eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Though in different sectors of the customer relationship management software space, E.piphany Inc, Kana Software Inc., AskJeeves Inc., Applix Inc. and Aspect Communications Corp. all told a similar story in their earnings announcements Thursday: declining revenues, and for some, widening losses.
E.piphany, of San Mateo, Calif., saw second-quarter revenues fall to $19.4 million from $32.3 million in the same period last year. Software license revenues were hardest hit, dropping from $16.3 million to $6.8 million. The company did pare its net loss though, from $294 million to $26.3 million.
The company will extend its J2EE-based E.6 application suite with the release of E.6 Service this quarter, which company officials hope will help reverse E.piphanys sagging revenues.
“This will provide us with the most complete J2EE CRM product suite available to the market today,” said E.piphany president and CEO Roger Siboni, in a statement.
Company officials pointed to E.piphanys $300 million in cash and 15 percent increase in deferred revenue as indications that the company was weathering the storm even as its revenues tumbled.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based Kanas revenue falloff was not as precipitous as E.piphanys, whose second-quarter revenues fell from $23.6 million to $17.2 million year-to-year. Most of the revenue loss was in services as license revenue dropped only from $9.6 million to $8.3 million.
CRM Revenue Shortfall
The companys bottom line took it on the chin though, as it registered an $85.7 million net loss, up from $69.8 million in last years second quarter. Though much of that loss stemmed from a $55 million goodwill impairment charge caused by the drop in the companys stock price, Kana still had a loss of $24.2 million, not taking into account interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The companys services business proved to be a big money loser.
The good news for AskJeeves Inc. was that its Web properties nearly doubled their second-quarter revenues year-to-year, from $7.7 million to $14.2 million. But the bad news was that the companys enterprise software division, which develops natural language customer service and search software, saw revenues tumble from $9 million in last years second quarter to just $3.4 million in this years.
While that gave the company a slight increase in revenues, it still took an $8.5 million loss for the quarter, down from $20.9 million in the same period a year ago.
AskJeeves, of Emeryville, Calif., projected 20 percent revenue growth for the rest of the year as its JeevesOne Enterprise product, just released last quarter, takes hold. It also announced Thursday that it was switching to Google Inc.s Sponsored Links Program to provide paid advertising listings on its search sites. The 3-year, $100 million deal replaces a deal with Overture Services Inc. as the provider of paid search engine listings at Ask.com and Teoma.com.
America Online earlier this year also switched from Overture to Google for paid search listings.
Call center software developer Aspect Communications Corp. saw second-quarter revenues drop from $113.4 million to $96 million year-to-year. License revenues fell from $28.6 million to $17.8 million in that period.
The San Jose, Calif.-based company did manage to trim its net loss though from $46 million to $17.7 million year-to-year. But that wasnt good enough. With revenues expected to be no better than flat the rest of the year, Aspect also announced Thursday that it would be reducing head count by approximately 400 people or 22 percent this quarter.
The reduction will result in a restructuring charge of $6 million to $8 million, to be recorded in the third quarter of 2002. The cost savings related to the workforce adjustment and other expense reduction activities are anticipated to be approximately $15 million per quarter by the fourth quarter of 2002, officials said.
Applix, an analytical CRM vendor based in Westborough, Mass., saw second-quarter revenues drop only slightly, from $10.4 million to $9.2 million year-to-year. License revenues were down from $4.5 million to $4 million in the same period.
The companys net loss fell though, from $2.7 million to $675,000.
Related Stories:
- CRM: Best Practices
- CRM: Heads Up
- CRM: Web Resources