Hackett Group Inc (HCKT) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Hackett Group 3rd quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎參加哈克特集團第三季​​財報電話會議。 （操作說明）

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

今晚主持電話會議的是董事長兼執行長泰德·費爾南德斯先生和財務長羅布·拉米雷斯先生。拉米雷斯先生，您可以開始了。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss the Hackett Group's third 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.

各位下午好，感謝各位參加本次關於哈克特集團第三季​​業績的電話會議。今天出席會議並回答各位問題的有哈克特集團董事長兼首席執行官泰德·費爾南德斯先生，以及我本人，首席財務官羅伯·拉米雷斯先生。

A press announcement was released over the wires at 4:09 p.m. 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 that's discussed in 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 4:09，我們透過通訊社發布了新聞稿，如需取得新聞稿副本，請造訪我們的網站 www.thehackettgroup.com。此外，我們將把本次電話會議中討論的、新聞稿中未包含的任何其他財務或統計數據發佈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 Q&A 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.

在正式開始之前，我想提醒各位，在接下來的發言和問答環節中，我們將對預期未來業績做出一些陳述，這些陳述可能構成聯邦證券法意義上的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述涉及我們目前的預期、估計和預測，並不構成對未來績效的保證。

They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict, and which may not be accurate. Actual results may vary.

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 contained in our SEC filings. At this point, I would like to turn over the.

這些前瞻性陳述應僅結合詳細資訊（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）進行考慮。現在，我想把發言權交給下一位發言人。

Thank you, Rob, and welcome Everyone.

謝謝羅布，也歡迎各位。

To our third quarter earnings call. As we normally do, I will open up 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, as well as guidance. We will then review our market and strategy-related comments, after which we will open it up to Q&A.

這是我們第三季財報電話會議。和往常一樣，我將首先概述本季的情況。之後，我會把發言權交給羅布，讓他詳細介紹營運績效、現金流以及績效指引。接下來，我們將回顧與市場和策略相關的評論，最後進入問答環節。

This afternoon we recorded revenues before reimbursements of $72.2 million, just below our quarterly guidance and adjusted earnings per share of $0.37, which was at the midpoint of our quarterly guidance respectively.

今天下午，我們公佈的未報銷收入為 7,220 萬美元，略低於我們季度預期；調整後每股收益為 0.37 美元，分別處於我們季度預期的中點。

What is most promising about the quarter is the level of breakthrough innovation which has resulted in the highly differentiated capabilities of our AI explorer platform version 4. Specifically, the reactions from both clients and potential channel partners to our version for release, which we announced on September 8th, has been extremely positive, with one potential partner specifically referring to our version 4 capabilities as being game changing. Correspondingly, we continue to work closely with several global channel partners and expect to announce alliances that could significantly expand our growth opportunities.

本季最令人振奮的是我們在人工智慧探索平台第四版上取得的突破性創新，這使其功能高度差異化。具體而言，我們在9月8日宣布發布第四版平台，客戶和潛在通路夥伴的反應都非常積極，其中一位潛在合作夥伴甚至稱第四版的功能具有顛覆性意義。同時，我們正與多家全球通路合作夥伴保持密切合作，並期待宣布能夠大幅拓展我們成長機會的聯盟。

Our ability to identify, design, and build GenAI solutions based on client’s specific processes and enterprise application automation footprints in accelerated time is powerful. It is allowing us to position our platform as an enterprise AI center of excellence must have capability which accelerates and enhances any client's GenAI adoption effort.

我們能夠根據客戶特定的流程和企業應用自動化佈局，快速識別、設計和建立 GenAI 解決方案，這非常強大。這使我們能夠將自身平台定位為企業級人工智慧卓越中心必備的能力，從而加速並增強客戶採用 GenAI 的進程。

Our version 4 of AI explorer capabilities is attracting new clients, and it is resulting in an increasing pipeline and new engagements in this increasingly important area.

我們的第四代人工智慧探索功能正在吸引新客戶，並帶來了不斷增長的業務管道和在這個日益重要的領域開展的新合作。

During the quarter, we launched our alliance with Celonis, a leading provider of process intelligence software that provides clients with critical operating insight. By teaming with Celonis, we have now demonstrated that we are able to ingest their process intelligence insight into AI Explorer, as well as Sebring to help identify high ROI agentic AI solutions with unmatched speed and detail. We are now finalizing a way for our clients to easily integrate the Celonis operating insight into AI explorer that will allow us to promote a special ideation joint offering to all of our respective clients. The combination of AI plus PI or process intelligence will allow customers to quickly move from intention to action with measurable impact resulting in agentic transformation initiatives.

本季度，我們與領先的流程智慧軟體供應商 Celonis 建立了合作關係，Celonis 致力於為客戶提供關鍵的營運洞察。透過與 Celonis 的合作，我們已成功將他們的流程智慧洞察整合到 AI Explorer 和 Sebring 中，從而以無與倫比的速度和精準度幫助客戶識別高投資回報率的智慧體 AI 解決方案。目前，我們正在完善客戶將 Celonis 的營運洞察輕鬆整合到 AI Explorer 的方法，以便我們能夠向所有客戶推廣一項特別的聯合創意方案。人工智慧與流程智慧的結合將幫助客戶快速將意圖轉化為行動，並產生可衡量的影響，最終實現智慧體轉型計畫。

Our GSBT segment revenues were favourably impacted by the strong GenAI related revenue growth, which was offset by the expected weakness in our one stream practice and the expiration of an IPASS contract. Our IPAS partner offered to redefine the agreement around an AI explorer go to market partnership which we rejected. We believe the current channel partner relationships we are considering will generate significantly greater value than what we were offered, excluding the one string practice and IPASS contract, our GSBT segment was up over 4%.

我們的GSBT業務板塊收入受益於GenAI相關收入的強勁增長，但被預期中的單一業務板塊疲軟以及IPASS合約到期所抵消。我們的IPASS合作夥伴提出重新定義關於AI探索者市場推廣合作的協議，但我們拒絕了。我們相信，目前正在考慮的通路合作夥伴關係將創造比先前所獲報價更大的價值。若不計單一業務板塊和IPASS合約的影響，我們的GSBT業務板塊收入成長超過4%。

Our Oracle solution segment was down as expected, although activity continues to be solid. Extended client decision making has continued to make the revenue replacement of a large Postco live engagement at the end of last year take longer than we planned. This adversely impacted the second quarter and the third quarter, which is our peak oracle prior year Q3 comparison, and we will continue to impact us into the fourth quarter. The result of this large transition and our continued development of AI accelerator, our GenAI assisted technology implementation platform that allows us to deliver technology engagements more efficiently led to our decision to more aggressively reduce our headcount to realize the expected GenAI productivity benefits in align with current requirements.

如預期，我們的Oracle解決方案業務有所下滑，但整體業務活動依然穩健。由於客戶決策週期延長，去年底一項大型Postco上線專案的收入替代工作耗時超出預期。這嚴重影響了第二季和第三季的業績，而第三季通常是我們Oracle業務的業績高峰期，而這種影響也將持續到第四季。這次大規模轉型以及我們持續開發的AI加速器——GenAI輔助技術實施平台（該平台能夠幫助我們更有效率地交付技術專案）——促使我們決定更積極地裁員，以期在滿足當前需求的前提下，實現GenAI預期帶來的生產力提升。

Our SAP solution segment was up during the quarter as implementation revenues resulting from our increased software sales activity at the end of the quarter continued to ramp up, although software sales in the quarter were lower than expected. We expect to make this back up with increased activity in the fourth quarter.

本季，由於季末軟體銷售活動增加帶來的實施收入持續成長，我們的SAP解決方案業務部門整體有所提升，儘管本季軟體銷售額低於預期。我們預計第四季度業務活動增加將彌補這一缺口。

Our new platform and implementation capabilities allow us to sell clients enterprise-wide from ideation to implementation in one fully integrated platform. It also provides a client with a single platform which they can license to fully support their entire AI Center of excellence initiatives. We continue to see agentic transformation opportunities to emerge in many of our engagements as the need for GenAI capability and relevance continues to increase. These engagements also provide opportunities to serve clients strategically and more broadly. These capabilities should further expand through the new strategic alliances. Which I said we expect to launch in the near future that provides us with the increased opportunities to sell our unique capabilities in the upcoming year. On the executive advisory front, we continue to invest in our growing executive and vendor intelligence program. We launched the GenAI premium program. We have integrated our GenAI content into all of our executive programs, and we also expanded our e-procurement intelligence capabilities with the acquisition of Spend Matters. On the balance sheet side, our ability to generate strong cash flow from operation. Has allowed us to maintain our dividend, and today we are announcing a $40 million Dutch tender offer to acquire approximately 8% of the company's common stock. This tender offer should be strongly accreted, and on a cash basis, the reduction of the dividend payment due to the buyback is expected to offset a meaningful portion of the net of tax interest expense that we expect to incur.

我們全新的平台和實施能力使我們能夠在一個完全整合的平台上，為客戶提供從概念構思到實施的全企業級解決方案。此外，客戶只需獲得一個平台的授權，即可全面支援其人工智慧卓越中心的所有專案。隨著對全像人工智慧（GenAI）能力和相關性的需求不斷增長，我們持續在許多專案中看到智能體轉型機會的湧現。這些項目也為我們提供了在策略層面和更廣泛的範圍內服務客戶的機會。這些能力將透過新的策略聯盟進一步拓展。正如我之前提到的，我們預計將在不久的將來啟動這些聯盟，這將為我們在未來一年內提供更多銷售我們獨特能力的機會。在高階主管諮詢方面，我們持續投資於不斷發展的高階主管和供應商情報專案。我們推出了全息人工智慧（GenAI）高級專案。我們將全像人工智慧（GenAI）內容整合到所有高階主管專案中，並透過收購Spend Matters擴展了我們的電子採購情報能力。在資產負債表方面，我們擁有強勁的營運現金流。這使得我們得以維持股息，今天我們宣布以4,000萬美元的價格發起荷蘭式要約收購，以收購公司約8%的普通股。此次要約收購預計將帶來顯著的增值，並且按現金計算，因股份回購而減少的股息支付預計將抵消我們預期產生的稅後利息支出的大部分。

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.

綜上所述，請羅布詳細介紹我們的經營業績、現金流狀況，並對公司前景發表看法。羅布發言後，我將就公司策略和市場狀況補充說明。

Thank you, Ted. As I typically do, I'll cover the following topics during this portion of the call. I'll cover an overview. I'll provide an overview of our third quarter results along with an overview of key operating statistics, an overview of our cash flow activities during the quarter, and I'll then conclude with the discussion on our financial outlook for the fourth quarter of 2025.

謝謝泰德。像往常一樣，我將在本次電話會議的這一部分涵蓋以下幾個主題。首先，我會概述我們第三季的業績，包括關鍵營運統計數據和現金流狀況，最後，我會討論我們對2025年第四季的財務展望。

For purposes of this call, I'll comment separately regarding the revenues of our global SMBT segment, our Oracle solutions segment, our SAP solution segment, and the total company.

就本次電話會議而言，我將分別評論我們全球SMBT部門、Oracle解決方案部門、SAP解決方案部門以及整個公司的收入狀況。

Our global SMBT 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 IPASS programs, and our one stream and e-procurement implementation offerings. Our Oracle solutions and RSP solution segments include the results of our Oracle and SP offerings respectively.

我們的全球SMBT業務部門涵蓋了北美和國際GenAI諮詢、實施和授權收入、標竿管理和業務轉型服務、高階主管諮詢、市場情報和IPASS項目，以及我們的一體化流程和電子採購實施服務。我們的Oracle解決方案和RSP解決方案業務板塊分別涵蓋了Oracle和SP產品的表現。

Please note that we will be referencing both total revenues and revenue before reimbursements in our discussion.

請注意，在我們的討論中，我們將同時提及總收入和報銷前的收入。

Reimbursable expenses are primarily project travel related expenses passed through to our clients that have no associated impact on our profitability.

可報銷費用主要指與專案相關的差旅費用，這些費用會轉嫁給我們的客戶，不會對我們的獲利能力產生任何影響。

During our call today, we will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures which we believe provide useful information to investors. Specifically, all references to adjusted financial measures will exclude reversible expenses, non-cash stock-based compensation expense, all acquisition related cash and non-cash expenses, amortization of intangible assets, and other non-recurring items such as restructure.

在今天的電話會議中，我們還將提及一些非GAAP財務指標，我們認為這些指標能夠為投資者提供有用的信息。具體而言，所有調整後的財務指標將剔除可逆費用、非現金股權激勵費用、所有與收購相關的現金和非現金支出、無形資產攤銷以及其他非經常性項目，例如重組費用。

We've 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 on the investor relations page of the company's website.

我們在今天稍早發布的新聞稿中加入了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的調整表，我們將根據本次電話會議的討論內容，在公司網站的投資者關係頁面上發布任何其他資訊。

For the third quarter of 2025, our total revenues before reimbursements were $72.2 million, a decrease of 7% over the prior year.

2025 年第三季度，我們在扣除報銷費用前的總收入為 7,220 萬美元，比去年同期下降了 7%。

The third quarter reimbursable expense ratio on revenues before reimbursements was 1.3% as compared to 1.6% in the prior quarter and 2.3% when compared to the same period in the prior year.

第三季報銷前收入的報銷費用率為 1.3%，而上一季為 1.6%，與去年同期相比為 2.3%。

Total revenues before reimbursements from our global SMET segment were $42.4 million for the third quarter of 2025, a decrease of 2% when compared to the same period in the prior year.

2025 年第三季度，我們全球 SMET 部門在未扣除報銷款項前的總收入為 4,240 萬美元，與去年同期相比下降了 2%。

Strong revenue growth from our GenAI consulting and implementation offerings in this segment was more than offset by weakness in our one stream implementation offerings and the non-renewal of a meaningful IPAS contract during the third quarter.

該領域 GenAI 諮詢和實施服務帶來的強勁收入成長，被我們單一流程實施服務的疲軟以及第三季度未能續簽一份重要的 IPAS 合約所抵消。

Excluding this decrease, our global SOPs would have been up 4%.

排除這一降幅，我們的全球標準作業程序將成長 4%。

GAI momentum is expected to continue in Q4 and accelerate in 2026.

GAI的成長勢頭預計將在第四季度持續，並在2026年加速。

Revenues before reimbursements from our segment were $16.4 million for the third quarter of 2025, a decrease of 25% when compared to the same period in the prior year. This was higher than expected due to continued protracted decision making.

2025年第三季度，我們業務部門的報銷前收入為1,640萬美元，較上年同期下降25%。由於決策過程持續拖延，這一數字高於預期。

Total revenues before reimbursements from our SAP solution segment were $13.4 million for the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 4% when compared to the same period in the prior year.

2025 年第三季度，SAP 解決方案部門在未扣除報銷款項前的總收入為 1,340 萬美元，與去年同期相比成長了 4%。

This increase was primarily driven by implementation services that correspond to the volume of software sales in the last several quarters. Although the software sales activity was lower than we expected in Q3, we expect this activity to be up meaningfully on a sequential basis in Q4.

這一成長主要得益於實施服務業務的成長，而實施服務業務則與過去幾季的軟體銷售額基本持平。儘管第三季的軟體銷售活動低於預期，但我們預計第四季度該業務活動將較上季顯著成長。

Approximately 23% of our total company revenues before reimbursements consist of recurring multi-year and subscription-based revenues, which include our executive advisory, application main services, and GenAI license contracts. We are seeing the rapid migration of IPASS to AI Explorer and ZBrain related recurring revenue opportunities.

公司總收入（扣除報銷費用前）約有 23% 來自多年期訂閱收入，其中包括高階主管諮詢、應用核心服務以及 GenAI 授權合約。我們看到 IPASS 向 AI Explorer 和 ZBrain 相關經常性收入機會的快速轉移。

Company adjusted cost of sales total $41.4 million, or 57.4% of revenues before reimbursements in the third quarter of 2025 as compared to $44.2 million or 56.8% of revenues before reimbursements in the prior year.

公司經調整後的銷售成本總額為 4,140 萬美元，佔 2025 年第三季報銷前收入的 57.4%，而去年同期為 4,420 萬美元，佔報銷前收入的 56.8%。

Total company consultant headcount was 1,317 at the end of the third quarter as compared to the total company consultant headcount of 1,382 in the previous quarter and 1,262 at the end of the third quarter of 2024.

第三季末，公司顧問總人數為 1,317 人，上一季為 1,382 人，2024 年第三季末為 1,262 人。

The third quarter reduction in headcount was due to actions taken to reduce staff to be commensurate with current demand and the expected productivity improvements from the leverage of delivery platforms.

第三季人員減少是由於採取措施減少員工人數，以適應當前的需求以及利用配送平台帶來的預期生產力提升。

The company adjusted gross margin on revenues before reimbursements was 42.6% in the third quarter of 2025 as compared to 43.2% in the prior year.

該公司 2025 年第三季調整後的營收毛利率（未扣除報銷費用）為 42.6%，而去年同期為 43.2%。

Adjust that SG&A with $16.5 million or 22.9% of revenues before reimbursements in the third quarter of 2025. This compared to $17 million or 21.8% of revenues before reimbursements in the prior year.

2025 年第三季度，銷售、一般及行政費用調整為 1,650 萬美元，佔報銷前收入的 22.9%。相較之下，前一年該費用為 1,700 萬美元，佔報銷前收入的 21.8%。

Adjusted EBITDA dollar was $15.3 million or 21.2% of revenues before reimbursements in the third quarter of 2025 as compared to $17.7 million or 22.7% of revenues before reimbursements in the prior year.

2025 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 美元為 1,530 萬美元，佔報銷前收入的 21.2%，而去年同期為 1,770 萬美元，佔報銷前收入的 22.7%。

GAAP net for the third quarter of 2025 total $2.5 million, or diluted earnings per share of $0.09 as compared to GAAP net income of $8.6 million or diluted earnings per share of $0.31 in the third quarter of the previous year.

2025 年第三季 GAAP 淨利潤總計 250 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.09 美元，而去年同期 GAAP 淨利潤為 860 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.31 美元。

Third quarter 2025 GAAP in income includes non-cash stock compensation expense from our stock price award program of $4.8 million or $0.17 per deleted share and acquisition related cash and non-cash compensation benefit of $2.1 million or $0.05 per diluted share.

2025 年第三季 GAAP 收入包括來自股票價格獎勵計劃的非現金股票補償支出 480 萬美元，即每股刪除股份 0.17 美元，以及與收購相關的現金和非現金補償收益 210 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.05 美元。

In addition, GAAP in income also includes a $3.1 million or $0.08 per diluted share restructuring expense for severance-related costs to reduce staff to be commensurate with current transition in demand and expected productivity improvements from the leverage of our GenAI delivery platforms.

此外，GAAP 收入還包括 310 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.08 美元的重組費用，用於支付與裁員相關的成本，以減少員工人數，從而適應當前需求的轉變以及透過利用我們的 GenAI 交付平台實現的預期生產力提升。

Acquisition related cash and non-cash stock compensation items relate to purchase consideration for the leeway Hertz acquisition. This consideration paid to the seller contains service investment requirements, and as such is reflected as compensation expense or benefit under GAAP rather than purchase consideration.

與收購相關的現金和非現金股票補償項目涉及Leifway Hertz收購案的購買對價。支付給賣方的這筆對價包含服務投資要求，因此根據美國通用會計準則（GAAP），應計入補償費用或收益，而非購買對價。

Adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2025 totalled $10.2 million or adjust the diluted net income per common share of $0.37, which is at the midpoint of our earnings guidance range, and compares to prior year adjusted voted net income per share of $0.43.

2025 年第三季調整後淨收入和稀釋後每股收益總計 1020 萬美元，或調整稀釋後每股普通股淨收入 0.37 美元，該金額處於我們盈利指導範圍的中點，而上年調整後每股投票淨收入為 0.43 美元。

The company's cash balance is worth $13.9 million at the end of the third quarter as compared to $10.1 million at the end of the previous quarter.

截至第三季末，該公司現金餘額為 1,390 萬美元，而上一季末為 1,010 萬美元。

Net cash provided from operating activities in the quarter was $11.4 million, primarily driven by net income adjusted for non-cash activity and a decrease in accounts receivable, partially offset by decreases in accrued expenses and contract liabilities.

本季經營活動產生的淨現金流為 1,140 萬美元，主要得益於經非現金活動調整後的淨收入和應收帳款的減少，部分被應計費用和合約負債的減少所抵銷。

Our DSO or sales outstanding was 71 days at the end of the quarter as compared to 73 days in the previous quarter and 70 days in the prior year.

本季末，我們的應收帳款週轉天數（DSO）為 71 天，而上一季為 73 天，上年同期為 70 天。

During the quarter, we repurchased $1.1 million shares of the company's stock for an average of $20.70 per share at a total cost of approximately $22.9 million including purchases from employees to satisfy income tax withholding triggered by the investing restricted shares.

本季度，我們以每股 20.70 美元的平均價格回購了公司價值 110 萬美元的股票，總成本約為 2,290 萬美元，其中包括從員工手中購買股票以滿足因投資受限股票而觸發的所得稅預扣款。

Our remaining stock repurchase authorization at the end of the quarter was $12.6 million.

截至季末，我們剩餘的股票回購授權額為 1,260 萬美元。

At its most recent meeting subsequent to quarter end, the company's board of directors authorized a $40 million increase in the company's share repurchase authorization, bringing the available balance of $52.6 million in order to accommodate the Dutch tender offer announced today.

在季度末後的最近一次會議上，公司董事會批准將公司股票回購授權增加 4,000 萬美元，使可用餘額達到 5,260 萬美元，以應對今天宣布的荷蘭要約收購。

Additionally, the board declared the fourth quarter dividend of $0.12 per share for its shareholders of record on December 23rd, 2025 to be paid on January 9th, 2026.

此外，董事會宣布向截至 2025 年 12 月 23 日登記在冊的股東派發第四季度股息，每股 0.12 美元，將於 2026 年 1 月 9 日支付。

During the quarter, the company borrowed $21 million from its credit facility. The balance of the company's total debt outstanding at the end of the third quarter was $44 million.

本季度，該公司從其信貸額度中藉了2,100萬美元。截至第三季末，該公司未償債務總額為4,400萬美元。

Before I move to guidance for the fourth quarter of 2025, I would like to remind everyone of the seasonality of our business, specifically, the increased holiday and vacation time that has historically taken in the fourth quarter will decrease our available billing days by approximately 8% to 10% when compared to the quarter.

在給出 2025 年第四季度業績指引之前，我想提醒大家注意我們業務的季節性，特別是，歷史上第四季度假期和休假時間的增加將使我們的可用計費天數與第一季相比減少約 8% 至 10%。

Considering this, the company estimates total revenue before reimbursements for the fourth quarter of 2025 to be in the range of $69.5 million to $71 million.

考慮到這一點，該公司預計 2025 年第四季在報銷前的總收入將在 6,950 萬美元至 7,100 萬美元之間。

We expect global SMBT to be down as continued growth from gene revenues will be more than offset by other segment revenue declines. We expect Oracle solution segment revenue before reimbursements to be down by 15% when compared to the prior year.

我們預期全球SMBT業務將會下滑，基因業務收入的持續成長將被其他業務板塊收入的下降所抵銷。我們預計Oracle解決方案業務板塊在扣除報銷費用前的收入將比前一年下降15%。

We expect SIP solutions segment revenues before reimbursements to be down when compared to the prior year because of lower software sales activity, given exceptionally strong software related sales in the prior year.

由於上一年軟體相關銷售額異常強勁，我們預計 SIP 解決方案部門在扣除報銷費用前的收入將比前一年有所下降，因為今年的軟體銷售活動有所減少。

We estimate adjusted diluted net income per common share in the fourth quarter of 2025 to be in the range of $0.38 to $0.40, which assumes a GAAP effective tax rate on adjusted earnings of 24.5%. We expect the adjusted gross margin as a percentage of revenues before reimbursements to be approximately 46% to 47%.

我們預計2025年第四季調整後稀釋每股普通股淨收益將在0.38美元至0.40美元之間，估算基於24.5%的GAAP有效稅率。我們預計扣除報銷費用前的調整後毛利率約為46%至47%。

We expect adjusted SG&A and interest expense for the fourth quarter to be approximately $18.7 million.

我們預計第四季度調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用和利息支出約為 1,870 萬美元。

We expect fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenues before reimbursements to be in the range of approximately 22% to 23%.

我們預計第四季度調整後 EBITDA 佔收入（不計報銷）的百分比約為 22% 至 23%。

Now let me provide some details regarding our tender offer that Ted mentioned.

現在讓我詳細說明泰德提到的我們的要約收購事宜。

The company announced today that its planned to launch a tender offer to purchase up to $40 million in value of its common stock at a price not less than $18.30 nor more than $21 per share.

該公司今天宣布，計劃發起要約收購，以每股不低於 18.30 美元、不高於 21 美元的價格，收購價值高達 4,000 萬美元的普通股。

We expect to launch the tender offer tomorrow, which would mean it would expire on December 4th, 2025.

我們預計明天發起要約收購，這意味著要約收購將於 2025 年 12 月 4 日到期。

We plan to conduct a tender offer through a procedure commonly called a modified Dutch auction.

我們計劃透過一種通常被稱為改良荷蘭式拍賣的程序進行要約收購。

This procedure allows stockholders to select the price within the specified range set by the company at which stockholders are willing to sell their shares.

該程序允許股東在公司設定的特定價格範圍內選擇他們願意出售股票的價格。

Neither management nor our board members will be participating in this Dutch.

管理階層和董事會成員都不會參加這次荷蘭之行。

The company will select the single lowest purchase price within the range that will allow the company to purchase $40 million in value of shares at such a price based on the number of shares tendered.

公司將根據投標的股票數量，選擇該價格範圍內最低的單一購買價格，使公司能夠以該價格購買價值 4000 萬美元的股票。

All shares purchased in the tender offer will be purchased at the same price.

本次要約收購中所有股份將以相同價格購買。

The tender offer will only be made pursuant to the offer to purchase, the related letter of transmittal, and the other tender offer materials which the company will follow tomorrow with the SEC.

本次要約收購將僅依據收購要約、相關轉讓函以及公司將於明日向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他要約收購資料進行。

Any specific questions should be addressed directly with the dealer manager or the information agent for the tender offer. The contact information will be included in the press release we will tomorrow, announcing the tender offer and the tender offer materials being filed with the SEC tomorrow as well.

如有任何具體問題，請直接聯絡交易經理或要約收購資訊代理人。聯絡方式將包含在我們明天發布的要約收購公告以及明天提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的要約收購文件文件中。

We will utilize our existing credit facility for the purchase of the shares in the tender offer and the fees associated with this offer.

我們將利用現有的信貸額度購買要約收購中的股份以及與此要約相關的費用。

Lastly, we expect cash flow from operations to be up strongly on a sequential basis.

最後，我們預期經營活動產生的現金流將較上季強勁成長。

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

現在我想把麥克風交還給泰德，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.

謝謝你，羅布。展望未來，我想和大家分享我們對近期和長期需求環境以及它為我們公司帶來的成長機會的看法。

All the demand for digital transformation remains strong in traditional areas, it continues to be impacted by the thoughtful decision making as organizations assess competing priorities due to economic concerns, as well as the consideration of emerging GenAI technologies. The unlimited potential of GenAI will. To find an entirely new level of world class performance standards driving all software and services providers to extend the value of their existing offerings with the introduction of agentic AI capability. 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 transformation, which we believe creates a unique value creation opportunity for our organization.

傳統領域對數位轉型的需求依然強勁，但企業在權衡經濟因素和新興的世代人工智慧（GenAI）技術時，仍需謹慎決策，這持續影響著數位轉型。世代人工智慧的無限潛力將引領所有軟體和服務供應商邁向全新的世界級效能標準，並透過引入智慧體人工智慧功能來提升現有產品的價值。我們相信，這將帶來前所未有的創新，所有企業都必須認真考慮。這項轉變與我們積極向世代人工智慧賦能的轉型策略一致，我們相信這將為企業創造獨特的價值。

We believe agentic Enterprise transformation is a generational opportunity which will fundamentally change the way companies operate as well as the way consulting services are sold and delivered. Our Gen AI platform capabilities in the recently released version for of AI explorer leverages our proprietary solution language model, which by the way, has a patent pending and Hackett process and performance IP.

我們相信，智能體企業轉型是一項千載難逢的機遇，它將從根本上改變企業的營運方式以及諮詢服務的銷售和交付方式。我們最新發布的 AI Explorer 版本中的 Gen AI 平台功能，充分利用了我們專有的解決方案語言模型（順便一提，該模型已申請專利，並擁有 Hackett 流程和性能知識產權）。

Which significantly accelerates the speed in which we can identify and design agentic AI solutions. Another critical distinction of our new version 4 is the way we can design the agentic solutions while considering the client's specific enterprise application automation footprint. This allows the client to consider where existing automation supports Gen AI enablement, allowing them to fully leverage the existing automation footprint where possible. This ability to evaluate and consider a client's current technology landscape to deploy a genetic solution, solutions further differentiate our AI explorer capabilities. We are clearly now at a point where AI Explorer will become a fully licensable platform which provides several modular options to our clients. This is critical to our multi-year ARR growth vision.

這顯著加快了我們識別和設計智慧體人工智慧解決方案的速度。新版本 4 的另一個關鍵差異在於，我們可以在設計智慧體解決方案時充分考慮客戶特定的企業應用自動化架構。這使得客戶能夠評估現有自動化在哪些方面支援基因人工智慧的實現，從而盡可能充分利用現有自動化架構。這種評估和考慮客戶當前技術環境以部署基因解決方案的能力，進一步凸顯了我們 AI Explorer 的獨特優勢。我們現在顯然已經到了一個關鍵節點：AI Explorer 將成為一個完全可授權的平台，為客戶提供多種模組化選項。這對於我們實現多年年度經常性收入 (ARR) 成長願景至關重要。

The leeway Hertz acquisition also included a sophisticated GAI station platform ZBrain, which we agreed to contribute into a joint venture with the founder. The JB will bring together AI Explorer and ZBrain platforms and we'll focus on licensing the platforms and creating what we believe will be a first. Of a kind idea through implementation software as a service offering. We believe this JB creates an entirely new value creation opportunity for our shareholders that should result from growth of ARR or annual recurring licensing revenues. It would also allow the JB to have the opportunity to raise capital and achieve stand-alone valuations due to the Gen AI software focus if that is deemed best. Another critical investment that we have made is to build our own Gen AI assisted knowledge-based solution called F Hackett AI. As Hackett AI leverages our proprietary hackett benchmarking, executive advisory, and business transformation intelligence, which allows us to define and enable digital world-class performance for our clients. Our IP will also be increasingly leveraged across all of our market facing and service delivery platforms. We expect the integration of our valuable IP and content that leverages GenAI to significantly enhance and accelerate the delivery of our insight. That we are asked to provide clients every day.

此次對赫茲的收購還包括其先進的GAI工作站平台ZBrain，我們已同意將其投入與創辦人成立的合資企業。該合資企業將整合AI Explorer和ZBrain平台，我們將專注於平台授權，並透過實施軟體即服務（SaaS）的方式，打造我們認為獨一無二的創新理念。我們相信，該合資企業將為股東創造全新的價值創造機會，這主要得益於年度經常性收入（ARR）或年度經常性授權收入的成長。此外，如果認為合適，該合資企業還將憑藉其Gen AI軟體的重點，有機會籌集資金並實現獨立估值。我們另一個重要的投資是建立我們自己的Gen AI輔助知識庫解決方案——F Hackett AI。 Hackett AI利用我們專有的Hackett基準測試、高階主管諮詢和業務轉型智能，使我們能夠為客戶定義並實現世界一流的數位化績效。我們的智慧財產權也將越來越多地應用於我們所有面向​​市場和服務交付平台。我們期望整合我們寶貴的智慧財產權和內容，並利用GenAI技術，能夠顯著提升並加速我們向客戶提供洞察的能力。而這些洞察正是我們每天被要求所提供的。

We are ingesting and indexing all of our proprietary IP, including benchmarking best practices, transformation, and research IP to support the myriads of queries that are required to support our executive advisory and consulting clients and associates. We have also embarked on a new initiative called Accelerator which intends to also address the efficiency and quality of the delivery of our technology implementation related services. 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 will result. Improved revenue growth margins. We see potential commercial value for these innovations beyond our internal use. Also in the works, Transformation Explorer, which will support all of our management consultants, and we are looking at special modules in data and governance which we believe will also further support and differentiate the current AI explorer capabilities. On the talent side, competition from experienced executives with high technology agility continues. Overall turnovers continue at acceptable levels during the quarter, and we expect that trend to continue. Lastly, even though we believe we have the client base and offerings to grow our business, we continue to look for acquisitions and alliances that strategic.

我們正在整合並索引所有專有知識產權，包括標竿最佳實踐、轉型和研究知識產權，以支持我們高階主管諮詢客戶和合作夥伴所需的大量查詢。我們還啟動了一項名為「加速器」（Accelerator）的新計劃，旨在提升我們技術實施相關服務的交付效率和品質。所有這些舉措都在利用 GenAI 的強大功能來改善和加速我們解決方案和服務的交付，從而提升我們的差異化能力，並最終帶來更高的收入成長利潤率。我們看到這些創新成果具有超越內部使用的潛在商業價值。此外，我們正在開發「轉型探索器」（Transformation Explorer），它將為我們所有的管理顧問提供支援。我們也正在研究資料和治理方面的特殊模組，相信這些模組也將進一步支援和增強現有 AI 探索器的功能。在人才方面，我們仍然面臨著來自經驗豐富、技術敏捷性高的管理人員的競爭。本季整體人員流動率維持在可接受的水平，我們預期這一趨勢將持續下去。最後，儘管我們相信我們擁有發展業務所需的客戶群和產品，但我們仍將繼續尋找具有戰略意義的收購和聯盟。

Strategically leverage our IP platforms and transformation expertise and can add scope, scale, and capability which accelerate our growth.

策略性地利用我們的智慧財產權平台和轉型專長，可以擴大範圍、規模和能力，從而加速我們的成長。

It's important to say that those kinds of acquisitions are not easily available. As always, let me close by congratulating our associates on our innovation and performance and thanking them for their tireless efforts and always urge them to stay highly focused on our clients and our people, no matter what challenges we may encounter. Those conclude my comments. Let me turn it over to our operator and let us move on to the Q&A section of our call.

需要強調的是，這類收購併非易事。最後，我要一如既往地祝賀我們的同事們在創新和業績方面所取得的成就，感謝他們不懈的努力，並始終敦促他們高度重視客戶和員工，無論我們面臨何種挑戰。我的發言到此結束。現在我將把發言權交給接線員，讓我們進入問答環節。

Operator.

操作員。

George Sutton, Craig Hallam.

喬治·薩頓，克雷格·哈勒姆。

Thank you, Ted, you mentioned a plan, you plan to announce alliances that could significantly change your opportunities, and you've been, I know having discussions for the last couple of quarters. I believe the range has been SIs and large software companies. Can you give us a sense of what's practical for us to assume in terms of what you think you can accomplish and when?

謝謝你，泰德。你提到了一個計劃，打算宣布一些可能顯著改變你們發展機會的聯盟，而且我知道你們過去幾個季度一直在進行相關討論。我相信你們的目標群體包括系統整合商和大型軟體公司。你能否大致說明一下，你們預計在什麼時間能達到哪些成果？

Excellent question, George. Look, George, our ability to achieve that has significantly increased with the release of version 4. I can't overemphasize what a significant, I'll call it leap in capability version 4 has resulted in in the reaction from both perspective clients and perspective channel partners. So

喬治，問得好。你看，喬治，隨著版本 4 的發布，我們實現這一目標的能力顯著提升。版本 4 帶來的提升之大，我稱之為能力上的飛躍，這一點從潛在客戶和通路合作夥伴的回饋中都可見一斑，我怎麼強調都不為過。

As yes, we started, we had initial conversations with an enterprise software company toward the tail end of Q2.

是的，我們開始了，在第二季末，我們與一家企業軟體公司進行了初步洽談。

Those conversations moved to companies like Celonis, also an enterprise application company, which resulted in their alliances. Then we walked away from an offer with one of the large SIs. That we believed there were opportunities with others that would be just of significantly greater value.

這些對話隨後轉向了像 Celonis 這樣的公司，它也是一家企業應用軟體公司，最終促成了與它們的合作。之後，我們放棄了一家大型系統整合商的收購邀約，因為我們相信與其他公司合作的機會更有價值。

We're currently in conversations with two.

我們目前正在與其中兩家公司洽談。

We have every expectation that there's a strong desire on both parts to reach an agreement that's meaningful to both sides.

我們完全有理由相信，雙方都強烈希望達成對雙方都有意義的協議。

I can also tell you that the enterprise application opportunity that surfaced late in Q2.

我還可以告訴大家，第二季末出現了企業應用的機會。

Which I somewhat have set aside as the again I had we had to do one thing. We stopped the licensing procedure to complete the licensing procedure for version 3 SQ2 was finishing. We worked our tails off to make sure that the innovation that we targeted for version 4 was achieved. We launched that on September 8th. We think that the capabilities are significant and are being clearly acknowledged by these potential partners. What if I told you that before I got on the pole today, I had a request from one of the big four asking if our platforms were also available to purchase or license. So, I believe that the capability. That we're demonstrating when we get in front of clients is becoming more visible.

我暫時擱置了這件事，因為我們還有一件事要做。我們暫停了先前的許可流程，以便完成版本 3 SQ2 的許可流程。我們竭盡全力確保版本 4 的創新目標得以實現。我們於 9 月 8 日發布了該版本。我們認為這些功能非常強大，並且得到了潛在合作夥伴的認可。如果我告訴你，在我今天上任之前，四大顧問公司之一就詢問我們的平台是否也可供購買或授權，你會作何感想？所以，我相信，我們在客戶面前展示的功能正變得越來越清晰可見。

I believe that it helps that these large partners are participating in a process putting us through this to demonstrate proof points, to demonstrate the capabilities of our platforms that has also expanded.

我認為，這些大型合作夥伴參與這個過程，幫助我們證明自身實力，展示我們平台的功能，這對我們不斷擴展的平台來說，是有益的。

I'll call it visibility to our capabilities. So yes, we remain confident that we will be able to attract.

我稱之為展現我們能力。所以，是的，我們仍然有信心能吸引到人才。

One or two major alliance partners in the near future.

近期內可能會有一到兩個主要聯盟夥伴。

Gotcha.

明白了。

Thank you for that. On the software side you mentioned that you had signed some new business, and you should be able to make up some of the weakness in Q4. Can you just walk through that a little bit?

謝謝。關於軟體方面，您提到已經簽下了一些新訂單，應該能夠彌補第四季度的一些不足。能詳細介紹一下嗎？

Look, there’s no doubt, again, I'll go back.

毫無疑問，我還會再去。

The impact of version 4 and our ability now to move clients more aggressively has accelerated since we introduced that on September 8th.

自 9 月 8 日推出版本 4 以來，版本 4 的影響以及我們現在能夠更積極地推動客戶升級的能力都得到了提升。

Client engagement has improved, pipeline activity has improved. And the engagement that we see now, considering I'll call it meaningful kind of engagement with AI explorer as potentially picking up a significant level of responsibility for a client's AI center of excellence.

客戶參與度提高了，銷售通路活動也更加活躍。我們現在看到的這種參與度，我稱之為有意義的參與，指的是人工智慧探索者有可能承擔起客戶人工智慧卓越中心的重要責任。

All of those things.

所有這些。

Is what's increasing our engagements and pipeline into Q4 around GenAI.

正是這些因素推動了我們在第四季度圍繞 GenAI 的參與度和業務拓展。

We think that will continue to happen naturally and yes, we want the acceleration from one or two or you know the right channel partners that would then really allow us to then, dramatically improve our visibility and access to the largest AI opportunities. So, it's all of the above, George. It's all of the above.

我們認為這種情況會繼續自然發展，當然，我們也希望透過一兩個合適的通路合作夥伴來加速這一進程，從而真正大幅提升我們在人工智慧領域的最大機會和影響力。所以，喬治，以上所有因素都包含在內。以上所有因素都包含在內。

Okay, last question for me, just on the Dutch auction, I'm just curious why a Dutch auction and why I do a Dutch auction now.

好的，最後一個問題，關於荷蘭式拍賣，我只是好奇為什麼要進行荷蘭式拍賣，以及為什麼我現在要進行荷蘭式拍賣。

Well, we had that question asked by some of our shareholders at the end of Q2, actually, and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to be able to acquire stock during what we knew was a more volatile Q3 given the guidance that we have provided and understanding what that looked like. Now that that we got through the end of the quarter, then I had the same question Do we continue to buy back stock aggressively in the open market? And we thought the best way to start doing that was to tender for $40 million and provide the range that was articulated today so that we could be even more aggressive than we were in Q3.

實際上，第二季末，一些股東就問過我們這個問題。鑑於我們先前給出的業績指引以及對第三季市場波動性的預判，我不想錯過在第三季回購股票的機會。現在第二季已經結束，我又面臨同樣的問題：我們是否應該繼續在公開市場上積極回購股票？我們認為最好的方法是發起4000萬美元的要約收購，並公佈今天公佈的價格區間，這樣我們就可以比第三季度更積極地回購股票。

As we've got a pristine balance sheet. We've rarely used it. We believe that the debt posts this Dutch and the aggressive cash flow generation we normally get and anticipate Q4 will have us somewhere around.

由於我們的資產負債表狀況良好，我們很少動用這筆資金。我們相信，在荷蘭政府的債務重組以及我們通常能夠獲得的強勁現金流，加上我們預計第四季將達到的目標，債務水準將保持在合理範圍內。

One time EBITDA by the time this whole process is over, and we know that's virtually no leverage. So, if we continue to believe our prospects are what they are, we will continue to be aggressive with our buybacks.

整個流程結束後，EBITDA 將達到一次，而且我們知道這幾乎不涉及任何槓桿。因此，如果我們繼續相信我們的前景如此，我們將繼續積極回購股票。

Great. All.

太好了。一切順利。

Right, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

I would now I'd like to introduce Jeff Martin, Roth Capital Markets. Go ahead, please.

現在我謹向大家介紹羅斯資本市場的傑夫馬丁。請開始吧。

Thanks, good afternoon. Could you give us an update on where you are with licensing progress so far with both ZBrain and explore, I mean, obviously explore version 4 being launched in September.

謝謝，下午好。可否告知一下ZBrain和Explore的授權進度？ Explore 4版本將於9月發布。

Likely not a ton of traction there yet, but maybe give us some perspective on Those clients that were potentially looking at licensing version 3 propensity to license version 4 in the you know the next six months or so.

雖然目前可能還沒有太大進展，但或許可以讓我們了解一下，那些原本可能考慮購買版本 3 許可的客戶，在未來六個月左右的時間裡，是否有可能購買版本 4 許可。

So, as I mentioned in our comments, we were ready to have version 3 and fully licensable form for early in the 3rd quarter. Once we saw the potential enhancements that were coming from version 4, we stopped all that licensing effort. It doesn't mean we didn't, we don't have a lot accomplished, but.

正如我在之前的評論中提到的，我們原本計劃在第三季初推出版本 3 及其完全授權版本。但當我們看到版本 4 的潛在改進後，我們就停止了所有授權工作。這並不意味著我們沒有取得任何進展，我們確實做了很多工作，但是…

We've completed version 4. We're still making some enhancements, but we expect to start licensing explorers sometime late in the Q4, no later than the beginning of Q1, and we expect that many of the opportunities that we're currently fielding or responding to will become AI explorer licenses.

我們已經完成了第 4 版。我們仍在進行一些改進，但我們預計將在第四季度末開始發放探索器許可證，最遲不晚於第一季初，我們預計我們目前正在處理或回應的許多機會都將轉化為 AI 探索器許可證。

And on the ZBrain side.

還有 ZBrain 這邊的情況。

On the ZBrain side, since the Zbrain side is differentiated through AI explorer, yes, we would expect a portion. I don't know if it's half or a third of the AI explorer licenses to incorporate Zbrain as well.

就 ZBrain 而言，由於 ZBrain 的功能是透過 AI Explorer 實現的，所以我們預計會獲得一部分授權。我不確定這部分授權是 AI Explorer 授權的一半還是三分之一，用於整合 ZBrain 的功能。

Okay, and then I was just curious if you could break down SMBT a little more. You did mention it grew 4%, excluding one stream and the IPA, contract termination.

好的，我只是想問一下，您能否更詳細地分析一下SMBT？您提到過，如果排除一個項目、IPA以及合約終止等因素，它的成長率是4%。

But could you help us get a sense of the trends within the pieces of SMBT?

您能否幫助我們了解SMBT各部作品的趨勢？

I mean, look, the largest piece of ESBT is our strategy and business transformation group. So, these are the teams that do large transformation initiatives. So that represents I'm going to, I don't know, clearly more than half in GSBT, then you also have our executive advisory business which includes our executive advisory programs as well as the market intelligence programs. We also have our benchmarking services in there and it does include the one-screen practice, the licensing which we had in iPass, and now it includes all of the Gen AI related revenues. That business, I don't know, Rob will have to correct me, but represents more than half, represented more than half of our revenues in the quarter, it represented nearly probably short of this 2/3 of our operating profit.

我的意思是，你看，ESBT最大的組成部分是我們的策略與業務轉型團隊。這些團隊負責大型轉型專案。所以，這部分業務在GSBT中佔比超過一半，我估計是這樣。此外，還有我們的高階主管諮詢業務，包括高階主管諮詢專案和市場情報專案。我們的標竿管理服務也包含在內，其中涵蓋了單一螢幕操作、我們先前在iPass中的授權授權業務，以及現在所有與Gen AI相關的收入。這項業務，我不太確定，Rob可能會糾正我，但它占我們本季收入的一半以上，幾乎占我們營業利潤的三分之二。

We believe that that business by the end of 2026 will probably drive over 75% of our total operating profits with GenAI, I'll call it lead.

我們相信，到 2026 年底，GenAI 業務可能會為我們帶來超過 75% 的總營業利潤，我稱之為領先業務。

Agentic transformation or Gen AI transformation initiatives which include both Gen AI but also you have to deal with the existing clients if you call them the existing business process and enterprise applications that also need to be transitioned when you're deploying agent workloads. So, we expect the halo effect, probably the best way to say it. We expect that the majority of our strategy and business transformation business executives will end up leading GenAI initiatives, and we expect once the GenAI initiatives become more mature, you will also see halo effect back into the traditional transformation initiatives which require you to fully implement the changes. So right now, we're in the ideation and solution design and solutioning portion of these Gen AI engagements. As those engagements mature, they will create a halo effect to the largest portion of GSPT. That's why we always kind of look and say GSBT sometime in the future will drive a greater portion of our total profit. Hopefully, it also comes with more recurring revenue, which will result in higher gross margins and will be a substantial portion of our total value creation if you look a year out or two years out.

代理轉型或Gen AI轉型計畫不僅包括Gen AI本身，還包括現有客戶（如果您稱之為現有客戶）以及需要在部署代理工作負載時進行遷移的現有業務流程和企業應用程式。因此，我們預期會出現光環效應，這或許是最恰當的說法。我們預計，我們的大多數策略和業務轉型主管最終將領導Gen AI計劃，並且我們預計，隨著Gen AI計劃的成熟，您也將看到光環效應反作用於傳統的轉型計劃，這些計劃需要您全面實施變更。目前，我們正處於Gen AI專案的構思、解決方案設計和解決方案實施階段。隨著這些專案的成熟，它們將對GSPT的大部分業務產生光環效應。這就是為什麼我們一直展望未來，並認為GSBT在未來某個時候將推動我們總利潤的更大比例成長。我們希望它還能帶來更多經常性收入，從而提高毛利率，並在未來一兩年內成為我們總價值創造的重要組成部分。

Thank you. One other question.

謝謝。還有一個問題。

With respect to decision making, are you seeing any unjamming of the logs there? Is it getting a little better? Is it getting a little worse, the same, just kind of some directional trend would be helpful.

關於決策方面，您是否看到日誌處理有任何進展？情況是否有改善？是略有好轉？還是略有惡化？或者情況依舊如此？如果能提供一些大致的趨勢就更好了。

What I can say is clearly better is clients making a 26 commitment, but our clients protecting 25 spend since economic volatility and some of the tariff distractions ended up creating a more difficult 25 years. So, I'm going to say economic volatility, tariff distraction. And to some extent people pausing to decide the impact of GenAI on their total IT and related initiatives are impacting it, but at the same time, do I see clients clearly positioning for an agentic enterprise in an agentic transformation world which brings all I'll call new and existing.

我可以肯定地說，客戶做出26年的承諾顯然更好，但我們的客戶由於經濟波動和一些關稅方面的干擾，最終導致25年更加艱難，因此他們選擇保留25年的支出。所以，我會說經濟波動和關稅幹擾。在某種程度上，人們正在暫停評估GenAI對其整體IT及相關舉措的影響，這確實產生了一定的影響，但與此同時，我看到客戶正在明確地為在智能轉型世界中構建智能企業做好準備，這個世界融合了我所說的所有新舊因素。

Capabilities that will have to be transformed, better said, yes, but is it really changing? No, we expected it to be tough through the end of the year.

能力需要轉型，更準確地說，是的，但真的在改變嗎？沒有，我們預料到年底前情況會很艱難。

I see people protecting 25 earnings for obvious reasons, and, but I see an increasing level of activity with people wanting to aggressively invest and expand on both. I call it traditional digital transformation as well as digital transformation that have a meaningful Gen AI component. We believe that meaningful GenAI component will increase throughout 2026.

我看到人們出於顯而易見的原因保護著25%的收益，但我也看到越來越多的人積極投資並拓展這兩項業務。我稱之為傳統數位轉型，以及包含重要人工智慧（Gen AI）成分的數位轉型。我們相信，到2026年，包含重要人工智慧（Gen AI）成分的數位轉型將會持續成長。

Vincent Colicchio, Barrington.

文森特·科利基奧，巴靈頓。

Ted, do you currently have the labour resources and GSPT to meet current AI demand, and do you have any concerns about that?

Ted，你目前是否擁有足夠的勞動力資源和 GSPT 來滿足當前的 AI 需求？你對此有任何擔憂嗎？

None at all, especially with the productivity improvements of our accelerator and Transformation explorer products. I'm convinced what you've got to understand is that the work that we have done traditionally and will do going forward will be increasingly done by platforms that allow you to do that, delivering more value, allowing it to be more compelling and complete for clients in reduced time frames, so Growth will be less determined by headcount growth, and it will be a combination of sophisticated platforms that bring talented professionals to bear to help clients identify opportunities, design opportunities, and build and deploy those opportunities. So no, I don't believe that headcount is an issue for the balance of the year as we start 2026.

完全沒有問題，尤其是在我們的加速器和轉型探索器產品顯著提升了生產力之後。我相信您需要明白的是，我們過去和未來所做的工作將越來越多地透過平台來完成，這些平台能夠提供更高的價值，在更短的時間內為客戶提供更具吸引力和更全面的服務。因此，成長將不再主要取決於員工人數的成長，而是取決於各種先進平台的組合，這些平台能夠匯聚優秀人才，幫助客戶識別機會、設計機會，並建構和部署這些機會。所以，我認為在2026年開始，員工人數在今年剩餘的時間都不會是個問題。

If it had been, we wouldn't have taken the reduction that we did with our restructuring charge in the current quarter.

如果真是那樣，我們就不會在本季提列重組費用了。

And circling back on version 4, just what is it that's game changing versus the, other alternatives in the market? Is it the speed or is it more than that?

回到版本 4，與其他市場上的同類產品相比，究竟是什麼讓它具有顛覆性的意義？是速度，還是有其他方面？

No, it's much more than that. First of all, we had built in version 3 that's still very compelling that we walk into a client in any area of the business across 26 industries and we can walk into a client and say we have the ability. To simulate and we have fully detailed thousands of AI solution opportunities for a client. So, we start with this very strong simulation capability that we have built in version 3. What really changed from version 3 to version 4 on that. Was that our ability to inform the actual capability, a client's capability from its existing technology, or automation footprint, we got really Good at driving that the way we inform that automation information down to process or in some cases subprocess level by capturing that client's automation, existing automation footprint. So that single step resulted in much more powerful ideation capabilities and that not only impacted our ability to get in front of a client and say, Before I recommend something significant to you, I want to make sure that as I do that, we want you to know that we fully considered your automation footprint. That capability did not exist in version 3, and it didn't exist at the level we've been able to take it down the process level. So that was very meaningful.

不，遠不止如此。首先，我們在版本 3 中內建的功能至今仍然非常強大，無論客戶身處 26 個行業的哪個業務領域，我們都可以告訴他們，我們有能力進行模擬，並且我們已經為客戶詳細規劃了數千個 AI 解決方案。因此，我們首先擁有版本 3 中建構的強大模擬能力。版本 3 到版本 4 的真正變化在於，我們能夠根據客戶現有的技術或自動化佈局來評估其實際能力。我們非常擅長透過捕捉客戶現有的自動化佈局，將自動化資訊細化到流程甚至子流程層級。這一步驟大大增強了我們的創意能力，這不僅影響了我們與客戶溝通的能力，也影響了我們向客戶說明我們已充分考慮其自動化佈局的能力。版本 3 中不具備這種功能，而且在我們能夠將其細化到流程層面之前，也從未實現過。所以這意義重大。

That also really opened our ability to really gain more information around the data sources that we were going to be dealing with, both from the existing client technology footprint and our ability then to consider additional data sources to then improve clients I call it data sources and knowledge base. To make the solutions that we are recommending smarter, more compelling.

這也真正提升了我們獲取更多關於我們將要處理的數據源的信息的能力，包括來自現有客戶技術架構的信息，以及我們考慮其他數據源的能力，從而改進客戶（我稱之為數據源和知識庫）的解決方案，使我們推薦的解決方案更智能、更具吸引力。

So that was kind of also a meaningful step between version 3 and version 4, and then the star of the show is that we were able to take solutions that we have been delivering. This is not only detailing. The to be process of a solution that was going to be significantly influenced by energetic workflow and that integration of both, but our ability to now identify those enhancements in that to be processed.

所以，這可以說是版本 3 到版本 4 之間一個意義重大的進步，而最精彩的部分在於，我們能夠將我們一直在提供的解決方案進行改進。這不僅僅是詳細描述解決方案的流程，該流程將受到高效工作流程的顯著影響，並且需要將兩者整合起來，更重要的是，我們現在能夠識別出待處理流程中的這些改進之處。

Be able to integrate the agents and explain the role of the agents in those changes and do it at the level of detail that we're currently delivering was more significant than version 3, but we were doing the version 3 work primarily I'll call it through our through deployed expertise, and what really happened is that That our Hackett solution language model has just gotten so sophisticated that we were able to take something that was happening over a 4 to 6 week period with numbers of professional and do that now in what we define as an 80% solution in Less than an hour, the proposed solution, which then allows us then in front and engage the client on validating the output so that we can get really detailed, really specific, so that recommendation of both complexity, the details require, the benefit that you're going to deliver that we then carry into POC, it's just been dramatically improved. I think once we were able to get those capabilities in front of our clients the way we have post call mid-September when we were able to do show this to potential partners and have partners literally say. So, what do you need? And we say give us this information and allow us a couple of days to come back to you with detailed recommendations in an area that they were, I'll call it for whatever reason, evaluating in one of their current clients or in a future contract in our ability, and that's what we're currently doing with them. What we're doing right now are proof points by taking specific live situations and demonstrating. That the capability of explorer version 4 is actually distinctly.

能夠整合代理並解釋代理在這些變更中的作用，並且達到我們目前交付的詳細程度，這比版本 3 更為重要。但我們在版本 3 中的工作主要是透過我們部署的專業知識來完成的。而現在，我們的 Hackett 解決方案語言模型已經變得非常完善，我們能夠將原本需要 4 到 6 週時間、由眾多專業人員完成的工作，在不到一個小時內完成，我們將其定義為 80% 的解決方案。這使得我們能夠與客戶溝通，驗證輸出結果，以便能夠提供非常詳細、非常具體的建議。這樣，無論是複雜性、所需的細節，還是您將要交付的收益，我們都會將其應用到概念驗證 (POC) 中，這都得到了顯著改進。我認為，一旦我們能夠像 9 月中旬的電話會議後那樣將這些能力展示給客戶，並向潛在合作夥伴展示這些能力，合作夥伴就會直接問：“你們需要什麼？”我們說，請提供這些信息，並給我們幾天時間，以便我們針對他們正在評估的領域（我姑且稱之為“評估領域”），或在我們能力範圍內，針對他們現有客戶或未來合同中的建議。這就是我們目前正在與他們合作的內容。我們現在正在透過具體的實際案例來證明，Explorer 4 版本的功能確實非常出色。

Better, more detailed, more accurate, which allows for a better estimation of effort of determining complexity so that when you align benefits to those costs, the ROI is significantly improved. That capability is what's allowing us to now impact either a new client and say, let us show you how different it is.

更完善、更詳細、更準確，這使得我們能夠更好地評估確定複雜性所需的工作量，從而在權衡收益與成本後，顯著提高投資回報率。正是這種能力讓我們能夠影響新客戶，並向他們展示它的差異。

And now these channel partners let us show you how different it can be, and they'll literally say, well we had we had one we were working through one on a very significant prospect for one of the clients, and they gave us this high level information said, Can you give us this information specifically the process you're targeting, the information you have around that targeted process, and they said to us. So, look, when am I going to be able to see this? Am I going to be able to see this in a month or what? And I said call us back in two days and we literally get that and use our two days to validate what Explorer is creating and it's just really impressing them. And yes, to the point where one of them simply said this is game changing and we hope they really mean it. We hope they become a great partner with us. And as soon as possible.

現在，這些通路合作夥伴讓我們向您展示它的不同之處。他們會這樣說：「我們之前正在為一位客戶跟進一個非常重要的潛在客戶，他們給了我們一些概括性的信息，然後問我們：‘你們能否具體提供一下你們的目標流程信息，以及你們掌握的關於該流程的信息？’他們問：‘我什麼時候能看到這些信息？一個月後嗎？’我說：’兩天后再聯繫我們。

Appreciate all the colour. Thanks.

很喜歡這些色彩。謝謝。

Ted. I think it's important because We, the future of the firm depends on unique capability which is enhanced by very talented people, but without the unique platform capabilities and improving that solutioning language model and informing that solutioning language model with all of the hacket IP that we have all the way down the process and subprocess level, including benchmarks.

泰德：我認為這很重要，因為公司的未來取決於我們獨特的能力，而這種能力需要非常有才華的人才來增強。但是，如果沒有獨特的平台能力，沒有改進解決方案語言模型，沒有將我們擁有的所有駭客智慧財產權（包括基準測試）融入整個流程和子流程級別，那麼解決方案語言模型就無法發揮作用。

I think it's hard to replicate. I may wake up tomorrow and somebody say, Ted, I've got something dramatically better right now these sophisticated clients and these sophisticated channel partners are saying we have not seen anything that produces the outcomes that you're currently providing to us as part of our, if you call it, proof points.

我覺得這很難複製。也許明天早上醒來，就會有人跟我說：“泰德，我找到了更好的東西，現在那些眼光挑剔的客戶和渠道合作夥伴都說，我們還沒見過任何產品能達到你目前向我們展示的這些成果，你可以用這些成果來證明你的價值。”

Thanks.

謝謝。

Thank you. At this time, I show no further questions. I would now turn the call back over to Mr. Fernandez.

謝謝。目前我沒有其他問題了。現在我將把電話轉回給費南德斯先生。

Thank you, operator. Let me thank everyone for participating in our third quarter earnings call, and we look forward to updating you again when we report the 4th quarter and our total annual results.

謝謝接線生。感謝各位參加我們第三季財報電話會議，我們期待在發布第四季及全年業績報告時再次與大家分享最新情況。

Thank you again.

再次感謝。

Thank you for your participation, participants, you may disconnect at this time.

感謝各位參與者的參與，你們現在可以斷開連結了。