SINGAPORE, 27 FEBRUARY 2009 - Despite the current bleak economic climate, QlikTech announced strong growth in 2008. Annual revenues increased 50 per cent over 2007 to US$120 million. And the company's customer base grew by 45 per cent to 10,585 customers in 92 countries.
The tech firm claims to be the world's fastest-growing business intelligence software vendor.
The number of users of QlikTech's flagship product, QlikView, also grew by 45 per cent, to about 500,000. In contrast to the software industry’s trend towards downsizing, QlikTech added 160 new employees in 2008, a 50 per cent increase over 2007.
"The rules of the game have changed forever. The era of antiquated, hard-to-use software solutions with long, expensive deployments is coming to an end," said Lars Björk, chief executive officer of QlikTech.
Value in weeks
"Today's macroeconomic challenges are driving customers to demand a solution where value is recognised in weeks, not months or years,” he said.
“Organisations need immediate answers to their pressing business questions, like how can I selectively cut costs, maximise my cash position, or more efficiently allocate working capital. They can no longer afford to wait for costly IT-driven solutions that are slow or unable to respond to rapidly changing business conditions.”
Björk added that the tech firm’s exceptionally strong results, especially when other software vendors are laying off people as their business declines, is a testament to the company’s unique value proposition.
“QlikTech is advantageously positioned to continue growing at the expense of our competitors," he said.
Sales strategy
QlikTech's ‘volume and velocity’ sales strategy has made it possible for the company to dramatically grow its customer base through very short sales cycles, said the company.
Throughout the downturn in 2008, QlikTech added an average of more than 270 new customers every month. While the company continued to derive most of its revenues from the mid-market segment (firms with 100 to 1,000 employees), sales to larger enterprises grew significantly as well.
Enterprise customers in 2008 included many worldwide brands such as Volvo, Deutsche Telekom, Novartis, Fujitsu, Campbell Soup, Shell, 3M, and ADP.
In a year when many large IT projects were scrubbed or deferred, QlikTech gained market share by delivering projects with exceptionally rapid payback, typically measured in days or weeks, the company said.
