LivePerson Inc (LPSN) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to LivePerson's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Shamali, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the prepared remarks, the management team from LivePerson will conduct question-and-answer session. And conference participants will be given at that time. To give everyone the opportunity to participate, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Mr. Chad Cooper, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations.

女士們、先生們，下午好。謝謝你的支持。歡迎參加 LivePerson 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。我叫 Shamali，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。準備好的發言結束後，LivePerson 的管理團隊將進行問答環節。屆時將給出會議參會人員。為了讓每個人都有機會參與，請限制自己提出一個問題和一項後續行動。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。我現在想將電話會議轉交給投資者關係高級副總裁查德·庫珀先生。

Thank you, Shamali. Joining me on the call today is Rob LoCascio, LivePerson's Founder and John Collins, Interim CEO and CFO. Please note that today's -- during today's call, we will make forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections and other statements about future results. These statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions as of today, August 8, 2023, and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially due to various factors, including those described in today's earnings press release, and in the comments made during this conference call, as well as in 10-Ks, 10-Qs and other reports to be filed from time to time with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

謝謝你，沙瑪利。今天與我一起參加電話會議的是 LivePerson 創始人 Rob LoCascio 和臨時首席執行官兼首席財務官 John Collins。請注意，在今天的電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，即對未來結果的預測、預測和其他陳述。這些陳述基於我們截至 2023 年 8 月 8 日的當前預期和假設，並存在風險和不確定性。實際結果可能因各種因素而存在重大差異，包括今天的收益新聞稿中描述的因素、本次電話會議期間發表的評論以及 10-K、10-Q 和不時提交的其他報告中的因素與美國證券交易委員會。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

Also during this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures is included in today's earnings press release. Both the press release and the supplemental slides, which include highlights for the quarter, are available on the Investor Relations section of LivePerson's website. With that, I will turn the call over to Rob. Rob?

此外，在本次電話會議中，我們還將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。今天的收益新聞稿中包含了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的調節表。新聞稿和補充幻燈片（其中包括本季度的亮點）均可在 LivePerson 網站的投資者關係部分獲取。這樣，我就把電話轉給羅布。搶？

Thanks. Thank you, everyone. Before John discusses our results for the quarter, I'd like to speak to the leadership announcement the company made today. If you're aware, we announced that a month ago, I would be stepping down as CEO of LivePerson later this year after more than 25 years at the helm. Since then, search has been underway to identify LivePerson's next CEO. And as the search progresses, the Board believes now is the right time to make a transition of my role as CEO.

謝謝。謝謝大家。在約翰討論我們本季度的業績之前，我想談談公司今天發布的領導層公告。如果您知道的話，一個月前我們宣布，我將在今年晚些時候辭去 LivePerson 首席執行官一職，此前我已執掌 LivePerson 超過 25 年。從那時起，LivePerson 下一任首席執行官的搜尋工作就一直在進行。隨著搜尋工作的進展，董事會認為現在是我過渡首席執行官角色的最佳時機。

In light of this, John Collins will take over as interim CEO. He will also continue to serve as CFO and will benefit from the ongoing support of LivePerson's finance team during this time. In addition, I will assume the role of special adviser through year-end to help facilitate a smooth transition. On a personal note, I recruited John in 2019 to assure you that he is the right person to step into the COO on an interim basis. As you'll hear from John in just a moment, he committed to ensuring the company continues to execute as we launch our new generative AI products and platforms. Indeed, I'm confident that John working alongside management with the Board's support and active oversight, will advance the company's strategy to drive profitable growth and enhance value for shareholders.

有鑑於此，約翰·柯林斯將接任臨時首席執行官。他還將繼續擔任首席財務官，並將在此期間受益於 LivePerson 財務團隊的持續支持。此外，我將在年底之前擔任特別顧問，以幫助促進平穩過渡。就我個人而言，我於 2019 年招募了約翰，是為了向大家保證他是臨時擔任首席運營官的合適人選。正如您稍後會聽到約翰所說，他致力於確保公司在我們推出新的生成式人工智能產品和平台時繼續執行。事實上，我相信約翰與管理層一起工作，在董事會的支持和積極監督下，將推進公司的戰略，推動利潤增長並提高股東的價值。

As the founder of LivePerson, I'd also like to extend my gratitude to the exceptional team of employees who make what we do possible. Thanks for their outstanding work and passion they display every day, LivePerson is at the forefront of our industry, and I know they'll continue to drive our success. And with that, I'll turn the call over to John to go into more detail on the business and discuss our second quarter results. John?

作為 LivePerson 的創始人，我還要向杰出的員工團隊表示感謝，是他們使我們的事業成為可能。感謝他們每天表現出的出色工作和熱情，LivePerson 處於我們行業的前沿，我知道他們將繼續推動我們的成功。接下來，我將把電話轉給約翰，詳細介紹該業務並討論我們第二季度的業績。約翰？

Thanks, Rob. Before elaborating on the key themes and results of the quarter, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank Rob, for the incredible company he's built over nearly 3 decades. I've worked alongside Rob for the last 4 years, and personally, he's been a friend and a mentor, and I look forward to his continued support. Turning to the quarter. I'll begin with the business and strategy update, followed by a discussion of the financials.

謝謝，羅布。在詳細闡述本季度的關鍵主題和結果之前，我想花一點時間向 Rob 表示認可和感謝，感謝他在近 3 年的時間裡建立了一家令人難以置信的公司。過去 4 年裡我一直與 Rob 一起工作，就我個人而言，他一直是我的朋友和導師，我期待著他的持續支持。轉向季度。我將從業務和戰略更新開始，然後討論財務狀況。

Last quarter, we launched an expansive set of generative AI-powered products across the Conversational Cloud. These products provide a significant uplift to agent efficiency, and enable automation to operate on the longtail of consumer intents. Using Generative AI, we are also automating previously manually intensive labor, to accelerate time to value for customers. We also launched voice AI, which meaningfully extended LivePerson's automation products to the voice channel, opening the door to approximately 70% of the conversations currently taking place between consumers and brands. This significantly expands our serviceable market. The intent of voice AI, is not to compete with incumbent voice solutions, which focus on the needs of agents and synchronous contact center operations, but instead to shift traditional voice calls, including those trapped in the IVR into an AI-powered automation flow, which we see as the future of customer service.

上季度，我們在對話雲中推出了一系列廣泛的人工智能驅動的生成產品。這些產品顯著提高了客服人員的效率，並使自動化能夠根據消費者意圖的長尾進行操作。使用生成式人工智能，我們還可以自動化以前的手動密集型勞動，以加快為客戶實現價值的速度。我們還推出了語音 AI，有意義地將 LivePerson 的自動化產品擴展到語音通道，為目前消費者和品牌之間約 70% 的對話打開了大門。這顯著擴大了我們的可用市場。語音人工智能的目的不是與現有的語音解決方案競爭，現有的語音解決方案專注於座席和同步聯絡中心運營的需求，而是將傳統的語音呼叫（包括那些困在IVR 中的呼叫）轉變為人工智能驅動的自動化流程，我們認為這是客戶服務的未來。

In the second quarter, 38% of our top enterprise brands experimented with voice AI, which was the highest rate of usage for a new product that we've seen in recent years. Similarly, 24% of top enterprise brands, began using a wider range of automation products enhanced by generative AI. Overall, these early indicators of expansion are encouraging and are driving an increase in starting pipeline for the fourth quarter relative to where we started the third. More generally, now that we support voice interactions and leverage generative AI to address a virtually limitless range of intent, as opposed to the handcrafted automations for the top 10 or 20 in past years. Our customers can efficiently automate up to an estimated 75% of their aggregate conversational volume. This is well above the estimated 25% that we observed on the conversational cloud today. So at a high level, that's a potential market opportunity for us, that's 3x today's recurring revenue, just from expanding within our existing base of customers.

第二季度，38%的頂級企業品牌嘗試了語音AI，這是我們近年來看到的新產品使用率最高的。同樣，24% 的頂級企業品牌開始使用由生成式人工智能增強的更廣泛的自動化產品。總體而言，這些早期的擴張指標令人鼓舞，並推動第四季度的啟動管道相對於第三季度開始有所增加。更一般地說，現在我們支持語音交互並利用生成式人工智能來解決幾乎無限範圍的意圖，而不是過去幾年手工製作的前 10 名或前 20 名的自動化。我們的客戶可以有效地實現其總會話量的 75% 的自動化。這遠高於我們今天在對話雲上觀察到的估計 25%。因此，從高水平來看，這對我們來說是一個潛在的市場機會，僅通過擴大我們現有的客戶群，這就是當今經常性收入的 3 倍。

As for customer wins, we signed a total of 69 deals in the second quarter, including 3 7-figure deals, all of which were new logos, 36 expansions and renewals and 33 new logos overall. It's worth noting that new logo deal values were significantly up sequentially, and the highest value in the last 4 quarters. In addition, the renewals included multiple 7-figure deals and 1 8-figure deal in our media vertical. In terms of trends, it's clear that LivePerson has become the platform of choice for conversational banking. Within Financial Services, we've consistently renewed and expanded our base and won large new logos across the U.S. and internationally for the past few quarters, including one of the largest banks in the world in the second quarter. All new logo wins in financial services represent multiyear contracts and suggest a clear trend that retail banking is rapidly becoming digital-first and conversational. These customers need solutions that deliver in-app messaging that complies with onerous information security requirements. In addition, they leverage a range of differentiated LivePerson products, including social, proactive messaging and of course, AI-powered automation. In almost every case, these companies have large preexisting commitments to solutions from Salesforce, Amazon, Genesis, Microsoft and others, but they see our platform, our security and compliance framework and most importantly, our expertise and demonstrated business outcomes, as the trusted best-in-class partner to deliver true digital and automation transformation at scale.

至於贏得的客戶，我們在第二季度總共簽署了 69 筆交易，其中包括 3 筆 7 位數的交易，全部都是新徽標，36 筆擴展和續訂，以及 33 筆新徽標。值得注意的是，新標誌交易金額環比大幅上升，並創近四個季度的最高值。此外，我們的媒體垂直領域的續約還包括多筆 7 位數的交易和 1 筆 8 位數的交易。就趨勢而言，LivePerson 顯然已成為對話式銀行業務的首選平台。在金融服務領域，我們不斷更新和擴大我們的基礎，並在過去幾個季度在美國和國際上贏得了大型新標誌，包括第二季度全球最大的銀行之一。金融服務領域所有新標誌的勝利都代表著多年期合同，並表明零售銀行業正在迅速變得數字化和對話化的明顯趨勢。這些客戶需要能夠提供符合嚴格信息安全要求的應用內消息傳遞的解決方案。此外，他們還利用一系列差異化的 LivePerson 產品，包括社交、主動消息傳遞，當然還有人工智能驅動的自動化。幾乎在每種情況下，這些公司都對Salesforce、Amazon、Genesis、Microsoft 等解決方案做出了巨大的承諾，但他們認為我們的平台、我們的安全和合規框架，最重要的是，我們的專業知識和已證明的業務成果是值得信賴的最佳解決方案一流的合作夥伴，可大規模實現真正的數字化和自動化轉型。

Specific Financial Services wins included one of the largest banks in the world, as I mentioned, a Fortune 25 company that selected LivePerson to power automation and digital transformation, even with a large pre-existing investment in both Genesis and Salesforce. A major European Digital First Bank also chose LivePerson among a long list of competitors to power in app, web and social messaging, based on our track record of delivering better business outcomes for other leading digital first banks. As mentioned earlier, renewals and upsells and financial services were strong in Q2, representing 6 of our top 10 renewals for the quarter, including Hyundai Capital America, one of the largest captive auto finance companies, 3 other notable expansions, including a Global 500 Canadian retail bank, the largest retail bank in Australia, and a Fortune 100 life insurance company, again, all multiyear with meaningful revenue expansion.

具體的金融服務勝利包括世界上最大的銀行之一，正如我提到的，一家財富 25 強公司選擇 LivePerson 來推動自動化和數字化轉型，即使他們已經在 Genesis 和 Salesforce 上進行了大量投資。基於我們為其他領先的數字第一銀行提供更好業務成果的記錄，一家歐洲主要數字第一銀行也在眾多競爭對手中選擇了 LivePerson 來支持應用程序、網絡和社交消息傳遞。如前所述，第二季度的續約、追加銷售和金融服務表現強勁，佔本季度十大續約中的6 個，其中包括最大的自保汽車金融公司之一現代資本美國公司(Hyundai Capital America)，以及其他3 個值得注意的擴張，包括全球500 強加拿大公司零售銀行、澳大利亞最大的零售銀行和財富 100 強人壽保險公司，多年來都實現了顯著的收入增長。

Other notable deals in the second quarter included an 8-figure ACV renewal with a leading audio entertainment company in North America, and a large health care win for automated patient scheduling and engagement. We were selected over Salesforce based our ability to drive tangible business outcomes. The health care industry is accelerating adoption of conversational AI, and we are well positioned as they have similar needs to financial services for a trusted, secure, and proven platform in a highly regulated industry.

第二季度其他值得注意的交易包括與北美一家領先的音頻娛樂公司進行 8 位數的 ACV 續訂，以及在自動患者安排和參與方面贏得了巨大的醫療保健勝利。我們之所以被選中，是因為我們有能力推動切實的業務成果，而不是 Salesforce。醫療保健行業正在加速採用對話式人工智能，我們處於有利地位，因為他們對金融服務有著類似的需求，需要在高度監管的行業中建立一個值得信賴、安全且經過驗證的平台。

We also recently announced the launch of LivePerson Marketplace, a hub for cutting-edge integrations that extend the capabilities of LivePerson Conversational Cloud. With an array of apps built by LivePerson and our trusted partners, LivePerson marketplace empowers businesses to unlock the full potential of AI-powered conversations at scale. The debut of LivePerson Marketplace represents a major milestone in our commitment to an open platform, that powers better digital conversations for the world's top brands. We're excited to introduce this dynamic ecosystem to even more powerful integrations for businesses, working with us and directed partners, which include Adobe, Cisco, Medallia and many others.

我們最近還宣布推出 LivePerson Marketplace，這是一個尖端集成中心，可擴展 LivePerson Conversational Cloud 的功能。借助 LivePerson 和我們值得信賴的合作夥伴構建的一系列應用程序，LivePerson 市場使企業能夠大規模釋放人工智能驅動的對話的全部潛力。 LivePerson Marketplace 的首次亮相代表了我們對開放平台承諾的一個重要里程碑，該平台為世界頂級品牌提供更好的數字對話。我們很高興能夠與我們以及 Adob​​e、Cisco、Medallia 等眾多合作夥伴合作，將這個動態生態系統引入到企業更強大的集成中。

Turning to the quarter and our financial results. Consistent with the expectations that we set last quarter, the rightsizing of our cost structure, divestiture and wind-down of noncore business lines, and the renewed focus on the B2B core, led to an inflection point for LivePerson's D&O. In the second quarter, we generated $12.8 million of adjusted EBITDA and positive free cash flow, flipping from a loss to a profit and surpassing our prior guidance. The upside in profitability relative to guidance was the result of an accelerated reduction in Gainshare labor expenses, better-than-expected execution of the restructuring plan, and the timing of certain variable expenses, primarily marketing and cloud spend that we still expect to occur in the second half of 2023.

轉向本季度和我們的財務業績。與我們上季度設定的預期一致，成本結構的調整、非核心業務線的剝離和縮減以及對 B2B 核心業務的重新關注，導致了 LivePerson 的 D&O 的拐點。第二季度，我們實現了 1280 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA 和正自由現金流，扭虧為盈，超過了我們之前的指導。盈利能力相對於指引的上升是由於Gainshare勞動力費用加速減少、重組計劃的執行好於預期以及某些可變費用（主要是營銷和雲支出）的時間安排，我們仍然預計這些費用將在2020年發生。 2023年下半年。

Total revenue in the second quarter was $97.5 million, which was just above the midpoint of guidance. B2B core recurring revenue was 89% of total revenue, which was also ahead of our expectations. Non-GAAP gross margin improved 600 basis points sequentially to 74%, driven primarily by a reduction in Gainshare labor expenses. Significantly, we also improved our financial position by eliminating a multiyear $120 million contingent earn-out payment for WildHealth, $40 million of which was previously accrued for potential payment in 2023. And we did this in exchange for an immediate payment of $12 million, and certain rights if a sale of WildHealth were to occur in the future.

第二季度總收入為 9750 萬美元，略高於指導中值。 B2B核心經常性收入佔總收入的89%，也超出了我們的預期。非 GAAP 毛利率比上一季度提高 600 個基點，達到 74%，這主要是由於 Gainshare 勞動力費用的減少。值得注意的是，我們還通過取消對WildHealth 的1.2 億美元多年或有收益付款來改善我們的財務狀況，其中4000 萬美元之前已計入2023 年的潛在付款。我們這樣做是為了換取立即付款1200萬美元，並且如果將來發生 WildHealth 出售，則享有某些權利。

Turning to our standard reporting segments. Within total revenue for the second quarter, revenue from B2B segment declined 21% year-over-year, and revenue from hosted software declined 14% year-over-year. As discussed last quarter, the primary drivers of these declines are the wind down of noncore business lines, including COVID-19 testing, Gainshare labor and pandemic-driven Gainshare variable revenue. Normalizing for these business changes, total B2B core revenue declined 1%, while B2B core recurring revenue within hosted grew 3% year-over-year.

轉向我們的標準報告部分。第二季度總收入中，B2B 業務收入同比下降 21%，託管軟件收入同比下降 14%。正如上季度所討論的，這些下降的主要驅動因素是非核心業務線的縮減，包括 COVID-19 測試、Gainshare 勞動力和大流行驅動的 Gainshare 可變收入。這些業務變化正常化後，B2B 核心總收入下降了 1%，而託管內的 B2B 核心經常性收入同比增長了 3%。

Professional services declined 43% year-over-year, driven by the completion of the engagement with the Claire JV which consistent with expectations discussed last quarter, did not contribute special services revenue in the second quarter. Excluding revenue from the Claire JV in both periods, professional services revenue grew 5% year-over-year. From a geographic perspective, U.S. revenue declined 24% year-over-year, and international revenue declined 13% year-over-year. Again, the primary driver for these declines, was the wind down of noncore business lines. On a normalized basis, we would have seen the U.S. closer to flat year-over-year with slight declines in international.

專業服務同比下降 43%，主要是由於與 Claire 合資公司完成了合作，這與上季度討論的預期一致，但在第二季度沒有貢獻特殊服務收入。除去來自 Claire JV 的收入，專業服務收入同比增長 5%。從地域來看，美國收入同比下降24%，國際收入同比下降13%。同樣，這些下降的主要驅動因素是非核心業務線的縮減。在正常化的基礎上，我們會看到美國與去年同期相比接近持平，而國際則略有下降。

Net revenue retention was below our target range of 105% to 115%, but up sequentially, consistent with expectations. We continue to expect sequential improvement in net retention in the third quarter. RPO decreased 20% year-over-year to $326 million, due primarily to the completion of professional services for the Claire JV . Due to the wind down of noncore business lines and their impact on key operating metrics, average revenue per customer based on total revenue declined 4% year-over-year to $635,000. In order to provide a more consistent and meaningful measure of ARPC, we expect to calculate this metric using only B2B core recurring revenue going forward, which is consistent with the revenue base for calculating net revenue retention as we discussed last quarter. So for the second quarter, ARPC based on B2B core recurring revenue, grew 14% year-over-year to $575K.

淨收入保留率低於我們 105% 至 115% 的目標範圍，但環比上升，與預期一致。我們繼續預計第三季度淨保留率將連續改善。 RPO 同比下降 20% 至 3.26 億美元，主要是由於 Claire JV 的專業服務完成。由於非核心業務線的逐步縮減及其對關鍵運營指標的影響，基於總收入的每位客戶平均收入同比下降 4%，至 635,000 美元。為了提供更一致、更有意義的 ARPC 衡量標準，我們預計未來僅使用 B2B 核心經常性收入來計算該指標，這與我們上季度討論的計算淨收入保留的收入基礎一致。因此，第二季度，基於 B2B 核心經常性收入的 ARPC 同比增長 14%，達到 57.5 萬美元。

Before providing an update on guidance, I want to address the change to the expected revenue mix in the third quarter. As you may recall, we deferred revenue recognition of certain revenue attributable to WildHealth in the fourth quarter of 2022, because Medicare reimbursement for services rendered was suspended, pending further review. We now expect that the review will be completed and that we will recognize the corresponding revenue in the second half of the year, likely in the third quarter. In terms of full year 2023 guidance, for total revenue, we are maintaining the midpoint of $394 million, but narrowing the range to $388 million to $400 million. Note that this range excludes $7.2 million contribution from Kasamba in the first quarter of this year. As for the B2B core, we expect recurring revenue to be approximately 86% of total, which remains consistent with what we discussed last quarter.

在提供最新指導意見之前，我想先談談第三季度預期收入組合的變化。您可能還記得，我們推遲了 2022 年第四季度對 WildHealth 的某些收入的確認，因為對所提供服務的 Medicare 報銷已暫停，有待進一步審查。我們現在預計審查將完成，並且我們將在下半年（可能是第三季度）確認相應的收入。就 2023 年全年總收入指引而言，我們維持 3.94 億美元的中值，但將範圍縮小至 3.88 億至 4 億美元。請注意，此範圍不包括 Kasamba 今年第一季度貢獻的 720 萬美元。至於 B2B 核心，我們預計經常性收入將佔總收入的 86% 左右，這與我們上季度討論的情況一致。

Inclusive of the Kasamba contribution in the first quarter, the new range for total revenue was $395 million to $407 million. For adjusted EBITDA in full year '23, we are raising guidance to a range of $19 million to $32 million or $25.5 million at the midpoint, which represents a $2 million increase over the prior guidance midpoint of $23.5 million. As for the third quarter, we are guiding revenues for a range of $97 million to $101 million, and we expect B2B core recurring revenue to be approximately 85% of total revenue. The sequential decline in the percentage of B2B core recurring revenue relates to the anticipated revenue related to Medicare reimbursements that I mentioned just a moment ago. As for adjusted EBITDA, in the third quarter, we are guiding to a range of 5.9% to $12.9 million or a midpoint of $9.4 million.

包括第一季度 Kasamba 的貢獻在內，新的總收入範圍為 3.95 億美元至 4.07 億美元。對於 23 年全年調整後的 EBITDA，我們將指導上調至 1900 萬美元至 3200 萬美元，即中點 2550 萬美元，這比之前的指導中點 2350 萬美元增加了 200 萬美元。至於第三季度，我們預計收入在 9700 萬美元至 1.01 億美元之間，預計 B2B 核心經常性收入將佔總收入的 85% 左右。 B2B 核心經常性收入百分比的連續下降與我剛才提到的與醫療保險報銷相關的預期收入有關。至於第三季度調整後的 EBITDA，我們的指導範圍為 5.9% 至 1,290 萬美元，中間值為 940 萬美元。

To conclude, we have rightsized our cost structure and launched generative AI enhancements across the conversational cloud, which are showing early indications of robust adoption. With voice AI, LivePerson has become an omnichannel platform for customer service automation and gained access to approximately 70% of conversations taking place between brands and consumers. Access to traditional voice conversations significantly expand our service pool market at a time when our AI-powered automation can address a virtually limitless range of consumer intent. These significant developments, coupled with our extensive enterprise customer base, puts us in a position of strength to accelerate automation of the contact center, delivering better business outcomes and profitable growth. And with that, operator, let's open the line for Q&A.

總而言之，我們調整了成本結構，並在對話雲中推出了生成式人工智能增強功能，這顯示出強勁採用的早期跡象。憑藉語音 AI，LivePerson 已成為客戶服務自動化的全渠道平台，並獲得了品牌與消費者之間約 70% 的對話。當我們的人工智能驅動的自動化可以滿足幾乎無限範圍的消費者意圖時，對傳統語音對話的訪問極大地擴展了我們的服務池市場。這些重大發展，加上我們廣泛的企業客戶群，使我們有能力加速聯絡中心的自動化，實現更好的業務成果和利潤增長。那麼，接線員，讓我們打開問答線路。

Thank you, and at this time, we'll be conducting a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Daniel Wang with Mizuho Securities. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝，此時我們將進行問答環節。 （操作員指令）我們的第一個問題來自瑞穗證券的Daniel Wang。請繼續你的問題。

Hey, thanks for taking my question. Can you just provide some color about how you're thinking about the WildHealth business going forward, and perhaps some detail around the conversations in restructuring the earn-out provision? Thanks.

嘿，謝謝你回答我的問題。您能否提供一些關於您對 WildHealth 業務未來發展的看法，以及有關重組收益條款的對話的一些細節？謝謝。

Sure. We shared last quarter that we expect strong growth in WildHealth, and we continue to expect strong growth. Keep in mind, though, we have observed some increased timelines for certain WildHealth business lines, owing to the highly regulated nature of health care. However, again, we expect strong growth for the business in 2023. As it relates to the restructuring in past quarters that we consolidated redundant organizations within go-to-market, namely customer success and our reps and account organization. And so we now have a more streamlined flow there. In addition, we were able to -- with the new generative AI capabilities and where we saw the product going, wind down some of our legacy products we are supporting, which allowed us to reduce costs on that side of the house as well. And of course, there is a large amount of cost savings tied to the reduction of Gainshare labor that was necessary expense to support the Gainshare business. And as you know, we have wound down the majority of that business line.

當然。我們上個季度表示，我們預計 WildHealth 將強勁增長，並且我們將繼續預計強勁增長。但請記住，由於醫療保健的嚴格監管性質，我們觀察到某些 WildHealth 業務線的時間表有所增加。然而，我們再次預計該業務將在 2023 年實現強勁增長。由於這與過去幾個季度的重組有關，我們在進入市場時整合了冗餘組織，即客戶成功以及我們的代表和客戶組織。因此，我們現在的流程更加精簡。此外，借助新的生成式人工智能功能以及我們所看到的產品發展方向，我們能夠減少我們正在支持的一些舊產品，這也使我們能夠降低該方面的成本。當然，由於減少了 Gainshare 勞動力，因此節省了大量成本，而勞動力是支持 Gainshare 業務的必要開支。如您所知，我們已經削減了大部分業務。

Okay. And just, I guess on -- can you talk a little bit more on voice AI and maybe one makes it unique relative to some of the other existing conversational AI solutions out there?

好的。只是，我想 - 你能多談談語音人工智能嗎？也許它相對於其他一些現有的對話式人工智能解決方案來說是獨一無二的？

Yes. Voice AI, for us, again, is opening up a new channel for the first time for LivePerson to deploy automation where the vast majority of the conversations are taking place today. And I think what differentiates LivePerson is its enterprise readiness. It's existing back-end integrations, the flows for the contact center operation that have been honed over decades and installing the voice AI within that wider ecosystem is what makes it a powerful solution, much more powerful than simply tapping an API from OpenAI without all of that other infrastructure behind it.

是的。對於我們來說，語音 AI 再次首次為 LivePerson 開闢了一條新渠道，可以在當今絕大多數對話中部署自動化。我認為 LivePerson 的與眾不同之處在於它的企業就緒性。它現有的後端集成、經過數十年磨練的聯絡中心運營流程以及在更廣泛的生態系統中安裝語音 AI 使其成為一個強大的解決方案，比簡單地利用 OpenAI 的 API 更強大。其背後的其他基礎設施。

And our next question comes from the line of Jeff Van Rhee with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please proceed with your question.

我們的下一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum Capital Group 的 Jeff Van Rhee。請繼續你的問題。

Great, I have several. John, just on the refresh on WildHealth, what's the revenue impact expected there then for the second half to catch up revenue?

太好了，我有幾個。約翰，關於 WildHealth 的最新情況，預計下半年的收入影響會趕上收入嗎？

We haven't put a number out, Jeff, but I would say relative to the commentary in the prior quarter, where we said there was a likely doubling in WildHealth's core business. I would just moderate that expectation, it's still possible, but there's work to do, and there's some time lines have been elongated.

傑夫，我們還沒有公佈具體數字，但我想說的是相對於上一季度的評論，我們說 WildHealth 的核心業務可能會翻一番。我只是降低了這種期望，這仍然是可能的，但還有很多工作要做，而且有些時間線已經被拉長了。

Maybe I didn't phrase it real well. You had mentioned that some of the revenue recognition around Medicare was delayed and it was going to come in the second half. And I just -- I think you did share how much Medicare revenue was delayed last year? I'm just asking for a refresher there.

也許我沒有表達得很好。您曾提到，醫療保險方面的一些收入確認被推遲，預計將在下半年確認。我只是 - 我想你確實分享了去年醫療保險收入被推遲了多少？我只是想回顧一下。

Yes. We didn't see any exact value last time. However, we did say it was high single-digit millions.

是的。上次我們沒有看到任何確切的值。然而，我們確實說過這個數字高達數百萬。

High single. Okay. Helpful. And then in terms of the sales work, where are we now in terms of sales reps? And just in terms of retention of reps, specifically the churn versus involuntary churn to the sales team, just give us a state of affairs with the sales org.

高單。好的。有幫助。那麼就銷售工作而言，我們現在的銷售代表處於什麼位置？就保留代表而言，特別是銷售團隊的流失與非自願流失，只需向我們提供銷售組織的狀況即可。

We've come down from Q1, which was approximately 69 to closer to 60 now, and we're staying steady at that level. And I would also add, though, that the 60 we have today approximately are fully ramped reps.

我們已經從第一季度的大約 69 下降到現在接近 60，並且我們保持穩定在這個水平。不過，我還要補充一點，我們今天的 60 名大約是完全提升的代表。

Our next question comes from the line of Zach Cummins with B. Riley Securities. Please proceed with your question.

我們的下一個問題來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Zach Cummins。請繼續你的問題。

Yes, hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. John, can you walk me through the puts and takes from your updated view for adjusted EBITDA, were there some expenses that were delayed and expected to occur now in the second half of the year?

是的，嗨，下午好。感謝您提出我的問題。約翰，您能否向我介紹一下您更新的調整後 EBITDA 視圖中的看跌期權和索取金額，是否有一些費用被推遲並預計將在今年下半年發生？

Yes, sure, Zach. If we just look at the numbers, we beat the first half by roughly $11 million, $12 million. Of course, 2 million of that is flowing through to the new guide. About $4 million of that, maybe a little more relates to the timing of marketing and cloud spend. And then we have a range of more miscellaneous increased expenses, including targeted investments in product and engineering, and some tied to the CEO transition. So when I factor all that in, we end up with what I think is a reasonable guide for adjusted EBITDA for the remainder of the year.

是的，當然，扎克。如果我們只看數字，我們比上半年多了大約 1100 萬美元、1200 萬美元。當然，其中 200 萬流入了新指南。其中大約 400 萬美元，可能更多與營銷和雲支出的時間相關。然後，我們還有一系列更雜項的增加費用，包括對產品和工程的有針對性的投資，以及一些與首席執行官換屆有關的投資。因此，當我將所有這些因素考慮在內時，我們最終得出了我認為今年剩餘時間調整後 EBITDA 的合理指南。

Understood. And then just one quick follow-up around the voice AI product. I mean can you talk about just the go-to-market strategy in terms of how you're looking to get into the door with customers? Is it really just approaching some of your major existing enterprises and trying to expand channels there, or what's really the strategy to drive adoption of voice AI?

明白了。然後是關於語音人工智能產品的快速跟進。我的意思是，您能談談您希望如何進入客戶市場的進入市場策略嗎？它真的只是接近一些現有的主要企業並試圖擴展那裡的渠道，還是推動語音人工智能採用的真正策略是什麼？

Yes, certainly. There is -- as I said in the prepared remarks, the voice AI has the largest -- the fastest adoption that we've seen in recent years of a new product launch. And I think that there's a trend in the industry shifting towards channel consolidation, where customers are seeking more unified interface, encompassing voice, messaging and social channels for efficient consumer engagement. And LivePerson has, I think, the best-in-class messaging and automation product and demand for voice AI and social is certainly accelerating. And again, our value proposition is not to compete with the incumbent solutions, but to shift the mindset to what we think is the future. And that's a more automated flow than all the tooling that's currently available by the incumbents for more synchronous voice operations. So we think that's really the advantage in addition to that enterprise readiness that I described earlier.

是的，當然了。正如我在準備好的發言中所說，語音人工智能是近年來我們所看到的新產品發布中採用規模最大、速度最快的。我認為行業有一種趨勢正在向渠道整合轉變，客戶正在尋求更統一的界面，包括語音、消息傳遞和社交渠道，以實現高效的消費者參與。我認為，LivePerson 擁有一流的消息傳遞和自動化產品，並且對語音人工智能和社交的需求肯定正在加速。再說一次，我們的價值主張不是與現有的解決方案競爭，而是將思維方式轉變為我們認為的未來。與現有企業當前可用於更同步語音操作的所有工具相比，這是一個更加自動化的流程。因此，我們認為這確實是除了我之前描述的企業準備就緒之外的優勢。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Arjun Bhatia with William Blair. Please proceed with your question.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Arjun Bhatia 和 William Blair 的線路。請繼續你的問題。

Hi, this is Chris on for Arjun. Thanks for taking the question. So it's good to hear that MDR had improved sequentially in the quarter. Do you think this is an inflection point for this metric, and if so, what's behind the change?

大家好，我是阿瓊的克里斯。感謝您提出問題。因此，很高興聽到 MDR 在本季度連續改善。您認為這是該指標的拐點嗎？如果是，變化背後的原因是什麼？

Sorry, you were referring to net revenue retention?

抱歉，您指的是淨收入保留？

That's right. Yes.

這是正確的。是的。

Yes. I think there's a lot of increased momentum coming off of the product launch in addition to, as I described, strong trends in our financial services vertical that are showing through. And then, of course, it's also tied to -- we just came out of a restructuring, right? We were restructuring for a lot of 2022, and that's a distraction. And of course, Q1 was the main event. Now that we're on the other side of that, we're focused on execution, and I think that's going to show through in the results.

是的。我認為，除了正如我所描述的那樣，我們的金融服務垂直領域正在顯現出強勁的趨勢之外，產品的推出還帶來了很多增長的動力。當然，這也與我們剛剛完成重組有關，對吧？ 2022 年的大部分時間我們都在進行重組，這會分散我們的注意力。當然，第一季度是重頭戲。現在我們處於另一邊，我們專注於執行，我認為這將在結果中體現出來。

Got it. It's a nice segway into a question. So talk a bit about some of the success you've been seeing in Financial Services. Is this due to a specific go-to-market initiative or focus for your sales team, or are you naturally finding a good fit in some of the more highly regulated industries?

知道了。這是一個很好的提問方式。請談談您在金融服務領域所取得的一些成功。這是由於您的銷售團隊的特定進入市場計劃或重點，還是您自然而然地在一些監管更嚴格的行業中找到了合適的選擇？

I mean, of course, we have many go-to-market strategies plays that we're executing against, but I think the traction we're seeing with financial services is one, it's very organic and two, financial services has been a mainstay of our customer base for many, many years. It's among the largest across the industries that we service. So a lot of ripe opportunity there. And I think it's also, as we've described, the focus on enterprise readiness on ensuring that we take information security seriously and that there's sufficient guardrails for the kinds of products that this highly regulated industry wants to deploy.

我的意思是，當然，我們正在執行許多進入市場的策略，但我認為我們在金融服務方面看到的吸引力是，第一，它是非常有機的，第二，金融服務一直是支柱我們的客戶群已經很多很多年了。它是我們服務的行業中最大的之一。所以那裡有很多成熟的機會。我認為，正如我們所描述的，這也是對企業準備情況的關注，以確保我們認真對待信息安全，並為這個高度監管的行業想要部署的各種產品提供足夠的防護。

And we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session, and this also concludes today's conference call. You may now -- thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines at this time.

我們的問答環節已經結束，今天的電話會議也結束了。您現在可以——感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開線路。