“Those who stand still will be left behind. This is why we are committed to growth, development and innovation.”

Thomas Thörewik, Chief Sales Officer, iLOQ

Forging ahead through challenging times

iLOQ remains a strong player in the access-management field thanks to its role as a digital-transformation company. A challenging year is reflected in the sales numbers, but the big picture and positive trajectory remain unchanged. We can only imagine where we would be today without the pandemic and a war in Europe.

Facing challenging home markets
Our business has been impacted by the same things that have impacted everyone around the world, and especially in Europe. The rise in inflation, interest rates and energy prices halted many planned investments, particularly in our traditionally strong home markets across Scandinavia and the Nordics. As the economic turmoil starts to show signs of settling down, we anticipate these markets to also recover relatively quickly.

Maintaining growth ambitions
In other European growth markets, where we do not hold such a high share of the market as of today, we were able to grow almost as previously planned. We strengthened our position in the Benelux region with our own country office in Brussels, Belgium. We were also able to continue our international expansion with both Australia and Singapore being opened for business before the end of 2023 with sales offices and our first recruits already in place. In fact, Australia had already seen some notable sales success even prior to the opening of the Melbourne office.

The biggest geographical leap has obviously been iLOQ’s decision to expand westwards into the North American market. It is a huge investment with an expectation of returns on a relatively short timeframe. We have had a presence in the critical infrastructure market for some time, but, as of the end of 2023, we now have a full ANSI-standard portfolio covering the needs of the American commercial and multifamily housing market as well. The reception for our keyless, battery-free, all-digital solution has been tremendous so far.

Building a global industrial clientele
While the residential or multifamily housing market has always been, and will continue to be, our bread and butter, we have seen a considerable surge in business coming from the industrial and critical-infrastructure side. Our global critical-infrastructure team has been able to continue opening new business opportunities and new geographies. We have been able to add many notable names into our portfolio of clients and partners, with several major global framework agreements signed during the past financial year.

Many segments, such as telecom, energy and logistics, find it easy to identify the considerable benefits of a cloud-based SaaS service with a high degree of security and traceability. A short timeframe for ROI paired with a superior user experience has allowed us to sign numerous sizable partnership deals with companies such as Honeywell and get new POCs up and running with several key players in important customer segments.

Recognizing our strong core potential
So, even if 2023 came with its undeniable challenges, the outlook for iLOQ has remained positive in the bigger picture. With more than 80% of the world’s locks still being operated with traditional mechanical keys, there is still a huge market for digital access management. The megatrends driving society are on our side. Digitalization, connectivity, integration of service and a focus on intuitive user experiences are all at the core of our offering. And the global concerns related to the availability of battery minerals and the world’s dependency on single-use batteries also play to our advantage.

We believe that our smart solutions that are not dependent on batteries will continue to propel our business and push the entire locking and access-management industry forward in the future as well. Anticipating a successful future has also meant reorganizing our sales to allow us to continue to meet our growth plans and to continue to scale our business. We as a company, just like the entire world around us, are in a constant state of evolution. Those who stand still will be left behind. This is why we are committed to growth, development and innovation.