Acuity RM Group Plc (LON:ACRM) Chief Executive Officer David Rajakovich caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the company’s half-year results, cost efficiencies, and growth strategy.
Q1: David, what does Acuity do and what’s happened since you’ve become Chief Executive?
A1: Acuity RM is a cyber GRC software company so Governance, Risk and Compliance, and we help companies monitor their cybersecurity risk. We help them achieve certifications such as ISO 27001, comply with the EU AI Act, for example, and we also help them do third party risk management, which is something that you may have heard about in the news with all the cyber-attacks happening lately.
In terms of what I’ve done over the past six months, first of all, we’ve refocused the organisation around its area of strength, which is cyber GRC, so this is where our history lies, this is where our expertise is the greatest. We’ve completely overhauled our go to market strategy, so we now have a very much AI native strategy where we are understanding where there’s buyer intent and we’re hitting them with targeted messages that are personalised to their position and also their sector. We focused the organisation around clear messaging, delivery, and better financial performance.
We’ve also created a much leaner and more efficient organisation. So, we’ve taken about £1 million off the overheads with further savings expected even by the end of October and then certainly into 2026 so we are a much leaner and more efficient organisation. Not only have we taken costs out, but we’ve also slimmed down the team to where we’re all one cohesive unit working in tandem and it’s working out very well as we’ll get to in the results.
We’ve got a relaunched Stream, which is our flagship product about to be relaunched. We’ve launched a completely new product called the Vendor Management Hub, which is an entry level into third party risk management so managing your vendors and understanding the risks associated there.
Q2: You’ve produced your H1 results this month, could you expand on the highlights for us?
A2: Revenues in the period increased by 5%, losses have been reduced by 58% from $634,000 down to $263,000 and, as I mentioned, there’s even more savings to come.
We don’t want to publish expectations in detail. However, I will tell you that we plan to be profitable month on month by the end of this year and we’re on track to do that.
The sales pipeline has been cleaned and has been brought down but the quality of the pipeline has actually gone up so now it’s around $3.4 million but is growing strongly with opportunities that are better suited to gain value from what we can deliver. Overheads have been reduced by 19% but even the major reductions will be seen more in the second half of the year.
Q3: What do you think is your strategy to grow the business?
A3: We have a multi-pronged strategy. The key, if I summarise it all in one, is distribution and with software becoming easier and easier to produce, distribution channels become more and more important. So, we’ve got a number of partnerships in the works that we feel will be complete game changers for us, these are larger consultancies that will use Stream as the basis of their consultancy delivery. We feel like partners will be a big engine of growth for us.
There’s also the fact that in the more medium term, we will grow through product led growth. We’re developing this new version of Stream that will allow customers to come in, put down their credit card, try it, then spread it throughout the organisation once they see all the great value that it delivers.
We will also grow organically through our own sales force and we’re building that up, retooling the team, re-skilling the team. We do feel like we will grow organically, and I think partners and product led growth will deliver even greater results.
In terms of marketing, we’ve got a new AI native approach, as I mentioned, so very capital efficient. We don’t need to invest in massive headcount, but we can produce great content and guide people through the sales funnel with our content to such a large extent that by the time they actually speak to a salesperson or myself, they’re already sold on Stream.
Q4: Can you just give me an idea of the types of customers that you serve?
A4: Acuity RM Group are very strong in terms of the public sector. We have some very key public sector clients for which cybersecurity is of utmost and in national security interest, so I think we’ve proven our ability to deliver at the highest levels.
We also have some financial institutions, especially in North America and we have some healthcare companies and medical device companies, both in North America and in Germany.
Organisations that fit us well are those in highly regulated industries such as financial institutions, pharmaceutical, medical devices, as well as the public sector.
