的意義足以影響該部門的報告成長。

Vincent Colicchio, Barrington Research.

文森‧科利奇奧（Vincent Colicchio），巴林頓研究公司。

So what are your thoughts on the outlook for Oracle as we move beyond Q1?

那麼，對於甲骨文第一季之後的前景，您有何看法？

Oracle activity remains, as I said, strong. On the EPM side, which you know we've strongly benefited from here over the last 24 months with them, probably stronger than on the ERP side. But look, we expect the enterprise application companies to participate in this extended AI capabilities delivered through agents. I think Salesforce has proven that.

正如我所說，Oracle 活動依然強勁。在 EPM 方面，您知道我們在過去 24 個月中從中受益匪淺，可能比 ERP 方面更受益匪淺。但是，我們希望企業應用公司能夠參與透過代理商提供的擴展 AI 功能。我認為 Salesforce 已經證明了這一點。

I expect Oracle, SAP, OneStream, all others to benefit in similar ways. They'll have to explain the additional value that comes from these new capabilities to clients. And look, it may impact some of the velocity in their pipeline for some, it may not for others.

我預計 Oracle、SAP、OneStream 以及所有其他公司都能以類似的方式受益。他們必須向客戶解釋這些新功能所帶來的附加價值。看看吧，它可能會對某些人的管道速度產生影響，但對其他人則不會。

And do you need to ramp your GenAI labor capabilities to meet your demand expectations for '25?

您是否需要提升 GenAI 勞動力能力以滿足 25 年的需求預期？

Well, you saw that -- you saw the headcount increase both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. And I think Rob mentioned that most of that headcount increase was in our GenAI groups.

嗯，您看到了——員工人數同比增長，季度環比也增加。我認為 Rob 提到過，大部分員工人數的增加都來自我們的 GenAI 團隊。

And are you seeing any incremental interest in the joint venture? Any update there would be helpful.

您是否看到人們對合資企業的興趣增加？任何更新都會有幫助。

I can report that it's starting to sign licenses. We are working through the details to the final, I'll call it, agreement. So AI XPLR and ZBrain will be -- both reside inside of the joint venture. It will allow us to fully leverage -- use some of the ZBrain infrastructure capabilities, which are going to be very valuable to XPLR.

我可以報告它正在開始簽署許可證。我們正在商討最終的細節，我稱之為協議。因此，AI XPLR 和 ZBrain 都將位於合資企業內。它將使我們能夠充分利用 - 使用一些 ZBrain 基礎設施功能，這對 XPLR 來說非常有價值。

And we will offer the clients three options, the ability to -- again, we offer both facilitated full consulting engagement or licensing, which attaches a rate card to the license, but we give the client a chance to either license these capabilities or have a consulting facilitated engagement be part of it. And so we expect the licensing activity to increase throughout the year.

我們將為客戶提供三種選擇，即 - 再次強調，我們提供便利的全面諮詢參與或許可，將費率表附加到許可證，但我們為客戶提供機會來許可這些功能或將諮詢便利參與作為其中的一部分。因此，我們預計全年許可活動將會增加。

Nice quarter, Ted.

很棒的一個季度，泰德。

At this time, I show no further questions. I will turn the call back over to Mr. Fernandez.

此刻，我沒有其他問題。我會將電話轉回給費南德斯先生。

Well, thank you, everyone, for participating in our fourth quarter earnings call. As you can see, 2025 is expected to be a very exciting year. So we look forward to updating you when we report the first quarter. We'll see you in a few months.

好吧，感謝大家參加我們的第四季財報電話會議。如您所見，2025 年預計將是非常令人興奮的一年。因此，我們期待在報告第一季時向您更新最新情況。幾個月後我們就會見面。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at this time.

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。