CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings (CCCS) Risk Factors

We use machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in our solutions and business, and we are making investments in expanding the use of AI solutions, including ongoing deployment and improvement of features using AI technologies. The introduction of AI technologies into new or existing solutions may result in new or enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny (such as the recent White House executive order on the development and use of AI, the proposed EU AI Act, and other proposed state and federal regulations), litigation, confidentiality or security risks, ethical concerns, legal liability, or other complications. Compliance with new or changing laws, regulations or industry standards relating to AI may impose significant operational costs and may limit our ability to develop, deploy or use AI technologies. A failure on our part to develop solutions to permit compliance with regulatory regimes and/or our customers' requirements may result in unforeseen costs or delays deploying new and improved features using AI technologies. Furthermore, while we aim to develop and use AI responsibly and attempt to mitigate ethical and legal issues presented by its use, we may ultimately be unsuccessful in identifying or resolving issues before they arise. Uncertainty around new and emerging AI technologies may require additional investment in the development and maintenance of proprietary datasets and machine learning models, development of new approaches and processes to provide related to the collection and use of training data, and development of appropriate protections and safeguards for handling the use of customer data with AI technologies, which may be costly and could impact our expenses. AI technologies incorporated into our solutions and business processes may use algorithms, datasets, or training methodologies that may be flawed or contain deficiencies that may be difficult or impossible for us to detect during testing, including as a result of the use of biased or insufficient training data. Any of the foregoing may result in decreased demand for our solutions, harm to our business, results of operations or reputation, legal liability, regulatory action or failure to achieve expected results including if use products or enable or offer solutions that draw scrutiny or controversy due to their perceived or actual impact on customers or on society as a whole. In addition, third parties may deploy AI technologies in a manner that reduces customer demand for our solutions.

Our success depends in part on our ability to enforce and defend our intellectual property rights. We rely upon a combination of trademark, trade secret, copyright, patent and unfair competition laws, as well as license agreements and other contractual provisions, to do so. In the future we may file patent applications related to certain of our innovations. We do not know whether those patent applications will result in the issuance of a patent or whether the examination process will require us to narrow our claims. In addition, we may not receive competitive advantages from the rights granted under our patents and other intellectual property. Our existing patents and any patents granted to us or that we otherwise acquire in the future, may be contested, circumvented or invalidated, and we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing these patents. The validity, enforceability, scope and effective term of patents can be highly uncertain and often involve complex legal and factual questions and proceedings that vary based on the local law of the relevant jurisdiction. Our ability to enforce our patents also depends on the laws of individual countries and each country's practice with respect to enforcement of intellectual property rights. Patent protection must be obtained on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis, and we only pursue patent protection in countries where we think it makes commercial sense for the given solution. In addition, if we are unable to maintain our existing license agreements or other agreements pursuant to which third parties grant us rights to intellectual property, including because such agreements terminate, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Therefore, the extent of the protection afforded by these patents cannot be predicted with certainty. In addition, given the costs, effort, risks and downside of obtaining patent protection, including the requirement to ultimately disclose the invention to the public, we may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations; however, such patent protection could later prove to be important to our business. Patent law reform in the U.S. and other countries may also weaken our ability to enforce our patent rights, or make such enforcement financially unattractive. For instance, in September 2011, the U.S. enacted the America Invents Act, which permits enhanced third-party actions for challenging patents and implements a first-to-file system. Further, the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 decision in Alice v. CLS Bank made it easier to invalidate software patents, leading to us to scale back our patent prosecution strategy. These legal changes could result in increased costs to protect our intellectual property or limit our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for our solutions in these jurisdictions. We also rely on several registered and unregistered trademarks to protect our brand. We have pursued and will pursue the registration of trademarks, logos and service marks in the U.S. and internationally; however, enforcing rights against those who knowingly or unknowingly dilute or infringe our brands can be difficult. There can be no assurance that the steps we have taken and will take to protect our proprietary rights in our brands and trademarks will be adequate or that third parties will not infringe, dilute or misappropriate our brands, trademarks, trade dress or other similar proprietary rights. Competitors may adopt service names similar to ours, or use confusingly similar terms as keywords in Internet search engine advertising programs, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly creating confusion in the marketplace. In addition, trade name or trademark infringement claims could be brought against us by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our trademarks. Any claims or customer confusion related to our trademarks could damage our reputation and brand and adversely impact our business and results of operations. We attempt to protect our intellectual property, technology and confidential information by generally requiring our employees, contractors, and consultants to enter into confidentiality and assignment of inventions agreements and third parties to enter into nondisclosure agreements, all of which offer only limited protection. These agreements may not effectively prevent, or provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of our confidential information, intellectual property or technology. Similarly, our customers, contractors, consultants and vendors may allege ownership of, or other rights in or to, confidential information, intellectual property or technology which we consider to be proprietary. Despite our efforts to protect our confidential information, intellectual property, and technology, unauthorized third parties may gain access to our confidential proprietary information, develop and market solutions similar to ours, or use trademarks similar to ours, any of which could materially impact our business and results of operations. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and confidential information, and in such cases, we could not assert any trade secret rights against such parties. Existing U.S. federal, state and international intellectual property laws offer only limited protection. The laws of some foreign countries do not protect our intellectual property rights to as great an extent as the laws of the U.S., and many foreign countries do not enforce these laws as diligently as governmental agencies and private parties in the U.S. More broadly, enforcing intellectual property protections outside the U.S., including in some countries we operate in, can be more challenging than enforcement in the U.S. The Company takes certain actions when operating in countries where protection of IP, technology and confidential information, is not as well protected, including steps such as preventing placing sensitive IP in such countries, as an example. Moreover, policing our intellectual property rights is difficult, costly and may not always be effective. From time to time, legal action by us may be necessary to enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the intellectual property rights of others or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Even if we are successful in defending our claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could negatively affect our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition. To the extent that we seek to enforce our rights, we could be subject to claims that an intellectual property right is invalid, otherwise not enforceable, or is licensed to the party against whom we are pursuing a claim. In addition, our assertion of intellectual property rights may result in the other party seeking to assert alleged intellectual property rights or assert other claims against us, which could adversely impact our business. If we are not successful in defending such claims in litigation, we may not be able to sell or license a particular solution due to an injunction, or we may have to pay damages that could, in turn, adversely impact our results of operations. In addition, governments may adopt regulations, or courts may render decisions, requiring compulsory licensing of intellectual property to others, or governments may require that products meet specified standards that serve to favor local companies. Our inability to enforce our intellectual property rights under these circumstances may adversely impact our competitive position and our business. If we are unable to protect our technology and to adequately maintain and protect our intellectual property rights, we may find ourselves at a competitive disadvantage to others who need not incur the additional expense, time and effort required to create the innovative solutions that have enabled us to be successful to date.

We rely on our financial, accounting, compliance and other data processing systems, and those of our third-party vendors or service providers who support these functions. Any failure or interruption of these systems, whether caused by fire, other natural disaster (including those associated with climate change), power or telecommunications failure, act of terrorism or war, system modification or upgrade, or otherwise, could materially adversely affect our business. Although back-up systems are in place, our back-up procedures and capabilities in the event of a failure or interruption may not be adequate. We are engaged in an implementation of a new billing system. Such an implementation is a major undertaking from a financial, management, and personnel perspective. The implementation of the billing system may prove to be more difficult, costly, or time consuming than expected, and there can be no assurance that this system will continue to be beneficial to the extent anticipated. Any disruptions, delays or deficiencies in the design and implementation of our new billing system could adversely affect our ability to process orders, send invoices, produce financial reports, or otherwise operate our business. If we are unable to implement the billing system smoothly or successfully, or we otherwise do not capture anticipated benefits, our business, results of operations and financial condition for future periods could be adversely impacted.

Our P&C insurance industry customers are subject to extensive government regulations, mainly at the state level in the United States and at the country level in our non-U.S. markets. Some of these regulations relate directly to our software and services, including regulations governing the use of total loss, casualty claims processing, and photo estimating software. If our insurance company customers fail to comply with new or existing insurance regulations, including those applicable to our software and services, they could lose their certifications to provide insurance and/or reduce their usage of our software and services, either of which would reduce our revenues. We have in the past and continue to spend considerable time and resources working with our customers to help them navigate these regulations, including Department of Insurance market conduct examinations and defending against class action lawsuits. If our solutions or services are found to be defective, we could be subject to liability. In addition, future regulations could force us to implement costly changes to our software and/or databases or have the effect of prohibiting or rendering less valuable one or more of our offerings. Also, we are subject to direct regulation in some markets, and our failure to comply with these regulations could significantly reduce our revenues or subject us to government sanctions.

We rely on independent third parties to provide certain services to us. The state of the law regarding independent contractor status varies and is subject to change based on court decisions, legislation, and regulation. For example, at the federal level, the DOL published a final rule in January 2024 on independent contractor status. Meanwhile, the National Labor Relation Board ("NLRB") modified its own independent contractor standard under the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") in a decision published in June 2023. Furthermore, the tests governing the determination of whether an individual is considered to be an independent contractor or an employee are typically fact sensitive and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. We may be subject to claims that certain independent contractors should be treated as our employees. Adverse determinations regarding the status of any of our independent contractors could, among other things, entitle such individuals to the reimbursement of certain expenses and to the benefit of wage-and-hour laws, and could result in the Company being liable for income taxes, employment, social security, and withholding taxes and benefits for such individuals, and penalties and interest related to any unpaid amounts. Additionally, we have classified many of our U.S. employees as "exempt" under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and corresponding state laws. We may be subject to claims that the employees we have classified as "exempt" should be classified as "non-exempt" under relevant laws. Adverse determinations regarding the status of our employees could, among other things, entitle such employees to unpaid overtime, back wages and other benefits and could result in our being liable for additional taxes for such individuals, and penalties and interest related to any unpaid amounts. Any adverse determinations regarding our independent contractors or employees could require us to change our operating model or result in increased costs and could negatively affect our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

As we continue to focus on our SaaS solutions, the amount of personal information we or our third-party cloud providers collect, use, disclose, or otherwise process will likely continue to increase significantly. In addition, a limited number of our solutions collect, use, disclose, or otherwise process transaction-level data aggregated across our customers. We anticipate that over time we will expand our use and collection of personal information as greater amounts of such personal information may be transferred from our customers to us. We recognize that personal privacy has become a significant issue in the U.S., and other jurisdictions where we operate. Many federal, regional, state, local and international legislatures and government agencies have imposed or are considering imposing restrictions and requirements regarding the collection, use, disclosure, and processing of personal data, including the California Privacy Protection Agency and the Federal Trade Commission. Changes to laws or regulations affecting privacy could impose additional costs and liabilities, including fines, sanctions or other penalties on us and our third-party service providers, which could materially and adversely affect results of operations, business and reputation and could limit our ability to use such information to add value for customers. If we are required to change our business activities or revise or eliminate services, or to implement burdensome compliance measures, our business and results of operations could be adversely impacted. Such changes are a possibility, especially given that consumer advocates, media and elected officials, among others, have increasingly publicly criticized data-focused companies and industries regarding their collection, storage and use of personal data. Additionally, in the case of information from our websites and web-based services that is stored with third-party cloud providers that we do not control, our third-party cloud providers may not adequately implement compliance measures concerning the privacy and/or security of any stored personal information. We may be subject to fines, penalties and potential litigation if we or our third-party cloud providers fail to comply with applicable privacy and/or data security laws, regulations, standards and other requirements and the costs of compliance with and other burdens imposed by privacy-related laws, regulations and standards may limit the use and adoption of our solutions and reduce their overall demand for our solutions. Furthermore, any determination by a court or agency that our data practices, solutions or services violate, or cause our customers to violate, applicable laws, regulations or other requirements could subject us or our customers to civil or criminal penalties. Such a determination also could require us to modify or terminate portions of our business, disqualify us from serving certain customers or cause us to refund some or all of our fees or otherwise compensate our customers, or alter our business practices, potentially at great expense. Furthermore, concerns regarding data privacy and/or security may cause our customers and end-users to resist providing the data and information necessary to use our solutions effectively. Even the perception that the privacy and/or security of personal information is not satisfactorily managed, or does not meet applicable legal, regulatory and other requirements, could inhibit sales or adoption of our solutions, or could give rise to private class action, or claims by regulators, in each case potentially resulting in a negative impact on our sales and results from operations.

Our customers have no obligation to renew their contracts for our solutions after the expiration of their contract periods and our customers may choose not to renew contracts for a similar mix of solutions. Our customers' renewal rates may fluctuate or decline as a result of a number of factors, including customer dissatisfaction, customers' spending levels, increased competition, changes in tax or data privacy laws or rules, prices of our services, the prices of services offered by our competitors, spending levels due to the macroeconomic environment or other factors, deteriorating general economic conditions, or legislative and regulatory changes. If our customers do not renew their contracts or reduce the solutions purchased under their contracts, our revenue could decline and our business may be adversely impacted. Our future success also depends in part on our ability to sell additional solutions to existing customers. If our efforts to sell our additional solutions to our customers are not successful, our revenue growth would decrease and our business, results of operations, and financial condition would be adversely impacted.

Sales cycles for some of our solutions are complex and can be lengthy and unpredictable, requiring pre-purchase evaluation by a significant number of employees in our customers' organizations, and can involve a significant operational decision by our customers. Our sales efforts involve educating our customers about the use and benefits of our solutions, including in the technical capabilities and the potential cost savings achievable by organizations using our solutions. For larger business opportunities, such as converting a new P&C insurance customer, customers undertake a rigorous pre-purchase decision-making and evaluation process which typically involves due diligence and reference checks. We invest a substantial amount of time and resources in our sales efforts without any assurance that our efforts will produce sales. Even if we succeed at completing a sale, we may be unable to predict the size or term of an initial SaaS arrangement until very late in the sales cycle. In addition, we sometimes commit to include specific functions in our base solutions offering at the request of a customer or group of customers. Providing this additional functionality may be time consuming and may involve factors that are outside of our control. Customers may also insist that we commit to certain time frames in which systems built around our solutions will be operational, or that once implemented our solutions will be able to meet certain operational requirements. Our ability to meet such timeframes and requirements may involve factors that are outside of our control, and failure to meet such timeframes and requirements could result in us incurring penalties, costs and/or additional resource commitments, which would adversely affect our business and results of operations. Unexpected delays and difficulties can occur as customers implement and test our solutions. Solutions can involve integration with our customers' and third-party's systems as well as the addition of customer and third-party data to our platform. This process can be complex, time-consuming and expensive for our customers and can result in delays in the implementation of our solutions, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Time-consuming efforts such as client setups, training and transition of systems may also increase the amount of services personnel we must allocate to each customer, thereby increasing our costs for these services. These types of changes can also result in a shift in the timing of the recognition of revenue which could adversely affect results of operations and financial condition. The timing of when we sign a large contract can materially impact our results of operations for the period and can be difficult to predict.

The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the degree of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Accordingly, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be affected to a significant degree by political, economic and social conditions in China generally. These conditions may be impacted by macroeconomic or geopolitical factors beyond our control, including any deterioration in the political and trade relationship between the U.S. and China. Although the Chinese government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China are still owned or controlled by the government. By virtue of our serving customers in China that are at least partially owned or controlled by the government, there is also an increased risk of running afoul of the FCPA and other laws and regulations concerning anti-bribery and anti-corruption, including local Chinese laws, particularly given that China is perceived to present a heightened risk from an anti-corruption perspective. Any efforts to expand our business operations in China may include engaging with partners and third-party intermediaries who may have direct or indirect dealings with those deemed by anti-corruption laws to be government officials, further increasing the risk of violations of such laws that may result in fines and/or criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees. In addition, the Chinese government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The Chinese government also exercises significant control over China's economic growth by allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies. While the Chinese economy has experienced significant growth over the past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The Chinese government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations. The growth rate of the Chinese economy has gradually slowed since 2010. A continued slowdown in the Chinese economy may reduce the demand for our solutions and services and materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Public health outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics could materially and adversely impact our business. Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic included, and responses to future outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics could include, certain intensified preventative or protective public health measures undertaken by governments, businesses and individuals, including orders to shelter-in-place and restrictions on travel and permitted business operations. These responses could result in global business disruptions that adversely affect workforces, organizations, economies, and financial markets globally, leading to an economic downturn, increased market volatility, or other adverse macroeconomic conditions, any of which could impact our results of operations. We continued to conduct business during the COVID-19 pandemic, with modifications to employee travel and work locations as well as virtualization, postponement or cancellation of certain sales and marketing events, among other changes, but future outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics may require other modifications to our business. The extent of the impact of any such modifications on our business, including the effects on our customers, prospects and employees, and on our financial results, remains uncertain. The impact of a public health outbreak, epidemic or pandemic, including a resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic, on the global economy could decrease technology spending by our existing and prospective customers and adversely affect their demand for our solutions. Further, responses to such events may impact our sales and implementation cycles which could result in us providing contract terms more favorable to customers and a potentially longer delay between incurring operating expenses and the generation of corresponding revenue or in difficulty in accurately predicting our financial forecasts. Additionally, any economic downturn or rising unemployment rates resulting from such an outbreak, epidemic or pandemic have the potential to significantly reduce individual and business disposable income and depress consumer confidence, which could limit the ability or willingness of some consumers to obtain and pay for our customers' products in both the short- and medium-terms, which may negatively impact the ability of our customers to pay for our services or require such customers to request amended payment terms for their outstanding invoices. We are unable to predict the impact that a public health outbreak, epidemic or pandemic may have going forward on the business, results of operations or financial position of any of our major customers, which could impact each customer to varying degrees and at different times and could ultimately impact our own financial performance. The COVID-19 pandemic presented operational challenges as our workforce shifted to a hybrid working model of in-person and remote work, which continues to create inherent productivity, connectivity, and oversight challenges. It is possible that continued remote work arrangements may have a negative impact on our operations, the execution of our business plans, the productivity and availability of key personnel and other employees necessary to conduct our business, and may increase the risk of cyberattacks. A further change to our operating model, at the local level or globally, could exacerbate these impacts and may also result in employee retention, engagement or other impacts. These impacts and disruptions could negatively affect our operations or internal controls over financial reporting and may require us to implement new processes, procedures and controls to respond to further changes in our business environment. To the extent a public health outbreak, epidemic or pandemic, including a resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic, adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening other risks described in this "Risk Factors" section, such as those relating to our liquidity.