# TTEC Holdings, Inc. (TTEC) FY 2021 MD&A

Verbatim Item 7 Management's Discussion and Analysis from TTEC Holdings, Inc.'s 10-K for fiscal year 2021.

SEC filing source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1013880/000155837022002795/ttec-20211231x10k.htm
Accession: 0001558370-22-002795
Filing date: 2022-03-03
Report date: 2021-12-31
Extracted structurally from real Item 7 body heading to real Item 7A/8 boundary.
Confidence: high

Company profile: /company/TTEC/
All MD&A years: /company/TTEC/mda/
Next year: /company/TTEC/mda/fy2022/ (FY 2022)

ITEM 7.  MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

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Executive Summary

TTEC Holdings, Inc. (“TTEC”, “the Company”, “we”, “our” or “us”; pronounced “T-TEC”) is a leading global customer experience as a service (“CXaaS”) partner for many of the world’s most iconic and disruptive brands. TTEC designs, builds, orchestrates, and delivers seamless digitally enabled customer experiences that are designed to increase brand value, customer loyalty, revenue, and profitability through personalized, outcome-based interactions. We help clients improve their customer satisfaction while lowering their total cost to serve by combining innovative digital solutions with service capabilities that deliver a frictionless customer experience (“CX”) across different channels and phases of the customer lifecycle.

The Company operates and reports its financial results of operation through two business segments: TTEC Digital and TTEC Engage.

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","TTEC Digital is one of the largest pure-play CX technology service providers with expertise in CX strategy, digital consulting, and transformation enabled by proprietary CX applications and technology partnerships. TTEC Digital designs, builds, and operates robust digital experiences for clients and their customers through the contextual integration and orchestration of customer relationship management (\u201cCRM\u201d), data, analytics, CXaaS technology, and intelligent automation to ensure high-quality, scalable CX outcomes."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","TTEC Engage provides the digitally enabled CX managed services to support our clients\u2019 end-to-end customer interaction delivery at scale. The segment delivers omnichannel customer care, tech support, order fulfillment, customer acquisition, growth, and retention services with industry specialization and distinctive CX capabilities for hypergrowth brands. TTEC Engage also delivers digitally enabled back office and industry specific specialty services including artificial intelligence (\u201cAI\u201d) operations, content moderation, and fraud management services."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

TTEC Digital and TTEC Engage strategically come together under our unified offering, Humanify® CXaaS, which drives measurable customer results for clients through the delivery of personalized, omnichannel experiences. Our Humanify® cloud platform provides a fully integrated ecosystem of CX offerings, including messaging, AI, machine learning (“ML”), robotic process automation (“RPA”), analytics, cybersecurity, CRM, knowledge management, journey orchestration, and traditional voice solutions. Our end-to-end CXaaS platform differentiates us from competitors by combining design, strategic consulting, technology, data analytics, process optimization, system integration, and operational excellence along with our decades of industry know-how. This unified offering is value-oriented, outcome-based and delivered to large enterprises, governments, and hypergrowth companies on a global scale.

During 2021, the TTEC global operating platform delivered onshore, nearshore, and offshore services in 20 countries on six continents -- the United States, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Kingdom with the help of 65,000 consultants, technologists, and CX professionals.

Our revenue for fiscal 2021 was $2.273 billion, approximately $414 million, or 18% which came from our TTEC Digital segment and $1.859 billion, or 82%, which came from our TTEC Engage segment.

To improve our competitive position in a rapidly changing market and to lead our clients with emerging CX methodologies, we continue to invest in innovation and service offerings for both mainstream and high-growth disruptive businesses, diversifying and strengthening our core customer care services with technology-enabled, outcomes-focused services, data analytics, insights, and consulting.

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We also invest to broaden our product and service capabilities, increase our global client base and industry expertise, tailor our geographic footprint to the needs of our clients, and further scale our end-to-end integrated solutions platform. To this end we have been highly acquisitive in the last several years, including recently agreeing to acquire certain citizen experience assets of Faneuil, Inc. that include healthcare exchange and transportation services contracts, expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. This acquisition, once closed, will expand our capabilities in the growing public sector market deploying investments to achieve technology-enabled citizen engagement solutions. We also completed an acquisition early in the second quarter of 2021 of a provider of Genesys and Microsoft cloud contact center services, which followed an acquisition in the second half of 2020 of a preferred Amazon Connect cloud contact center service provider and an acquisition in the first quarter of 2020 of an autonomous customer experience and intelligent automation solutions provider. In the previous year, we completed an acquisition in the fourth quarter of 2019 of a provider of customer care, social media community management, content moderation, technical support, and business process solutions for rapidly growing businesses in early stages of their lifecycle.

We have extensive expertise in the automotive, communications, financial services, national/federal and state and local government, healthcare, logistics, media and entertainment, e-tail/retail, technology, travel and transportation industries. We serve more than 750 diverse clients globally, including many of the world’s iconic brands, Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies, and disruptive hypergrowth companies.

Cybersecurity Incident

In September 2021, TTEC experienced a ransomware incident that temporarily disrupted the Engage business segment’s client support environment. Certain TTEC systems and data became encrypted and certain TTEC data was exfiltrated or destroyed. TTEC Digital business segment’s information systems and client environment were not involved in the attack. TTEC activated its incident response and business continuity protocols, notified law enforcement, took appropriate measures to restore its systems and was able to restore operations for many impacted clients within hours of the start of the incident, with all client-facing systems returning to operations within five days of the incident.

We exercised reasonable efforts to identify data that may have been exfiltrated. We continue to monitor the situation, and we are not currently aware of evidence that exfiltrated data was publicly released. As of the date of this report, data involved in the incident has been analyzed for impact and notice obligations, and we provided appropriate regulatory and individual notices about the incident and its potential impacts.

With support from outside forensic experts, TTEC completed its investigation of root causes and impacts of the cybersecurity incident and is working to harden the security of its information technology environment and is taking measures to move to a ‘zero trust’ environment to protect its systems and its data.

The Company performed appropriate procedures to validate the accuracy and completeness of information involved in its financial reporting, and we have no indication that the accuracy and completeness of any financial information was impacted as a result of the incident.

The temporary operational disruptions that occurred due to this incident did not have a long-term impact on our results of operations. We made additional investments in the hardening of our cybersecurity environment and the operational governance of our information technology systems during the fourth quarter of 2021 and expect to make further investments in 2022. While the total amount of likely investment has not yet been determined, we anticipate that it will be at least $6 million in 2022 and beyond. The incident and any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with applicable privacy laws in connection with this incident could result in government enforcement actions, regulatory investigations, fines, penalties, and private legal actions, which could impact our results of operations and expenses associated with the incident. In the first quarter of 2022, we have been served with certain lawsuits alleging data privacy failures, which are typical when cybersecurity incidents result in data exfiltration. Other actual and potential consequences of the incident may include negative publicity, loss of client trust, reputational damage, litigation, contractual claims, financial judgement or settlements in excess of insurance, and disputes with insurance carriers concerning coverage. See, Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors.

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COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Early in second quarter of 2020, we transitioned approximately 80% of our employee population to a work from home environment. Those employees who were considered essential and could not operate effectively while working remotely, continued to work in our brick-and-mortar sites consistent with the recommendations on health and safety from the World Health Organization, the U.S. and European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local government regulations in jurisdictions where our customer experience centers are located.  As of the time of this disclosure, most TTEC employees continue to work from home, and we continue to evaluate when and to what extent they will return to our offices and customer experience centers. During 2021, we also took pro-active steps to ensure that TTEC was prepared to comply with relevant vaccination mandates and other safety measures in jurisdictions where we do business.

Our implementation of business continuity plans, rapid transition of employees to a work from home environment, and the geographic diversification of our customer experience delivery centers allowed us to mitigate potentially more severe impacts of COVID-19, positioned us to continue supporting our commercial and public sector clients without interruptions and provide them with additional support as they experienced surge volumes of customer, patient, and citizen COVID-19 related engagement.

Through the period ended December 31, 2021 the COVID-19 pandemic has not had a material adverse impact on our operational or financial results. While we expect this positive trend to continue and some of our COVID-19 specific work has transitioned to more traditional business activities for the same clients, there continues to be uncertainty about our business as the pandemic continues around the globe, including the emergence of certain variant strains of the virus, and related business interruption; and as our clients plan for post-pandemic business realities including new ways of working, evolving use of technology, and inflationary pressures. We cannot accurately predict the severity of the economic and operational challenges of an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic changes on our clients’ businesses and their effect on the magnitude and timing of our clients’ buying decisions. Further, while to date we have been successful in managing service delivery from a highly disbursed employee population working remotely and our delivery sites that could not be replaced with work from home delivery, unpredictable business interruption decisions from government authorities in some jurisdictions where we do business, certain seasonal weather cycles and their potential impacts on power grid, and internet availability for our employees working from home may impact our delivery capability with little notice, thus potentially impacting our results of operations in the future.

Capital and Financing Availability

Our strong balance sheet, cash flow from operations and access to debt and capital markets have historically provided us the financial flexibility to effectively fund our organic growth, capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions, incremental investments, and capital distributions.

We return capital to our shareholders through our dividend program. Given our cash flow generation and balance sheet strength, we believe cash dividends, in balance with our investments in product and service innovations, organic growth, and strategic acquisitions, align shareholder interests with the needs of the Company. After consideration of TTEC’s performance, cash flow from operations, capital needs and the overall liquidity of the Company, the Company’s Board of Directors adopted a dividend policy in 2015, with the intent to distribute a periodic cash dividend to stockholders of our common stock. Since inception in 2015, the Company has continued to pay a semi-annual dividend in October and April of each year in gradually increasing amounts from $0.18 per common share in 2015 to $0.47 per common share in October 2021. In December 2020, the Board of Directors authorized a special one-time dividend of $2.14 per common share. On February 24, 2022, the Board of Directors authorized a semi-annual dividend of $0.50 per common share, payable on April 20, 2022 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2022.

Our Integrated Service Offerings and Business Segments

We provide strategic value and differentiation through our two business segments: TTEC Digital and TTEC Engage.

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TTEC Digital is one of the largest pure-play CX technology service providers with expertise in CX strategy, digital consulting and transformation enabled by proprietary CX applications and technology partnerships. TTEC Digital designs, builds, and operates robust digital experiences for clients and their customers through the contextual integration and orchestration of CRM, data, analytics, CXaaS technology, and intelligent automation to ensure high-quality, scalable CX outcomes.

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","Technology Services: Our technology services design, integrate, and operate highly scalable, digital omnichannel technology solutions in the cloud, on premise, or hybrid environment, including journey orchestration, automation and AI, knowledge management, and workforce productivity."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","Professional Services: Our management consulting practices deliver customer experience strategy, analytics, process optimization, and learning and performance services."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

TTEC Engage provides the digitally enabled CX managed services to support our clients’ end-to-end customer interaction delivery at scale. The segment delivers omnichannel customer care, tech support, order fulfillment, customer acquisition, growth, and retention services with industry specialization and distinctive CX capabilities for hypergrowth brands. TTEC Engage also delivers digitally enabled back office and industry specific specialty services including AI operations, content moderation, and fraud management services.

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","Customer Acquisition, Growth, and Retention Services: Our customer growth and acquisition services optimize the buying journeys for acquiring new customers by leveraging technology and analytics to deliver personal experiences that we believe increase the quantity and quality of leads and customers."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","Customer Care, Tech Support, and Order Fulfillment Services: Our customer care, technical support, and order fulfillment services provide turnkey contact center solutions, including digital omnichannel technologies, associate recruiting and training, facilities, and operational expertise to create exceptional customer experiences across all touchpoints."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","Digitally enabled back office and specialty services: Our digital AI operations, content moderation, and fraud detection and prevention services provide clients with data tagging and annotation capabilities to train and enable AI platforms, community content moderation, and compliance to meet client content standards, and proactive fraud solutions to assist our clients in the detection and prevention of fraud."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Based on our clients’ preferences, we provide our services on an integrated cross-business segment and/or on a discrete basis.

Additional information with respect to our segments and geographic footprint is included in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Our 2021 Financial Results

In 2021, our revenue increased 16.6% to $2,273 million over 2020, including an increase of 1.0% or $18.7 million due to foreign currency fluctuations. The increase in revenue was comprised of a $107.1 million, or 34.9%, increase for TTEC Digital and a $216.7 million, or 13.2%, increase for TTEC Engage.

Our 2021 income from operations increased $12.5 million to $217.2 million or 9.6% of revenue, from $204.7 million which was 10.5% of revenue for 2020. The change in operating income is attributable to a number of different factors across the segments. The TTEC Digital operating income declined with an 21.8%, or $9.9 million, decrease over last year primarily due to a reduction in a large multi-year government contract and increased amortization of acquisition related intangible assets, partially offset by the 2021 and 2020 acquisitions which accelerated growth in the cloud revenue platform. The TTEC Engage operating income increased 14.0%, or $22.4 million, compared to the prior year primarily related to the increase in revenue offset partially by expenses related to the cybersecurity incident during September 2021 which caused outages for several of our Engage clients.

Income from operations in 2021 and 2020 included a total of $15.1 million and $9.1 million of restructuring and asset impairments, respectively.

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Our offshore customer experience centers spanning six countries serve clients based in the U.S. and in other countries with 23,200 workstations representing 58% of our global delivery capabilities. Revenue for our TTEC Engage segment provided in these offshore locations represented 29% of our 2021 revenue, as compared to 29% of our 2020 revenue.

Our seat utilization is defined as the total number of utilized workstations compared to the total number of available production workstations. As of December 31, 2021, the total production workstations for our TTEC Engage segment was 39,750 and the overall capacity utilization in our centers was 63% versus 57% in the prior year period. The utilization continues to be lower than in previous years primarily due to COVID-19 protocols requiring the distancing of employees which has reduced the available seat capacity. Adjusted for social distancing protocols, which reduced the available workstations to approximately 18,500 and accounting for all client paid seats as utilized, whether through actual usage or contractual commitments to hold the seats, current utilization is in excess of 135%.

Post COVID-19 we expect our clients to leverage a more diversified geographic footprint and an increased mix of work from home versus brick-and-mortar seats. We will continue to refine our site strategy and capacity as we finalize plans with our clients and prospects.

Some of our clients may be subject to regulatory pressures to serve clients onshore. We plan to continue to selectively retain and grow capacity and expand into new offshore markets, while maintaining appropriate capacity onshore. As we grow our offshore delivery capabilities and our exposure to foreign currency fluctuation increases, we will continue to actively manage this risk via a multi-currency hedging program designed to minimize operating margin volatility.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (“GAAP”). The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses as well as the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We regularly review our estimates and assumptions. These estimates and assumptions, which are based upon historical experience and on various other factors believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Reported amounts and disclosures may have been different had management used different estimates and assumptions or if different conditions had occurred in the periods presented. Below is a discussion of the policies that we believe may involve a high degree of judgment and complexity.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue from contracts and programs when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to the customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration it expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. Revenue is recognized when or as performance obligations are satisfied by transferring control of a promised good or service to a customer. A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer. Performance obligation is the unit of accounting for revenue recognition under the provisions of ASC Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” and all related amendments (“ASC 606”). A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation in recognizing revenue.

The BPO inbound and outbound service fees are based on either a per minute, per hour, per FTE, per transaction or per call basis, which represents the majority of our contracts. These contracts have a single performance obligation as the promise to transfer the individual goods or services is not separately identifiable from other promises in the contracts and, therefore, not distinct. With the exception of training, which is not considered to have value to the customer on a stand-alone basis, and is typically billed upfront and deferred, the remainder of revenue is invoiced on a monthly or quarterly basis as services are performed and does not create a contract asset or liability.

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In addition to revenue from BPO services, revenue also consists of fees from services for program launch, professional consulting, fully-hosted or managed technology and learning innovation services. The contracts containing these service offerings may contain multiple performance obligations. For contracts with multiple performance obligations, the Company allocates the contract’s transaction price to each performance obligation using the best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct good or service in the contract. For these services, the point at which the transfer of control occurs determines when revenue is recognized in a specific reporting period. The majority of the Company’s services are recognized over time using the input method in which revenue is recognized on the basis of efforts or inputs toward satisfying a performance obligation (for example, resources consumed, labor hours expended, costs incurred, or time elapsed) relative to the total expected inputs to satisfy the performance obligation. Deferred revenues for these services represent amounts collected from, or invoiced to, customers in excess of revenues recognized. The Company records amounts billed and received, but not earned, as deferred revenue. Costs directly associated with revenue deferred, consisting primarily of labor and related expenses, are also deferred and recognized in proportion to the expected future revenue from the contract.

Variable consideration exists in contracts for certain client programs that provide for adjustments to monthly billings based upon whether the Company achieves, exceeds or fails certain performance criteria. Adjustments to monthly billings consist of contractual bonuses/penalties, holdbacks and other performance based conditions. Variable consideration is estimated at contract inception at its most likely value and updated at the end of each reporting period as additional performance data becomes available. Revenue related to such variable consideration is recognized only to the extent that a significant reversal of any incremental revenue is not considered probable.

Contract modifications are routine in the performance of the customer contracts. Contracts are often modified to account for customer mandated changes in the contract specifications or requirements, including service level changes. In most instances, contract modifications relate to goods or services that are incremental and distinctly identifiable, and, therefore, are accounted for prospectively.  

Direct and incremental costs to obtain or fulfill a contract are capitalized, and the capitalized costs are amortized over the corresponding period of benefit, determined on a contract by contract basis. The Company recognizes an asset for the incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer if it expects to recover those costs. Costs to obtain a contract that would have been incurred regardless of whether the contract was obtained are recognized as an expense when incurred, unless those costs are explicitly chargeable to the customer regardless of whether the contract is obtained.

In certain cases, the Company negotiates an upfront payment to a customer in conjunction with the execution of a contract. Such upfront payments are critical to acquisition of new business and are often used as an incentive to negotiate favorable rates from the clients and are accounted for as upfront discounts for future services. Payments to customers are capitalized as contract acquisition costs and are amortized as a reduction to revenue in proportion to the expected future revenue from the contract, which in most cases results in straight-line amortization over the life of the contract. Such capitalized contract acquisition costs are periodically reviewed for impairment taking into consideration ongoing future cash flows expected from the contract and estimated remaining useful life of the contract.

Income Taxes

Accounting for income taxes requires recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future income tax consequences of transactions that have been included in the Consolidated Financial Statements or tax returns. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities using tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. When circumstances warrant, we assess the likelihood that our net deferred tax assets will more likely than not be recovered from future projected taxable income.

We continually review the likelihood that deferred tax assets will be realized in future tax periods under the “more-likely-than-not” criteria. In making this judgment, we consider all available evidence, both positive and negative, in determining whether, based on the weight of that evidence, a valuation allowance is required.

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We follow a two-step approach to recognizing and measuring uncertain tax positions. The first step is to determine if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on audit. The second step is to estimate and measure the tax benefit as the amount that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement with the tax authority. We evaluate these uncertain tax positions on a quarterly basis. This evaluation is based on the consideration of several factors including changes in facts or circumstances, changes in applicable tax law, and settlement of issues under audit.

Interest and penalties relating to income taxes and uncertain tax positions are accrued net of tax in the Provision for income taxes in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss).

In the future, our effective tax rate could be adversely affected by several factors, many of which are outside our control. Our effective tax rate is affected by the proportion of revenue and income before taxes in the various domestic and international jurisdictions in which we operate. Further, we are subject to changing tax laws, regulations and interpretations in multiple jurisdictions in which we operate, as well as the requirements, pronouncements and rulings of certain tax, regulatory and accounting organizations. We estimate our annual effective tax rate each quarter based on a combination of actual and forecasted results of subsequent quarters. Consequently, significant changes in our actual quarterly or forecasted results may impact the effective tax rate for the current or future periods.

Business Combinations

We account for business combinations under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with ASC Topic 805, Business Combinations, which requires an allocation of the consideration we paid to the identifiable assets, intangible assets and liabilities based on the estimated fair values as of the closing date of the acquisition. The excess of the fair value of the purchase price over the fair values of these identifiable assets, intangible assets and liabilities is recorded as goodwill.

Purchased intangibles other than goodwill are initially recognized at fair value and amortized over their useful lives unless those lives are determined to be indefinite. The valuation of acquired assets will impact future operating results. The fair value of identifiable intangible assets is determined using an income approach on an individual asset basis. Specifically, we use the multi-period excess earnings method to determine the fair value of customer relationships and the relief-from-royalty approach to determine the fair value of the trade name. Determining the fair value of acquired intangibles involves significant estimates and assumptions, including forecasted revenue growth rates, EBITDA margins, percentage of revenue attributable to the trade name, contributory asset charges, customer attrition rate, market-participant discount rates and the assumed royalty rates.

The determination of the useful life of an intangible asset other than goodwill is based on factors including historical tradename performance with respect to consumer name recognition, geographic market presence, market share, plans for ongoing trade name support and promotion, customer attrition rate, and other relevant factors.

Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets

We evaluate goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for possible impairment at least annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable.

We use a two-step process to assess the realizability of goodwill. The first step, Step 0, is a qualitative assessment that analyzes current economic indicators associated with a particular reporting unit. For example, we analyze changes in economic, market and industry conditions, business strategy, cost factors, and financial performance, among others, to determine if there would be a significant decline to the fair value of a particular reporting unit. A qualitative assessment also includes analyzing the excess fair value of a reporting unit over its carrying value from impairment assessments performed in previous years. If the qualitative assessment indicates the fair value of the reporting unit is in excess of its carrying value, no further testing is required.

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If a qualitative assessment indicates that a significant decline to fair value of a reporting unit is more likely than not, or if a reporting unit’s fair value has historically been closer to its carrying value, we will proceed to Step 1 testing where we calculate the fair value of a reporting unit based on discounted future probability-weighted cash flows. If Step 1 indicates that the carrying value of a reporting unit is in excess of its fair value, we will record an impairment equal to the amount by which a reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its fair value.

We estimate fair value using discounted cash flows of the reporting units. The most significant assumptions used in these analyses are those made in estimating future cash flows. In estimating future cash flows, we use financial assumptions in our internal forecasting model such as projected capacity utilization, projected changes in the prices we charge for our services, projected labor costs, as well as contract negotiation status. The financial and credit market volatility directly impacts our fair value measurement through our weighted average cost of capital that we use to determine our discount rate. We use a discount rate we consider appropriate for the country where the business unit is providing services.

Contingencies

We record a liability for pending litigation and claims where losses are both probable and reasonably estimable. Each quarter, management reviews all litigation and claims on a case-by-case basis and assigns probability of loss and range of loss.

Other Components of Results of Operations

Cost of Services

Cost of services principally include costs incurred in connection with our customer experience services and technology services, including direct labor and related taxes and benefits, telecommunications, technology costs, sales and use tax and certain fixed costs associated with the customer engagement centers. In addition, cost of services includes income related to grants we may receive from local or state governments as an incentive to locate customer engagement centers in their jurisdictions which reduce the cost of services for those facilities.

Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily include costs associated with administrative services such as sales, marketing, product development, legal, information systems (including core technology and telephony infrastructure), accounting and finance. It also includes outside professional fees (i.e., legal and accounting services), building expense for non-engagement center facilities and other items associated with general business administration.

Restructuring Charges, Net

Restructuring charges, net primarily include costs incurred in conjunction with reductions in force or decisions to exit facilities, including termination benefits and lease liabilities, net of expected sublease rentals.

Interest Expense

Interest expense includes interest expense, amortization of debt issuance costs associated with our Credit Facility, and the accretion of deferred payments associated with our acquisitions.

Other Income

The main components of other income are miscellaneous income not directly related to our operating activities, such as foreign exchange gains and reductions in our contingent consideration.

Other Expenses

The main components of other expenses are expenditures not directly related to our operating activities, such as foreign exchange losses and increases in our contingent consideration.

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RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared to December 31, 2020

The tables included in the following sections are presented to facilitate an understanding of Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and present certain information by segment for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 (amounts in thousands). All inter-company transactions between the reported segments for the periods presented have been eliminated.

TTEC Digital

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​

The increase in revenue for the TTEC Digital segment was related to significant increases in the cloud platform and the systems integration practice including acquisitions of Avtex and VoiceFoundry, offset by reductions in a large multi-year governmental contract and the legacy facility based training business and Middle East consulting practice, both of which the Company has exited. Excluding this large multi-year government contract, the TTEC Digital revenue has increased 88% year over year.

The operating income reduction is primarily attributable to the reduction in a large multi-year government contract and increased amortization of acquisition related intangible assets, partially offset by the increased revenue due to the acquisitions and other revenue increases as well as the exit of the less profitable facilities based training and Middle East consulting practices. The operating income as a percentage of revenue decreased to 8.6% in 2021 as compared to 14.8% in 2020. Included in the operating income was amortization related to acquired intangibles of $18.8 million and $3.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

TTEC Engage

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​

The increase in revenue for the TTEC Engage segment was due to a net increase of $316.3 million in client programs including certain COVID-19 pandemic related programs for several clients and a $16.4 million increase due to foreign currency fluctuations offset by a decrease for program completions of $116.0 million.

The operating income increased slightly due to growth in revenue, revenue mix, and increased profitability in several offerings and an $8.1 million increase due to grants received related to COVID-19 relief. Partially offsetting these increases were costs of $13.4 million, net related to the cybersecurity incident during September 2021 which caused outages in operations for several Engage clients, and a net $14.6 million in restructuring and impairment charges related to several facilities in the U.S. (see Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 11 to the Consolidated Financial Statements). As a result, the operating income as a percentage of revenue increased slightly to 9.8% in 2021 as compared to 9.7% in the prior period. Included in the operating income was amortization expense related to acquired intangibles of $13.2 million and $13.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

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Interest Income (Expense)

Interest income decreased to $0.8 million in 2021 from $1.7 million in 2020 due to lower interest rates. Interest expense decreased to $12.4 million during 2021 from $17.5 million during 2020, primarily due to higher utilization of the line of credit offset by lower interest rates, and a $6.3 million decrease year over year in the charge related to the future purchase of the remaining 30% interest in Motif, which was finalized during the second quarter of 2020.

Other Income (Expense), Net

For the year ended December 31, 2021 Other income (expense), net increased to net income of $2.3 million from net expense of $18.6 million during the prior year.

Included in the year ended December 31, 2021 was a net $1.2 million expense related to the fair value adjustments of contingent consideration for two acquisitions.

Included in the year ended December 31, 2020 was a net $1.8 million benefit related to the fair value adjustments of contingent consideration for three acquisitions, offset by a $19.9 million expense related to the deconsolidation of three subsidiaries and the related removal of the Currency Translation Adjustments (see Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Notes 2 and 9 to the Consolidated Financial Statements).

Income Taxes

The reported effective tax rate for 2021 was 23.9% as compared to 24.0% for 2020. The effective tax rate for 2021 was impacted by earnings in international jurisdictions currently under an income tax holiday, a $0.8 million benefit related to changes in tax contingent liabilities, a $1.3 million benefit related to provision to return adjustments, a $3.5 million benefit related to the cybersecurity incident, $13.9 million of expense related to changes in valuation allowances, a $3.8 million benefit related to restructuring charges, $4.1 million of expense related to international legal entity reorganization; a $9.6 million benefit related to equity based compensation, a $8.3 million benefit related to the amortization of purchased intangibles, and $0.1 million of other benefits. Without these items our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2021 would have been 21.3%.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, our effective tax rate was 24.0%. The effective tax rate for 2020 was impacted by earnings in international jurisdictions currently under an income tax holiday, $2.9 million of expense related to changes in tax contingent liabilities, a $1.8 million benefit related to provision to return adjustments, a $3.0 million benefit related to losses on dissolutions of subsidiaries, $0.4 million of expense related to changes in valuation allowances, a $2.0 million benefit related to restructuring charges, $0.8 million of expense for earnouts related to acquisitions, a $4.0 million benefit related to equity based compensation, a $4.2 million benefit related to the amortization of purchased intangibles, and $0.1 million of other benefits. Without these items our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2020 would have been 22.5%.

Year Ended December 31, 2020 compared to December 31, 2019

For a discussion of our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, please see Part II. Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Results of Operations in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our principal sources of liquidity are our cash generated from operations, our cash and cash equivalents, and borrowings under our Credit Facility (as defined below). During the year ended December 31, 2021, we generated positive operating cash flows of $251.3 million. We believe that our cash generated from operations, existing cash and cash equivalents, and available credit will be sufficient to meet expected operating and capital expenditure requirements for the next 12 months, however, if our access to capital is restricted or our borrowing costs increase, our operations and financial condition could be adversely impacted.

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We manage a centralized global treasury function in the United States with a focus on safeguarding and optimizing the use of our global cash and cash equivalents. Our cash is held in the U.S. in U.S. dollars, and outside of the U.S. in U.S. dollars and foreign currencies. We expect to use our cash to fund working capital, global operations, dividends, acquisitions, and other strategic activities. While there are no assurances, we believe our global cash is well protected given our cash management practices, banking partners and utilization of diversified bank deposit accounts and other high quality investments.

We have global operations that expose us to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations that may positively or negatively impact our liquidity. We are also exposed to higher interest rates associated with our variable rate debt. To mitigate these risks, we enter into foreign exchange forward and option contracts through our cash flow hedging program. Please refer to Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk, Foreign Currency Risk, for further discussion.

In early April 2021, we drew down approximately $500 million on the Credit Facility in order to provide funding for the acquisition of Avtex Solutions, Holdings LLC.

During the first quarter 2020, we borrowed $350 million under our Credit Facility as a precautionary measure to provide additional liquidity during the global economic uncertainty and financial market conditions cause by the COVID-19 pandemic. During September 2020, this additional borrowing was repaid.

We primarily utilize our Credit Facility to fund working capital, general operations, dividends, and other strategic activities, such as the acquisitions described in Part II. Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. During the fourth quarter of 2021, the Credit Facility was amended including an increase to $1.5 billion of total commitments (see discussion below in the Debt Instruments and Related Covenants). As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had borrowings of $791.0 million and $385.0 million, respectively, under our Credit Facility, and our average daily utilization was $797.2 million and $550.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. After consideration for the current level of availability based on the covenant calculations, our remaining borrowing capacity was approximately $565 million as of December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2021, we were in compliance with all covenants and conditions under our Credit Facility.

The amount of capital required over the next 12 months will depend on our levels of investment in infrastructure necessary to maintain, upgrade or replace existing assets. Our working capital and capital expenditure requirements could also increase materially in the event of acquisitions or joint ventures, among other factors. These factors could require that we raise additional capital through future debt or equity financing. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to raise additional capital with commercially reasonable terms acceptable to us.

The following discussion highlights our cash flow activities during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

We consider all liquid investments purchased within 90 days of their original maturity to be cash equivalents. Our cash and cash equivalents totaled $158.2 million and $132.9 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. We diversify the holdings of such cash and cash equivalents considering the financial condition and stability of the counterparty institutions.

We reinvest our cash flows to grow our client base, expand our infrastructure, for investment in research and development, for strategic acquisitions, and to pay dividends.

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

For the years 2021 and 2020 we reported net cash flows provided by operating activities of $251.3 million and $271.9 million, respectively. The decrease of $20.6 million from 2020 to 2021 was primarily due to a $34.4 million increase in net cash income from operations offset by a $55.0 million reduction in net working capital.

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Cash Flows from Investing Activities

For the years 2021 and 2020, we reported net cash flows used in investing activities of $542.0 million and $112.4 million, respectively. The net increase in cash used in investing activities from 2020 to 2021 was due to an increase in acquisitions of $429.0 million.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

For the years 2021 and 2020, we reported net cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities of $319.6 million and ($112.2) million, respectively. The change in net cash flows from 2020 to 2021 was primarily due to a $311.0 million net increase in the line of credit, a $37.2 million decrease in payments of contingent consideration and a $92.3 decrease in shareholder dividends offset by a $6.9 million increase in tax payments related to restricted stock units and $3.6 million of payments for debt issuance costs.

Free Cash Flow

Free cash flow (see “Presentation of Non-GAAP Measurements” below for the definition of free cash flow) was $190.9 million and $212.1 million for the years 2021 and 2020, respectively. The decrease from 2020 to 2021 was primarily due to an increase in the net cash from operations offset by a decrease in working capital.

Presentation of Non-GAAP Measurements

Free Cash Flow

Free cash flow is a non-GAAP liquidity measurement. We believe that free cash flow is useful to our investors because it measures, during a given period, the amount of cash generated that is available for debt obligations and investments other than purchases of property, plant and equipment. Free cash flow is not a measure determined by GAAP and should not be considered a substitute for “income from operations,” “net income,” “net cash provided by operating activities,” or any other measure determined in accordance with GAAP. We believe this non-GAAP liquidity measure is useful, in addition to the most directly comparable GAAP measure of “net cash provided by operating activities,” because free cash flow includes investments in operational assets. Free cash flow does not represent residual cash available for discretionary expenditures, since it includes cash required for debt service. Free cash flow also includes cash that may be necessary for acquisitions, investments and other needs that may arise.

The following table reconciles net cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow for our consolidated results (in thousands):

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Obligations and Future Capital Requirements

At December 31, 2021, our future contractual obligations were related primarily to debt, leases and income taxes. See the following footnotes in Part II. Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data:  Note 10 Income Taxes, Note 12 Indebtedness, Note 13 Commitments and Contingencies and Note 15 Leases for a discussion of the obligation and timing of required payments.

Purchase Obligations

Occasionally we contract with certain of our communications clients to provide us with telecommunication services. These clients currently represent approximately 6% of our total annual revenue. We believe these contracts are negotiated on an arm’s-length basis and may be negotiated at different times and with different legal entities.

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Future Capital Requirements

We expect total capital expenditures in 2022 to be between 2.9% and 3.1% of revenue. Approximately 65% of these expected capital expenditures are to support growth in our business and 35% relate to the maintenance of existing assets. The anticipated level of 2022 capital expenditures is primarily driven by new client contracts and the corresponding requirements for additional customer engagement center capacity as well as enhancements to our technological infrastructure.

We may consider restructurings, dispositions, mergers, acquisitions and other similar transactions. Such transactions could include the transfer, sale or acquisition of significant assets, businesses or interests, including joint ventures or the incurrence, assumption, or refinancing of indebtedness and could be material to the consolidated financial condition and consolidated results of our operations. Our capital expenditures requirements could also increase materially in the event of an acquisition or joint venture. In addition, as of December 31, 2021, we were authorized to purchase an additional $26.6 million of common stock under our stock repurchase program (see Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities). Our stock repurchase program does not have an expiration date.

The launch of large client contracts may result in short-term negative working capital because of the time period between incurring the costs for training and launching the program and the beginning of the accounts receivable collection process. As a result, we may sometimes generate negative cash flows from operating activities.

Debt Instruments and Related Covenants

On November 23, 2021, we entered into a Sixth Amendment to our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement and Amendment (“the Credit Agreement”) and Restated Security Agreement originally dated June 3, 2013, (collectively, the “Credit Facility”) to increase the total commitments by $300 million to $1.5 billion within the senior secured revolving Credit Facility with a syndicate of lenders led by Wells Fargo, National Association, as agent, swingline and fronting lender. The Credit Facility matures on November 23, 2026. We primarily use our Credit Facility to fund working capital, general operations, dividends, acquisitions and other strategic activities.

The maximum commitment under the Credit Facility is $1.5 billion in the aggregate, if certain conditions are satisfied. The Credit Facility commitment fees are payable to the lenders as previously disclosed and as determined by reference to our net leverage ratio. The Credit Agreement contains customary affirmative, negative, and financial covenants, which primarily remained unchanged from the 2019 Credit Facility. The Credit Agreement permits accounts receivable factoring up to the greater of $100 million or 25 percent of the average book value of all accounts receivable over the most recent twelve month period.

Base rate loans bear interest at a rate equal to the greatest of (i) Wells Fargo’s prime rate, (ii) one half of 1% in excess of the federal funds effective rate, or (iii) 1.25% in excess of the one month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), plus in each case a margin of 0% to 0.75% based on our net leverage ratio. Eurodollar loans bear interest at LIBOR plus a margin of 1.0% to 1.75% based on our net leverage ratio. Alternate currency loans bear interest at rates applicable to their respective currencies.

Letter of credit fees are one eighth of 1% of the stated amount of the letter of credit on the date of issuance, renewal or amendment, plus an annual fee equal to the borrowing margin for Eurodollar loans.

Indebtedness under the Credit Agreement is guaranteed by certain of our domestic subsidiaries and is secured by security interests (subject to permitted liens) in the U.S. accounts receivable and cash of our Company and certain of its domestic subsidiaries. The indebtedness may also be secured by tangible assets of our Company and its domestic subsidiaries, if borrowings by foreign subsidiaries exceed 7.5% of our Company’s consolidated total assets and the total net leverage ratio is greater than 3.25 to 1.00. We also pledged 65% of the voting stock and all of the non-voting stock, if any, of certain of our material foreign subsidiaries.

The Credit Facility also contains certain customary information and reporting requirements, and events of default, including without limitation events of default based on payment obligations, material inaccuracies of representations and warranties, covenant defaults, cross defaults to certain other debt, certain ERISA events, changes in control, monetary judgments, and insolvency proceedings. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the lenders may accelerate the maturity of all amounts outstanding under the Credit Facility.

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As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had borrowings of $791.0 million and $385.0 million, respectively, under the Credit Facility. During 2021, 2020 and 2019, borrowings accrued interest at an average rate of approximately 1.3%, 1.6%, and 3.4% per annum, respectively, excluding unused commitment fees. Our daily average borrowings during 2021, 2020 and 2019 were $797.2 million, $550.9 million and $331.8 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2021, and 2020, based on the current level of availability based on the covenant calculations, the remaining borrowing capacity was approximately $565 million and $510 million, respectively.

Client Concentration

During 2021, only one of our clients represented more than 10% of our total annual revenue. Our five largest clients accounted for 38% and 40% of our annual revenue for each of the two years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. We have long-term relationships with our top five Engage clients, ranging from 15 to 22 years, with all of these clients having completed multiple contract renewals with us. The relative contribution of any single client to consolidated earnings is not always proportional to the relative revenue contribution on a consolidated basis and varies greatly based upon specific contract terms. In addition, clients may adjust business volumes served by us based on their business requirements. We believe the risk of this concentration is mitigated, in part, by the long-term contracts we have with our largest clients. Although certain client contracts may be terminated for convenience by either party, we believe this risk is mitigated, in part, by the service level disruptions and transition/migration costs that would arise for our clients if they terminated our contract for convenience.

Some of the contracts with our five largest clients expire between 2022 and 2023, but most of our largest clients may have multiple contracts with us with different expiration dates for different lines of work. We have historically renewed most of our contracts with our largest clients, but there can be no assurance that future contracts will be renewed or, if renewed, will be on terms as favorable as the existing contracts.

Cybersecurity

We have made and continue to make significant financial investments in technologies and processes to mitigate cyber risks. We have a number of complex information systems used for a variety of functions ranging from services we deliver to our clients and their customers to support for our operations. The effective operation of our business depends on the proper functioning of these information systems. Like any information system, our systems are susceptible to cyber-attack. Any cyber-attack could impact the availability, reliability, speed, accuracy, or other proper functioning of these systems or result in our data, our employees’ data and our clients’ data that we retain for the provision of our services being compromised, which could have a significant impact on our reputation, results of operations, and financial condition. Our information systems are protected through physical and technological safeguards as well as backup systems and protocols considered appropriate by management. We also provide role-based employee cybersecurity risk awareness training about phishing, malware, social engineering, data protection, and other cyber risks. Further, several years ago we formed a cybersecurity risk management steering committee that is comprised of technology leaders and management from each of our business segments, leaders from our information technology and information security organizations; representatives from our regulatory and risk oversight functions and our internal audit group. This steering committee meets regularly to coordinate cybersecurity risk management issues and set proactive priorities to secure the business. Our executive leadership team and the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors, which has the delegated authority from the Board to oversee TTEC cybersecurity risk management, are updated at least quarterly on the progress and status of our cybersecurity priorities. We continuously monitor and develop our information technology networks and infrastructure to prevent, detect, address, and mitigate the risk of unauthorized access, distributed denial of service attacks, malware attacks, computer viruses, cyber fraud, and other events intended to disrupt information systems, unauthorized access to confidential information, or other types of malicious events that may result in harm to our business. Our investment in cybersecurity is not expected to decrease in the foreseeable future, and despite our on-going efforts to improve our cybersecurity, there can be no assurance that a sophisticated cyber-attack could timely be detected or thwarted.

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Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

We discuss the potential impact of recent accounting pronouncements in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Changes in Accounting Principle

See discussion of adopted accounting standards in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

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