Everbridge (EVBG) Risk Analysis

Patent and other intellectual property disputes are common in our industry and we have been involved in such disputes from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. Some companies, including some of our competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights and trademarks, which they may use to assert claims against us. Third parties may in the future assert claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property rights against us. They may also assert such claims against our customers whom we typically indemnify against claims that our solution infringes, misappropriates or otherwise violates the intellectual property rights of third parties. As the numbers of products and competitors in our market increase and overlaps occur, claims of infringement, misappropriation and other violations of intellectual property rights may increase. Any claim of infringement, misappropriation or other violation of intellectual property rights by a third party, even those without merit, could cause us to incur substantial costs defending against the claim and could distract our management from our business. As we seek to extend our platform and applications, we could be constrained by the intellectual property rights of others and it may also be more likely that competitors or other third parties will claim that our solutions infringe their proprietary rights. We might not prevail in any intellectual property infringement litigation given the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in such litigation. Defending such claims, regardless of their merit, could be time-consuming and distracting to management, result in costly litigation or settlement, cause development delays or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. In addition, we currently have a limited portfolio of issued patents compared to our larger competitors, and therefore may not be able to effectively utilize our intellectual property portfolio to assert defenses or counterclaims in response to patent infringement claims or litigation brought against us by third parties. Further, litigation may involve patent holding companies or other adverse patent owners who have no relevant applications or revenue and against which our potential patents provide no deterrence, and many other potential litigants have the capability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. If our platform or any of our applications exceed the scope of in-bound licenses or violate any third-party proprietary rights, we could be required to withdraw those applications from the market, re-develop those applications or seek to obtain licenses from third parties, which might not be available on reasonable terms or at all. Any efforts to re-develop our platform and our applications, obtain licenses from third parties on favorable terms or license a substitute technology might not be successful and, in any case, might substantially increase our costs and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we were compelled to withdraw any of our applications from the market, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.

We have indemnity obligations to our customers and certain of our channel partners for intellectual property infringement claims regarding our platform and our applications. As a result, in the case of infringement claims against these customers and channel partners, we could be required to indemnify them for losses resulting from such claims or to refund amounts they have paid to us. We also expect that some of our channel partners with whom we do not have express contractual obligations to indemnify for intellectual property infringement claims may seek indemnification from us in connection with infringement claims brought against them. We may elect to indemnify these channel partners where we have no contractual obligation to indemnify them and we will evaluate each such request on a case-by-case basis. If a channel partner elects to invest resources in enforcing a claim for indemnification against us, we could incur significant costs disputing it. If we do not succeed in disputing it, we could face substantial liability.

Our platform and some of our applications use or incorporate software that is subject to one or more open source licenses and we may incorporate additional open source software in the future. Open source software is typically freely accessible, usable and modifiable; however, certain open source software licenses require a user who intends to distribute the open source software as a component of the user's software to disclose publicly part or all of the source code to the user's software. In addition, certain open source software licenses require the user of such software to make any modifications or derivative works of the open source code available to others on potentially unfavorable terms or at no cost. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. The terms of many open source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts, and accordingly there is a risk that those licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our platform and applications. In that event, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our platform and applications, to re-develop our platform and applications, to discontinue sales of our platform and applications or to release our proprietary software code in source code form under the terms of an open source license, any of which could harm our business. Further, given the nature of open source software, it may be more likely that third parties might assert copyright and other intellectual property infringement claims against us based on our use of these open source software programs. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our applications. Although we are not aware of any use of open source software in our platform and applications that would require us to disclose all or a portion of the source code underlying our core applications, it is possible that such use may have inadvertently occurred in deploying our platform and applications, or that persons or entities may claim such disclosure to be required. Disclosing our proprietary source code could allow our competitors to create similar products with lower development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of sales for us. Disclosing the source code of our proprietary software could also make it easier for cyber attackers and other third parties to discover vulnerabilities in or to defeat the protections of our products, which could result in our products failing to provide our customers with the security they expect. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Additionally, if a third-party software provider has incorporated certain types of open source software into software we license from such third party for our platform and applications without our knowledge, we could, under certain circumstances, be required to disclose the source code to our platform and applications. This could harm our intellectual property position and our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our operations depend, in part, on our third-party facility providers' abilities to protect these facilities against damage or interruption from natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures, cyber incidents, criminal acts and similar events. In the event that any of our third-party facilities arrangements are terminated, or if there is a lapse of service or damage to a facility, we could experience interruptions in our platform as well as delays and additional expenses in arranging new facilities and services. Any changes in third-party service levels at our data centers or any errors, defects, disruptions, cyber incidents or other performance problems with our solutions could harm our reputation. Any damage to, or failure of, the systems of our third-party providers could result in interruptions to our platform. Despite precautions taken at our data centers, the occurrence of spikes in usage volume, natural disasters, cyber incidents, acts of terrorism, vandalism or sabotage, closure of a facility without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions in the availability of our platform and applications. Problems faced by our third-party data center locations, with the telecommunications network providers with whom they contract, or with the systems by which our telecommunications providers allocate capacity among their customers, including us, could adversely affect the experience of our customers. Because of the nature of the services that we provide to our customers during public safety threats and critical business events, any such interruption may arise when our customers are most reliant on our applications, thereby compounding the impact of any interruption on our business. Interruptions in our services might reduce our revenue, cause us to issue refunds to customers and subject us to potential liability. Further, our insurance policies may not adequately compensate us for any losses that we may incur in the event of damage or interruption. Although we benefit from liability protection under the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technology Act of 2002, the occurrence of any of the foregoing could reduce our revenue, subject us to liability, cause us to issue credits to customers or cause customers not to renew their subscriptions for our applications, any of which could materially adversely affect our business.

Certain of our existing applications, such as Secure Collaboration, a tailored version of our Secure Messaging application that is designed to comply with HIPAA, are and are likely to continue to be subject to increasing regulatory requirements in a number of ways and as we continue to introduce new applications, we may be subject to additional regulatory requirements and other risks that could be costly and difficult to comply with or that could harm our business. In addition, we market our applications and professional services in certain countries outside of the United States and plan to expand our local presence in regions such as Europe, the Middle East and Asia. If additional legal and/or regulatory requirements are implemented in the foreign countries in which we provide our services, the cost of developing or selling our applications may increase. As these requirements proliferate and as existing legal requirements become subject to new interpretations, we must change or adapt our applications and professional services to comply. Changing regulatory requirements might render certain of our applications obsolete or might block us from accomplishing our work or from developing new applications. This might in turn impose additional costs upon us to comply or to further develop our applications. It might also make introduction of new applications or service types more costly or more time-consuming than we currently anticipate. It might even prevent introduction by us of new applications or cause the continuation of our existing applications or professional services to become unprofitable or impossible.

We process personal data (including about our customers' employees, customers and constituents) and other sensitive information, including health information and financial information directly from our customers and through our channel partners. We use this information to provide applications to our customers and, in certain instances, to support, expand and improve our business. Our data processing activities may subject us to numerous data privacy and security obligations, such as various laws, regulations, guidance, industry standards, external and internal privacy and security policies, contractual requirements, and other obligations relating to data privacy and security. Some proposed laws or regulations concerning privacy, data protection and information security are in their early stages, and we cannot yet determine how these laws and regulations may be interpreted nor can we determine the impact these proposed laws and regulations, may have on our business. Such proposed laws and regulations may require companies to implement privacy and security policies, permit users to access, correct and delete personal data stored or maintained by such companies, inform individuals of security breaches that affect their personal data, and, in some cases, obtain individuals' consent to use personal data for certain purposes. Obligations related to data privacy and security (and consumers' data privacy expectations) are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent, and creating uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations, which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources, which may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems, and practices and to those of any third parties that process personal data on our behalf. In addition, these obligations may require us to change our business model. Our failure to comply with federal, state, local or foreign data privacy laws and regulations could harm our ability to successfully operate our business and pursue our business goals. In the United States, federal, state, and local governments have enacted numerous data privacy and security laws, including data breach notification laws, personal data privacy laws, consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), and other similar laws (e.g., wiretapping laws). For example, HIPAA imposes specific requirements relating to the privacy, security, and transmission of individually identifiable health information. Additionally, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 ("CAN-SPAM") and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 ("TCPA") impose specific requirements on communications with customers. For example, the TCPA imposes various consumer consent requirements and other restrictions on certain telemarketing activity and other communications with consumers by phone, fax or text message. TCPA violations can result in significant financial penalties, including penalties or criminal fines imposed by the Federal Communications Commission or fines of up to $1,500 per violation imposed through private litigation or by state authorities. Additionally, certain sector-specific regulations, including regarding the financial industry, may require additional privacy and security-related obligations. In the past few years, numerous U.S. states-including California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah-have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that impose certain obligations on covered businesses, including providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording residents with certain rights concerning their personal data. As applicable, such rights may include the right to access, correct, or delete certain personal data, and to opt-out of certain data processing activities, such as targeted advertising, profiling, and automated decision-making. The exercise of these rights may impact our business and ability to provide our products and services. Certain states also impose stricter requirements for processing certain personal data, including sensitive information, such as conducting data privacy impact assessments. These state laws allow for statutory fines for noncompliance. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") applies to personal data of consumers, business representatives, and employees, and provides for fines of up to $7,500 per intentional violation and allows private litigants affected by certain data breaches to recover significant statutory damages. In addition, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 ("CPRA") expands the CCPA's requirements, including by adding a new right for individuals to correct their personal data and establishing a new regulatory agency to implement and enforce the law. Similar laws are being considered in several other states, as well as at the federal and local levels. These laws may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Additionally, under various privacy laws and other obligations, we may be required to obtain certain consents to process personal data, including to process health and medical data in certain jurisdictions. As another example, some of our data processing practices may be challenged under wiretapping laws, since we obtain consumer information from third parties through various methods, including chatbot providers. These practices may be subject to increased challenges by class action plaintiffs. Our inability or failure to obtain consent for these practices could result in adverse consequences, including class action litigation and mass arbitration demands. Outside the United States, an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards may govern data privacy and security. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("EU GDPR") and the UK GDPR (collectively "GDPR"), Brazil's General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais, or "LGPD") (Law No. 13,709/2018), and Australia's Privacy Act, China's Personal Information Protection Law ("PIPL") impose strict requirements for processing personal data. For example, under the GDPR, fines of up to 20 million euros or up to 4% of the annual global revenue of the noncompliant company, whichever is greater, could be imposed for violations of certain GDPR requirements, or the company could be subject to private litigation related to processing of personal data brought by classes of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent their interests. Additionally, Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") and various related provincial laws, as well as Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation ("CASL"), may apply to our operations. In the ordinary course of business, we transfer personal data from Europe and other jurisdictions to the United States or other countries. Europe and other jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring data to be localized or limiting the transfer of personal data to other countries. In particular, the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK have significantly restricted the transfer of personal data to the United States and other countries whose privacy laws it believes are inadequate. Other jurisdictions, including China, may adopt similarly stringent interpretations of their data localization and cross-border data transfer laws. Although there are currently various mechanisms that may be used to transfer personal data from the EEA and UK to the United States in compliance with law, such as the EEA standard contractual clauses, the UK's International Data Transfer Agreement / Addendum, and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the UK extension thereto (which allows for transfers to relevant U.S.-based organizations who self-certify compliance and participate in the Framework), these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that we can satisfy or rely on these measures to lawfully transfer personal data to the United States. If there is no lawful manner for us to transfer personal data from the EEA, the UK or other jurisdictions to the United States, or if the requirements for a legally-compliant transfer are too onerous, we could face significant adverse consequences, including the interruption or degradation of our operations, the need to relocate part of or all of our business or data processing activities to other jurisdictions at significant expense, increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines and penalties, the inability to transfer data and work with partners, vendors and other third parties, and injunctions against our processing or transferring of personal data necessary to operate our business. Companies that transfer personal data out of the EEA and UK to other jurisdictions, particularly to the United States, are subject to increased scrutiny from regulators, individual litigants, and activist groups. Some European regulators have ordered certain companies to suspend or permanently cease certain transfers out of Europe for allegedly violating the GDPR's cross-border data transfer limitations. Additionally, the development and use of AI/ML presents various privacy and security risks that may impact our business. AI/ML is subject to privacy and data security laws, as well as increasing regulation and scrutiny. Several jurisdictions around the globe have proposed, enacted or are considering measures related to the use of AI/ML in products and services, including the EU's AI Act. We expect other jurisdictions will adopt similar laws. Additionally, certain privacy laws extend rights to consumers (such as the right to delete certain personal data) and regulate automated decision making, which may be incompatible with our use of AI/ML. These obligations may make it harder for us to conduct our business using AI/ML, lead to regulatory fines or penalties, require us to change our business practices, retrain our AI/ML, or prevent or limit our use of AI/ML. For example, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has required other companies to turn over (or disgorge) valuable insights or trainings generated through the use of AI/ML where they allege the company has violated privacy and consumer protection laws. If we cannot use AI/ML or that use is restricted, our business may be less efficient, or we may be at a competitive disadvantage. We may have to change our business practices to comply with such obligations. Moreover, our employees and personnel use generative AI technologies to perform their work, and the disclosure and use of personal data in generative AI is subject to various privacy laws and other privacy obligations. Governments have passed and are likely to pass additional laws regulating AI. Our use of this technology could result in additional compliance costs, regulatory investigations and actions, and lawsuits. If we are unable to use AI, it could make our business less efficient and result in competitive disadvantages. We use AI/ML to assist us in making certain decisions, which is regulated by certain privacy laws. Due to inaccuracies or flaws in the inputs, outputs, or logic of the AI/ML, the model could be biased and could lead us to make decisions that could bias certain individuals (or classes of individuals), and adversely impact their rights, employment, and ability to obtain certain pricing, products, services, or benefits. Globally, governments and agencies have adopted and could in the future adopt, modify, apply or enforce laws, policies, regulations, and standards covering user privacy, data security, technologies such as cookies that are used to process data, marketing online, the use of data to inform marketing, the taxation of products and services, unfair and deceptive practices, and the processing of data associated with unique individual internet users. We are also bound by contractual obligations related to data privacy and security, and our efforts to comply with such obligations may not be successful. For example, certain privacy laws, such as the GDPR and the CCPA, require our customers to impose specific contractual restrictions on their service providers. Additionally, some of our customer contracts require us to host personal data locally. We publish privacy policies, marketing materials and other statements, such as compliance with certain certifications or self-regulatory principles, regarding data privacy and security. If these policies, materials or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions by regulators or other adverse consequences. Obligations related to data privacy and security are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent, and creating regulatory uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations, which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources, which may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems, and practices and to those of any third parties that we rely on. In addition, these obligations may require us to change our business model. We may at times fail (or be perceived to have failed) in our efforts to comply with our data privacy and security obligations. Moreover, despite our efforts, our personnel or third parties on which we rely may fail to comply with such obligations, which could negatively impact our business operations. If we, or the third-parties upon which we rely, do not comply with laws or regulations, or other privacy or security obligations, we could face significant consequences, including but not limited to: government enforcement actions (e.g., investigations, fines, penalties, audits, inspections, and similar); litigation (including class-action claims); additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; bans on processing personal data; orders to destroy or not use personal data; and imprisonment of company officials. In particular, plaintiffs have become increasingly more active in bringing privacy-related claims against companies, including class claims and mass arbitration demands. Some of these claims allow for the recovery of statutory damages on a per violation basis, and, if viable, carry the potential for monumental statutory damages, depending on the volume of data and the number of violations. If any governmental sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a significant diversion of management's attention and resources and an increase in professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could harm our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

Our effective tax rate could be adversely impacted by several factors, including: - Changes in the relative amounts of income before taxes in the various jurisdictions in which we operate that have differing statutory tax rates;- Changes in tax laws, tax treaties and regulations or the interpretation of them;- Changes to our assessment about the realizability of our deferred tax assets that are based on estimates of our future results, the prudence and feasibility of possible tax planning strategies, and the economic and political environments in which we do business;- The outcome of future tax audits, examinations or administrative appeals;- Changes in generally accepted accounting principles that affect the accounting for taxes; and - Limitations or adverse findings regarding our ability to do business in some jurisdictions.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and many foreign jurisdictions and are commonly audited by various tax authorities. In the ordinary course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits and any related litigation could be materially different from our historical income tax provisions and accruals. The results of an audit or litigation could have a material effect on our financial statements in the period or periods for which that determination is made.

The application of federal, state, local and foreign tax laws to services provided electronically is continuously evolving. New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be enacted or amended at any time, possibly with retroactive effect, and could be applied solely or disproportionately to services provided over the Internet. These enactments or amendments could adversely affect our sales activity due to the inherent cost increase the taxes would represent and could ultimately result in a negative impact on our operating results. For example, for certain research and experimental expenses incurred in tax years beginning after December 31, 2021, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act requires the capitalization and amortization of such expenses over five years if incurred in the United States and fifteen years if incurred outside the United States, rather than deducting such expenses currently. There have been legislative proposals to repeal or defer the research and experimental expense capitalization rules, including legislation recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would restore the deductibility of U.S. based research and experimental expenses but not non-U.S. research and experimental expenses; however, there can be no assurance that any such legislation will ultimately be enacted. In addition, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, modified or applied adversely to us, possibly with retroactive effect, which could require us or our customers to pay additional tax amounts, as well as require us or our customers to pay fines or penalties, as well as interest on past amounts. If we are unsuccessful in collecting such taxes due from our customers, we could be held liable for such costs, thereby adversely impacting our operating results.

We expect to continue to derive a portion of our revenue from sales of our Mass Notification application in the near term. As a result, our operating results could suffer due to: - any decline in demand for our Mass Notification application;- pricing or other competitive pressures from competing products;- the introduction of applications and technologies that serve as a replacement or substitute for, or represent an improvement over, our Mass Notification application;- technological innovations or new standards that our Mass Notification application does not address; and - sensitivity to current or future prices offered by us or competing solutions. Because of our reliance on our Mass Notification application, our inability to renew or increase sales of this application or a decline in prices of this application would harm our business and operating results more seriously than if we derived significant revenue from a variety of applications. Any factor adversely affecting sales of our historical or new applications, including release cycles, market acceptance, competition, performance and reliability, reputation and economic and market conditions, could adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our sales process involves educating prospective customers and existing customers about the use, technical capabilities and benefits of our platform and applications. Prospective customers, especially larger organizations, often undertake a prolonged evaluation process, which typically involves not only our solutions, but also those of our competitors and lasts from four to nine months or longer. We may spend substantial time, effort and money on our sales and marketing efforts without any assurance that our efforts will produce any sales. Events affecting our customers' businesses may occur during the sales cycle that could affect the size or timing of a purchase, contributing to more unpredictability in our business and operating results. As a result of these factors, we may face greater costs, longer sales cycles and less predictability in the future.

Certain of our customers require applications that ensure secure processing, communication and storage of sensitive information given the nature of the content being distributed and associated applicable regulatory requirements. In particular, our healthcare customers rely on our applications to communicate in a manner that is designed to comply with the requirements of HIPAA which imposes privacy and data security standards that protect individually identifiable health information by limiting the uses and disclosures of individually identifiable health information and requiring that certain data security standards be implemented to protect this information. As a "business associate" to "covered entities" that are subject to HIPAA, we also have our own compliance obligations directly under HIPAA and pursuant to the business associate agreements that we are required to enter into with our customers that are HIPAA-covered entities, or HIPAA-business associates and with our subcontractors that process individually identifiable health information on our behalf. Our failure to maintain compliance with HIPAA could result in significant administrative, civil and criminal penalties, as well as breach of contract claims from our customers and subcontractors. Governments and industry organizations may also adopt new laws, regulations or requirements, or make changes to existing laws or regulations, that could impact the demand for, or value of, our applications. If we are unable to adapt our applications to changing legal and regulatory standards or other requirements in a timely manner, or if our applications fail to allow our customers to communicate in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, our customers may lose confidence in our applications and could switch to products offered by our competitors, or threaten or bring legal actions against us.

To succeed, we must continue to attract new customers and retain existing customers who desire to use our existing CEM solutions and new products we introduce from time to time. Acquiring new customers is a key element of our continued success, growth opportunity, and future revenue. We will continue to invest in a direct sales force combined with a focused channel strategy designed to serve the various requirements of our target customer base. Any failures by us to execute in these areas will negatively impact our business. The rate at which new and existing customers purchase our products depends on a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control. For example, a deterioration in macroeconomic conditions in the markets we operate in including as a result of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the evolving situation in the Middle East, a slower than expected recovery from the pandemic, or for other reasons could have a negative impact on our customers, which could adversely impact our ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers. Changes in the corporate workforce from in-person to remote, or a shift in the patterns of work-related travel coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, may impact how our customers view their CEM needs. Our future success also depends on retaining our current customers at acceptable retention levels. Our retention rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors outside our control, including competition, customers' budgeting and spending priorities, and overall general economic conditions in the geographic regions in which we operate. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic caused customers to request concessions such as extended payment terms. Customers may delay or cancel CEM projects or seek to lower their costs by renegotiating existing vendor contracts. If our customers do not renew their subscriptions for our products and services, our revenue would decline and our business would suffer. In future periods, our total customers and revenue could decline or grow more slowly than we expect.

A significant portion of our revenue growth is generated from sales of additional services, features and products to existing customers. Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to sell such additional services, features and products to our existing customers. We devote significant efforts to developing, marketing, and selling additional services, features and products and associated professional services to existing customers and rely on these efforts for a portion of our revenue. These efforts require a significant investment in building and maintaining customer relationships, as well as significant research and development efforts in order to provide upgrades and launch new services, features, and products. The rate at which our existing customers purchase additional services, features, and products depends on a number of factors, including the perceived need for additional CEM solutions, the efficacy of our current services, the perceived utility and efficacy of our new offerings, our customers' budgets, and general economic conditions in the geographic regions in which we operate, which may be impacted by, among other things, the economic uncertainty resulting from the global geopolitical tension due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the evolving situation in the Middle East and consequences associated with COVID-19. Any new applications we develop or acquire might not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner and might not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue. In addition, if customers demand customized solutions and services that we do not offer, our upfront development costs would increase, which could negatively impact our operating results. If any of our competitors implements new technologies before we are able to implement them or better anticipates market opportunities, those competitors may be able to provide more effective or cheaper products than ours. If our efforts to sell additional services, features, and products to our customers are not successful, our future revenue and operating results will be harmed.

Our growth strategy is dependent, in part, upon increasing sales of our solutions to large enterprises and governments. Sales to large customers involve risks that may not be present (or that are present to a lesser extent) with sales to smaller entities. These risks include: - increased purchasing power and leverage held by large customers in negotiating contractual arrangements with us;- unfavorable contact terms;- more stringent and complicated implementation processes, including stricter implementation deadlines and penalties for any failure to meet such deadlines;- more complex, stringent or costly requirements imposed upon us in our support service contracts with such customers, including stricter support response times and penalties for any failure to meet support requirements;- longer sales cycles, substantial upfront sales costs, and the associated risk that substantial time and resources may be spent on a potential customer that ultimately elects not to purchase our platform or purchases less than we hoped;- closer relationships with, and dependence upon, large technology companies who offer competitive products; and - more pressure for discounts and write-offs. In addition, our ability to successfully sell our services to large enterprises is dependent on us attracting and retaining sales personnel, including sales engineers, with experience in selling to large organizations. Also, because security breaches with respect to larger, high-profile enterprises are likely to be heavily publicized, there is increased reputational risk associated with serving such customers. If we are unable to increase sales of our offerings to large enterprise and government customers while mitigating the risks associated with serving such customers, our business, financial position and results of operations may suffer.

Natural disasters, climate change, or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations, international commerce, and the global economy, and thus could have a strong negative effect on us. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, climate-related events, pandemics, terrorism, political unrest, geopolitical instability, war, such as the war in Ukraine, the evolving situation in the Middle East and other events beyond our control. Although we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver our solutions to our customers, could decrease demand for our solutions, and could cause us to incur substantial expense. Significant recovery time could be required to resume operations and our business could be harmed in the event of a major earthquake or other catastrophic event. Our insurance may not be sufficient to cover related losses or additional expenses that we may sustain. In addition to physical risks arising from changing climate and weather patterns, long-term effects of climate change on the global economy and the technology industry may negatively impact our business. We may also be subject to increased regulations, reporting requirements, standards, or expectations regarding the environmental impacts of our business, and failure to comply with such regulations, requirements, standards or expectations could adversely affect our reputation, business or financial performance.