Item 1. BUSINESS.
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Item 1. BUSINESS.
DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS
Tyler Technologies, Inc. (“Tyler”) is a major provider of integrated information management solutions and services for the public sector. We partner with clients to make government more accessible to the public, more responsive to the needs of citizens and more efficient in its operations. We have a broad line of software solutions and services to address the information technology (“IT”) needs of major areas of operations for cities, counties, schools and other government entities. We offer clients delivery of our software applications through software as a service (“SaaS”) and on-premise solutions. In recent years, substantially all of the Tyler’s products are sold through subscriptions delivered as SaaS. We provide professional IT services to our clients, including software and hardware installation, data conversion, training and, at times, product modifications. In addition, we are the nation’s largest provider of outsourced property appraisal services for taxing jurisdictions. We also provide continuing client support services to ensure product performance and reliability, which provides us with long-term client relationships and a significant base of recurring maintenance revenue. We provide digital government services and payment solutions. In addition, we provide electronic document filing (“e-filing”) solutions, which simplify the filing and management of court documents.
MARKET OVERVIEW
The state and local government market is one of the largest and most decentralized IT markets in the country, consisting of all 50 states, approximately 3,000 counties, 36,000 cities and towns and 12,900 school districts. This market is also comprised of approximately 38,000 special districts and other agencies, each with specialized delegated responsibilities and unique information management requirements.
Traditionally, local government bodies and agencies performed state-mandated duties, including property assessment, record keeping, road maintenance, law enforcement, administration of election and judicial functions, and the provision of welfare assistance. Today, a host of emerging and urgent issues are confronting local governments, each of which demands a service response. These areas include criminal justice and corrections, administration and finance, public safety, health and human services, planning, regulatory and maintenance and records and document management. Transfers of responsibility from the federal and state governments to county and municipal governments and agencies in these and other areas also place additional service and financial requirements on these local government units. In addition, constituents of local governments are increasingly demanding improved service and better access to information from public entities. As a result, local governments recognize the increasing value of information management systems and services to, among other things, improve revenue collection, provide increased access to information, and streamline delivery of services to their constituents. Local government bodies are now recognizing that “e-government” is an additional responsibility for community development. From integrated tax systems to integrated civil and criminal justice information systems, many counties and cities have benefited significantly from the implementation of jurisdiction-wide systems that allow different agencies or government offices to share data and provide a more comprehensive approach to information management. Many city and county governmental agencies also have unique individual information management requirements, which must be tailored to the specific functions of each particular office.
Many local governments also have difficulties attracting and retaining the staff necessary to support their IT functions. As a result, they seek to establish long-term relationships with reliable providers of high quality IT products and services such as Tyler.
Although local governments often face budgetary constraints in their operations, their primary revenue sources are usually property taxes, and to a lesser extent, utility billings and other fees, which historically tend to be relatively stable. In addition, the acquisition of new technology typically enables local governments to operate more efficiently, more securely, and often provides a measurable return on investment that justifies the purchase of software and related services.
Gartner, Inc., a leading information technology research and advisory company, estimates that state and local government application and vertical specific software spending will grow from $27.8 billion in 2023 to $40.0 billion in 2026. The professional services and support segments of the market are expected to expand from $33.5 billion in 2023 to $41.9 billion in 2026. Application and vertical specific software sales in the primary and secondary education segments of the market is expected to expand from $5.4 billion in 2023 to $6.6 billion in 2026 while professional services and support are expected to grow from $5.1 billion in 2023 to $6.1 billion in 2026. For the national and international government markets, application and vertical specific software sales is expected to expand from $42.2 billion in 2023 to $61.5 billion in 2026 while professional services and support are expected to grow from $65.6 billion in 2023 to $82.1 billion in 2026.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
We provide a comprehensive and flexible suite of products and services that addresses the information technology needs of cities, counties, states, schools, federal agencies, and other government entities.
We design, develop, market and support a broad range of software solutions to serve mission-critical “back-office” functions of the public sector. Many of our software applications include Internet-accessible solutions that allow for real-time public access to a variety of information or that allow the public to transact business with governments online. Our software solutions and services are provided through seven business units, which focus on the following products:
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financial management, education and planning, regulatory, and maintenance software solutions;
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financial management, municipal courts, planning, regulatory, and maintenance software solutions;
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courts and justice and public safety software solutions;
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data and insights solutions;
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appraisal and tax software solutions, land and vital records management software solutions, and property appraisal services;
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development platform solutions including case management and business process management; and
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digital government and payments solutions.
Each of our core software solutions consists of several fully integrated applications. For clients who acquire software for use on premises, we generally license our solutions under standard perpetual license agreements that provide the client with a fully paid, nonexclusive, nontransferable right to use the software. In some of the product areas, such as financial management and education and property appraisal and tax, we offer multiple solutions designed to meet the needs of different sized governments.
We also offer SaaS arrangements for clients who do not wish to maintain, update and operate these systems or to make up-front capital expenditures to implement these advanced technologies. For these clients, the software and client data are hosted at our data centers or at third-party locations, and clients typically sign multi-year contracts for these subscription-based services.
A description of our suites of products and services follows:
Financial Management and Education
Our financial management and education solutions are enterprise resource planning systems for the public sector, which integrate information across all facets of a client organization. Our financial management solutions include modular fund accounting systems that can be tailored to meet the needs of virtually any government agency or not-for-profit entity. Our financial management systems include modules for general ledger, budget preparation, fixed assets, requisitions, purchase orders, bid management, accounts payable, contract management, accounts receivable, investment management, inventory control, project and grant accounting, work orders, job costing, GASB reporting, payroll and human resources. All of our financial management systems are intended to conform to government auditing and financial reporting requirements and generally accepted accounting principles.
We sell utility billing systems that support the billing and collection of metered and non-metered services, along with multiple billing cycles. Our Web-enabled utility billing solutions allow clients to access information online such as average consumption and transaction history. In addition, our systems can accept secured Internet payments via credit cards and checks.
We also offer specialized products that automate numerous city and county functions, including municipal courts, parking tickets, equipment and project costing, animal licenses, business licenses, permits and inspections, code enforcement, citizen complaint tracking, ambulance billing, fleet maintenance, and cemetery records management.
In addition to providing financial management systems to K-12 schools, we sell student information systems for K-12 schools, which manage such activities as scheduling, grades and attendance. We also offer student transportation solutions to manage school bus routing optimization, fleet management, field trips and other related functions.
Tyler’s financial management and education solutions include Web components that enhance governments’ service capabilities by facilitating online access to information for both employees and citizens and enabling online transactions.
Courts and Justice
We offer a complete, fully integrated suite of judicial solutions designed to handle complex, multi-jurisdictional county or statewide implementations as well as single county systems. Our solutions help eliminate duplicate data entry, promote more effective business procedures, and improve efficiency across the entire justice process.
Our unified court case management system is designed to automate the tracking and management of information involved in all case types, including criminal, traffic, civil, family, probate and juvenile courts. It also tracks the status of cases, processes fines and fees and generates the specialized judgment and sentencing documents, notices and forms required in the court process. Documents received by the court can be scanned into the electronic case file and easily retrieved for viewing. Documents generated by the court can be electronically signed and automatically attached to the electronic case file. Additional modules automate the management of court calendars, coordinate judges' schedules and generate court dockets. Our targeted courtroom technologies allow courts to rapidly review calendars, cases and view documents in the courtroom. Courts may also take advantage of our related jury management system. We also offer a solution for online dispute resolution that automates the flow and resolution of common and historically time-consuming disputes including debt, landlord, tenant, small claims, child custody and other case types.
Our court and law enforcement systems allow the public to access, via the Internet, a variety of information, including non-confidential criminal and civil court records, jail booking and release information, bond and bondsmen information, and court calendars and dockets. In addition, our systems allow cities and counties to accept payments for traffic and parking tickets over the Internet, with a seamless and automatic interface to back-office justice and financial systems.
Our prosecutor system enables state attorney offices to track and manage criminal cases, including detailed victim information and private case notes. Investigative reports and charging instrument documents can be generated and stored for later viewing. Prosecutors can schedule and record the outcome of grand jury hearings. When integrated with the court system, prosecutors can view the electronic case file and related documents, as well as manage witness lists and subpoenas needed for court hearings.
Our supervision system allows pre-trial and probation offices to manage offender caseloads. Supervision officers can track contact schedules, risk/needs assessments and reassessments, detailed drug test results, employment histories, compliance with conditions and payments of fees and restitution. Documents and forms, like pre-sentence investigations or revocation orders, can be generated and stored for easy viewing. When integrated with the jail and court systems, supervision officers obtain easy access and quick notification of offenders that have court hearings scheduled, are arrested locally, and have new warrants issued.
We also offer a court case management solution that automates and tracks all aspects of municipal courts and offices. It is a fully integrated, graphical application that provides effective case management, document processing and cash/bond management. This system complies with all state reporting and conviction reports and includes electronic reporting and also integrates with certain of our financial management solutions and public safety solutions.
Also our product solutions provide a suite of financial and communications applications ranging from deposit technologies for commissary, ordering, and warehouse technology to a host of informational, electronic communications, security, accounting, and financial trust management components for correctional facilities.
Public Safety
Our public safety software is a fully unified and comprehensive solution for law enforcement, fire and EMS, including 911 / computer aided dispatch (“CAD”), records management, mobile computing, corrections management, Web-based information sharing and decision support. The modules are fully integrated, utilizing a common database and providing full functionality between modules, reducing data entry. The software provides fast, efficient dispatching, and quick access to records, reports and actionable information from an agency’s database.
Our 911 / CAD solutions provide real-time, critical response dispatch functions in either single- or multi-jurisdictional environments. When integrated with our records management software, a vital link exists between dispatch and the most comprehensive records database available. Within seconds, the dispatch operator and the officer in the field can access critical information, such as prior incidents and outstanding warrants, increasing officer knowledge and safety. The solutions offer strong geographic information systems integration to help dispatchers quickly locate and send the best response during an emergency. Our 911 / CAD solutions dramatically improve performance, response time and unit safety.
Our records management solutions for law enforcement and fire track statistical, operational, investigative and management data for inquiry and reporting. The systems create an efficient case processing workflow and help solve crimes with an accessible database that maintains central files on people, places, property, vehicles and criminal activity. Our public safety records management solutions enable easy access to information and simplify reporting.
Our mobile computing solutions for law enforcement and fire provide instant access to local, state, regional and federal databases via mobile devices. Officers and firefighters can experience the benefits of obtaining critical, real-time information in the field, while saving time by preparing reports directly in their vehicles.
Our jail management systems document and manage information that meets the requirements of a modern jail facility. This includes the booking and housing of persons in custody, supervising defendants on a pre-trial release, maintaining offenders sentenced to local incarceration and billing other agencies for housing inmates. Searching, reporting and tracking features are integrated, allowing reliable, up-to-date access to current arrest and incarceration data, including digital mug shots. Our systems also provide warrant checks for visitors or book-ins, inmate classification and risk assessment, commissary, property and medical processing, automation of statistics, and state and federal reporting.
Our civil processing solutions manage civil process needs from document receipt through service, payment process and final closeout. We also have a mobile electronic citation solution through which law enforcement officers can easily enter citation information in a mobile device, which is automatically uploaded into the court or public safety records management systems, rather than hand-writing citations that must be re-entered into the systems.
Property Appraisal and Tax
We provide systems and software that automate the appraisal and assessment of real and personal property, including record keeping, mass appraisal, inquiry and protest tracking, appraisal and tax roll generation, tax statement processing, and electronic state-level reporting. These systems are image and video-enabled to facilitate the storage of and access to the many property-related documents and for the online storage of digital photographs of properties for use in defending values in protest situations. Other related tax applications are available for agencies that bill and collect taxes, including cities, counties, school tax offices, and special taxing and collection agencies. These systems support billing, collections, lock box operations, mortgage company electronic payments, and various reporting requirements.
Planning, Regulatory and Maintenance
Our planning, regulatory and maintenance software solutions are designed for public sector agencies such as community development, planning, building, code enforcement, tax and revenues, public works, transportation, land control, environmental, fire safety, storm water management, regulatory controls and engineering. These solutions help public sector agencies better manage their day-to-day business functions while streamlining and automating the many aspects of their land management, permitting and planning systems. Our mobile solutions extend automation to the field and Web access brings online services to citizens 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Land and Vital Records Management
We also offer a number of specialized software applications designed to help local governments enhance and automate operations involving records and document management. These systems record, scan and index information for the many documents maintained by local governments, such as deeds, mortgages, liens, UCC financing statements and vital records (birth, death and marriage certificates). These applications include fully integrated imaging systems with batch and scan processing capabilities and fully integrated receipting and cashiering systems, as well as Web-enabled public access.
Our content management solutions allow state and local governments and school districts to capture, deliver, manage and archive electronic information. These solutions streamline the flow of digital information throughout the organization to increase efficiency by transforming paper forms and documents into electronic images that drive key business processes.
Data and Insights
Our data and insights solutions make existing government data discoverable, usable, and actionable for government workers and the people they serve. The data and insights solution includes a data-as-a-service platform and cloud applications for open data and citizen engagement, exclusively for city, county, state, and federal government organizations. Our data and insights solutions allow government to analyze, visualize, and securely share data across multiple departments and programs. These solutions deliver data-driven innovation and cost-savings by bringing together disparate systems and leveraging the cloud to dramatically enhance the effectiveness of government programs, to improve quality of life for residents, to positively impact local economies, and to achieve excellence in government operations.
Platform Technologies
We offer a low-code application development platform solution for case management and business process management. Whether based on premises or in the cloud, its Data-First™ approach allows the application to be implemented immediately and configured continuously, enabling clients to get to work quickly while keeping costs low. Our low code application platform allows government agencies the ability to track, collaborate, and report on the data that drives activities forward.
Digital Government Services
We deliver user-friendly digital services that make it easier and more efficient for citizens and businesses to interact with government providing valuable conveniences like applying for unemployment insurance, submitting business filings, renewing licenses, accessing information and making secure payments without visiting a government office. Our digital government services unit designs, builds, and operates digital government services on an enterprise-wide basis on behalf of state and local governments desiring to provide access to government information and to complete secure government-based transactions through multiple digital channels. These digital government services consist of websites and applications that allow consumers, such as businesses and citizens, to access government information, complete transactions and make electronic payments. We also provide payment processing services, software development and digital government services, other than those services provided under state enterprise contracts, to federal agencies as well as state and local governments.
Revenues
We derive our revenues from five primary sources:
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Subscription-based services
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Maintenance and support
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Professional services
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Software licenses and royalties
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Appraisal services
Subscription-Based Services
Subscriptions revenue primarily consists of revenues derived from our SaaS arrangements. We are able to provide the majority of our software products through our SaaS model. The clients who choose this model typically do not wish to maintain, update and operate these systems or make up-front capital expenditures to implement these advanced technologies. The contract terms for these arrangements range from one to ten years but are typically contracted for initial periods of three to five years. The majority of our SaaS or hosting arrangements include additional professional services as well as maintenance and support services. In certain arrangements, the client may also acquire a license to the software.
Other sources of subscriptions revenue are derived from transaction-based fees primarily related to digital government services, online payment solutions, which are sometimes offered with the assistance of third-party vendors, and online dispute resolution solutions. We also provide electronic document filing solutions (“e-filing”) that simplify the filing and management of court related documents for courts and law offices. E-filing revenue is derived from transaction fees and fixed fee arrangements.
Maintenance and Support
Following the implementation of our software systems, we provide ongoing software support services to assist our clients in operating the systems and to periodically update the software. Support is provided to clients over the phone or via the Web through help desks staffed by our client support representatives. For more complicated issues, our staff, with the clients' permission, can log on to clients’ systems remotely. We maintain our clients’ software largely through releases that contain improvements and incremental additions of features and functionality, along with updates necessary because of legislative or regulatory changes.
Virtually all of our software clients contract with us for maintenance and support, which provides us with a significant source of recurring revenue. We generally provide maintenance and support for our on-premises clients under annual, or in some cases, multi-year contracts, with a typical fee based on a percentage of the software product’s license fee. These fees can generally be increased on renewal and may also increase as new license fees increase. Maintenance and support fees are generally paid annually in advance. Most maintenance contracts automatically renew unless the client or Tyler gives notice of termination prior to expiration. Similar support is provided to our SaaS clients and is included in their subscription fees, which are classified as subscription-based revenue.
Professional Services
We provide a variety of professional services to clients who utilize our software products. Virtually all of our clients contract with us for installation, training, and data conversion services in connection with their implementation of Tyler’s software solutions. The complete implementation process for a typical system includes planning, design, data conversion, set-up and testing. At the culmination of the implementation process, a data implementation team is generally onsite at the client’s facility or available via remote video conferencing to ensure the smooth go-live with the new system. Implementation fees are charged separately to clients on either a fixed-fee or hourly charge basis, depending on the contract.
Both in connection with the installation of new systems and on an ongoing basis, we provide extensive training services and programs related to our products and services. Training can be provided in our training centers, onsite at clients’ locations, at meetings and conferences, or remotely, and can be customized to meet clients’ requirements. The vast majority of our clients contract with us for training services, both to improve their employees’ proficiency and productivity and to fully utilize the functionality of our systems. Training services are generally billed on an hourly or daily basis, along with travel and other expenses.
Software Licenses and Royalties
Many of our software arrangements involve “off-the-shelf” software. We recognize the revenue allocable to “off-the-shelf” software licenses and specified upgrades at a point in time when control of the software license transfers to the customer, unless the software is not considered distinct. We consider "off-the-shelf" software to be distinct when it can be added to an arrangement with minor changes in the underlying code, it can be used by the customer for the customer’s purpose upon installation, and remaining services such as training are not considered highly interdependent or interrelated to the product's functionality.
For arrangements that involve significant production, modification or customization of the software, or where professional services are otherwise not considered distinct, we recognize revenue over time by measuring progress-to-completion. We measure progress-to-completion primarily using labor hours incurred as it best depicts the transfer of control to the customer which occurs as we incur costs on our contracts. These arrangements are often implemented over an extended period and occasionally require us to revise total cost estimates. Amounts recognized in revenue are calculated using the progress-to-completion measurement after giving effect to any changes in our cost estimates. Changes to total estimated contract costs, if any, are recorded in the period they are determined. Estimated losses on uncompleted contracts are recorded in the period in which we first determine that a loss is apparent.
Software license fees are billed in accordance with the contract terms. Typically, a majority of the fee is due when access to the software license is made available to the customer and the remainder of the fee due over a passage of time stipulated by the contract. We record amounts that have been invoiced in accounts receivable and in deferred revenue or revenues, depending on whether the revenue recognition criteria have been met.
We recognize royalty revenue when the sale occurs under the terms of our third-party royalty arrangements. Currently, our third-party royalties are recognized on an estimated basis and adjusted if needed, when we receive notice of amounts we are entitled to receive. We typically receive notice of royalty revenue we are entitled to and billed on a quarterly basis in the quarter immediately following the royalty reporting period and adjustments have not been significant.
Appraisal Services
We are the nation’s largest provider of property appraisal outsourcing services for local government taxing authorities. These services include:
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The physical inspection of commercial and residential properties
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Data collection and processing
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Sophisticated computer analyses for property valuation
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Preparation of tax rolls
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Community education regarding the assessment process
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Arbitration between taxpayers and the assessing jurisdiction
Local government taxing authorities normally reappraise properties from time to time to update values for tax assessment purposes and to maintain equity in the taxing process. In some jurisdictions, law mandates reassessment cycles; in others, they are discretionary. While some taxing jurisdictions perform reappraisals in-house, many local governments outsource this function because of its cyclical nature and because of the specialized knowledge and expertise requirements associated with it. Our appraisal services business unit has operated in this business since 1938.
In some instances, we also provide property tax and / or appraisal software products in connection with appraisal outsourcing projects, while other clients may only engage us to provide appraisal services. Appraisal outsourcing services are somewhat seasonal in nature to the extent that winter weather conditions reduce the productivity of data collection activities in connection with those projects.
STRATEGY
Our objective is to grow our revenues and earnings organically, supplemented by focused strategic acquisitions. The key components of our business strategy are to:
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Provide high quality, value–added products and services to our clients. We compete on the basis of, among other things, delivering to clients our deep domain expertise in government operations through the highest value products and services in the market. We believe we have achieved a reputation as a premium product and service provider to the government market.
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Continue to expand our product and service offerings. While we already have what we believe to be the broadest line of software products for local governments, we continually upgrade our core software applications and expand our complementary product and service offerings to respond to technological advancements and the changing needs of our clients. We regularly add new products and services to our portfolio through internal product development as well as acquisitions. We believe that the addition of new features and applications enhances the market appeal of our core products. We have also broadened our offerings of consulting and business process reengineering services.
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Accelerate our move to the cloud. We have offered most of our core products in both an on-premises license model and a cloud-based subscription model for several years and have seen a steady increase in the percentage of new software clients choosing our cloud model in recent years. Beginning in late 2019, we moved our approach to sales from “cloud-neutral” to “cloud-first,” with an increasing preference to provide our solutions in the cloud. We are making significant investments in optimizing our products to be deployed efficiently in the public cloud and over a multi-year period are transitioning from hosting clients in Tyler’s proprietary data centers to utilizing Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) for cloud hosting.
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Expand our client base. We seek to establish long-term relationships with new clients primarily through our sales and marketing efforts. While we currently have clients in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other international locations, some of our solutions have not fully achieved nationwide geographic penetration. We intend to continue to expand into new geographic markets by adding sales staff and targeting marketing efforts by solutions in those areas. We also intend to continue to expand our customer base to include larger jurisdictions. While our traditional market focus has primarily been on small and mid-sized governments, our increased size and market presence, together with the technological advances and improved scalability of certain of our solutions, are allowing us to achieve increasing success in selling to larger clients. We also expect to expand our presence in international markets by leveraging our leadership position in the United States through the disciplined pursuit of selected opportunities in other countries.
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Expand our existing client relationships. Our existing customer base offers significant opportunities for additional sales of solutions and services that we currently offer, but that existing clients do not fully utilize. Add-on sales to existing clients typically involve lower sales and marketing expense than sales to new clients. In particular, we believe that the acquisition of NIC in April 2021 provides us with significant opportunities to sell Tyler software products into NIC’s client base and to provide NIC’s payment services to Tyler’s client base.
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Grow recurring revenues. We have a large recurring revenue base from maintenance and support and subscription-based services, which generated revenues of $1.5 billion, or 80% of total revenues, in 2022. We have historically experienced very low customer turnover (approximately 2% annually) and recurring revenues continue to grow as the installed customer base increases. Subscription-based revenues have been our fastest growing revenue category over the past five years, increasing from $220.5 million in 2018 to $1.0 billion in 2022. We monitor Annualized Recurring Revenue (“ARR”), which is calculated based on quarter-to-date end total recurring revenues multiplied by four. ARR was $1.50 billion and $1.39 billion as of December 31, 2022, and 2021, respectively. ARR increased 8% compared to the prior period due to an increase in subscriptions revenue resulting from an ongoing shift toward SaaS arrangements.
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Maximize economies of scale and take advantage of financial leverage in our business. We seek to build and maintain a larger client base to create economies of scale, enabling us to provide value-added products and services to our clients while expanding our operating margins. In addition, we believe that we have a marketing and administrative infrastructure in place that can be leveraged to accommodate significant long-term growth without proportionately increasing sales and marketing and general and administrative expenses.
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Attract and retain highly qualified employees. We believe that the depth and quality of our management and staff is one of our significant strengths, and that the ability to retain such employees is crucial to our continued growth and success. We believe that our stable management team, financial strength and growth opportunities, as well as our leadership position in the public sector market, enhance our attractiveness as an employer for highly skilled employees.
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Pursue strategic acquisitions. We selectively pursue strategic acquisitions that provide us with one or more of the following:
◦New products and services to complement our existing offerings
◦Entry into new markets related to the public sector
◦New clients and/or geographic expansion
- Establish strategic alliances. We have a strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services ("AWS") for cloud hosting services, which brings together Tyler, the nation's largest software company exclusively focused on the public sector, and AWS, the broadest and deepest cloud platform. Specifically, the agreement with AWS provides the framework for development, training and collaboration in order to support next-generation applications that have the scalability, resiliency, and security AWS offers. AWS is assisting us in accelerating innovation and the development of strategic initiatives. These initiatives will bring the most advanced cloud-native services to Tyler clients, improving the flow of information and providing a better experience for state, local, and federal governments.
SALES, MARKETING AND CLIENTS
We market our products and services primarily through direct sales and marketing personnel located throughout the United States. Other in-house sales staff focus on add-on sales, professional services and support. For certain products we also utilize a partner network for both sales and professional services, primarily in the state and federal markets.
Sales of new systems are typically generated from referrals from other government offices or departments within a county or municipality, referrals from other local governments, relationships established between sales representatives and county or local officials, contacts at trade shows, direct mailings, and direct contact from prospects already familiar with us. We are active in numerous national, state, county, and local government associations and participate in annual meetings, trade shows, and educational events.
Clients consist primarily of federal, state, county and municipal agencies, school districts and other local government offices. In counties, clients include the auditor, treasurer, tax assessor/collector, county clerk, district clerk, county and district court judges, probation officers, sheriff, and county appraiser. At municipal government sites, clients include directors from various departments, including administration, finance, utilities, public works, code enforcement, personnel, purchasing, taxation, municipal court and police. At the state and federal levels, clients include Chief Information Officers and agency heads. Contracts for software products and services are generally implemented over periods of three months to one year, although some complex implementations may span multiple years, with annually renewing maintenance and support update agreements thereafter. Although either the client or we can terminate these agreements, historically almost all support and maintenance agreements are automatically renewed annually. During 2022, approximately 25% of our revenue was attributable to ongoing support and maintenance agreements.
COMPETITION
We compete with numerous local, regional, and national firms that provide or offer some or many of the same solutions and services that we provide. Many of these competitors are smaller companies that may offer less expensive solutions than ours. Many of these firms operate within a specific geographic area and / or in a narrow product or service niche. We also compete with national firms, some of which have greater financial and technical resources than we do, including Oracle Corporation, Infor, SAP AG, Workday, Inc., CentralSquare Technologies, Thomson Reuters Corporation, Motorola Solutions, Inc., Axon Enterprise, Inc., and Constellation Software, Inc. In addition, we sometimes compete with consulting and systems integration firms, which develop custom systems, primarily for larger governments. We also occasionally compete with central internal information service departments of governments, which requires us to persuade the end-user department to discontinue service by its own personnel and outsource the service to us.
We compete on a variety of factors, including price, service, name recognition, reputation, technological capabilities, and the ability to modify existing products and services to accommodate the individual requirements of the client. Our ability to offer an integrated system of applications for several offices or departments is often a competitive advantage. Governmental units often are required to seek competitive proposals through a request for proposal process and some prospective clients use consultants to assist them with the proposal and vendor selection process.
SUPPLIERS
Substantially all of the computers, peripherals, printers, scanners, operating system software, office automation software, and other equipment necessary for the implementation and provision of our software systems and services are presently available from several third-party sources. Hardware is purchased on original equipment manufacturer or distributor terms at discounts from retail. We have not experienced any significant supply problems.
BACKLOG
At December 31, 2022, our revenue backlog was approximately $1.89 billion, compared to $1.80 billion at December 31, 2021. The backlog generally represents signed contracts under which the revenue has not been recognized. Approximately $886 million, or 47%, of the backlog is expected to be recognized during 2023.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, PROPRIETARY RIGHTS, AND LICENSES
We regard certain features of our internal operations, software, and documentation as confidential and proprietary and rely on a combination of contractual restrictions, trade secret laws and other measures to protect our proprietary intellectual property. We generally do not rely on patents. We believe that, due to the rapid rate of technological change in the computer software industry, trade secrets and copyright protection are less significant than factors such as knowledge, ability and experience of our employees, frequent product enhancements, and timeliness and quality of support services. We typically license our software products under non-exclusive license agreements, which are generally non-transferable and have a perpetual term.
HUMAN CAPITAL RESOURCES
Human Capital
Our experienced, collaborative team is one of the most significant contributors to our success in empowering the public sector to create smarter, safer, and stronger communities. Our effectiveness in attracting and developing talented team members, many of whom spend the majority of their careers at Tyler serving our public sector clients, demonstrates our commitment to providing a welcoming and safe workplace, with a culture, benefits, and opportunities for our team members to continually grow and develop their careers within Tyler.
As of December 31, 2022, we had approximately 7,200 team members. Approximately 335 of these team members are located in Canada and the Philippines; the remainder work remotely in the U.S. or are based in one of our nearly 80 U.S. offices. No Tyler employees are represented by unions. We believe our efforts in managing and supporting our workforce are effective, as evidenced by current levels of applicants, team member tenure, and high levels of engagement reported through continuous survey feedback from Tyler team members. Before we returned to office in January, the vast majority of team members worked remotely. After the return, 39% of team members became either partially or fully office based.
Our team continues to work collaboratively with and for our clients and partners across multiple work arrangements: fully office-based, fully remote and a blended approach of office-based and remote work, which we refer to as flex-work. Regardless of where team members work, we do so together to develop for, sell to, implement and support our public sector clients.
At the end of 2022, Tyler’s U.S. workforce was 63% male and 37% female, and women represented 42% of Tyler’s leadership. Our workforce was comprised as follows: 71% White, 7% Asian, 4% Hispanic or Latino, 5% Black or African American, and 13% Other. For our leadership, the breakdown was 93% White, 5% Asian, 2% Hispanic or Latino. We define leadership as positions which are one or two levels removed from our CEO with management responsibility. Race and gender reporting are based on information provided by team members. Voluntary workforce turnover (rolling 12-month attrition) was 10% as of December 31, 2022, a decrease from 2021 turnover of 12.5%. The average tenure of our team members continues to be approximately seven years and approximately 27% of our employees have been employed by Tyler for more than ten years. The most frequent factor cited by team members leaving Tyler in 2022 was career opportunities with compensation also cited as a factor. Job offer compensation levels for roles in the tech sector continued to increase in 2022 at levels we have not experienced in well over a decade.
Investments in Talent
We are committed to providing Tyler team members with career growth opportunities and the training and resources necessary to continually strengthen their skills. Our talent assessment and development programs provide managers and employees with the resources needed to achieve career goals, build management skills and lead their teams.
For example, in 2022:
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974 Tyler team members participated in close to 11,000 hours of AWS cloud certification training. There were 352 AWS accreditations and 228 certifications completed, as we continue to invest in developing cloud skills across the Tyler workforce.
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Again this year, over 200 Tyler managers participated in our 9-month Tyler Manager Development program which includes more than 50 hours of interactive, experiential learning, focused on developing skills managers need to lead a high performing team, plus multiple leadership assessments, including 360-degree feedback, and a dedicated mentor to support their development. To date, 42% of our management leads have participated in the program.
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Division Presidents and Corporate Function Executives conducted annual leadership assessment and talent reviews with their HR leaders and leadership teams to plan for succession and identify development priorities within their teams.
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Our TylerU online training platform was utilized by over 8,100 team members who completed almost 35,000 hours of Tyler-sponsored AWS, management and compliance training to support continuous learning, professional training and development.
Oversight and Management
Our Human Resources team is tasked with leading and supporting our organization in managing employment-related matters, including recruiting and hiring, onboarding and training, compensation planning, talent management and development. Our executive team is responsible for periodically reviewing team member programs and initiatives, including healthcare and other benefits, as well as our management development and succession planning practices and our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) efforts. Management periodically reports to the Board and its committees human capital measures and results that guide how we attract, retain and develop a workforce to enable our business strategies.
Health & Safety
We invest in the well-being of Tyler team members and their families. We provide a range of offerings in support of mental and emotional, financial, and physical health and wellness not only for our team members, but also for the family members who depend on them. The prolonged stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic continued in 2022, and we extended the new benefits introduced in 2020, including enhanced mental health and telehealth benefits and full coverage for COVID illness and vaccinations.
Diversity and Inclusion
We believe that a diverse workforce is critical to our success, and we continue to monitor and improve the application of our hiring, retention, compensation and advancement processes for women and underrepresented populations across our workforce, including our team members of color, veterans and members of our LGBTQ community. Our networks of support, made up of local diversity, equity, and inclusion committees and employee resources groups, serve to enhance our inclusive and diverse culture.
INTERNET WEBSITE AND AVAILABILITY OF PUBLIC FILINGS
We file annual, quarterly, current and other reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act. You may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-732-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and other information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including us, that file electronically with the SEC. The address of this site is http://www.sec.gov.
We also maintain a website at www.tylertech.com. We make available free of charge through this site our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Forms 4 and 5, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to the SEC. In addition, copies of our annual report will be made available, free of charge, upon written request.
Our “Code of Business Conduct and Ethics” is also available on our website. We intend to satisfy the disclosure requirements regarding amendments to, or waivers from, a provision of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics by posting such information on our website.
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