Interactive Intelligence, a global provider of software and services designed to improve the customer experience, has announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31 December, 2013.

“2013 was an excellent year for Interactive intelligence,” says Interactive Intelligence founder and CEO, Dr Donald Brown. “We significantly increased orders, revenues, earnings and cash, while continuing to gain share and recognition in the contact centre market. More than ever, many of the world’s largest companies are turning to us to deliver solutions that optimise the customer experience.”

Brown adds, “Looking forward, we are very optimistic about our position in the marketplace based on the breadth and strength of our offering. We remain committed to innovation, and plan to continue investing in research and development, as well as in our sales infrastructure.

“Based on our strong global pipeline of opportunities, we’re expecting 2014 total order growth of 20% or more, which is on top of our better-than-expected 2013 order growth of 30%. In addition, we anticipate cloud-based total order growth to outpace that number, and to represent approximately 55 to 60% of total 2014 orders.”

Fourth quarter 2013 financial highlights include:

* Revenues – total revenues for the fourth quarter were $90.8-million, up 29% from the 2012 fourth quarter. Recurring revenues, including support fees from on-premises license agreements and fees from cloud-based customers increased 25% to $41.5-million and accounted for 46% of total revenues.

Cloud-based revenues increased 61% to $10.6-million. Product revenues were $34.9-million, and services revenues were $14.4-million, compared to $27.2-million and $10.2-million, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2012.

* Orders – cloud-based orders comprised 47% of total orders in the fourth quarter, up from 39% of total orders during the same period last year. Total orders for the fourth quarter decreased by 15% year-over-year due to the comparison to an exceptionally strong 2012 fourth quarter.

The company signed 63 contracts over $250,000, including 15 over $1.0-million, compared to 68 orders over $250,000, including 19 over $1.0-million in the same quarter last year.

* Total deferred revenues – deferred revenues increased to $116.0-million, up from $91.9-million as of Dec. 31, 2012. In addition, the amount of unbilled future cloud-based revenues increased to $184.2-million from $89.6-million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. The combination of deferred revenues and future cloud-based revenues was $300.0-million, up 65% from $181.5-million as of Dec. 31, 2012.

* Operating income – GAAP operating income was $6.5-million for the fourth quarter, compared to $3.5-million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP operating income was $9.3-million for the fourth quarter of 2013, with a non-GAAP operating margin of 10.2%, compared to $5.9-million and a non-GAAP operating margin of 8.4% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Both GAAP and non-GAAP operating income during the fourth quarter of 2013 include a $1.8-million reduction of expense related to the capitalisation of development costs for internal use software as Interactive Intelligence continues to develop its cloud offering.

* Income taxes – income tax expense for the fourth quarter was $2.9-million and resulted in an annual effective rate of 27%.

* Net income – GAAP net income for the fourth quarter was $3.5-million, or $0.17 per diluted share based on 21.4-million weighted average diluted shares outstanding. This compares to GAAP net income for the same quarter in 2012 of $2.3-million, or $0.11 per diluted share based on 20.3-million weighted average diluted shares outstanding.

Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter was $5.6-million, or $0.26 per diluted share. This compares to non-GAAP net income of $5.7-million, or $0.28 per diluted share for the same quarter in 2012.

* Cash, cash equivalents and investments – cash, cash equivalents and investments totalled $107.8-million as of Dec. 31, 2013, up from $80.6 at the end of 2012.

Full year 2013 financial highlights were:

* Revenues – total revenues were $318.2-million, an increase of 34% over 2012. Recurring revenues increased 25% to $148.0-million, including cloud-based revenues, which increased 55% year-over-year to $34.2-million. In 2013, product revenues were $117.7-million, and services revenues were $52.6-million, compared to $88.6-million and $30.4-million, respectively, in 2012.

* Orders – total orders increased 30% in 2013 compared to 2012, with cloud-based orders up 87% year-over-year. The company signed 192 contracts over $250,000, which included 48 orders over $1.0-million, up from 158 and 42, respectively, in 2012. Cloud-based orders were 50% of total orders, up from 35% in 2012.

* Operating Income – GAAP operating income in 2013 was $14.4-million, compared to $1.1-million in 2012. Non-GAAP operating income in 2013 was $26.0-million, with a non-GAAP operating margin of 8.1%, compared to $10.2-million and a margin of 4.3% in 2012.

Both GAAP and non-GAAP operating income during 2013 include a $3.6-million reduction of expense related to the capitalisation of development costs for internal use software as Interactive continues to develop its cloud offering.

* Income taxes – income tax expense for the full year of 2013 was $3.6-million. The annual effective rate of 27% is lower than the expected rate, primarily as a result of research and development tax credits.

* Net income – GAAP net income was $9.5-million, or $0.45 per diluted share based on 21.1-million weighted average diluted shares outstanding. This compares to GAAP net income in 2012 of $906,000, or $0.04 per diluted share based on 20.2-million weighted average diluted shares outstanding.

Non-GAAP net income was $16.7-million, or $0.79 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income in 2012 of $10.1-million, or $0.50 per diluted share.

* Cash flows – during the full year of 2013, the company generated $27.4-million in cash flow from operations, and used $20.8-million for capital expenditures and $6.1-million for internal use software.