Q2 2025 TTEC Holdings Inc Earnings Call

Speaker #1: Thank you for standing by. The conference will begin momentarily. Until such time, you will hear music. Thank you. And please continue to stand by.

Speaker #1: Welcome to TTEC's second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. I would like to remind all parties that you will be in a listen-only mode until the question and answer session.

Speaker #1: This call is being recorded at the request of TTEC. I would now like to turn the call over to Bob Belknapp, TTEC's group vice president, corporate finance.

Speaker #1: Thank you, sir. And you may begin.

Speaker #2: Good morning. And thank you for joining us today. TTEC is hosting this call to discuss its second quarter results for the period ended June 30th, 2025.

Speaker #2: Participating on today's call are Kenneth Tuchman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TTEC, and Kenny Wagers, Chief Financial Officer of TTEC. Yesterday, TTEC issued a press release announcing its financial results.

Speaker #2: While this call will reflect items discussed in that document, for complete information about our financial performance, we also encourage you to read our quarterly report on Form 10Q for the period ended on June 30th, 2025.

Speaker #2: Before we begin, I want to remind you that matters discussed on today's call may include forward-looking statements related to our operating performance, financial goals, and business outlook, which are based on management's current beliefs and assumptions.

Speaker #2: Please note that these forward-looking statements reflect our opinions as of the date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to update this information as a result of new developments that may occur.

Speaker #2: Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could use our actual results to differ materially from those expected and described today.

Speaker #2: I would also like to mention that before the discussions about our results of operations for the second quarter of 2025, Mr. Tuchman will make brief statement about his decision to withdraw the preliminary proposal to take TTEC private.

Speaker #2: Other than that statement, which Mr. Tuchman is making in his individual capacity, the company will not be commenting on the take-private proposal, nor will we take any questions about it.

Speaker #2: For a more detailed description of our risk factors, please review our 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K. A replay of this conference call will be available on our website under the Investor Relations section.

Speaker #2: I will now turn the call over to Ken.

Speaker #3: Good morning. And thank you for joining us today. Before we turn to our results, I wanted to say a word about the preliminary proposal I made to take the company private.

Speaker #3: And the decision announced last week to withdraw that proposal. I think it's clear to everyone on this call that I'm fully committed to TTEC and its long-term success.

Speaker #3: I founded the company, I'm its largest shareholder, and I've dedicated my entire career to TTEC. While I had hoped to be able to achieve the transaction this turned out not to be possible on acceptable terms in current market conditions.

Speaker #3: Please know that I remain fully committed to our company, employees, customers, partners, and of course, to our investors. I look forward to great things from TTEC in the ure, and as I think you will see from the results we're announcing today, the business is headed in a positive direction.

Speaker #3: As I'm sure you'll appreciate, we are solely focused on the execution of TTEC's go-forward strategy. As the discussions regarding the take-private have now formally ceased, I won't have anything else to say on this topic.

Speaker #3: Now, on to our results. In the second quarter of 2025, revenue was $544,000,000. Adjusted EBITDA was $52,000,000, a 12% year-over-year increase, and a 140 basis point margin improvement to 10.1%.

Speaker #3: And free cash flow was $86,000,000, further contributing to a meaningful reduction in our borrowings. In partnership with my seasoned CX leadership team, we're ing good progress on our strategic plan to return our business to its historic growth rates and overall financial strength.

Speaker #3: Across both TTEC business units, we will continue to expand our AI and analytics capabilities, diversify our CX technology partner network, and attract high-quality talent.

Speaker #3: And deepen our role as the go-to CX transformation partner for clients across the globe. Agentic AI and analytics are revolutionizing our industry, and creating exciting opportunities for us internally and externally for our clients.

Speaker #3: The potential for AI to simplify business processes, personalize interactions, and augment human capabilities is vast. Right now, however, even the most sophisticated brands are struggling to define a clear path forward.

Speaker #3: Their challenge is not one of vision, but readiness, organizational flexibility, strong data governance, and an agile yet secure cloud-based infrastructure are foundational for success.

Speaker #3: It takes time to reshape organizations and get these systems and processes right. Consider these recent shifts. Contrary to some CX industry reports, global consulting group Cavell projects a 10% increase in demand for contact center associates over the next three years, from 15.3 million in 2025 to 16.8 million contact center associates.

Speaker #3: In addition, technology analysts from Gartner predict that by 2027, over half of the businesses that were planning to replace customer support associates with automation will reconsider.

Speaker #3: Their report indicates that companies relying too heavy on AI risk failure due to unexpected cost, organizational misalignment, and customer dissatisfaction. This course correction in the market underlines several realities we've always known.

Speaker #3: Re-architecting processes is complicated, eliminating operational silos and interconnecting systems is challenging and time-consuming. Successfully integrating technologies into workflows is easier, said than done. Having a modern data estate is a critical and, in most cases, is barely even nascent.

Speaker #3: And finally, people want to interact with empowered people when they need help navigating complex, emotional, and highly valuable interactions. Years of preparing for AI's potential have positioned us well to guide clients through this complex and rapidly moving landscape.

Speaker #3: Increasingly, companies are looking outside their organizations for seasoned experts like us to help them implement AI-enabled programs that will reduce risk and deliver strong business outcomes.

Speaker #3: During times of disruption, our stellar credentials, deep technology and analytics expertise, and decades of frontline CX experience are attracting new clients, and strengthening relationships with our existing ones.

Speaker #3: With our digital-first approach, we're thoughtfully deploying AI internally across our entire organization and implementing AI externally where it makes sense for our clients. Across our two business segments, we're designing, building, implementing, and operating scalable, data-driven solutions where AI and people work together to grow revenue, reduce cost, and build lasting customer loyalty for our clients.

Speaker #3: Let me share how. We'll start with our CX management services through TTEC Engage. Demand for AI-enabled services continues to grow. This quarter, we onboarded several new clients while also increasing our pipeline.

Speaker #3: Notably, several of the new wins are with established brands that are piloting outsourcing for first time. And although these programs often launch on a modest scale, they quickly gain momentum and expand as we demonstrate meaningful results.

Speaker #3: Over the last 18 months, we've secured $15 new large enterprise clients with substantial growth potential. Nine have already expanded their business with us, including three have more than doubled their initial spend.

Speaker #3: Our longstanding clients continue rely on us as they evolve. Leveraging our technology expertise and strong operations, we continue to grow share of our wallet with them.

Speaker #3: As we continue to deliver exceptional results for our clients, we're being awarded work in new areas of their business. In the first half of this year alone, we've sold 150% more in these new areas for clients as compared to all of last year.

Speaker #3: Here are just a few of the many ways we're using technology to innovate with our clients. For our ustomer-obsessed home improvement retailer, we're lying AI-based accent neutralization technology to strengthen the customer experience by improving the clarity communication from anywhere in the world.

Speaker #3: For a top-tier financial services client, we're helping them improve their customer experience using data analytics to prioritize the most effective channel of engagement. And for a telecom giant, we're driving growth at the top of the funnel with data-driven sales motions for their new mission-critical solution offering.

Speaker #3: AI is now integral to our operations. Automating and optimizing functions across the board; however, just like our clients, getting the most out of AI is a multi-year journey that requires diligence, flexibility, and time.

Speaker #3: As we continue to refine our processes, we're eing operational gains, new opportunities, better commercial alignment, and improved results. For example, our talent acquisition team is enhancing our candidate screening process with AI to give recruiters more time to find and hire the right people with the problem-solving skills and compassion needed to build lasting customer engagement and loyalty.

Speaker #3: Our new AI-assisted curriculum wizards are enabling our instructional designers dramatically improve the quality of client-supplied training materials with more compelling and engaging content. We are able to build learning journeys that reduce unproductive time in training classes and accelerate speed to proficiency for our associates.

Speaker #3: And our AI-enabled performance management platform, TTEC Perform, provides personalized real-time coaching. It has been deployed across numerous client programs and delivering a double-digit improvements in handle time, quality, attrition, and employee engagement.

Speaker #3: Now let's turn to our CX consulting and technology segment, TTEC Digital, where we continue to see rapid evolution in client priorities. This shift reflects a broader market trend: rather than replacing core systems, clients are layering AI capabilities onto their current environments to drive targeted outcomes.

Speaker #3: These engagements are often smaller in initial scope and are faster to deploy than traditional CCAS implementations. They are highly strategic, frequently expanding into multi-phase programs, and generating recurring managed service opportunities as clients seek to maintain and optimize their AI, analytics, and technology investments.

Speaker #3: While this transition is creating a short-term impact on revenue due to the shift in mix and deal types, it positions us for stronger long-term performance.

Speaker #3: These AI-led engagements align with our strengths in consulting, orchestration, large-scale data models, and managed services. They will carry higher gross margins and deeper client engagement over time.

Speaker #3: Recent wins demonstrate how our portfolio of capabilities are helping clients make the leap from operating a legacy contact center to managing a dynamic AI-enabled customer interaction hub.

Speaker #3: For example, for a leading healthcare organization, we're designing the future member experience. Integrating disparate systems and enabling modern AI capabilities. This is a multi-year partnership with strong potential for expansion.

Speaker #3: For a global financial services client, we're implementing a new customer data platform to unlock AI benefits and lower cost. Leveraging our ience and knowledge of their specific infrastructure and requirements.

Speaker #3: And we just went live with a modern data estate for a large travel and hospitality brand. The unified database connects a myriad of online and offline sources to provide a complete and seamless view of the customer journey.

Speaker #3: The system enables complex customer segmentation, and sophisticated offer customization, and is already creating new sources of revenues for our client. Now I'd like to move on to our progress with our IP development.

Speaker #3: Oftentimes, our work uncovers unmet client needs. Fueling collaboration with technology partners and development through our own proprietary software team. With experience across all the major CX technologies, our full-stack developers are building and deploying purpose-driven solutions across platforms.

Speaker #3: We make these proprietary technologies available in the open market through app stores and marketplaces. For example, our team just developed and completed our AI gateway solution to give companies access to powerful AI functionality with minimal risk and cost.

Speaker #3: This proprietary middleware reduces integration time and cost by up to 75%, with any legacy or modern contact center platform. Early adopters are already seeing accelerated time to value, risk reduction, and enhanced customer experience.

Speaker #3: As the industry evolves through this period of rapid transition, every business is seeking a path forward. CX leaders are looking for expert advisors help them build and implement their roadmaps with proper guardrails to protect their business and their customers.

Speaker #3: Whether clients need human associates, agentic AI, or a combination of both, we're ady to help them move confidently into the future with solutions that are practical, secure, and scalable.

Speaker #3: Although we're pleased with our progress, we see ample opportunity for ongoing advancement. We're continuing to focus improving our margins by optimizing operations, implementing new technology, and improved process across our organization and doubling down on our data-driven approach to decision-making.

Speaker #3: Every day, we're helping build the next era of customer experience alongside our clients, partners, and talented teams. I'm encouraged by the progress and excited by what lies ahead.

Speaker #3: Every organization today faces a mandate to transform now. We're ready and well-positioned to help our clients lead the way. On behalf of our board directors and our teams of CX engineers, architects, data analysts, trainers, and frontline brand ambassadors worldwide, thank you for your continued support.

Speaker #3: And now, I'll hand the call off to Kenny.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Ken, and good morning. I will start with a review of our second quarter 2025 financial results before providing context into our updated 2025 financial outlook.

Speaker #2: In my discussion of the second quarter financial results, reference to revenue is on a gap basis, while EBITDA, operating income, and earnings per share are on a non-gap adjusted basis.

Speaker #2: A full reconciliation of our gap to non-gap results is included in the table attached to our earnings press release. Turning our consolidated financial results, we ended the first half of the year on a positive note, with solid performance continuing in the second quarter.

Speaker #2: While our revenue declined over the prior year as forecasted, it exceeded our plan primarily due to higher than expected embedded-based growth in our engaged segment.

Speaker #2: Our second quarter adjusted EBITDA and operating income margins were also slightly above plan, in both our engaged and digital segments. We delivered profitability improvements year over year, both in terms of absolute dollars and margin percentages.

Speaker #2: In the second quarter and first half of the year, these results reflect the actions we have taken and continue to implement to improve our operating efficiencies and overall cost structure.

Speaker #2: Turning to our results, on a consolidated basis for the second quarter of 2025 compared to the prior year period, revenue was $544,000,000 compared to $543,000,000, a decrease of 3.8%.

Speaker #2: Adjusted EBITDA was $52,000,000, or $10.1% of revenue, compared to $46,000,000, or $8.7%. Operating income was $37,000,000, or $7.2% of revenue, compared to $30,000,000, or $5.5%.

Speaker #2: And earnings per share was $0.22, compared to $0.14. Turning to our second quarter 2025 segment results, in our engaged segment, second quarter revenue decreased 4.3% as forecasted to $400 million over the prior year period.

Speaker #2: Operating income $18,000,000, or $4.6% of revenue, reflecting an increase of 26.3%, or $110 basis points over the prior year. The engaged segment's second quarter financial results are in line with our full year guidance, with revenue tracking higher than our expectations.

Speaker #2: This is primarily due to the expansion of existing lines business and new lines of business within our embedded base as Ken mentioned. The revenue carried forward from the extension of a large public sector program into the first half of 2025 is also contributing to the overperformance.

Speaker #2: We continue to focus on our profit optimization initiatives, improving our operating efficiencies on top of the cost reduction actions we took in the second half of 2024.

Speaker #2: We are seeing the results with our second consecutive quarter reflecting year over year increases in both our EBITDA and operating income margin percentages despite the expected decline in revenue.

Speaker #2: The segment's implementation of AI-enabled solutions and focus on operational excellence continues to resonate with our existing clients, evidenced by growth within our edded base.

Speaker #2: The caliber of new logo signings within Engage continues to improve as well. Most importantly, profit optimization continues to materialize in our financial results. We are committed to balancing these initiatives with investments in our AI technologies in support of our growing embedded base and in new talent.

Speaker #2: The engaged backlog is $1.64 billion, or $101% of our updated 2025 revenue guidance at the midpoint of the range, up from 99% for the same period of 2024.

Speaker #2: The engaged last 12-month revenue retention rate is 88%, but reflects a 94% retention rate when adjusted for the revenue-related to the financial services and public sector clients discussed in prior quarters.

Speaker #2: This compares to a revenue retention rate 91% in prior year. While the last 12-month retention rate is starting to improve, the second quarter on a standalone basis shows an inflection point as the adjusted revenue retention rate is 97%, reflecting a return to historical levels of engaged top-line growth.

Speaker #2: Moving on to our digital segment, second quarter revenue was $114,000,000, a decrease of 2.3% over the prior year. Operating income was $18,000,000, or $16.1% of revenue, an increase of 22.8%, or $330,000,000 basis points over the same period last year.

Speaker #2: Digital's second quarter 2025 year-over-year profit improvement was largely due to the one-time sale of IP software, which generated approximately $4 million of revenue at 100% profit margin.

Speaker #2: Excluding one-time resales, operating income was 12.3% in the quarter, compared to 11.8% in the prior year, a 50 basis point improvement. The improved profitability was attributable to a 9% increase in professional services operating income dollars.

Speaker #2: Representing a $390,000 basis point margin improvement, despite a 3% decline in revenue. The higher income was achieved through centralized management, capacity planning, and increased utilization.

Speaker #2: Recurring revenue declined to $2.3% primarily due to a decrease in managed services from cloud migrations. The second quarter revenue decline in recurring and professional services was partially offset by a $3.8% increase in one-time resales.

Speaker #2: Driven primarily by the previously mentioned IP software sale. Although the digital revenue was slightly down compared to the prior year, we are pleased with the expansion of our CX technology partner network.

Speaker #2: We have diversified our offerings and solutions to address the market demand for AI-enabled enterprise-wide digital transformations. This will lead to long-term top-line growth with higher quality engagements, that drive client retention and profitability.

Speaker #2: Recurring managed service offerings represented approximately 63% of digital's total second quarter revenue, which was flat to the same period last year. Our digital backlog is $387,000,000, or 83% of our 2025 revenue guidance at the midpoint of the range, slightly down from 85% for the same period last year.

Speaker #2: The digital segment's second-quarter and first-half results are in line with our guidance, as we continue to navigate the remix from point solutions related to contact center technology to new opportunities with our diversified hyperscaler partners.

Speaker #2: Balancing this shift both in terms revenue and our go-to-market strategy is critical. And thus, we continue to remain focused on efficiencies, capacity management, and talent redeployment.

Speaker #2: I will now share other second quarter 2025 metrics before discussing our outlook. Free cash flow was a positive $86,000,000 in the second quarter of 2025, compared to $35,000,000 in the prior year.

Speaker #2: The $51,000,000 year-over-year increase was due to an additional $43,000,000 provided by operating cash flow and a $7,000,000 decrease in capital expenditures. Working capital provided $45,000,000 of the cash flow from operations, an improvement compared to the prior year.

Speaker #2: Of which, $21,000,000 related to the collection of an aged VAT receivable. Capital expenditures were $7,000,000, or 1.4% of revenue for the second quarter of 2025.

Speaker #2: Down $7,000,000 from $14,000,000, or 2.7% of revenue for the second quarter of last year. With our keen focus on cash flow generation and debt reduction, we continue our de-leveraging trend.

Speaker #2: As of June 30th, 2025, cash was $83,000,000, with $886,000,000 of debt primarily representing borrowings under our $1.2 billion revolving credit facility. The net debt position of $804,000,000 represents a year-over-year decrease of $50,000.000.

Speaker #2: And a decrease versus the prior quarter of $78 million. We ended the quarter with a net leverage ratio, as defined under the credit facility, of 3.39 times.

Speaker #2: Down from 3.79 times at the end of the first quarter. And down from our high of 4.49 times at the end of the third quarter 2024.

Speaker #2: Our normalized tax rate was 43.4% in the second quarter of 2025. Compared to 33.7% in the prior year. The increase is primarily due to the impact of the US valuation allowance recorded against the US pre-tax losses in the second quarter of 2024.

Speaker #2: Turning to our 2025 outlook, I will now provide some context with regards to our updated full-year financial guidance. As discussed, our engaged segment's revenue is tracking higher than planned.

Speaker #2: This is primarily due to the growth in our embedded base, which demonstrates that our clients value our services and innovation as they look to us to provide solutions across new lines of business.

Speaker #2: The revenue is also impacted by the depreciation in the US dollar against foreign currencies, as it pertains to our revenue outlook. The engaged business, which primarily contracts in US dollars, does invoice in several local currencies, which provides a natural revenue uplift as the US dollar depreciates.

Speaker #2: The majority of the business, however, has a negative translation impact when converting local cost into US dollars under this scenario. Having a negative 6% impact on our full year engaged EBITDA guidance.

Speaker #2: As a result, we are increasing the engaged revenue guidance by $50 million, for which the foreign exchange impact represents approximately 45% of this change. Engaged gap revenue is now $1.62 billion at the midpoint of our guidance.

Speaker #2: A decrease over the prior year of $7.3%. This race over the prior year of $7.3%. This raises our TTEC revenue to $2.09 billion at the midpoint of our guidance, a decrease of 5.4% compared to the prior year.

Speaker #2: We are reiterating the engaged outlook for EBITDA and operating income, noting the negative foreign exchange impact. In our digital segment, we continue to navigate the rapidly changing market as it shifts from point solutions for contact center technology to new, end-to-end hyperscaler solutions for CX.

Speaker #2: That drive true transformation. We have the partner network, the talent, and the in-depth knowledge to deliver in this new market. Balancing this shift is critical.

Speaker #2: With this in mind, we are intensely managing the revenue and profitability impacts of this market shift. The timing is not without risk. However, based on our first half results and our second half outlook, we are reiterating our full year digital guidance.

Speaker #2: For our second half outlook, we are forecasting a downward trend in our third quarter results, versus prior year. As we invest in the ramps of engaged seasonal, healthcare volumes.

Speaker #2: Which are forecasted to be higher in 2025 compared to the prior year. We expect these investments in the seasonal revenue to deliver significant year-over-year profitability growth in the fourth quarter.

Speaker #2: Resulting in an overall improvement in the second half of 2025, compared to 2024. For our digital segment, we expect a modest decline in profitability for the second half of 2025.

Speaker #2: Compared 2024. As the mix of our business shift towards hyperscaler, AI, and analytics solutions. This will ultimately result in higher margin engagements, but the timing creates a short-term decline in revenue and profitability.

Speaker #2: Please reference our commentary in business outlook section of our second quarter 2025 earnings press release to obtain our expectations of our updated 2025 full year guidance at the consolidated and segment level.

Speaker #2: In closing, our second quarter and first half results reflect our commitment to improving profitability, cash flow generation, and debt reduction. With these results and our outlook for the second half of the year, we are confident we can deliver to our full year guidance range but remain cautious as we navigate the volatile global economic environment.

Speaker #2: As always, we remain committed to our focus, on executing against our top business priorities, and serving best interests of all our stakeholders. I will now turn the call back to Bob.

Speaker #2: Thanks, Kenny. As we open the call, we ask that you limit your questions to one or two at a time. Operator, you may open the line.

Speaker #1: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press TAR and then the number one.

Speaker #1: Please unmute your phone and record your name and company name clearly when prompted. These are required to introduce your question. To cancel your request, please press TAR and then the number two.

Speaker #1: Our first question comes from the line of Jude Sutton of Craig Gollum. Sir, your line is now open.

Speaker #4: Thank you. As instructed, I won't ask any of 150 questions I had about the Take Private process. Instead, I will ask about the bank discussions that I believe you had started last quarter relative to the renewal that will come next year on your revolver.

Speaker #5: Good morning, George. How are you? It's been a while.

Speaker #4: Fabulous. thank you for that question. we're an active discussion, as we speak, and we feel confident that we will, bring this to closure in third quarter.

Speaker #4: and, all is well.

Speaker #5: Super. Can you give an interesting accent neutralization example of one of the customers that have expanded with you? It brings to bear the opportunity as you have really tried to move towards a bigger offshore model.

Speaker #5: It would suggest an ability to, intensify that effort, given a more broader effort on accent neutralization. Can you tell how broad can that be?

Speaker #5: So where utilizing the technology quite a bit. we only gave one example, but we have multiple clients taking advantage of it. And really where it, where it benefits us is in areas where we see very, very deep pockets of of highly educated talent, but that also have, what, you know, some Americans, Australians, Brits, et cetera, would consider to be, you ow, an accent that's a bit, you know, thicker to them.

Speaker #5: And so we can neutralize that accent and we can, we can literally, get the accent to be much more, almost indigenous sounding to the country that we're serving.

Speaker #5: So, we're, we're very excited by the technology. it's, it's fully operational. Because it's AI-based, it gets better. The more we use it, the better that it gets.

Speaker #5: and, it certainly opens up more markets for us. and, and gives us what we care about is where do we find the the most talented, people with the deepest skill set, capabilities, with the highest aptitude?

Speaker #5: and, and now we can go into markets, where, we know that talent exists, but where historically we would get pushback from clients because of, lack of accent neutralization.

Speaker #4: Perfect. Thank ou.

Speaker #5: Thank you, George.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Our next thank you. Our next question will be from Maggie Nolan of William Blair. Your line is now open.

Speaker #6: Hi. Thank you. I was encouraged by some of the stats that you shared on project or, or rather, engagement, sorry, excuse me, agent growth in the industry.

Speaker #6: And the, the comment that ou had made also on the caliber of the new logo signings, and I'm wondering if you feel like clients are starting to recognize the need to move forward with some of these programs?

Speaker #6: If we've reached, you know, a bit of an inflection point here, or is there still largely a pause in spending as they're essing maybe how they would want to incorporate AI?

Speaker #5: Good morning, Maggie. I would say there's, it's a great question. So, we’re seeing multiple things. Number one, it's no secret that there's been a significant amount of consolidation in this space.

Speaker #5: And through that consolidation, it's not uncommon for, for large clients, who have historically had their business distributed amongst, let's say, four providers, to feel maybe a bit vulnerable when, through the, through the mergers, et cetera, that now they're down to two.

Speaker #5: so consequently, we're continuing to see reallocation of business. and that we believe, we're going to continue to benefit from. So that's one point. the second point is, is that, we're able to demonstrate technology capabilities that we're confident are competitors talk about, but don't have anywhere near the credentials or the thousands upon thousands of implementations that we've done.

Speaker #5: And so we're capitalizing off of that and winning some really exciting large enterprises. That said, those large enterprises, as I stated in my script, in many cases, you know, they're putting their foot in the water before they put their entire leg in the water.

Speaker #5: And we're very comfortable with that. and we're a highly, used to what we call champion challenger, models. And so what I would just simply say is that the logos that we're winning have deep, deep wells of opportunity.

Speaker #5: That can expand into very large clients. And so we are happy to bring these clients, onboard them, build out some technology capabilities that they're getting from others, and then, through performance and execution, win, win, you ow, market share or more market share, from them.

Speaker #5: To answer your question about, our clients hesitating, because AI, I, I don't necessarily think that's what's, what is, what they're doing. Do I think that the overall marketplace is cautious because there is so much economic uncertainty as it relates to tariffs coming, going, going up, going down, et cetera?

Speaker #5: There's no question about it. there's not a, a GSI or a, or a BPO or any, anyone that's not experiencing clients saying that, they don't really feel like they've got their, their north, their magnetic north or their, you ow, their footing fully on the ground.

Speaker #5: and so consequently, I think what that's doing is there's still executing on, on, new deals, but I think that they are, basically making smaller commitments until they have a bit more clarity on their future.

Speaker #5: and we're eing this everywhere in the world. and so, not in no way is that meant to be a political statement. I just think it's a reality of where large corporations are.

Speaker #5: That said, you ow, you wouldn't know it from our stock price, but we really feel good about where the, where the market is right now.

Speaker #5: And then the last point that I would say, I'm sorry for waxing on as it relates to AI. Is there has been so many negative articles on poorly executed AI.

Speaker #5: That it absolutely is creating fear, doubt, and uncertainty. And so therefore, clients, I would say, just as Gartner has said, are in some ways, being very cautious about where they use AI and where they don't.

Speaker #5: We've been very clear that right now, the first stage of really taking advantage of AI is to make our people better, to drive higher quality, to drive better accuracy, to get them to, to, to, to drive, speed to proficiency, et cetera.

Speaker #5: versus trying to simply create chatbots or voice bots that entirely replace what they do. We believe at the end of the day, that humans do want to interact with humans.

Speaker #5: We also believe that all of these bad IVR transactions that we all experience in voice jail that will get replaced with voice bots. And that is a perfect place for, you know, be able to have conversational, AI, et cetera, taking place.

Speaker #5: Where you have very defined answers to questions versus the risk of hallucination. Again, we're very realistic AI. We're incorporating it in every aspect of our business, both internally.

Speaker #5: We're lying it externally. And we think it's going to make more profitable. And, and frankly, more interesting to our, our clients. And this is such, this is where we see a, a, a very significant opportunity for digital.

Speaker #5: Both on AI, as well as our analytics practice that we're expanding, as we speak. So, sorry for the very long-winded, answer. I hope that's somewhat helpful.

Speaker #5: And if, if I haven't answered all of it, el free to ask. More questions.

Speaker #1: No, that, that does help. Thank you. And then it sounds like maybe you expect an increase in managed services as a percentage of the revenue over time.

Speaker #1: Can you give a sense of the magnitude for that and the impact to the business?

Speaker #5: I mean, what I, what I would just simply say is that we've dramatically and, and that's not an exaggeration when I say dramatically increased our ner network.

Speaker #5: And therefore, we are in deep stead with, realistically, probably fivefold of partners today than we were a year ago. And consequently, the services that those companies afford us to be able to, implement and integrate, come with it managed service opportunities.

Speaker #5: So, whether it be the work that we do with AWS, the work that we do with Azure and Microsoft, the work that we do with Google and GCP, along with a myriad of partners that I won't bore you with all the names, all create much more opportunity for managed services.

Speaker #5: We have significantly shifted our capabilities to go far beyond providing, CCAS capabilities and all of the, accoutments that one would attach to CCAS, as more and more clients are asking us to do, work that is related to their customer experience, but is not necessarily tied to contact center routing, of interactions, et cetera.

Speaker #1: Got it. Thank you.

Speaker #5: Thank you, Maggie.

Speaker #1: All right. Our next estion will be from Vincent Colicchio of Arrington Research. Sir, your line is now open.

Speaker #7: yeah. Ken, how did your engaged offshore, side of the business perform in quarter? And should we expect more investments there?

Speaker #5: well, I'll just, I'll answer part of it, and then I'll let Kenny answer the other part. we are absolutely, pushing hard on, on moving more and more, business.

Speaker #5: And when I say moving, it's not the embedded base that's already onshore. It's, it's acquiring net new business, and, and, and installing that business offshore.

Speaker #5: But, Kenny, do you want to wer that from a?

Speaker #8: Yes. Hey, Vince. Good morning. As we...

Speaker #4: Good morning.

Speaker #8: Talked in prior quarters, Q2 is no different. The first half of the year is no different. The majority of the pipeline, the majority of our sales motion, is on offshoring.

Speaker #8: it's where the clients want to be. back to the earlier question on the call with, with our accent neutralization, with Addie and what we're doing, the opportunity for us to continue to expand, offshore, is, is square into our diversification strategy.

Speaker #8: And again, from a capital, CapEx standpoint, from the geographies that we've laid down over the last 24 months, we're seeing very good expansion in South Africa.

Speaker #8: In Egypt, Eastern Europe, and Latam. And so, it is, you know, Jodaboo and the engaged team, I, I don't know how much is push versus pull, but, ou know, the customers want to go there.

Speaker #8: We're set up to go there. And that's where, where we are seeing our growth. Now, again, going into Q3 and Q4, we're going to have, you know, our, our normal seasonality.

Speaker #8: With all of our U.S.-based healthcare clients, but for sure, the go-to-market motion is focused on those geographies because, back to Ken's point, it's where we're seeing the best agent talent.

Speaker #8: It's where we're seeing the best opportunity to grow the business profitably, and it's also where the customers want to be. So, our offshore mix did improve.

Speaker #8: quarter over quarter, as, we, we are still trending, towards 37 to 39%, for the year. And we're going to continue to execute on that strategy going forward.

Speaker #4: And, second question, what, what verticals at Engage are, are you feeling best about for the second half?

Speaker #5: that's a great question. I mean, I, I think we're seeing opportunity. for sure across financial services. healthcare, technology, travel. I would say that those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Speaker #5: I'm sure that I'm, I'm leading out, some of the others that were oh, oh, excuse me. streaming, media, content. we're seeing real opportunity in that area, as well.

Speaker #5: as well as gaining traction. that's a great estion. You caught me a little flat-footed. I should have had a pre-answer to that, so I apologize.

Speaker #4: No, look, again, to, to the point, it back to diversification, right? This is what talk about. Customer diversification, geodiversification, and then this is what, you ow, Jodaboo and, and again, a lot of our new leaders on the portfolio side that we brought in over the last year, have expertise in these areas.

Speaker #4: And so, to Ken's point, travel, streaming, media—those are some of the big logo wins with these great brands that we've had over the last 6 to 12 months.

Speaker #4: They're bringing not only diversification into those industries, but also they're the ones with the geodiversification for us as well. So, we're, we're very happy with the diversification, into these, fastest, faster growing, verticals, for, for, our, our business and Engage for sure.

Speaker #4: And that's a big part of what John and the go-to-market team are focused on.

Speaker #5: One, one of the reasons why I hesitated to, you know, to give you an answer is because on the digital side, it's all over the board.

Speaker #5: It's everywhere. and we're doing genomics projects now. We're doing, projects, on the payer side, the provider side, the pharmaceutical side. et cetera. And so, since Engage is, is a higher percentage of the revenue, that's what I was responding to.

Speaker #5: But as it relates to digital, we're seeing opportunity literally in every single sector because, frankly, there are so many companies that are trying to modernize right now.

Speaker #5: whether it be getting to the cloud or taking advantage of what you can do in the cloud. especially in the area of AI and analytics.

Speaker #4: Thanks, guys.

Speaker #5: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Our last question will be from Jonathan Lee of Guggenheim Securities. Sir, your line is now open.

Speaker #9: Great. Thanks for taking my estions. how should we think about blended pricing and the rate cards you're seeing across your new wins, particularly as clients adopt new technologies that may be deflationary in ature?

Speaker #5: Well, I sort of see that as two questions. But, so first of all, we like blended pricing. That said, not every client is willing to do blended pricing.

Speaker #5: And therefore, they want it broken out separately from, you know, a digital action as well as an Engage action. But we don't necessarily see it as deflationary.

Speaker #5: As matter of fact, I kind of see the opposite. We see that the more technology that we apply, the more business that they allocate.

Speaker #5: These are very large companies, you know, Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 companies. And so the fact of the matter is, in almost all cases, we have a fraction of the business that they have.

Speaker #5: So it doesn't take much for them to move the needle as we perform. And for them to, allocate more and more business, whether it be allocating, digital business from the GSIs that they've historically used, or whether it be allocating, Engage business from whoever they're ly, with or from their captives.

Speaker #5: And we're seeing, you know, a very nice amount of business coming from companies that traditionally have not outsourced whatsoever. These are some of our, you know, favorite types of clients to work with because they have so much business that they are looking to ultimately move outside of their captive.

Speaker #5: So at least at this point in time, we 't see it deflationary unless I'm understanding what you mean by deflationary.

Speaker #9: The comment around deflationary was more on a rate card perspective. And blended pricing in our view is a function of onshore versus offshore blended mix as opposed to digital and Engage.

Speaker #9: But I appreciate that color, Ken. As a follow-up, look, it's good to hear about the progress around accent neutralization. Outside of regulated industries, can you help potentially size some of the risk around customers shifting work offshore in an effort to use accent neutralization capabilities?

Speaker #4: I really can't. I mean, I think that's for me, that's almost like asking how high is high. What, what I would just simply say is that the labor market in the United States continues to be tight.

Speaker #4: and more and more, clients are, realizing that they can obtain quality that is as good or better, and, and achieve the quantities that they need by, you know, by, by being in nearshore and offshore environments.

Speaker #4: The regulated work without a doubt cannot move and is not going to move. offshore. and, you ow, as you know, we, we do a fair amount in the public sector space, the federal space, et cetera.

Speaker #4: but at the, at the end of the day, I, I, I unfortunately, I, I, I don't a way of saying that. Look, I want to just once again, I want to this in perspective.

Speaker #4: this is a very large TAM on both the digital side and the Engage side. We're a few billion dollar company. We don't need very much of that TAM to be a, a much larger company than we are today.

Speaker #4: So the fact of the matter is, is that there is hundreds of billions of dollars worth of business out there. And we're just simply chipping away at the overall scale of the marketplace which is why we feel very, very confident that we can get this business back to the historical growth rates that we've achieved in the past, if not higher.

Speaker #4: As well as, back to our historical margins. And that's what our focus is right now, is, is basically recreating what we had, in the past.

Speaker #4: And we feel like we're on the right, right, right path and the right track right now.

Speaker #9: Thanks, Ken.

Speaker #5: Thank you.