Strong continuous growth across the entire year: increase of +20% revenue
Strong growth of Backlog at €31m (+20%)
Without data, there is no artificial intelligence
Presenting ‘Aimie’, Sidetrade’s own artificial intelligence
Olivier Novasque, CEO of Sidetrade, said of the announcement:
“The year 2017 marks a turning point in the history of Sidetrade. In a matter of months, our grip of a clear strategic positioning has led us to move up to a new dimension and to fast become a major player in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The AI market right now is abuzz with activity, and global market intelligence firm IDC anticipates $46B in global annual investment across the next three years, with 54% average annual growth. With our successive acquisitions of BrightTarget, Iko System and C-Radar, each of these companies that work with AI at the entry point of the customer life cycle and each one complemental to Sidetrade’s original business offering, we’ve made a huge technological leap forward into the customer relations market. It is one in which artificial intelligence will from here on now empower companies with a decisive market edge. I would like to thank the whole Sidetrade team for their energy and commitment during this fast and profound transformation period. They have strived and succeeded in achieving our convergence program with the three companies we acquired while simultaneously delivering exceptional performance and financial outcome. Our sales dynamic, which has held up quarter after quarter, and our first sales and technical successes in the AI arena – in every one of the countries where we have a presence – are clear proof of the relevance of our strategic plan AIM2020.”
| SIDETRADE GROUP (MILLION EUROS) |
2017 | 2016 | VARIATION (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHIFFRE D’AFFAIRES | 21.6 | 18.1 | + 20% |
Strong continuous growth across the entire year: increase of +20% revenue
Sidetrade Group demonstrated in 2017 its continued strong growth dynamic with revenues in excess of +20% at €21.6m. This consistent performance, quarter after quarter, underlines the strategic relevance of investments made and makes evident the company’s ability to establish itself as a prime player in the realm of artificial intelligence for customer engagement.
Strong growth of Backlog at €31m (+20%)
The 2017 financial year witnessed the addition of prestigious new accounts to the supplier and subscriber base, among them Akka Technologies, Cafés Folliet, Cegos in France, Deloitte Belgium, Gefco across 15 further countries, Geodis (Slovakia, Czech Republic), Hearst Magazines UK, House of HR (Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland), Inchcape Plc, Inmarsat, KPMG UK, Médiapost, Moreton Smith (UK), NHS, Saint Gobain Abrasives (Denmark, Hungary, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Turkey), Schratter Foods (US), Securitas France, Selco UK, Serecco UK and STEF across seven countries…
The period was also distinguished by the first commercial successes of the new ‘Sidetrade Growth’ offering, plus the signing of nine new projects during the second semester of 2017. This significant ramp-up supports the relevance of the group’s new positioning across the entire customer life cycle with companies in a breadth of industry sectors, including Croda International, Geodis UK, Groupe Leader, Maileva, Malvern PANalytical, Metamark, One Advanced and Würth. These companies are now drawing full benefit from the power of Sidetrade’s predictive algorithms to improve retention rates and generate new sales across their existing customer portfolios.
Recurring SaaS revenue derived from these multi-annual contracts guarantees excellent visibility across activity over medium term. For this reason, the SaaS backlog stood at 31 December 2017 at €31m, up by 20%. This confirmed income is as yet not included in the Group’s income statement or balance sheet at the close of 2017.
Without data, there is no artificial intelligence
Stemming from statistics and computer science, artificial intelligence autonomously explores what are often vast data sources to learn to anticipate events, enabling informed decision-making and automation of processes. Accessing representative and regularly updated data is vital for meaningful results.
Sidetrade is well placed to enable its artificial intelligence algorithms to understand, segment and predict company purchasing and payment behavior. Its Cloud platform processes daily the transaction information between 9.5 million companies and their suppliers, equal to around 270 million sales and finance undertakings over the last three years. Its web-crawling robots enrich this data with correlative data relevant to the activity of 23 million European companies derived from websites, social networks and online media sources.
Sidetrade’s artificial intelligence allows the making of relevant recommendations regarding the acquisition of new customers, business development, and improvement of retention rates with existing customers and acceleration of cash generation.
By dint of developing artificial intelligence solutions and perfected learning algorithms, Sidetrade has a significant technological edge and a unique competitive market advantage via its vast data reservoir.
Presenting ‘Aimie’, Sidetrade’s own artificial intelligence
Today, Sidetrade is presenting its own artificial intelligence ‘Aimie’ (Artificial Intelligence Mastering Intercompany Exchanges). Aimie is the virtual assistant that will dramatically enhance the abilities of marketing, sales and finance teams in their customer relations management.
Aimie has been made possible by Sidetrade’s Data Science teams using the exclusive data the group has at its disposal. With the increases in processing power and its access to millions of data points, Aimie is learning continuously, while gaining in experience and sophistication. Sidetrade’s Machine Learning algorithms are what underpin the momentous progress of this new form of artificial intelligence.
From here onwards, Aimie will enable companies to take full advantage of the pure power of artificial intelligence for customer relations, above all in the following areas:
- Acquisition: Instant simulation of product market appeal, identification of the best targets among millions of companies and efficient automation of sales prospecting
- Up-sell/Cross-sell: Prediction of customer purchasing intent, unearthing new sales opportunities and increased generation of additional sales
- Retention: Anticipation of customer churn, automatic outlining of the reasons behind attrition, and improvement of customer loyalty
- Financial relations: Prediction of payment behavior, automation of optimum dunning strategies and disputes resolution, and acceleration of cash generation across customer accounts
Sidetrade’s solutions are continuously proving that the use of artificial intelligence unleashes greater efficiency and productivity for teams by providing a logic model for recommendations. All users of course have the option to follow or pass over the suggestions Aimie proffers, which in turn, is continually self-learning from these results.
Aimie now means that Sidetrade Group is able to empower companies with artificial intelligence at the core of their customer relations, placing them in a position to increase sales and accelerate cash generation. In so doing, the company remains true to its core values of promoting a pragmatic vision of artificial intelligence, based on fast and measurable results.