Having only joined SimCorp in October last year, it’s been a very busy few months. Not only settling in to the role, but also getting our Annual Report out the door. It’s been hectic, but it’s also been very exciting. One of the things that first attracted me to SimCorp, which has been reconfirmed during this process, is the strong legacy and history of the company. SimCorp is a company of very talented people, who are specialists within a unique field. There is a deep sense of pride and passion for the company, and I already feel part of the team.
On 20 February, we released our annual results, and I was pleased that we managed to deliver on expectations and guidance. Some of the key numbers were:
- Revenue grew by 12.5% (in local currencies)
- EBIT margin was 26%
- License sales to existing customers grew by 35%
- Our consultancy business, professional services, grew more than 30%
How did we achieve these numbers? For me, two things stood out. We engaged with our clients and made a real effort to keep costs down.
Engaging with our clients
With a record high client satisfaction rating as well as a record low number of client-reported errors, 2017 was a year in which we enhanced our partnership relations with our customers and increased our license sales to existing customers by 35%. Gone are the days of software vendors selling a solution and then walking away from the table. At SimCorp, we have really strengthened our consultancy arm, so that we can work alongside our clients as business partners. We bring expertise to the table that complements our clients’ areas of expertise with the goal of maximizing output. To that end, our professional services saw more than 30% growth as our clients seek out their expertise to support their business demands.
As an end-to-end solution, many of our clients are on a system consolidation journey. They may start with our back- and middle office solution, and then, they add our front office offering. Last year was a year that really personified this trend. Our origins as a provider stem from the back office, but recent years have seen huge investments in our front office solution. Now mature, more than 40 clients decided to buy our front office solution in 2017.
Keeping costs down
In H2 2017, SimCorp decided to take a look in the mirror and see where cost efficiencies could be made. The effort was a success and our cost containment program contributed positively to the EBIT margin.
Looking forward to 2018 and beyond
Each year we set five strategic priorities to focus on and I was pleased to see that we made good progress on all five in 2017. In terms of our front office offering, as I’ve already mentioned, having 40 of our clients expand onto this platform was a real show of confidence of what our front office offers, and how vital the front-to-back integration is. In North America, we grew by 25% and added four new clients. In terms of Alternative Investments, we are on track with our roadmap laid out two years ago and in the most recent release, we introduced the Alternative Investment Manager. Finally, Standard Platforms and Cloud are two things that you’ll be hearing much more about in the coming months, as we accelerate our offerings here. For the release of the annual report, we made five short videos about these strategic priorities, which you can watch here.
In summary, I am proud of what SimCorp achieved in 2017, and on top of the five strategic priorities previously mentioned, I look forward to continuing building the relationship with our clients and supporting them on their journey towards consolidating their systems, as well as of course welcoming new clients to the fold in 2018.
If you'd like to learn more, download our Annual Report.
