Comments from the CEO
CEO Per Wallentin gives his comments on Knowit’s Annual Report for 2023.
Per Wallentin, CEO Knowit
Actions have strengthened the long-term competitiveness
A glance in the rearview mirror shows a 2023 characterized by a clear need for adaptability to a changing world. During the year, we have navigated a time of uncertainty and volatility, where global macroeconomic factors have created challenges for several of our clients and thereby also for our own organization.
Thanks to our solid work to maintain proactive and forward-looking dialogues with our clients, adapt the organization to meet the changing demand, and limit and reduce operative costs, we saw more stable utilization towards the end of the year.
At the start of the year, we were still seeing a high demand for digitalization services in all markets where Knowit is active, although we were already seeing the effects of increased geopolitical uncertainty.
Throughout the year, the economic climate has gradually weakened, which has lead to a more hesitant attitude among our clients, resulting in longer sales cycles and more complex decision-making processes. This development has been particularly obvious on the Swedish market, where utilization has dropped to unsatisfactory levels during the year. In the other Nordic countries, the development has been more stable, partly due to measures taken to improve utilization and profitability in both Finland and Denmark already in the fall of 2022.
Our four business areas have all been affected by the changed market, albeit in different ways. The demand for project managers, administrators, and traditional management consultants has decreased, for instance, while the need for specialist competence in software development, AI, and cybersecurity has been very high all year.
During the year, the economic climate has gradually weakened, which has lead to a more hesitant attitude among our clients, resulting in longer sales cycles and more complex decision-making processes.
A focus on cost reduction
At Knowit, we have worked hard to adapt our operations to the current market situation, with the goal of retaining an efficient organization and high profitability. These efforts have included a thorough review of the organization, whereby we have identified a need to reorganize resources and decrease the number of employees in areas where demand has decreased. In all, 260 employees have left Knowit in 2023 as a result of low utilization. Further, we have decreased costs, primarily related to travel, conferences, work tools, etc.
One of our main possibilities has been in shifting to a higher gear in the parts of the operations where demand has been stable and high, such as the defense sector, security, and law, at the same time as we have dealt with an occasionally dramatic slowdown in other segments. Knowit’s agile work method and decentralized model is a strength, as we are quick to adapt and optimize our organization and offer.
I am pleased to see that our efforts have had results and we saw a stabilization in both utilization and profitability towards the end of the year.
With our gaze fixed on the goal of a sustainable society
Knowit’s vision of a sustainable and humane society is more important than ever. Technology development continuous regardless of the economic climate and at Knowit we strive to help Nordic companies and organizations deal with the necessary shift in order to achieve the global SDGs.
I am proud that a significant part of our revenue is already contributing to at least one of the UN SDGs. This means that we together with our clients, have worked together on projects that in various ways have contributed to making the world better and more sustainable – a very important contribution for us here at Knowit!
Knowit’s agile work method and decentralized model is a strength, as we are quick to adapt and optimize our organization and offer.
Thank you for this year
The past year has challenged us to improve our offer and become even more competitive in a world characterized by change. Our innovative and dedicated employees work close to our clients and partners, every day, year round. My warm and heartfelt thanks to all of you for an interesting year.
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Annika Billberg
Investor Relations
Christina Johansson
Head of Communications