Austin Cole

Austin Cole, on for Patrick Walravens, asked about the specific use cases being seen with Docusign Navigator and what customer engagement signals give the company confidence in targeting larger customers with the IAM platform.

Answer

CEO Allan Thygesen explained that AI-powered data extraction is a natural and high-value use case. He gave the example of Navigator automatically extracting renewal dates and notice periods from agreements to create alerts and automated workflows for sales or procurement teams. He noted the value proposition is universally understood, which gives him confidence, but acknowledged the company is taking a measured approach by starting with departmental rollouts in the enterprise.

Austin Cole, on for Pat Walravens at Citizens JMP, asked about the competitive threat from emerging 'AI SDR' companies and how they compare to ZoomInfo's Copilot.

Answer

CEO Henry Schuck dismissed AI SDRs as a 'flash in the pan,' citing low productivity and regulatory hurdles that cause many pilots to fail. He contrasted this with ZoomInfo's Copilot, which serves a broader range of users beyond SDRs—including AEs and CSMs—for deeper strategic work, offering greater expansion potential.

Austin Cole, on behalf of Pat Walravens at Citizens JMP, asked about the competitive threat from emerging 'AI SDR' tools and how they compare to ZoomInfo's Copilot offering.

Answer

CEO Henry Schuck positioned AI SDRs as a 'flash in the pan' with limited productivity and regulatory issues. He contrasted this with ZoomInfo's Copilot, which he described as a more robust tool used by a wider range of go-to-market professionals (AEs, AMs, CSMs) for strategic tasks beyond simple outbound prospecting.

Austin Cole, on for Pat Walravens, asked about the single most important priority for Paylocity to get right as it looks ahead to fiscal '26.

Answer

President and CEO Toby Williams identified the key priority as continuing the company's strong go-to-market and operational execution, while amplifying that success by leaning more heavily into product momentum from both its AI initiatives and the integrated Airbase offering.

Austin Cole, on for Pat Walravens of Citizens JMP, asked for a high-level perspective on the recent Paychex-Paycor merger, including the strategic rationale and its potential impact on the market.

Answer

Executive Chairman Steven Beauchamp speculated the deal is driven by industry consolidation, potential cost synergies, and Paycor's upmarket focus relative to Paychex. He emphasized that Paylocity will continue its innovation-focused strategy and is well-positioned to benefit from any market disruption, having competed successfully against both entities in the past.

Austin Cole of Citizens JMP asked whether achieving the 'Rule of 30' goal by 2028 is contingent on market improvement and questioned the specific drivers behind the strong Q4 gross margin performance.

Answer

CEO Ron Yekutiel asserted that market improvement is not a prerequisite for reaching their goals, citing booking momentum already achieved. CFO John Doherty added that the business model is flexible to invest in growth while remaining profitable. Regarding gross margin, John Doherty attributed the strength to a higher mix of subscription and EE&T revenue, alongside internal initiatives to improve customer-level profitability. Ron Yekutiel noted Q4 also benefited from some short-term credits.

Austin Cole, on for Patrick Walravens, asked about the monetization strategy for the new Pega Agent Experience (AgentX) and inquired about the background of the U.K. Armed Forces recruiting deal.

Answer

CEO Alan Trefler stated that AgentX is baked into the existing Infinity pricing model, which is based on work volume, not per-seat licenses, making it well-suited for an AI-driven world. Regarding the U.K. deal, he explained Pega won a highly competitive, 18-month formal process to become the core technology for a consolidated recruiting platform for the Army and strategic command, building on existing success with the Navy and Air Force.

Austin Cole asked for the fundamental reasons behind the pressure on net dollar retention and whether it was driven more by pricing or by broader marketing budget cuts.

Answer

CFO Isabelle Winkles attributed the pressure to two main factors. First, on the upsell side, customers are buying closer to their immediate needs rather than for future growth. Second, on the churn side, some customers are rightsizing their contracts at renewal to align with actual usage after not growing into previously purchased entitlements.

Austin Cole, on behalf of Patrick Walravens, asked about the impact of the current interest rate environment, including recent cuts and rising yields, on Alkami's business and client attitudes.

Answer

CEO Alex Shootman stated that the overall demand for digital banking remains consistent regardless of interest rate fluctuations, as it represents a long-term market transformation. He clarified that the primary impact is on the mix of add-on products clients purchase, shifting between deposit-gathering tools in high-rate environments and loan-generation products in low-rate environments. He noted Alkami is well-positioned with products for either scenario.

Austin Cole, on for Pat Walravens of Citizens JMP, asked for more detail on the company's implementation challenges, specifically whether they are creating friction for CCaaS adoption and how they will be resolved.

Answer

Founder and Co-CEO Ragy Thomas explained that CCaaS implementation is a 'new muscle' for Sprinklr, involving complex global rollouts and migrations from legacy systems. He stated the company is actively developing this muscle by building internal expertise, creating playbooks, and enabling regional partners. For core products, the focus is on blueprinting implementations by industry to ensure customers achieve value commensurate with the premium platform.

Asked about the AI opportunity and customer interest in the technology.

Answer

The company is very focused on leveraging AI internally for efficiency and product enhancement. However, they noted that mid-market customers are not explicitly asking for AI but are consuming its benefits through product features, and they don't see this changing significantly even at the higher end of their market.