With a solid COVID-19 continuity plan, a strong focus on people retention and new ways of collaborating with partners, Milestone Systems achieved a net revenue of DKK 1 billion in 2020, a decrease of 1% compared with 2019. The operating income (EBIT) was DKK 112 million, a decrease of 9%, reflecting the pandemic’s impact on sales, an increase in development capacity, and investments in new head counts to fuel future growth.
“Given the challenging situation of the pandemic, our annual result is a successful outcome, made possible by our people, without whom long-term sustainable growth would not be possible. We quickly turned around how we manage the company and found new ways of supporting our network of partners. This resilience combined with the adaptability of our people and partners prepared us to face the new challenges”
Thomas Jensen
Chief Executive Officer, Milestone Systems
People First
During 2020, Milestone’s People First approach was tested to its core. It was crucial for Milestone to avoid restructuring while supporting its people – keeping them motivated and feeling included as part of the team. To support this, Milestone launched the Grow Together program that focuses on mental and physical health and knowledge-sharing about exercise, food, and sleep. In addition, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Milestone lived up to the ambition to invest in people and growth, increasing the number of employees by 69 to a total of 934 at the end of 2020.
“Many of our partners found themselves suddenly in silos when the pandemic hit, so we re-routed our business strategy virtually with rigorous online trainings and webinars. In 2021, we are looking to further expand our partner community and help them grow in India and beyond via Marketplace. We will continue to support our customers in 2021 with the same approach of putting people first with focus on partner and community involvement”
Sandesh Kaup
Country Manager, Milestone Systems,
India & SAARC
Increased support of partners
The wide network of channel and technology partners is the core of Milestone’s open video technology platform. When the pandemic hit, Milestone optimized its support to help partners keep selling Milestone solutions. Product training went online with webinars attracting thousands of partners and, with the Milestone Care™ campaign, Milestone helped its partners to continue their business without having to be onsite with their customers.
Looking ahead, Thomas Jensen expects challenges but also looks forward to Milestone’s continued growth journey. He concluded, “COVID-19 created a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability in 2020. The pandemic is not behind us yet, and therefore we see challenges as well as opportunities ahead. But with our strong COVID-19 continuity plan, we are confident that 2021 will become another growth year for Milestone.”
