eZ Systems: eZ Experiences Increased Growth in the United States

BROOKLYN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

eZ Systems (http://ez.no/), a leading provider of content management software,  announced today a 35% growth in their subscription revenue in North America during the first half of 2015. This expansion follows a successful 2014, during which the company reached profitability and set up their global product management and marketing operations in Brooklyn, NY.

eZ provides commercial open source software for content management and customer experience management. Their flagship platform, eZ Publish, is used by organizations such as the Financial Times, Harvard University, the American Museum of Natural History, Christian Science Monitor and Hootsuite. With headquarters in Norway and the US, eZ also has offices throughout Europe and in Japan.

A successful return to leadership

Founder and original CEO Aleksander Farstad returned to eZ as CEO in 2013 after almost 5 years outside the company. Upon his return he focused on redefining the company's long-term growth strategy, bringing the organization to profitability and laying the foundation for future growth. During the last two years eZ's EBITDA has improved by more than 7 million USD, and the company reached profitability. This trend continues into the first half of 2015, with several significant new customers coming onboard.

"We are pleased with the results so far," said Farstad. "It reflects our hard work during the last two years. But we see vast potential to accelerate our growth even further and improve our profitability, particularly with the upcoming launch of our next generation content management solutions, eZ Platform and eZ Studio, our biggest release in a decade."

Simplifying the way people interact with content

Setting a clear direction was the first and most important focus for Farstad, who started the company with his brother Bård in 1999.

"We believe digital success comes from great customer experiences, and these experiences happen at the interaction between people and content," said the CEO Farstad. "That is why our commitment is to simplify the way people – developers, designers, editors, marketers and end users – interact with content."

Building the global marketing, product management and product design teams in Brooklyn, NY has been a key part of eZ's successful transformation to a user-centric organization.

"Setting up a dedicated product and design hub at our US headquarters enables us to build intuitive, sustainable software that people truly enjoy using," said Farstad. "This move also brings us much closer to the needs of the US market, where we see immense opportunity for further growth."

 eZ has also expanded the engineering center in Europe with a new team in Katowice, Poland, adding to its engineering teams in Norway, Germany and France.

A scalable business model primed for growth

More than 85% of eZ's revenue comes from software subscriptions, with an average lifetime of more than 7 years, making the company's business model highly scalable and solid. This allows eZ to accelerate its investment both in product and services.

"During 2015 we have grown our team substantially and expect to increase our staff by 30% by the year's end," said Farstad. "We are able to accelerate this growth while still maintaining our profitability."

eZ Systems US | 35 Meadow Street | Suite 103 | Brooklyn NY 11206 | www.ez.no
Info.americas@ez.no | (929) 295 - 0699

eZ Systems is a global content management and digital experience management platform provider that is dedicated to helping businesses maximize the value of their content. Our open source software, eZ Publish Platform, is designed to enable enterprises to create, manage, deliver and optimize their content. More than 250,000 websites and thousands of enterprises rely on eZ Systems to simplify the way their users and customers interact with content. eZ Systems has 10 offices located throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Information about eZ Systems is available online at www.ez.no. For ongoing news, please visit www.ez.no/blog.

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