Syneos Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYNH) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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And so we really looked at it much more fulsomely along with our account management team, right? So we have these dedicated account management teams around our largest customers and how they work closely with, again, operations. We felt that, that was really important for us to be able to share with our customers this enhanced Clinical operating model, which we believe is truly differentiated and very competitive, right? And so, it was a relook at the whole market, we have realigns existing team members. So I just need to reiterate that our business development team, many of them are still the same people who have been here for a while and we value them greatly and we have also brought in some new people with some differentiated experiences, right?

So we wanted to make sure that we had both and that’s what we have been doing and I think that you always align your talent — the right talent against the right objectives and I feel really good about where we are at.

Eric Coldwell: At a high level and I know these forecasts can be difficult and I am not looking for necessarily specifics unless you are willing to give it. But do you have objectives for net book-to-bill for the two segments that you could share for — with us for this year? And I guess, bottomline, I mean, clearly, it’s going to be a ramp and it’s going to take some time, but do you see a positive book-to-bill as a potential in Clinical this year, whether it’s by the end of the year, in a quarter or even on a full year basis, is that even in the realm of possibility at this point? And then, similarly, with the commentary around Commercial, what is the new outlook on what a full year Commercial book-to-bill should look like, because obviously, the quarters bounce around a lot.

You have had some historical guidance on, I think, it’s around 1.1 for the full year, give or take. So I am just curious if you have an update on what you are anticipating and how you would steer the street in terms of thinking about the bookings this year?

Michelle Keefe: Sure. Eric, I am happy to give you some color on that. So when you look at — let’s start with Clinical. I think that’s a good place to start. We have always said there’s going to be a gradual recovery of our awards over the course of 2023 and we did have shared and have been consistent in sharing that. We believe a lot of the larger pharma awards are more geared towards the back half of 2023 and so we do believe that it will gradually improve over the course of the year. And that is contemplated in the guidance versus the guidance we gave you contemplates that as well. In regards to Commercial, we have traditionally set at 1.05 to 1.1 book-to-bill is the target range that we would like to be in. As you know, we are exiting 2022 with a 1.05 trailing 12-month book-to-bill.

But with what’s going on in the macro environment and some of the things that we are seeing in more deliberate decision making, the SMID — some of the funding issues that some of the SMDs are having, along with the deliberate decision-making within large pharma due to the IRA, we are just making sure that we align that guidance to reflect that decisions might take longer in 2023. But long-term, we believe that that is the right book-to-bill for the Commercial business, but we are just taking, I would say, a more prudent approach this year based on what we see going on in the macro environment.

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