2021 was a strong year for Milestone Systems (Milestone), with double-digit growth in net revenue, growth in our employee numbers, and growth in investments in our company.
During the first months of 2022, as we were preparing this annual report, the global situation changed drastically. We were devastated to witness the continuing invasion of Ukraine and the many people who lost their lives as a result. We have suspended all our activities in Russia and Belarus until further notice.
Our intention with these actions is to do what we believe is right in these circumstances. For everyone who was unintentionally entrapped by this situation, no matter their nationality, we want to show that Milestone stands together with you and that you have our empathy, understanding, and support during this difficult time.
Growing beyond 1,000 employees
Turning to Milestone, 2021 was a special year because we grew beyond 1,000 employees while continuing to generate net revenue of more than one billion Danish kroner (DKK). Unfortunately, it was another tough year for the global community with COVID-19 continuing to impact people in all regions.
People first
At Milestone, People First is an approach to leadership that values all of the people connected with our business so that they can do their best work. People First is a mindset, rather than a strategy or a set of principles.
This goes beyond our colleagues in the company to include our partners and customers as well. People First is one of our competitive differentiators, especially when recruiting top talent for the company.
As part of our investment in people and designing our organization for the future, during 2021 we introduced:
Grow Together,
a voluntary program to help colleagues achieve a balanced, sustainable lifestyle.
Flexible Working,
which gives colleagues the flexibility to balance working from the office or remotely.
Scaling for growth – extending our leadership team
To increase our reach in the core areas of our business, we extended our executive leadership team as part of scaling for growth. To continue prioritizing People First at Milestone, we hired a Chief People & Culture Officer. We also hired a Chief Marketing Officer to increase our focus on marketing. Together, these new positions raise the accountability of both functions to C-level.
In addition, we extended the leadership team at senior leadership level with new core positions to increase our focus on strategic areas of our business.
“Shaping the New Next,” our first 100 percent virtual MIPS
One of the highlights of 2021 was the MIPS Conference. As our first 100 percent virtual event, MIPS was a big success, with lots of positive feedback from attendees.
The event attracted more than 6,000 attendees at its peak. Over 70 percent rated MIPS as a great or outstanding event, and more than 90 percent said that the conference was relevant for their business.
New products and certifications
To support our partners in continuing to grow their business, we introduced several new products and certifications during the year.
Husky™ IVO
is an advanced Network Video Recorder (NVR) that gets the most out of any XProtect® video management solution. Customers can use Husky IVO with any XProtect product license and integrate more than 11,000 supported third-party devices to ensure the best fit now and in the future.
XProtect® Rapid REVIEW
gives customers an intelligent video analytics solution that can quickly review and analyze forensic video content to find what they are looking for, fast. For example, it took officials weeks to review 5,000 hours of video from the Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver, Canada.
Using XProtect Rapid REVIEW, authorities would have been able to do this in a matter of hours.
XProtect Corporate European Privacy Seal (EuroPriSe)
introduced a new privacy seal certification that expands XProtect’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance to cover more functions. As a strong advocate for responsible technology, we are committed to protecting people’s privacy and data.
Working with the right partners, in and beyond security
We are a partner-driven company, and we succeed by cooperating with our partners to co-create technology and revenue together. We will continue to work hard for our partners. However, to maintain our joint success, we will focus on partners who choose to work equally hard for Milestone.
We expect our partners to align with our vision of selling business outcomes. In our future business, success will not just be about selling products. It will about delivering results and solutions that make sense for our customers and that they acknowledge as valuable. We refer to this as business outcomes rather than product features.
For example, we want to help make cities a better place to live. Combining video with data from air quality sensors we can help redirect traffic to alternate, less congested routes. This makes it possible to prevent pollution hotspots from building up.
At a global level, this helps city authorities support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #11, to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. That business outcome is clearly valuable to society, and that’s the approach we need to take alongside our partners in the future.
In the future, success is not only going to be about security and safety. Our core partners in security and safety will always be very important for Milestone. However, we want to take advantage of future opportunities beyond security.
To do that, we must work with additional partners to create the right value for our customers, both within security and beyond security.
Thomas Jensen
Chief Executive Officer
Lars Larsen
Chief Financial Officer
In 2020, a new CEO joined Milestone, and in 2021 we expanded our Executive Leadership Team (ELT) with two new positions. We hired a Chief Marketing Officer and a Chief People & Culture Officer. We also welcomed a new Chief Revenue Officer on February 1, 2022.
The new team has six people with a wide range of capabilities, and leadership skills. We believe they will complement each other as we set the direction for Milestone during the years to come.
Thomas Jensen
Chief Executive Officer
Lars Larsen
Chief Financial Officer
Bjørn Skou Eilertsen
Chief Technology Officer
Christina Molt Wengel
Chief Marketing Officer
Simon Thule Viggers
Chief People & Culture Officer
Ilijana Vavan
Chief Revenue Officer