Sprinklr, Inc.

Greetings. Welcome to Sprinkler's fourth quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants will be in listen-only mode. The question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero from your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Eric Skro, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, Eric. You may now begin.

Thank you, Operator, and welcome everyone to Sprinkler's fourth quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results call. Joining us today are Rory Reed, Sprinkler's President and CEO, and Anthony Coletta, Sprinkler's Chief Financial Officer. We issued our earnings release a short time ago, filed the related Form 8K with the SEC, and we've made them available on the investor relations section of our website, along with a supplementary investor presentation. Please note that on today's call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. While the company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors, the presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. You are directed to our press release and supplementary investor presentation for a reconciliation of such measures to GAAP. In addition, during today's call, we'll be making some forward-looking statements about the business and about the financial results of Sprinklr that involve many assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including our guidance for the first fiscal quarter and full fiscal year of FY27, the impact of our corporate strategies, the benefits of our platform and our market opportunity. Our actual results might differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on our beliefs and assumptions as of today, and we disclaim any obligation to update them. For more details on the risks associated with these forward-looking statements, please refer to our filings with the SEC, also posted on our website. With that, I'll now turn it over to Rory.

Thank you, Eric, and hello, everyone. It's great to be with you today. In the fourth quarter, total revenue grew 9% year-over-year to $220.6 million, and subscription revenue grew 6% to $193.4 million. We delivered $37.7 million in non-GAAP operating income, representing a 17% non-GAAP operating margin. I wanted to thank our global teams, customers, and partners for their trust and ongoing support. FY26 was a year of meaningful operational progress. While churn was higher than we would have preferred, particularly in the first half, we achieved key transformational objectives we set out at the start of the year. We optimized our cost structure, revamped our go-to-market model, streamlined processes, and strengthened our leadership team. The combination of these improvements, along with Project Bearhug, is driving a cultural shift towards greater accountability, customer centricity, and operational discipline. We are now in the second phase of our transformation, transition and execution. which will continue through FY27. This phase is about embedding last year's changes to build a stronger foundation for scale and efficiency. As we complete this transition, we'll move into third phase, acceleration, as we head into FY28. Key indicators are moving in the right direction. Fourth quarter delivered our best renewal rates over the past four quarters, and we expect continued improvement here in Q1 and Q2. Demand remains healthy considering recent macro events. Our pipeline remains solid, and we're seeing more multi-year commitments from our customers. FY27 marks a pivotal year for Sprinklr as customer experience is at an inflection point. Consumers now expect brands to recognize them instantly and maintain context across every interaction. Sprinklr is uniquely positioned to lead in this shift. We are defining unified customer experience management, one platform that connects insights, predictions, and actions across the entire customer journey. Our enterprise-grade metadata and business application layers gives us the structural advantage as workflows, context, and AI agents come together. There has been a lot of discussion about whether AI will pressure enterprise software budgets. From what we're seeing, customers aren't cutting core software spend to fund AI. Instead, they expect it to be built onto the platform they already trust with security and compliance protocols and where their key data already resides. In FY26, ARR from our generative AI native sprinkler service SKUs grew 50% year over year, driven by strong demand for AI agents, contact center intelligence, and agent co-pilot. And because AI is native to our platform, our omnichannel portfolio continues to drive robust enterprise-wide AI adoption among our customers. In FY27, we're executing against four core innovation priorities. One, unified customer intelligence. This includes integrating surveys, social messaging videos and reviews into a single actionable insight engine two enterprise-wide automation including scaling ai agents no code ai studio and over 100 connectors to automate workflows at scale three ai driven marketing and commerce we're powering engagement with AI co-pilots, conversational interfaces, and real-time content generation. And four, next-generation AI and insights, advancing LLM-based listening, generative engine optimization, and agentic commerce to meet customers wherever they are. We're building this on a powerful foundation, more than 180 billion customer conversations a year and over a decade of language and intent modeling across 30 plus channels and more than 400 million websites. That scale lets us tie predictive and generative AI directly to action, providing faster results to customers. We're not building a set of tools. We're building an operating system for modern customer experience. We're also benefiting from constructive industry trends. Marketing budgets appear to be stabilizing, and spending is shifting toward return on investment, automation, and measurable impact. According to the CMO survey, AI adoption And marketing is expected to grow significantly over the next several years. We believe this environment favors unified platforms. Sprinklr helps brands activate first-party data, automate engagement, and drive better outcomes. More broadly, AI is accelerating usage of enterprise systems of record. and platforms built for enterprise workflows are proving they can grow profitably in this new era. Let me share a couple of examples of why we're winning and how iconic brands are using Sprinklr today. This past quarter, Sprinklr landed a flagship partnership with a leading global payments company operating in over 200 markets. Four major teams, Corporate communications, global brand, social care, and MarTech will standardize on Sprinklr's unified AI native platform. By consolidating multiple legacy tools into one governed real-time environment, this customer gains a single source of proof for global marketing data, unified measurement across channels and markets, stronger brand governance, and instant ROI visibility. Most importantly, by working with Sprinklr, this customer will be able to convert vast social signals into actionable intelligence that sharpens global strategy, enhances creative effectiveness, and enables cultural relevant engagement at scale, ultimately accelerating this customer's sustainable global growth. Our second story highlights a major U.S. telecommunication provider that recently deepened its partnership with Sprinklr. As a result, ARR has doubled year over year and increased six-fold over the past two years. With marketing, communication, and customer insights already unified on Sprinklr, the latest investment brings the customer's care organization onto the same platforms. This expansion equips more than 600 social care specialists with advanced AI-powered listening, conversational analytics, and dedicated strategic and technical support. This will help manage inbound social volume more efficiently and improve customer sentiment. Earlier in the year when this customer abruptly lost access to a critical social channel through its previous vendor, Sprinklr stepped in. We were able to immediately restore business continuity and strengthen our role as a trusted partner across business operations and IT. These are just a couple of recent examples of how customers are increasingly turning to Sprinklr as a strategic partner. recognizing that our AI-native platform can unify marketing, customer insights, and care to power their long-term customer experience strategy. So in closing, we've made meaningful progress this past year in transforming Sprinklr into a stronger, more customer-centric company. We're encouraged by the improvements in renewal rates in the fourth quarter, And we expect that momentum to continue into the first half of this new year. Customer sentiment is improving and we have a solid pipeline to build on. Our full year guidance reflects that we are now passing the midpoint of the second phase of our three phase transformation, transition and execution. And as I have covered in previous calls, we saw elevated churn in FY26. The broader macro environment has also become fluid, particularly with the events in the Middle East, where we have a meaningful business and good pipeline. With that in mind, we're staying diligent and approaching FY27 with discipline and focus, positioning Sprinkler for the third phase of our transformation acceleration as we move towards FY28. There is more work to do. but we remain confident in our strategy and are committed to delivering durable growth and long-term shareholder value. With that, I'll turn it over to Anthony for the financials. Anthony?

Thank you, Rory, and good morning, everyone. First, I want to recognize the commitment and passion for customer success of our teams across the company, the driving force behind our continued progress and growth. This quarter marks another step forward and Q4 results came ahead of expectations. Now let me turn to our financial performance. In Q4, total revenue was $220.6 million, up 9% year-over-year. Subscription revenue was $193.4 million, up 6% year-over-year. Professional services revenue came in at $27.1 million as we continue working on some large CCAS rollouts for our customers. Services revenue came in better than anticipated due to more hours logged to some of these large global projects. Our subscription revenue-based net dollar expansion rate in the fourth quarter was 103%. This is a slight increase sequentially, pointing in the right direction. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had 141 customers contributing $1 million or more in subscription revenue over the past 12 months, which is four customers less than in Q3. This results from a few customers seeing their trade in 12 months revenue crossing below the 1 million mark for this metric. More importantly, the net dollar expansion for the 1 million customer cohorts in Q4 was 115% and the average revenue per customer in that same cohort is now above $3 million. We don't intend to disclose this metric quarterly going forward, but I wanted to give you a sense of some of the underlying interaction. We firmly believe that our Bearhug focus will solidify our baseline and contribution from the top tier enterprise customer base over time. For example, our Q4 renewal rate was the highest of any quarter in full year 26. Furthermore, majority of our full year 26 renewal dollars are multi-year deals, which is driving an increase in the average contract length. Regarding gross margin for the fourth quarter, on a non-GAAP basis, our subscription gross margin was 76%, and the professional services gross margin was 1%, resulting in in a total non-GAAP gross margin of 67%. As noted in previous calls, we are experiencing higher data and hosting costs in responsible business opportunities, especially in sprinkler service and our expanded AI capabilities. Turning to profitability for the quarter. Non-GAAP operating income was $37.7 million, or a 17% margin, We drove non-GAAP net income of 13 cents per deleted share. We incurred $1.2 million in restructuring and non-recurring litigation costs that are deemed to be non-core to the operations of the business, and as such, these costs are not included in our non-GAAP figures. We generated $15.9 million in free cash flow in Q4, and $142 million for the year on a reported basis. This strong improvement in free cash flow was driven by cost discipline, strong collections, and improved cash conversion. Our balance sheet remains strong with $502.5 million in cash and marketable securities and no debt. As indicated in our earnings release, our board has authorized a new 200 million share buyback program, which we expect to complete by March 15, 2027. This will include a 125 million accelerated share repurchase, launching shortly, supplemented by open market repurchases. Given our confidence in the strategy and the strength of our balance sheet, we see the current share price as a compelling opportunity. We'll continue to evaluate our corporate needs and allocate cash to the highest return initiatives. Even after completing the authorized repurchases, we remain well capitalized to execute our strategy and drive our growth agenda. Calculated billings for the fourth quarter were $317.4 million, up 6% year over year. Minor variance such as the 320 million we had anticipated was mainly due to one deal which was expected in the quarter and that ultimately closed in February. This pickup in billings is now reflected in Q1 outlook. As of January 31st, 2026, total remaining performance obligation or RPO were $986.5 million stable versus Q4 last year, and up 15% sequentially. And current RPO or CRPO was $618.8 million, up 1% year-over-year and up 10% quarter-over-quarter. Before moving to guidance, I'd like to provide a quick recap of the financial results for the full year 26. As we've said throughout the course of the year, FY26 was a transition year for Sprinklr, and we've made significant operational and structural improvements to establish a better foundation for Sprinklr's next phase of growth. We've seen some encouraging signs and are excited for what's ahead. For the year, total revenue was $857.2 million, up 8% year-over-year, with subscription revenue of $756.3 million, up 5% versus the prior year. Official services revenue was $109 million, up 29%, as we continue to improve and build our sprinkler service delivery capabilities. We reported non-GAAP operating income for the full year of $146.2 million, equating to a non-GAAP net income tabulated share of 49 cents, and a non-GAAP operating margin of 17%. Non-GAAP operating income was up 63% year-over-year, showing our commitment to operating efficiency. And as noted above, we generated $142 million in free cash flow for the year, up 140% versus the prior year, and equating to a free cash flow margin of 17%. I would like to shift to our financial outlook for fiscal year 2027. As Rory said in his remarks, we are in the second phase of our transformation and mindful of the current micro and geopolitical environment. Our expectations as of today regarding these dynamics are factored into our guidance figures. For Q1, we expect total revenue to be in the range of $215.5 million to $216.5 million, representing 5% growth over year at the midpoint. Within this, we expect subscription revenue to be in the range of $193 million to $194 million, also representing 5% growth year over year at the midpoint. The Q1 guide implies $22.5 million in professional services revenue, which is up 5% year over year. This is a step down sequentially because of large projects performed in Q4. We expect professional services gross margin to be slightly negative to break even in Q1 due to continued investment in service delivery. We believe such investment is worthwhile as these implementations will yield dividends in terms of increased consumption and customer satisfaction in the future. We expect non-GAAP operating income to be in the range of $28.5 million to $29.5 million, resulting in non-GAAP net income per deleted share of approximately $0.09, assuming $245 million deleted weighted average share outstanding. This equates to an approximately 13% non-GAAP operating margin at the midpoint. This profit range will moderate sequentially from Q4 peak considering our continued focus on innovation and customer success and some discrete items. As noted over the past few quarters, we are experiencing a solid attack in our AI products leading to higher cloud and data costs. Secondly, we are investing to position the company for revenue growth in the future through hiring AI and R&D talent, particularly in targeted regions with forward deployed engineers to best serve key customers, as well as enabling additional go-to-market capabilities. And finally, with our sales kickoff events in Q1. These factors are reflected in the guide for Q1 and the full year. For the full year FY27, our initial guide for subscription renew is to be in the range of 778 million to 780 million, representing 3% growth year-over-year at the midpoint. We expect total revenue to be in the range of 869 million to 871 million, representing 1% growth year-over-year at the midpoint. The total revenue guide assumes professional services revenue of 91 million. We estimate pro-services revenue to be at a lower level compared to FY26 due to a successful completion of some BEHAG initiatives over the past year. This level of pro-services is approximately 10% of total revenue, which is in line with the 23-year average. It's a value catalyst for our customers. For the full year FY27, we estimate our non-GAAP operating income to be in the range of $144 million to 146 million, driving a 17% non-GAAP operating margin. This equates to a non-GAAP net income per diluted share between 47 cents and 48 cents, assuming 244 million diluted weighted average shares outstanding. Deriving the net income per share for modeling purposes, a total tax provision of approximately 42 million needs to be added to the non-GAAP profit before tax line. To get to non-GAAP profit before tax, start with the non-GAAP operating income ranges provided and add an estimated 15 million in other income for the full year, with 3.5 million of that to be earned here in Q1. This other income line primarily consists of interest income. We estimate the tax provisions of approximately $8.5 million in Q1. This equates to approximately a 26% effective tax rate on our non-GAAP profit before tax for both the quarter and the year. Our initial estimate is to generate fully a free cash flow of $150 million with $40 million to come in Q1. In summary, full year 26 was a turning point for the company, and we've laid out a solid base towards the next leg of our journey. Delivered P&L guidance for the full year. We have maintained solid fundamentals through the LC balance sheet, no debt, and strong cash flow generation with increased cash conversions. We are encouraged by the tangible progress made over the past months and the quality of our customer landscape, underpinned by improving renewals and increased commitments in the top tier customer category. As we continue with our transition, we are building positive momentum with renewed focus and operational discipline in support of our durable growth trajectory. The year 27 is a pivotal moment for the company. which we believe should pave the way for immense growth prospects and for expanding potential of our AI native platform. And with that, we will now open the line to take questions from the audience. Operator?

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 from your telephone keypad. And a confirmation tone to indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Thank you. And our first question is from the line of Arjun Bhatia with William Blair. Please proceed with your questions.

Hi, team. I'm Willow. I'm for Arjun Bhatia. Thanks for taking your question. Anthony, I appreciate the team's comments on supporting growth and balancing strategic investments. As we think about the full-year margin guide, would you frame the outlook as conservative? In other words, is there maybe a built-in cushion to allow investing as needed, investing as margin expansion looks flat in fiscal 2027 based on the outlook? Thank you.

Thanks, Willow. Hey, Willow, I think what we've always tried to do here is to be prudent and disciplined in how we look at the future. We want to make sure that we're building a sprinkler that's positioned for long-term future growth. We're also looking for the ability to address the tactical, technical debt, the innovation that we need to do. So we're trying to run this transformation in a very balanced and focused approach. I think what we try to do always is to make sure that we have the latitude to make the appropriate investments to drive long-term innovation, the extension of our AI agentic agents, our co-piloting, our core innovations, and then obviously the hardening of our CCAS solution. We also want to make sure that we continue to deliver the right returns to our investors. So I think we've run a balanced structure here. I think we've been prudent in the way we've looked at the future to give ourselves the latitude to continue this transformation. And Willow, as I said in the prepared remarks, We're in that second phase. We're just passing that midpoint of that second phase, transition and execution. This is where we're burning in these changes. That should position us for the acceleration phase as we move into FY28. So my feedback would be I think we've contemplated the right focus and the right balance across that to give ourselves the latitude to continue to properly deliver the innovation and changes we need to do to drive long-term durable growth, but also to deliver a healthy return in the tactical future.

Understood. Thank you.

Thanks, Willow.

Our next question is from the line of Catherine Trevnick with Rosenblatt Securities. Please just use your questions.

Oh, good morning. Nice print. Could you break out internationally versus U.S. what the percentage revenue is? I'm trying to pinpoint because you do have a large install base in the Middle East. I'm just trying to understand how much of this geopolitical might be the conservative guide. Thank you.

Yeah. Hi, Catherine. How are you? Good to speak with you. You know, from the standpoint of the Middle East, this is, if you look at, I run 12 regions across three geographies, what we call DVPs, right? Those regions There's 12 of them. The Middle East would be in the upper middle, okay? So they're not the largest, but they're definitely one of our healthy regions. They have a good pipeline. They've executed well over the past two years. I will call out that they've been extremely resilient. I want to recognize that team in a very difficult environment right now. They have rallied together. All of Sprinkler is supporting them. And they're intensely focused on helping our customers in a very difficult environment. So I would put them in that kind of upper middle of our geographies. It has meaningful business, and it's an important business to us. I think if we looked at worldwide, I kind of describe us as about in that 50-55 range for America, that 35-plus kind of range for Europe range. And then about 10 in Asia, APJI. That gives you a sense of kind of how the structure works. And, again, I run 12 regions, Middle East and Africa, in the upper middle. Meaningful business, good pipeline.

All right. I'll come back for more questions. Thank you.

Thanks, Catherine.

The next questions are from the line of Jackson Adder with KeyBank Capital Markets. Pleased to see you with your questions.

Great. Thanks. Morning, guys. So if I look at total revenue, the run rate is actually above where you're expecting to be for fiscal 27, the run rate ending fiscal 26. And I realize some of this is a little mixed, meaning subscription versus services, but Is there the elevated churn that you saw last year, is that expected to continue in fiscal 27? And that's why we're looking at possibly by the time we exit fiscal 27, the run rate might be flat to maybe even a little down compared to where we are today?

Yeah, no, that's not what we expect at all. So I think what we saw, as I said in the prepared remarks, Jackson, that we saw elevated churn in FY26. I mentioned that in every earnings call. I told you in 3Q that I began to see a more predictable environment around renewal rates, and that was a good sign. Here in 4Q, in the prepared remarks, I called that we had our best renewal rates that we've seen over a year. And I also shared that I expect 1Q and 2Q to be, again, another step up. So I'm starting to see a bend in that renewal rate that I began to see in 4Q. I expect to see in the first half. I'll also tell you that we're intensely focused on bear-hugging our top 900 customers now. So that represents about 90% of our revenue. We are working on renewals in 3Q, 4Q, and even 1Q of FY28. So we're getting a much deeper view of that. I saw better predictability in 3Q. I saw the beginning of the bend in 4Q. And then 1Q, 2Q, I expect that to continue. And indications in all my data is pointing in that direction. What I think you're seeing is... I think based on that, that's a lagging indicator. And I think you've got some of that macro environment kind of outlook. And as I said, I'm at the midpoint of the second phase. I have work to continue to do here as a team. I feel very good about the progress we made. And I want to make sure that we're diligent in what we guide and how we produce it so that we're making sure that we continue to do the things we say we're going to do.

Okay. All right. Fair enough. And then a quick follow-up, maybe for you, Rory, maybe for Anthony, just on the margin. I mean, outside of the restructuring that you did, I think, at the start of, uh, um, at the start of the year, like what can you do just regularly running the business? Not, you know, again, outside of restructuring, just incrementally, what are your plans for increasing margin just as you run the business day to day?

Hi, uh, Jackson. Uh, so there are a couple of things. So first off, uh, there, there is this element of, uh, you know, revenue mix. So as you know, we have now a different mix of products and we have invested also in some CCAS business, which is picking up. So there is this element also in the margin mix. There is also underlying, so overall at the surface, if you look at the revenue mix, we expect also services to play into this and you have, so we have highlighted the services margin that we are projecting. you see that there is also that element. Now to your question on what we're doing. First, at the macro level, you've seen that we have kind of a flat headcount decreasing over the past two years, so we continue to monitor that and monitoring our investment into the right buckets and make sure we invest in innovation and go-to-market capabilities, but diligently. So that's one element or one lever for the margin. And then on the other side, so obviously we're investing in AI solutions, in AI products, but also for our customers. So you have still some significant, you know, hosting costs and, let's say, running costs on the innovation side that we have to factor into the margin profile here. But underlying, we have really some very strong discipline on the expense side and strong initiatives on every area across the company. So, unfortunately, I think we are leaning towards a more, you know, agile and more effective organization. But at the macro level, obviously, you have other factors involved. in terms of revenue mix, in terms of product mix, et cetera, that are playing in. And as we pick up on the AI wave, I think you will see that productivity gains. But obviously, the main opportunity for ahead of us is really the sales productivity. And we see that now with the renewals heading the right direction. I think this should support the margin profile in the years ahead. you can be ensured that we are doing everything to build that foundation that will expand on the margin profile for the following years as we deliver on this second wave of transformation.

Yeah, and I'd add just a little bit of color, Jackson, bear hug. One of the things that we've done during this phase of transition and execution, and as we see renewal rates improve in 4Q and expected to improve again in 1Q and 2Q, I think that reflects a lot of the work we're doing. I think some of these accounts over the past three years were a bit neglected. I think what we've done is making sure that we're investing the time and effort, the services work, to support them through Bear Hug to make sure those renewal rates increase and to position ourselves for expansion. I think that work will finish up as we go through this year. People ask, when is this renewal cycle? I think as we move through this year and finish this phase, I think we become a more standard kind of execution engine, and we clean up a lot of that debt and customer focus from the past.

Got it. All right. Really thorough. Thank you, you guys. Yep.

Our next questions are from the line of Patrick Walravens with Citizens JMP. Please proceed with your questions.

Oh, okay. Great. Thank you. And congratulations on getting the renewal rate to get better. So, Rory, I feel like previously we thought the acceleration phase would happen in the second half of fiscal 27, and now we're talking about fiscal 28. Is that fair?

I think what I've always said, that the first phase is generally somewhere between six and nine months. That's where we do the business optimization, the go-to-market restructuring. That's where we did the cost takeouts last year. We always talked about the second being in that 12 to 18-month range. I think that kind of puts us in the second half. I'm looking for a better sprinkler toward late summer, beginning of fall. But there's no question that I think that that phase as we move toward the end of this year and beginning of next year is kind of in that range. You know, best case, it was 12 months. Longer, it's at 18 months. It's kind of tracking where we expect it to be. And having done this several times, you know, I like the progress we made last year. I think if we do that again this year, I think we're in very good position as we move through the end of this year and in FY28. You know, renewal rates, Pat, that's like having a hole in your boat. You have to fix that. And, you know, that drags you and that issue sticks around for a while. We have seen that begin to bend. I was very clear in 3Q that I saw it to be more predictable with the data and analytics. 4Q, now I see it bend. I see the best results in over a year. And I'm calling again that I'm seeing the opportunity for us to improve again in 1Q, 2Q. And I can promise you we're working on renewals and expansions in 3Q, I mean 4Q of this year and 1Q of next year. That's so different than when I got here. We talked about renewals within the month. So I think when we get that, we should start to see, you know, ARR continue to build throughout the year. We should see CPR, whatever, that thing. We see that continue to improve. Those are the key longer-term items. I think that's how I look at it.

Okay, great. And if I could ask a follow-up. You previously said when we get to the acceleration phase, then you'll try putting more logs on the fire. What will putting more logs on the fire look like?

So that we're already starting to do because each phase overlaps a little bit. What you're trying to do is you're trying, as you move through each of these three phases, you're trying to do the work that prepares you for the next phase. Here's some good information. We're beginning this year with more ramped AEs, more in-seat ramped AEs than we've had in over three years. That says we're getting better retention. We're at a highest level that we've been in more than three-plus years. That means we have people in seat, and they're definitely working the client and building that bear hug 24-7, 365 relationship. We're investing in innovation. We're making sure that not only are we cleaning up the technical debt. but we're investing in our agentic work, our forward deployed engineers. You have to do that all throughout this year, and it should accelerate as you go into the second half to position you for that acceleration phase. You don't wait to the end or, you know, it's not like a hard line. You're doing that work as you go through. So you're kind of doing it in parallel. And I'm excited about that work. I think we're seeing, you know, real kinds of progress in terms of better feedback from our customers. Our customers are noticing a different sprinkler. We're putting sprinkler support on sprinkler. And each of these items moves us. I've met with, what, more than 600 customers now and many over and over again. The things I heard when I first got here 15 months ago, that's much less. Now they're talking about we noticed that this is much different. We appreciate it. Now take us to the next generation of capability and finish up this work that you're doing in this phase. That's how I kind of see it, Pat.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next questions are from the line of Remo Lencho with Barclays. Please just use your questions.

Perfect. Thank you. Great update, guys, and congrats as well on a solid Q4. Can you talk about services next year? If I look, you know, you talked a little bit about the projects you're doing for clients. There's still some cleaning up, but, like, it does seem to decelerate quite a lot, which kind of seems odd. Can you talk a little bit about that role that services has played so far and going forward? Thank you.

Yeah, Remo, two thoughts on that one. One, we want to build an ecosystem with partners. By the way, we've got the analytics and the data. When we partner with a trusted advisor, one of these great global system integrators or great regional integrators that really understand Sprinklr, we see a win rate about a 75% higher win rate than if we don't. So it makes sense to do that. And we don't want to dilute the margin long-term. Remember last year, as I went through FY26, I told you the acceleration in services, our core, our own services was driven by a very large Global 50 implementation. That's going to finish up and move into regular execution and software work, a subscription revenue. That we'll talk about at the end of this quarter because that deal actually closed recently. I'm excited about that because all of that work positioned us for that key win. What I want to do is I want to keep growing that ecosystem and have a balanced piece of that for our own because we have some real experts. We have a great team there. That team is doing some phenomenal work. But I don't want to become a service business. This is a software AI platform that's going to create a unified platform for customer experience. Service is a key adder. but it can't be the core of the business and we need that ecosystem so those trusted advisors when we go together at like one of the world's largest retailer in 3q we want a great deal that was because of one of our amazing global system integrator partners We have to do more of that, and we want to make sure that we're feeding both sides, but I don't need to grow the services so fast. Good news, that big project, it's kind of gotten to the place where it's moved into that win in one queue, and that's great.

And maybe adding to that from a modeling standpoint, Remo, Patricio, Essentially, what we are saying is that you should expect that the acceleration compared to current levels, so more back to where we were one year ago in terms of the next quarter is what we expect. So we want this to continue to be an unlock of value for our customers, and we will continue to execute on that. But now that we have less of a bare effort to do, and we have a very good level of utilization within services. We expect this to be a bit lower in the following quarters compared to what it was last year.

Okay, perfect. Thank you. Thanks, Remo. Appreciate it.

Our next questions are from the line of Elizabeth Porter with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your questions.

Excellent. This is Keith White for Elizabeth. Thanks for taking the question, guys. Maybe just rounding back quickly to Jackson's question. You guys are right, like on a subscription revenue basis, you guys are looking for growth over the run rate exiting Q4. It's a services side of the equation that you guys are looking to come down. Can you talk to us a little bit about what does that signal? Is that just like you're saying, like pushing more stuff to your partners and given this low margin business, you're willing to push that out? Or is there any kind of demand signal, either forward-looking or backward-looking in that services side of the equation? That's question number one. Question number two is on the 50% growth in the Gen AI SKUs. Can you talk to us a little bit about where that budget comes from? How are your customers funding these AI initiatives? And for the particular AI functionality, Who are you competing with there? Is it just external vendors or in any way is like DIY initiatives and vibe coding starting to become more of a competitive dynamic? Thank you.

Sure. So I'll pick the first question, and then, Robbie, you can comment on the second. So on your first topic, again, we said that we expect this to lower, but what does that signal on the services side is essentially the progress we've made on the bearer front. So you have less effort to do going forward, and you have more. So we have invested in delivery and in productivity in the services space. So you get the fruits of that going forward, but you have also less effort on the services front that you had over the past five, six quarters. So this is what that signals. That's also a more stable environment, a more normalized services revenue line. We continue to see that as a value enabler, so we continue to invest in that, but to a lower extent and less dilutive, again, to the overall mix. And the margin, but obviously from a compare perspective, from a baseline perspective, that's a bit lower than what we had last year. But I think it's a good thing that signals the progress on the journey and the transformation efforts. Maybe, Robbie, you want to comment on the AI?

Yeah, and again, Keith, on that point, there was that very large implementation that I mentioned throughout the previous earnings calls. that's finishing up and moving into as it completed in the 1Q timeframe and moving into software at that time. So I think that's a very good thing. Now let's talk about the generative AI SKUs and AI SKUs in general. What we're doing here is a combination of generative work around deflection, using the contextual data that's in this amazing platform that we've built. You know, AI real ai unlock is driven by the use of contextual data ai is not a computational compute model that's not what it does what it needs is contextual data to really interpret and create generative ideas and thoughts from that contextual data that's why we believe our platform in this huge amount of customer data we think is so powerful We see it in several phases. We see it where we use intelligent collaboration. You know that we're doing a work around marketing insights, social insights, the work on our amazing set of contact center wins. These are using this for the agents, for the marketing teams, the revenue teams, to really understand insights. And they're linking together data across surveys, social, touch points within the contact center, digital deflection, to create a holistic view of that voice of the customer. That's where intelligent collaboration. That's why we win these CCAS deals, and that's why we've seen a very steep acceleration in the usage of this capability in our social tools. I think it's been, oh, and then I'll talk about agentic. Agentic, both, you know, bots, voice, you know, digital, full agentic, these are the next generation SKUs that we're driving that allows those customers with forward deployed engineers to really create those differentiated capabilities again because we have this robust platform with all of this customer data and contacts you run that through the agentic ai as well as the intelligent collaboration, and you create those different outcomes. That's the flywheel of change that we're driving. I think it's going well so far. Would I like to see it accelerate? Absolutely. 50% growth is good, but we want to drive that harder and faster. I'm incenting the sales team to do more of that. We're making sure that we're investing both in innovation, our engineers, where we have over 350 of these kinds of skills in the engineering team, as well as forward deployed engineers. And I think, you know, this is a key area for us to focus on over the next nine, 12 months. That will definitely position us for the acceleration phase as well, kind of tying back to Pat's question.

Outstanding. Thank you. Next question is from the line of Matt VanVleet with Cantor. Pleased to see you with your questions.

Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. I guess we're curious what you need to see or what sort of the action plan to move from the transition phase or the execution phase now to the acceleration phase. Is that just a matter of seeing bookings and revenue start to accelerate or are there other elements that you have built in that sort of move from phase two to phase three?

Yeah, Matt, that's an awesome question. There's many kind of considerations as you go through a transformation like this. You want to make sure you pay down your debt, okay? You want to make sure that some of that historical tech debt that we have, we've been paying that down the past 15, 16 months. We're going to continue doing that the next nine months. I think we'll see a different sprinkler. On the support side, putting us on sprinkler on sprinkler, another good example. Getting the cohort of our AEs and our pod or go-to-market with more ramped AEs, being at a point where we're seeing that be at the highest level in over three years, that's another good indicator. You want to make sure that all those components, we're developing run books. You've got to continue to see the renewal rates improve. I can see line of sight, and my metrics are becoming more and more predictable. I called it a 3Q last year. I told you I was expecting to see it improve in 4Q. I did. I expect it to improve again in 1Q and 2Q. If that continues through the whole year, that's perfect. That's where you want to be. You want to make sure that the customer sentiment remains strong. We've got to continue to accelerate in the AI space. Each of these factors come into this kind of transition, and you're working this on a multidimensional kind of concept to get the organization to a better place. We're more profitable. We run more efficiently. And I think as we pay down that debt, we can do even more of that as we go into FY28. But you're right. It's not just one thing. Yeah, you want to see the renewal rates. You want to see the net NAR. You want to see the ARR. We've got good pipeline. We're winning some really interesting large customers. You know, as Anthony talked about, you know, the net dollar expansion rate at that top of the queue where we bear hugged first, that 115, that's a good number. And now we have to take it through that entire stack. That's why we're bear hugging that group. I think we're on schedule. I think, yeah, Pat, we could be, you know, three, six months, give or take, either way. And, you know, that's just how these transformations go. But we're at the midpoint of this. We're building a better sprinkler. We have more work to do. But that's what we need to do. And when we get that and we get the underpinnings on each of these components, then you're ready for durable, sustained performance and predictability.

All right. Very helpful. Thank you.

The next question is from the line of Clark Wright with DA Davidson. Pleased to see you with your question.

Hi there. Good morning. I recognize that the million-dollar-plus customer cohort is an output of multiple factors, but we have seen two consecutive sequential declines, and I wanted to understand if you think this metric is stabilized at these levels, and if possible, How much of this cohort is already utilizing sprinkler services?

Yeah, I look at this. This is kind of a lagging indicator because it's like a 12-month kind of number. We're seeing much more where we see some variation from 1,000,001 to 900,000, 800,000 Some of that happens. I do want to grow that. I can tell you that this cohort now on average is generating over $3 million a client. That's good. I think we want to, and we're seeing good progress, and we're seeing the right kinds of engagement, and we're getting much less surprises. As I entered into last year, I could see through the year that indications of significant churn issues three, four quarters out. I'm a fraction of that level of issue as I enter this year. So I feel that that's moving in the right direction.

And to clarify on that, what we like also is the quality. So you have increased rate of Nandala expansion, but you have also increased amounts and average length of relationships. So I think this is where you want to be also. So those qualitative elements underneath I think are more important than the absolute number. of customers. Obviously, we don't want this to continue in terms of trajectory for the absolute number, but the quality and the traction that we see underneath is more important and more meaningful for the years ahead. So we like that in terms of the buildup of those customer relationships at the top tier of the pyramid.

Yeah, and I absolutely want to grow that. And at the top, we're seeing some really big clients. I mean, we continue to grow at the top. And I think that's a very good indication that this platform concept is real. Unified customer experience, I think, for enterprise customers is going to definitely happen over the next three to five years. And I think we're positioned well for it. let's get our house in order, let's get this transition execution phase done and dusted, and then we can go prosecute that for the next two, three years. Should be exciting.

Got it, thank you. And just to follow up, if possible, here around the social insights, how do you see that product continuing to evolve given what we're seeing in the changes in social media and other agentic means impacting that broader category.

Yeah, thanks, Clark. I think there's definitely emerging trends. I kind of alluded to it in the innovation, the four areas of innovation. You know, there's going to be more LLM listening. There's going to be different channels in that space. There's going to be more video. There's going to be a number of each of those we're addressing. I think there's no doubt those signals are going to continue to be relevant and important as you knit together all the social signals, the conversational commerce signals, the survey signals, which I'm excited about that product. We've now moved into full production in that area. We got recognized at the right quadrants in that. I think that's an exciting new set of tools. Our digital support and obviously our contact center support, that pulls that whole set together and gives you that, you know, total view. I think with any company, Scenario I see moving forward, listening and insights across all social and websites and interactions are key. Will they evolve and change? Absolutely. And we'll continue to innovate with new sources and more omni-channel capabilities to support the customer. But you've got to know what people are saying about your brand. You've got to know what they're talking about. And that's going to continue to be increasingly important. And I've highlighted the areas where I think we have to invest in innovation to support that.

Thank you. Thank you. At this time, we've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back over to Rory for closing comments.

Hey, I appreciate everyone's interest in Sprinklr. We have more work to do. We're a work in progress. Pleased with the progress that we're making. We're at the midpoint of that second phase. I think that this is an important year as we continue to build on what we did in FY26, and I look forward to giving you clear and concise updates as we move through this transition. Thanks again for your interest in our work, and we have more work to do. Thanks, everyone, and have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time.