Exclusives

Avid Technology recently completed the “transformation” of its business that started four years ago and the company is now well-positioned for future growth, according to CFO Brian Agle.

That transformation was completed, as planned, in the company’s second quarter (ended June 30), he said at the Canaccord Genuity Growth Conference in Boston Aug. 10.

It was a “long journey” and “a lot’s happened over that four years,” he said, telling the conference that, during that time, Avid: developed 5.8 million lines of code (a 20% increase year over year); developed 44 new products; had 37 U.S. patents granted (a 22% increase); developed a platform that’s easier for customers to develop on; and boosted new hires by 65%.

“The transformation was all centered on moving to growth markets that would better position us for the future,” he said. As part of the cost efficiencies that were achieved, the company relocated 70% of its offices and redeployed 39% of workforce, he said, noting that was achieved in part by moving employees to lower-cost areas. The company achieved a total of $76 million in expense savings last year and will be completing an additional $30 million in savings in 2017, he said.

But he stressed: “The thing that probably is of most importance from a product and customer standpoint from the transformation — that really sets the stage for growth markets as well as our recurring revenue that we’re seeing now — is our Avid MediaCentral Platform.”

That platform is part of the company’s Avid Everywhere vision, and the company touts it as “the world’s most flexible and integrated media production and distribution platform,” enabling improved efficiency, “streamlined workflows, remote collaboration and the unparalleled capacity to contribute to any production from anywhere,” according to its web site.

Customers using the Avid platform can opt to use all of the company’s provided solutions or those of third parties instead, Agle said. The company is attracting a growing number of enterprise customers to the platform, he told the conference, adding: “We land them on the platform and, over time, expand them more and more on products” offered by Avid.

Avid recently chose Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud hosting platform for the platform, he noted. “We look forward to the fruits” of that partnership that “we think will start paying off in 2018,” he said. For now, Avid is working to make sure its platform is integrated with the Microsoft Azure cloud and will be rolling that out at IDC in Amsterdam next month, with “more products [planned] in the months to come,” he said.

In addition to the completion of its transformation, other Avid second-quarter achievements that he pointed to were paying subscribers increasing 34% from a year ago and digital sales increasing 25%.