Systematic maintains robust growth and expands into new markets

In spite of a turbulent year dominated by war, COVID-19 and a tight labour market, Systematic continues to deliver stable organic growth while posting the biggest revenue – EUR 178 million – in the company’s history.

With an order intake totalling EUR 180 million compared to EUR 172 million for the previous year, there is no sign that the challenges on the global market have dampened the software company’s activities – on the contrary, the company has welcomed a string of new, international customers.

“In 2020, we experienced for the first time that more than half of our orders came from abroad. In line with our strategy, this trend will continue. It means that our exports of solutions for the business areas Healthcare, Defence, Library & Learning and Renewables & Utilities are increasing year on year,” says Michael Holm, CEO at Systematic. 

Of the company’s total order intake, 55% came from abroad in 2021/2022.

The operating profit of EUR 23.1 million is down on the previous financial year, and according to Michael Holm, this is because Systematic has invested massively in innovation and product development, particularly within Healthcare and Defence. Systematic has also made significant investments in its internal infrastructure to prepare for expected growth in the coming years, and these investments are reflected in a lower bottom line.

Norway, Switzerland and the USA buy software solutions for health, defence, and wind energy
During the financial year, Systematic has entered into contracts with customers from countries that have not previously purchased the company’s solutions.

In Norway, the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, which comprises 27 hospitals in and around Oslo, has entered into a contract on a solution that will support hospital logistics and make it easier for clinicians and service employees to track and find relevant hospital equipment and resources. 

Another important strategic step on the Norwegian market was taken in August, when the City of Oslo’s main library, Deichman, and its 22 local libraries chose Cicero as their future IT platform. In connection with the agreement, 230 of Norway’s 428 libraries said yes to the possibility of being able to acquire and connect to Cicero.

In October, Systematic could add Switzerland as a new customer for its Defence business, when the country signed a contract on the command and control system SitaWare – including the new BI solution SitaWare Insight. By means of artificial intelligence and digital information processing, SitaWare Insight improves the ability of armed forces to very quickly gather and process large volumes of data. SitaWare makes it possible for different sections of the armed forces to collaborate and share information with defence forces in other countries.

“Switzerland is the first country to implement SitaWare Insight, but it is unlikely to be the last. In light of global developments, we are seeing a growing interest in tools which can gather and process data from multiple sources and make it possible to share intelligence with allied forces,” says Michael Holm.

In recent years, Systematic’s marine coordination solution SITE has gained a foothold with significant players in the offshore wind energy sector. In August, we broke into the US market when the large energy group Dominion Energy purchased SITE to coordinate its work tasks, logistics and safety in connection with the erection and operation of 2.6 GW offshore wind farms off the coast of Virginia.

Considerable progress has also been made on the company’s domestic market, where three out of five Danish regions are now using Systematic’s electronic health record (EHR) solution Columna CIS.

“One of the biggest milestones was the implementation and go-live of our EHR at all the hospitals in the Region of Southern Denmark and in North Denmark Region. It’s quite something that our most complex and biggest IT system is now processing half of the Danish population’s patient data in the three regions in west Denmark, and, most importantly of all, that the 60,000+ healthcare professionals who use the system are satisfied with it,” says Michael Holm.

Export case concluded by Public Prosecutor
In autumn 2021, Systematic was the subject of a police investigation following claims in the Danish media that the company had, via its UK subsidiary, violated or tried to circumvent the restrictions imposed on Danish export to the United Arab Emirates. In November 2022, the Public Prosecutor concluded the investigation, as no evidence had been found that Systematic had done anything illegal.

“It was nice to have the matter settled. We have submitted the correct information to the authorities, and we have secured permits for our exports. We are delighted that the Public Prosecutor shares our view, and that a line has now been drawn under the matter,” says Michael Holm.

As CEO for Denmark’s biggest privately-owned software company, Michael Holm believes it is very important that Systematic maintains its independence and stays financially strong. For many years, Systematic has been completely debt-free, and now has equity of EUR 87 million and liquid assets of EUR 63 million. Against this background, Michael Holm is optimistic about the future.

“We are starting the new financial year with many exciting projects in our order books, and we continue to see significant global interest in our products for the various sectors in society. There’s no doubt that the competition is heating up in several areas, but we still expect to post a similar profit for the next financial year,” he says.