TTEC - Earnings Call - Q4 2024

Executive Summary

• Q4 2024 revenue was $567.4M (-9.4% y/y; +7.2% q/q) with Adjusted EBITDA $50.9M (9.0% margin) and Non-GAAP diluted EPS $0.19; GAAP diluted EPS was $0.10.
• Results landed in line with the prior-quarter commentary and near the low end of guidance cadence; Engage profitability improved sequentially in H2, aided by profit optimization and offshore mix, while Digital softness reflected lower on-premise product sales and delayed larger projects.
• 2025 guidance introduces margin expansion despite a revenue decline: company revenue $2.014B–$2.064B (mid $2.039B), Adjusted EBITDA $215M–$235M (mid $225M, 11.0% margin), and Non-GAAP EPS $0.95–$1.20 (mid $1.08).
• Strategic themes: accelerated AI infusion across Engage and Digital, offshore expansion (South Africa, Egypt, EMEA, LatAm), continued dividend suspension to prioritize deleveraging, and a board special committee evaluating a take-private proposal by the CEO.
• Potential catalysts: confirmation of H2-weighted profitability trajectory, Digital return to growth on managed services, execution on 2025 margin plan, and updates on special committee/take-private process.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Engage segment delivered sequential profitability improvement; Q4 Engage Non-GAAP operating income rose to $22.3M (4.9% margin), exceeding low-end guidance and trending toward mid-range on stronger public sector volumes.
• Digital recurring managed services mix increased; in Q4, recurring managed services represented ~64% of Digital revenue vs ~56% prior year, supporting more durable margin potential even as on-premise product revenue declines.
• Clear 2025 plan to expand margins: Adjusted EBITDA guided to $215M–$235M (11.0% mid), Non-GAAP operating margin 7.6%–8.4% (8.0% mid), underpinned by offshore delivery, operational discipline, and AI-enabled agent productivity gains.
• “We advanced AI adoption internally for our own associates and with our embedded base clients… and have accelerated the infusion of AI capabilities into every new sales opportunity” — CEO Ken Tuchman.
• “We are confident our Digital segment will return to growth through our expanded suite of CX technology offerings, laying the foundation for margin improvements in 2025” — CFO Kenny Wagers.

What Went Wrong

• Top-line pressure persisted: Q4 revenue down 9.4% y/y; Digital professional services revenue softness and customer delays; Engage headwinds from healthcare seasonality and specific client discontinuations.
• Full-year 2024 results were weak vs prior year: revenue $2.208B (-10.4% y/y), GAAP loss from operations (-$173.5M) driven by a non-cash $196M impairment in Q2 for Engage; full-year Non-GAAP margins compressed.
• Cash generation deteriorated in 2024 due to factoring facility discontinuation; FY 2024 cash from operations -$58.8M, FCF -$104.0M, and net debt rose to $893.0M; dividend suspended to prioritize deleveraging.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Welcome to TTEC's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call. I would like to remind all parties that you'll be in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session. This call is being recorded at the request of TTEC. I would now like to turn the floor to Bob Belknapp, TTEC's Group Vice President, Corporate Finance. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Bob Belknapp (VP of Financial Planning and Analysis)

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. TTEC is hosting this call to discuss its fourth quarter and full year results for the period ended December 31, 2024. Participating on today's call are Ken 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. While this call will reflect items discussed within that document, for complete information about our financial performance, we also encourage you to read our full year 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K. 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.

Please note that these forward-looking statements reflect our opinion as of the date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to revise this information as a result of new developments that may occur. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expected and described today. For a more detailed description of our risk factors, please review our 2024 annual report on Form 10-K. Before we proceed, I would like to state that our call today will not be addressing Mr. Tuchman's proposal to take TTEC private. The Special Committee of the Board formed to evaluate that proposal, together with its independent legal and financial advisors, continued to engage with Mr. Tuchman, and the proposal valuation is ongoing. The Company cannot comment on that process and will not be responding to any questions about it.

A replay of this conference call will be available on our website under the Investor Relations section. I will now turn the call over to Ken.

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. As previously shared, 2024 was a transitional year for TTEC. Across the company, we continued to advance on three major priorities: our diversification strategy with a broadened geographic delivery footprint and client portfolio, our expanded digital CX value proposition with differentiated technology-enabled solutions, and our overall goal of achieving and exceeding our historical growth and run rate margins in the near term. For the full year 2024, revenue and non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA were in line with the guidance commentary that we provided last quarter, representing $2.2 billion and $202 million, or 9.2% respectively. With a disciplined focus on these priorities, we made progress on many fronts in 2024. We continued our success winning new clients. These deals are diversified across our solutions and core industries of financial services and healthcare, as well as emerging verticals including retail, travel, and streaming services.

We established and strengthened additional relationships with over a dozen CX technology partners through collaborative product development, joint engineering efforts, and shared go-to-market strategies. We advanced AI adoption internally for our own associates and with our embedded based clients in both business segments and have accelerated the infusion of AI capabilities into every new sales opportunity. For the second consecutive year, we were recognized as a great place to work in 15 geographies where we operate. Although we are pleased with our improvements in key areas of our business in 2024, we were constructively dissatisfied with our overall financial results for the year. While our forecasted margin improvements reflect our progress, top-line revenue is impacted by two client business decisions unrelated to our performance. The relationships with both clients remained strong, with ample opportunity for growth.

Additionally, our top line was also being impacted by a muted open enrollment healthcare season, and our continued focus on rationalizing client engagements that do not meet our target financial profile. Kenny will share details on those topics in his comments shortly. Moving on to the discussion about the industry. The AI revolution is creating exciting opportunities for us. Innovative technologies are flooding the market with entirely new ways to advance the customer journey and the associate experience. In this environment, the needs of clients, Chief Operating Officers, and Chief Information Officers are converging. They are working together to find approaches that go far beyond labor augmentation and point solutions. They are looking for the integration of CX technology and services that seamlessly work together end-to-end to increase operating efficiencies, improve customer experiences, and strengthen the top and bottom line.

This capability is right in our sweet spot and remains a differentiator for TTEC. With our heritage of digital innovation woven into everything we do, we're uniquely prepared to take advantage of this moment. It took us many years to build the capabilities and perfect the solutions that are resonating with clients today. We believe these capabilities and solutions, if carefully inspected, are highly differentiated relative to what our competitors claim to have. We have done the hard work to complete thousands of technology implementations for leading brands across the globe, develop collaborative partnerships with all the dominant CX technology leaders, and build a deep and enviable bench of full-stack CX technologists, data scientists, and customer journey strategists. As the digital customer experience transformation company, clients are looking to us as they navigate the complex CX ecosystem.

Across our two business segments, TTEC Engage and TTEC Digital, we offer the breadth and depth of CX expertise unmatched in the industry. At this pivotal time in the market, we're helping clients create experiences that feel seamless and intuitive, even if they're being delivered by a combination of human interaction and modern technology. Now let's move on to an update on our two business segments, starting with TTEC Engage. Over the past six months, we've strengthened our TTEC Engage management team with several strategic hires to capitalize on numerous opportunities in the market. We brought in experienced client-focused professionals worldwide, including our new President, three vertical industry executives, and operational leaders in the Americas and EMEA. Each of these leaders blends strategic thinking with a focus on performance, and they're accelerating our momentum while also delivering measurable client value.

In TTEC Engage, our sales momentum is beginning to improve. In 2024, with 15 new enterprise client wins, our go-to-market engine exceeded its new client acquisition goal. Though many of these new relationships start with a single line of business, they offer significant potential for future expansion with new solutions and additional business units. Increasingly, these deals are being delivered offshore, as evidenced by our growth in our new geographies year over year. We continue to leverage technology at scale in TTEC Engage to amplify the skills and the talent of our frontline teams. Internally, we're using AI-enabled solutions and data-driven insight across the entire associate lifecycle to recruit, train, engage, and empower our people. In addition, we are implementing solutions that directly improve the customer journey, including self-service knowledge management, accent neutralization capabilities, and our proprietary voice translation applications.

While it is still early days, we're encouraged by the potential of these technologies to increase quality, efficiencies, and customer satisfaction. Several wins this quarter underline the value of our digital-first expertise. For example, a recent success with a popular travel platform stemmed from their dissatisfaction with their CX partner's lack of innovation. They chose us for our proven ability to enhance quality and operational efficiency through human-enabled AI-powered solutions. This new program will utilize the full extent of our operating model, including learning, knowledge optimization, voice translation, and conversational analytics. Now on to TTEC Digital. This year, we closed 55 new clients, including many larger enterprise-sized companies that provide significant runway for future expansion. As clients' technology needs shift from cloud migration services to more complex enterprise-wide digital transformation, we are dramatically expanding our total addressable market.

These multifaceted engagements typically start with shorter-cycle professional services and grow into longer-term recurring managed service engagements. Let me share a few examples. We started our relationship with a regional healthcare provider by implementing their new CRM system. During the project, we recognized the need for a customized modern CCaaS platform. By utilizing our proprietary software, we connected to two systems and now provide ongoing holistic support through our Surround CX managed services methodology. We've streamlined various systems to enhance connectivity for our clients' patients and caregivers. Throughout this process, we've established a long-term trusted partnership that will continue to grow. In another healthcare example, we're partnering with a Fortune 10 global healthcare solutions company to modernize their infrastructure for enhanced voice and digital interactions. Our collaboration began nearly a decade ago with a Cisco deployment.

Following a major acquisition in 2024, they recognized the need to centralize and modernize their critical CX interactions. Together, we developed a robust technology roadmap that will transition them from a rigid legacy IVR system to an intuitive conversational AI platform, simplifying interactions, streamlining routing, reducing cost, while improving healthcare outcomes across their network. We have several client engagements like this in development, and I look forward to sharing both the customer experience and the business impact of these initiatives in the months to come. In closing, our goal remains the same: to be the undisputed leader in the future of CX, where human expertise integrates seamlessly with advanced technologies. As the digital customer experience transformation company, we will continue to deliver an end-to-end portfolio of outcome-based CX technology and services.

As we move into 2025, we remain focused on growing our business by diversifying our client base, solutions and geographic footprint, improving our operating leverage and profitability, and continuing to strengthen the intensity of our performance-based culture. We are confident that our priorities will drive our vision forward and position the company for success in 2025 and beyond. On behalf of our global team, board of directors, and leadership, thank you for your continued support. Now I'll hand it over to Kenny.

Kenny Wagers (CFO)

Thank you, Ken, and good morning. I will start with a review of our full year and fourth quarter 2024 results before providing context into our 2025 full year financial outlook. In my discussion on the fourth quarter and full year financial results, reference to revenue is on a GAAP basis, while EBITDA, operating income, and earnings per share are on a non-GAAP adjusted basis.

A full reconciliation of our GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the tables attached to our earnings press release. On a consolidated basis for full year 2024 compared to the prior year period, revenue was $2.21 billion compared to $2.46 billion, a decrease of 10.4%. Adjusted EBITDA was $202 million, or 9.2% of revenue, compared to $272 million, or 11%. Operating income was $136 million, or 6.2% of revenue, compared to $200 million, or 8.1%. EPS was $0.71 compared to $2.18. Foreign exchange had a $3 million negative impact on revenue, while positively impacting operating income by $7 million, primarily in our Engage segment. Turning to our consolidated fourth quarter 2024 financial results, revenue was $567 million, a decrease of 9.4% over the prior year period, and an increase of 7.2% over the prior quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA was $51 million, or 9% of revenue, compared to $58 million, or 9.2% of revenue in the prior year. Sequentially, adjusted EBITDA was relatively unchanged but declined by 50 basis points as a percentage of revenue. Operating income was $35 million, or 6.2% of revenue, compared to $42 million, or 6.7% in the prior year. Operating income increased 2.5% over the prior quarter but declined by 20 basis points as a percentage of revenue. EPS was $0.19 compared to $0.37 in the prior year period and $0.11 in the prior quarter. Foreign exchange had a $2 million negative impact on revenue in the fourth quarter over the prior year, while positively impacting operating income by $4 million, primarily in our Engage segment.

At the company level, our fourth quarter financial performance was in line with the guidance expectations communicated last quarter at the lower end of the guidance range. Now turning to our fourth quarter and full year 2024 segment results. In our Digital segment, fourth quarter revenue was $115 million, compared to $119 million in the prior year, and relatively unchanged sequentially. The year-over-year compare continues to be impacted by one-time on-premise product sales, which are decreasing as clients migrate to cloud-based CX delivery solutions. Excluding these one-time product sales, Digital revenue grew 3.8% in the quarter compared to the prior year. We continue to deliver growth in our recurring managed services offerings, increasing 10.2% compared to prior year and representing approximately 64% of Digital's total fourth quarter revenue, compared to 56% in the prior year. In our CX professional services offerings, revenue declined 8.5% year-over-year.

As shared previously, select clients have delayed the timing of investing in larger engagements, which impacted the fourth quarter revenue as communicated with our most recent guidance. We continue to view this as a temporary pause and expect a return to growth in 2025, supported by our strong pipeline activity. Digital's fourth quarter 2024 operating income was $13 million, or 11% of revenue, compared to $18 million, or 14.8% in the prior year, and $14 million, or 12.5% in the prior quarter. On a full year basis, Digital's 2024 revenue was $459 million, compared to $487 million in the prior year period. Operating income was $51 million, or 11.2% of revenue, compared to $62 million, or 12.8% in the prior year. Excluding the one-time on-premise product sales, Digital revenue grew slightly at 1%.

Recurring managed services grew 9.1% and represented 64% of Digital's full year revenue, compared to 55% in the prior year. The year-over-year decline in the professional services offerings of 12%, combined with investments in leadership and talent, resulted in lower profitability. Despite the second half headwinds in 2024, we are confident that Digital will return to growth in 2025. Our ability to solution enterprise-wide digital transformations with our professional services engagements will result in long-term recurring revenue. Our Digital backlog for the next 12 months is at $308 million, or 66% of our 2025 revenue guidance at the midpoint of the range, slightly down from 69% in the prior year. Moving on to our Engage segment, fourth quarter seasonal volumes came in above our most recent guidance but were down compared to prior year, as expected.

Revenue decreased 10.8% to $452 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 over the prior year period. Compared to the prior quarter, revenue increased $39 million, or 9.4%. Operating income was $22 million, or 4.9% of revenue, compared to $24 million, or 4.8% of revenue in the prior year. Sequentially, operating income increased 13.3% with an approximate 20 basis points improvement as a percentage of revenue. Engage fourth quarter revenue and operating income exceeded our low end of guidance, coming in closer to the mid-range provided. The overage was primarily driven by upside related to two specific clients in our public sector vertical. We are pleased with our Engage segment's fourth quarter financial results and the profitability improvement in the second half of the year.

The actions we have taken and communicated throughout the second half of 2024 in terms of our profit optimization efforts are evident over the last two quarters and will be more impactful in 2025. On a full year basis, the Engage 2024 revenue was $1.75 billion, compared to $1.98 billion in the prior year. Operating income was $85 million, or 4.9% of revenue, compared to $138 million, or 7% in the prior year period. Approximately half of the full year revenue decline was due to the previously mentioned large client in our financial services vertical that discontinued a line of business early in 2024. We continue to service this client across other programs, which are anticipated to grow in 2025.

The remaining revenue impact is primarily attributable to a decrease in healthcare volumes, including the reduction in seasonal work previously mentioned, partially offset by volume increases in our public sector vertical. Despite the top-line growth headwinds, the quality of Engage opportunities remains strong, and our unique solutions continue to resonate in the market. This is evidenced by the 20 new logos signed in 2024, of which 15 are large enterprise clients with significant growth potential, as previously mentioned by Ken. The Engage backlog for the next 12 months is $1.51 billion, or 96% of our 2025 revenue guidance at the midpoint of the range, up from 94% in 2024. The Engage last 12-month revenue retention rate is 82%, compared to 95% in the prior year. Adjusted for the revenue decline related to the large financial services client, Engage last 12-month revenue retention rate is at 87%.

I will now share other 2024 metrics before discussing our outlook. Cash flow from operations was a negative $59 million in 2024, compared to a positive $145 million in the prior year. As discussed last quarter, the discontinuation of the accounts receivable factoring facility impacted our cash flow by approximately $100 million during the year. Excluding the effect of the factoring facility, 2024 cash flow from operations was a positive $42 million. The remaining impacts are a result of the lower profitability compared to the prior year and a decrease in other working capital. Free cash flow for 2024 was a negative $104 million, compared to a positive $77 million in the prior year. Excluding the effect of the accounts receivable factoring facility and including the proceeds from the sale of a significant real estate asset of $46 million, 2024 free cash flow was a positive $43 million.

As of December 31, 2024, cash was $85 million, with $978 million of debt primarily representing borrowings under our $1.2 billion revolving credit facility. Net debt increased year-over-year by $66 million to $893 million, impacted by the factoring facility discontinuation. The net leverage ratio, as defined under the credit facility, was 3.99 times at year-end, a half-turn reduction from the prior quarter. Capital expenditures were $45 million, or 2% of revenue for the full year 2024, compared to $68 million, or 2.8% in the prior year, again with the majority of the spend related to our Engage geographic expansion. Our full year normalized tax rate was 40.9% in 2024, compared to 22.7% in the prior year. This increase is primarily due to the impact of the U.S. valuation allowance recorded against the U.S. pre-tax losses and profitable foreign jurisdictions, which drove a higher tax expense.

Transitioning to our 2025 outlook, I will now provide some context supporting our full year financial guidance. Relating to Engage, we expect a decline in revenue of approximately 10%, primarily due to the impact of a public sector client and the previously mentioned financial services client discontinuing certain lines of business. This, combined with the anticipated foreign exchange translation headwinds, our focus on expanding our offshore revenue, and the rationalization of client engagements that are consistently performing below our targeted financial profile, is putting pressure on the top line. As Ken mentioned, and as we communicated last year, we have put tremendous focus on our profit optimization efforts within the Engage segment.

These include expanding our geographic delivery footprint to meet clients' needs for lower-cost delivery and solutions, cost optimization initiatives driving efficiency in our operational delivery, and aligning our corporate costs to our revenue, improving our operational agility and margin performance through detailed operational metrics, and recruiting new talent in key leadership roles that, combined with our tenured leadership, will execute on our 2025 objectives. These actions have laid a strong foundation for the profitability improvements in 2025 and is evidenced by the early pull-through of increased margins since the second quarter of 2024. We emphasize that last year was a transitional year, with these actions being our priority, and we have confidence that they will deliver the bottom-line benefits in 2025. In our Digital business, we expect a return to year-over-year revenue growth through our professional services and recurring managed services, together forecasted to grow by approximately 5% in 2025.

This is driven by our end-to-end digital CX value proposition with differentiated technology-enabled solutions delivered through our growing diversified offerings. This growth offsets the decline in our one-time on-premise product revenue of approximately 45%. Turning to the midpoint of our 2025 guidance, as outlined in greater detail in our fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings press release, GAAP revenue of $2.04 billion, a decrease over the prior year of 7.6%, adjusted EBITDA of $225 million, an increase of 11.2% over the prior year, and 11% of revenue, compared to 9.2% in the prior year. Non-GAAP operating income of $164 million, an increase of 20% over the prior year, and 8% of revenue, compared to 6.2% in the prior year. Non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.08, an increase of 52.5% over the prior year.

Other relevant guidance metrics include capital expenditures between 2.2% and 2.4% of revenue, of which approximately 51% is growth-oriented, a full year effective tax rate between 38% and 42%. We expect the phasing of our profitability improvement to be more pronounced in the second half of 2025 on slightly higher revenue. Please reference our commentary in the business outlook section of our fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings press release to obtain our expectations for full year 2025 performance at the consolidated and segment level. In closing, we are confident in the actions we took in 2024 and continue to execute on in the new year. These, combined with our demonstrated 40-plus years of delivering value-driven CX technology and service solutions, position the company well for improved operational efficiency and profitability in 2025.

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

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

Bob Belknapp (VP of Financial Planning and Analysis)

Thanks, Kenny. As we open the call, we ask that you limit your questions to one at a time. Operator, you may open the line.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star, followed by the number one. Please unmute your phone and record your name and company name clearly when prompted. Your name and company name are required to institute your question, and to cancel your request, you may press star two. Our first question comes from the line of George Sutton of Craig-Hallum. Your line is now open, sir.

George Sutton (Senior Research Analyst)

Thank you. Can you mention that all of your deals are being infused with AI?

I'm just curious if you can give us a sense of how exactly that is working, what sort of impacts that might have on your win rates and your deal structures. Good morning, George. How are you? It's going great. To tell you the truth, we've got just on the digital side alone over 150, 145, 155 projects that are underway that we're implementing AI on behalf of a bevy of clients. Additionally, on the engaged side, I'd say more than three-quarters of our associates now have various different tools that are taking advantage of AI. We have a significant amount of additional technology that will be coming on in the second quarter that will be hitting the majority of the desktops, if not all the desktops on the engaged side. As we've stated in the past, we view AI as our friend.

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

We believe that AI gives us the ability to provide a better overall quality of service. I think you're going to see that once you get past this hype cycle, that AI is going to be something that truly can enhance the associate experience, make their job easier, allow for the information to be faster and more nimble available, and drive overall better compliance, better fraud detection, etc. We are utilizing AI in the areas of the agent desktop and how we can make our associates more productive. We are using AI throughout our operations, everything from quality assurance to training, our whole learning organization. We are using it in recruiting, etc.

Long-winded answer, but I would say that we are well on track with our goals of how to take advantage of AI and more to come with the next conference call where we'll be able to share many, many different examples as well as the outcomes and the impact that it's having. I hope that answers your question.

George Sutton (Senior Research Analyst)

Yeah, thank you. Just a comment as I leave. I'm encouraged to take pride that the process continues, but on behalf of many, many shareholders I've spoken with, there's a big frustration on the timing and kind of a say nothing, do nothing strategy from the committee. We'd really like to hear an update. Just want to make sure I express that. I appreciate that. I absolutely appreciate that. I hope the committee will take that into consideration.

Operator (participant)

All right. Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Maggie Nolan of William Blair. Your line is now open.

Maggie Nolan (Research Analyst)

Thank you. I wanted to make sure that I fully understand the 2025 revenue guidance. Can you comment on are there any revenues related to the clients that had previously delayed large projects that impacted 2024, as well as your assumptions for seasonal revenue versus 2024 for the 2025 revenue guidance?

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

Hey, Maggie. Good morning. Absolutely. What I would say is the way we're looking at the midpoint of guidance for 2025 is it's all about the sequential quarters for 2025. We see slightly higher revenue in the second half of the year. We're looking at a peak season in 2025 that is relatively equivalent to the peak season that we saw in 2024 from a healthcare standpoint.

The underlying trend in the sequential quarters is going to follow our normal seasonality that you've seen in 2024 and in 2023. However, the second curve there is the tailwinds that we do have to your question about the new logos, the enterprise logos that we talked about that we won in the second half, but focused on the second half of 2024. As a matter of fact, those specific enterprise logos are forecasted to grow over 225% year-over-year. It is with that tailwind of those new clients that delayed in 2024 that are now underway in the second half of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 that will provide the underlying growth for the second half in our guidance.

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Josie Chen of Bank of America. Your line is now open. Hey, guys.

Josie Chen (Relationship Manager)

Thanks for taking my question. I guess just to ask on the margin front for 2025, obviously, you're continuing to make reinvestments there. Where is the offset that you're getting from operating leverage? Just talk a little bit more about the investments you're making in 2025 and how those are different from 2024 and what kind of ROI you're expecting from that going forward. Thanks.

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Josie. Good question. We talked a lot last year about the actions that we took in Q2, Q3, and Q4 around adjusting the cost structure of the company to meet where our revenue is at. For 2025, it's more of the same. Ken talked a lot about the new industry experience and the leaders that we've brought in, specifically on the Engage side of the business.

John and his team are doubling down on those operational metrics and operational cost drivers, if you will, to continue to improve the gross margin year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. What we're really excited about is how the desktop AI, Ken mentioned, we've got AI now infused in quality. We've got it in training. That AI is creating the operating leverage for our agents to be more efficient, to give a better service, and to give a better quality. We're starting to see that come through for us in our gross margin attainment, in the details of how Engage works around bonus and penalties and the structures of the contracts.

It is more of the same, but it is that operational discipline that is delivering the quality service for the customer, but then also it creeps to us from a profitability and a margin and an operating leverage expansion standpoint. Again, I think the key for 2025 is the sequential improvement that you are going to see at the gross margin line and at the EBITDA line. I think the other area that it is worth noting that we have been investing in is on the digital side. We have significantly expanded our partner network and have brought in some phenomenal leadership that is leading with the various different partners, etc., so that we are picking up traction across the entire CX continuum, not just the CCaaS area, but all the desktop solutions that people are focused on, all the core AI partnerships, etc.

There is definitely a focus of investing in those practices and growing them. Those are the practices on a percentage basis that are actually growing at the fastest rate, albeit on a small number. You would expect it to grow; you would expect the percentage to be higher. There has been a fair amount of injection of really strong operating leadership that has been added throughout the globe that we have been investing in to really get dramatically better efficiencies. We believe that will pay dividends in the future as well. That is really where the focus is.

I would say the last thing is that we have some exciting products that are coming out in the language translation area that I mentioned in my script, as well as in the accent neutralization area, etc., that we are in beta testing now with clients and are excited to be rolling out in the near future, which will open up other areas for us as well.

Josie Chen (Relationship Manager)

Got it. That's really helpful. I guess just to follow up on your revenue growth guidance assumptions for 2025, are you guys assuming a stable macro from current levels, anything from AI-related services, etc., that you guys had talked about? I guess in terms of vertical, you guys had talked previously sometimes about hypergrowth or healthcare, financial services, public sector.

I guess anything in terms of how we should think about growth from those verticals that are embedded in your 2025 guidance. Thank you.

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Josie. Everything I read, well, GDP last year, 2024, is about 2.3%. I think GDP is supposed to be 1.9 or 2%. From a macro standpoint, we feel that 2025 is going to be relatively similar to 2024. We think from a TTEC and a micro standpoint that we're obviously going to outperform that based on everything that Ken just said, what we said in our prepared remarks, that we think we have some very good tailwinds both in the digital and in the engaged business. For us, that's kind of our macro view right now is 2025 a little better than 2024, especially the back half of 2025.

I would tell you from a vertical standpoint, again, John and a lot of the sales leadership that Ken was just mentioning that we brought into the organization in the last 18 months, they're really experts in the verticals that we brought them in. We really like the technology, the retail vertical. Those are performing well for us. We talked about PubSec performed well for us in Q4 as well. For us, it's, again, that overall strategy of diversification of geography, diversification of customer base, and diversification of the lines of businesses inside of those verticals.

We're somewhat bullish on most of our verticals that we're going after and have won. Again, those big clients that we won last year from an enterprise standpoint that I just mentioned a few minutes ago have a very good forecasted growth rate for us in the second half of the year. I think the only thing I would just point out is that I am not in any way trying to hype the future. I just think that from a realistic standpoint, what makes me have more confidence on a go-forward basis is just the amount of net new clients that we're bringing on. Most of our major competitors have acquired their clients through acquisitions.

We have been quite successful, we believe, in 2024 with the 15 new enterprise clients on Engage and the large amount of new clients on Digital. We are seeing the trend continue into 2025. That is one of my top priorities because, obviously, we would like to have less concentration of revenue amongst any one particular client. The best way to do that is by having more diversification with our client base. That is exactly what we are focused on and what we are doing. Obviously, the good news is winning new clients and what that creates for the future. That said, the part that gets sometimes a little frustrating is the patience that is required as you ramp these clients. We have previously said over the years that typically clients take 12-18 months to get to full ramp.

Even though we're winning a lot of net new logos, we don't necessarily immediately receive the benefit that we would like to receive from the win. Ultimately, we do.

Josie Chen (Relationship Manager)

That's helpful. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our last question is from Jonathan Lee of Guggenheim Partners. Your line is now open.

Jonathan Lee (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, this is Johnson behalf of Jonathan. Thanks for taking our question. Just a very quick one. How do we think about the type of margin uplift you're getting from increased offshore delivery versus, let's say, your cost takeout initiatives? How do you defend your margins relative to the perceived need to kind of pass on some of these benefits to your customers?

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

Hey, Jonathan.

Offshore, again, back to what I just commented on a minute ago, for sure, our diversification strategy, customers, verticals on the Engage side of the business, and then geography, onshore, offshore, is what we are executing on in 2024 and in 2025. I would tell you that we improved the onshore, offshore mix. Our offshore grew about 300 basis points in 2024. Our forecast is to continue to grow that offshore mix another 300-plus basis points in 2025. Again, back to Ken's comments, as that revenue grows, it takes time to onboard. The majority of our pipeline right now in Engage is offshore as we, again, utilize the assets that we've put in place in those expanded geographies over the last 18 months, again, to create good leverage against that investment that we've made to diversify. We are very happy with that.

I would answer your question that you should think more that the expansion of the margin, the expansion of the profitability, the double-digit growth that you're seeing in 2025 EBITDA, specifically for Engage, is more heavily weighted towards the improvements that we're making in our operation up and down with AI, with just pure good discipline in our operational groups. I would heavily weight it more towards that than necessarily just the onshore, offshore mix changes just yet.

Jonathan Lee (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Thanks for that. Maybe the last one is, how do we get comfortable with your back half of the year relative to your typical visibility you have going out to, let's say, 30 to 90 days as it relates to client volumes?

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. Again, it comes down in Engage, it comes down to the cycle, right? It comes down to the onboarding cycle.

As we look at our pipeline, as we look at our closed one, and as we forecast out all these client wins that we've talked about, we have pretty good precision with that forecasting of an understanding of when those clients are going to start. Again, a lot of this is in the new buildings and new geographies, South Africa, Egypt, Europe, and LATAM. We know when they're starting. The ability to forecast that in the sequential quarters has a relatively high confidence level. We feel, again, back to my earlier comment, that the second half revenue is going to be slightly higher than the first half revenue. The profitability pull-through on that revenue and on the base business is definitely going to be back half-weighted. Digital, obviously, is more of a closer-end target.

Where Dave and the team sits on the digital side has book-to-bill, his new revenue, and what he's looking at, the confidence level that we have in the pipeline at the start of the year compared to prior years, we feel very good about that forecasted top-line revenue in the digital business.

Jonathan Lee (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Gotcha. And thanks for taking our questions again.

Kenneth Tuchman (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you for your questions. That is all the time we have today. This concludes TTEC's fourth quarter and full-year 2024 earnings conference call. You may disconnect.