Unit4 Achieves Significant Strategy Milestones in 2020 to Deliver Exceptional Financial Results and a Strong Outlook for 2021
- Cloud bookings growth up 43% YoY (Q4: 82% YoY) and cloud ARR growth of 20% FY
- 18% annual growth YoY in total bookings (Q4: 20% YoY)
- 15% cloud subscription revenue growth in 2020 to [1]$119.9m (€97.3m), with 12% growth in Q4 over prior year to $29.6m (€26.4m)
- Pre-COVID EBITDA commitment achieved
- 10 ERPx customers signed in advance of March 2021 release date
Unit4, a leader in enterprise cloud applications for mid-market services organizations, today announced continued global business momentum and strong financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2020.
Robust Strategy Delivering Results
2020 saw Unit4 achieve significant milestones in its three-year strategy to transform both the business and its technology proposition. Cloud bookings growth was 43% (YoY) for the full year and 82% (YoY) in Q4, with annual recurring revenue from cloud up 20% for the year. Cloud subscription revenue grew 15% to $119.9m FY 2020 and 12% in Q4 (YoY) to $29.6m. The company reported 18% growth in total bookings (YoY) for the full year, and 20% in Q4.
In 2020, Unit4 saw strong global growth including its North America business, which is seeing growing demand for the Unit4 Cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform and its new ERPx solution. Unit4 announced its first global non-profit ERPx customer, Americares, in December, one of 10 customers signing in advance of its March 21 release date.
In 2021 Unit4 will continue to strengthen its presence in North America, having appointed John Gregitis as the new President of its North America business, to capitalise on the significant opportunities in the region. The company also secured a number of major new mid-market customer wins in all regions in 2020 and Q4, including Algonquin College, GK Gruppen, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Logan University, Titania, The Norwegian Post, Aramark, Qvantel, Levio, Northamptonshire Police and Surrey County Council in the UK.
Next Generation ERP Platform Milestone Achieved
In October at the company’s Experience4U event, Unit4 announced ERPx, the result of significant investment to deliver a modern, modular multi-tenant cloud ERP. Its launch coincides with growing demand from organizations for more agile ERP solutions that enable them to accelerate digital transformation in response to the impact of the pandemic. ERPx combines unrivalled functionality and tools to give organizations the flexibility to plan their long-term digital futures, based on solid foundations including:
- Industry models offering 80% pre-configuration and rapid implementation so customers can quickly realize value from their Unit4 solutions.
- A modern technology platform based on microservices, offering a low-code extension toolkit that ensures organizations remain agile and resilient to market changes and events.
- Intuitive UX, AI and automation tools combine to create a unique, user-friendly experience.
[1] Calculated at $1 = €0.8902
2020 marked a significant inflection point in the adoption of Cloud ERP. This has led to a dramatic increase in the need for innovation, not just efficiencies. It also requires a far more nimble, dynamic approach to implementing ERP software.
Mike Ettling
CEO, Unit4
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“The pandemic has accelerated the move to the cloud as organizations rush to provide digital services and products to support their people and engage customers,” said Mike Ettling, CEO of Unit4. “2020 marked a significant inflection point in the adoption of Cloud ERP. This has led to a dramatic increase in the need for innovation, not just efficiencies. It also requires a far more nimble, dynamic approach to implementing ERP software. In the midst of a global pandemic and economic disruption, our game-changing enterprise software, and people-first, service-centric mind-set, is supporting our customers to not just survive, but to thrive.”
Expanded Partner Ecosystem is Supporting Significant Growth
Unit4’s partners continued to play major role in the success of the company in 2020. With over 22 new partners added and a vibrant and growing partner ecosystem, Unit4 achieved 50% growth (versus 2019) on the value of contracts via partners. Unit4 announced a number of new and extended partnerships with Arribatec, Avalara, Embridge Consulting, groupelephant.com, Immedis, and Pagero.
Customer Success
With more than 200 customers successfully going live on Unit4 products in 2020, the focus for 2021 remains on innovation, leading edge technology and supporting customers on their digital transformation journeys.
The appointment of Michelle MacCarthy, as Global Head of Customer Success, is validation of Unit4’s focus on customer success and building a global community. Unit4 has invested in a brand-new customer care ecosystem, designed and purpose built to deliver a frictionless experience. This focus has helped Unit4 transform and led to net revenue retention growth through Q4 2020 to 108%.
“Mid-market services organizations are more important to the economy now than ever. We’re proud to support them to build resiliency for the future,” said Gordon Stuart, CFO at Unit4. “Q4 2020 was a record quarter and despite a challenging year we exceeded many of our targets for full year 2020. As the world reacts to the challenges of the global pandemic, I am confident that we have the infrastructure, technology and ambition to continue this growth trajectory and to increase market share in our focus markets in 2021.”
“Unit4 has a real opportunity to take advantage of this growing market, thanks to its modern and modular transformational product,” said Mickey North Rizza, Program VP Enterprise Applications & Digital Commerce Research Practice, IDC. “Enterprise Application customers want to react more quickly to meet the demands of their people and customers, with more flexible enterprise applications. IDC believes this more modular, low-code/no code approach to application development and deployment as integral to the future of ERP.”
- Unit4 was recognized as a Champion by Users in SoftwareReviews’ ERP Emotional Footprint Report
- Unit4 was named Sample Vendor in Gartner’s Hype Cycle For ERP, 2020
- ERPx was featured in seven market notes from firms such as IDC, Deal Architect, SPI, teknowlogy and Tec-Center.
- IDC featured Unit4 as one of the six vendors in its report on Intelligent Process Automation technology vendors: “Unit4: Putting Automation and Integration at the Heart of Enterprise Applications”
- Unit4 HCM featured as a Core Challenger in Fosway’s 9-Grid – Cloud HR
- Unit4 was recognized as a Major Player in IDC’s “IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Cloud Enterprise Performance Management Software for Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting 2020 Vendor Assessment”
About Unit4
Unit4’s next-generation enterprise solutions power many of the world’s most people-focused mid-market services organizations. Our cloud ERP, HCM and FP&A applications transform work to be more meaningful and inspiring through software that's self-driving, adaptive and intuitive, intelligently automating administrative tasks while providing easy access to the answers people need. Unit4 serves more than 6,000 customers in industries including professional services, public sector, nonprofit, and education.
For more information please visit https://www.unit4.com/, follow us on Twitter @Unit4global, or visit our LinkedIn page
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Lisa Stassoulli
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