UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

oREGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR 12(g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR
  
x
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 20122015

OR

oTRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

oSHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Commission file number 0-27466

NICE-SYSTEMS LTD.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Israel

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

2213 Zarchin Street, P.O. Box 690, Ra’anana 43107,4310602, Israel

(Address of principal executive offices)

Dafna Gruber,Yechiam Cohen, +972-9-7753151, dafna.gruber@nice.com,yechiam.cohen@nice.com,
2213 Zarchin Street, P.O. Box 690, Ra’anana 43107,4310602, Israel

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each Class
Name of Each Exchange
On Which Registered
 
American Depositary Shares, each representing
one Ordinary Share, par value one
New Israeli Shekel per share
NASDAQ Global Select Market
 


Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report: 60,248,69959,526,506 Ordinary Shares, par value NIS 1.00 per share (which excludes 6,097,42011,633,783 treasury shares and 26,746 treasury shares resulting from cancelled restricted shares)


Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.
 
x  Yes    o  No

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
 
o  Yes    x  No
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days:

x  Yes    o  No
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such reports).
 
x  Yes    o  No


Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer  x       ��                Accelerated filer  o                Non-accelerated filer  o

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

x           U.S. GAAP

o           International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board

o           Other

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question indicate by check mark which financial statements the registrant has elected to follow:
 
o Item 17     o Item 18
 
If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
 
o  Yes    x  No
 
 

 

PRELIMINARY NOTE

This annual report contains historical information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to NICE’s business, financial condition and results of operations.  The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “should,” “strategy,” “continue,” “goal” and “target” and similar expressions, as they relate to NICE or its management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements.  Such statements reflect the current viewsbeliefs, expectations and assumptions of NICE with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties.  The forward-looking statements relate to, among other things: operating results; anticipated cash flows; gross margins; adequacy of resources to fund operations; our ability to maintain our average selling prices despite the aggressive marketing and pricing strategies of our competitors; our ability to maintain and develop profitable relationships with our key distribution channels; the financial strength of our key distribution channels; and the market’s acceptance of our technologies, products and solutions.

In connection with the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, we are identifying important factors that, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements made by us; any such statement is qualified by reference to the following cautionary statements.  Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of NICE to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, competition with existing or new competitors, changes in executive management, changes in general economic and business conditions, continued disruption in credit markets, rapidly changing technology, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, difficulties or delays in absorbing and integrating acquired operations, products, technologies and personnel, changes in business strategy and various other factors, both referenced and not referenced in this annual report.  These risks are more fully described under Item 3, “Key Information – Risk Factors” of this annual report.  Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended, planned or projected.  NICE does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.  Investors should bear this in mind as they consider forward-looking statements and whether to invest or remain invested in NICE-Systems Ltd.’sNICE’s securities.
 
In this annual report, all references to “NICE,” “we,” “us”“us,” “our” or “our”the “Company” are to NICE-Systems Ltd., a company organized under the laws of the State of Israel, and its wholly owned subsidiaries. For a list of our significant subsidiaries, please refer to page 5351 of this annual report.
 
In this annual report, unless otherwise specified or unless the context otherwise requires, all references to “$” or “dollars” are to U.S. Dollars, all references to “EUR” are to Euros, all references to “GBP” are to British Pounds, all references to “CHF” are to Swiss Francs and all references to “NIS” are to New Israeli Shekels. Except as otherwise indicated, the financial statements of and information regarding NICE are presented in U.S. dollars.
 
 
 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART II
 
134132
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PART III
 
137
137
138
F-1
 
 
 

 
 
PART I

Item 1.            Identity of Directors,Directors, Senior Management and Advisers.
 
Not Applicable.

Item 2.            Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable.
 
Not Applicable.

Item 3.            Key InformationInformation.
 
Selected Financial Data

The following selected consolidated balance sheetssheet data as of December 31, 20112014 and 20122015 and the selected consolidated statements of income data for the years ended December 31, 2010, 20112013, 2014 and 20122015 have been derived from our audited Consolidated Financial Statements. These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP, and audited by Kost, Forer, Gabbay & Kasierer, a member of Ernst & Young Global. The selected consolidated statements of income data as of December 31, 2008,2011 and 20092012 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data for the years ended December 31, 2008, 20092011, 2012 and 20102013 have been derived from other Consolidated Financial Statements not included in this annual report and have also been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and audited by Kost, Forer, Gabbay & Kasierer, a member of Ernst & Young Global. The selected consolidated financial data set forth below should be read in conjunction with and are qualified by reference to Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” and the Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto and other financial information included elsewhere in this annual report.
 
  
Year Ended December 31,
 
  
2008
  
2009
  
2010
  
2011
  
2012
 
  
(U.S. dollars in thousands, except per share data)
 
OPERATING DATA:
               
Revenues
               
      Products
 $351,680  $281,783  $325, 429  $355,760  $369,381 
      Services
  272,482   301,332   364,022   438,071   509,631 
Total revenues
  624,162   583,115   689,451   793,831   879,012 
Cost of revenues
                    
      Products
  95,861   88,030   107,190   116,256   122,917 
      Services
  142,885   149,175   161,885   191,049   228,306 
Total cost of revenues
  238,746   237,205   269,075   307,305   351,223 
Gross profit
  385,416   345,910   420,376   486,526   527,789 
Operating expenses:
                    
Research and development, net
  78,445   77,382   97,083   109,127   121,387 
Selling and marketing
  147,879   141,526   178,407   199,044   230,162 
General and administrative
  97,378   72,791   76,345   95,650   96,134 
Amortization of acquired intangible assets
  14,493   16,012   19,489   23,677   32,590 
Restructuring expenses
  -   -   -   -   1,884 
Settlement and related expenses
  9,870   -   -   -   - 
Total operating expenses  348,065   307,711   371,324   427,498   482,157 
Operating income
  37,351   38,199   49,052   59,028   45,632 
Financial income, net
  11,644   8,094   9,339   10,783   6,738 
Other expenses, net
  (53)  (115)  (154)  (162)  1,530 
Income before taxes on income
  48,942   46,178   58,237   69,649   53,900 
Taxes on income
  9,835   3,422   9,530   12,386   (13,994)
Net income
  39,107   42,756   48,707   57,263   67,894 
                     
Basic earnings per share $0.65  $0.70  $0.78  $0.91  $1.11 
Weighted average number of shares used in computing basic earnings per share (in thousands)
    60,088   61,395   62,652   62,924   60,905 
Diluted earnings per share $0.64  $0.68  $0.76  $0.89  $1.09 
                     
Weighted average number of shares used in computing diluted earnings per share (in thousands)
  61,268   62,490   64,132   64,241   62,261 
  
At December 31,
 
  
2008
  
2009
  
2010
  
2011
 
2012
 
    
BALANCE SHEET DATA:
               
Working capital
 $217,511  $184,460  $173,909  $173,543  $137,635 
Total assets
  1, 283,015   1,399,677   1,534,418   1,581,836   1,660,945 
Shareholders’ equity
  970,822   1,062,754   1,160,760   1,158,644   1,191,088 

 
1

 
 
  
Year Ended December 31,
 
  
2011
  
2012
  
2013
  
2014
  
2015
 
  
(U.S. dollars in thousands, except per share data)
 
OPERATING DATA:
               
Revenues
               
     Products
 $258,165  $276,319  $280,140  $289,560  $317,900 
      Services
  412,789   482,552   541,375   582,435   608,967 
Total revenues
  670,954   758,871   821,515   871,995   926,867 
Cost of revenues
                    
      Products
  68,894   78,878   69,335   63,919   66,363 
      Services
  180,771   215,519   230,279   239,592   237,219 
Total cost of revenues
  249,665   294,397   299,614   303,511   303,582 
Gross profit
  421,289   464,474   521,901   568,484   623,285 
Operating expenses:
                    
Research and development, net
  87,270   103,818   115,431   123,141   128,485 
Selling and marketing
  160,669   194,346   214,579   231,097   225,817 
General and administrative
  94,414   94,654   86,467   83,360   90,349 
Amortization of acquired intangible assets
  22,528   31,455   29,438   19,157   12,528 
Restructuring expenses
  -   1,870   527   5,435   - 
                     
Total operating expenses  364,881   426,143   446,442   462,190   457,179 
Operating income  56,408   38,331   75,459   106,294   166,106 
Financial income and other  net
  10,625   8,268   3,927   3,765   5,304 
Income before taxes on income  67,033   46,599   79,386   110,059   171,410 
Taxes on income (tax benefits)
  11,260   (14,799)  26,915   9,909   30,832 
Net income from continuing operations
  55,773   61,398   52,471   100,150   140,578 
                     
Discontinued operations:                    
Gain on disposal and (loss) income from operations  2,616   7,301   4,294   4,965   152,459 
Taxes on income  1,126   805   1,490   2,040   34,206 
Net income on discontinued operations  1,490   6,496   2,804   2,925   118,253 
Net income  57,263   67,894   55,275   103,075  $258,831 
                     
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations $0.89  $1.01  $0.87  $1.69  $2.36 
Basic earnings per share from discontinued operations
 $0.02  $0.10  $0.05  $0.05  $1.99 
Basic earnings per share
 $0.91  $1.11  $0.92  $1.74  $4.35 
Weighted average number of shares used in computing basic earnings per share (in thousands)
  62,924   60,905   60,388   59,362   59,552 
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations $0.87  $0.99  $0.85  $1.64  $2.29 
Diluted earnings per share from discontinued operations
 $0.02  $0.10  $0.04  $0.05  $1.93 
Diluted earnings per share
 $0.89  $1.09  $0.89  $1.69  $4.22 
                     
Weighted average number of shares used in computing diluted earnings per share (in thousands)
  64,241   62,261   61,830   60,895   61,281 

2

  
At December 31,
 
  
2011
  
2012
  
2013
  
2014
  
2015
 
    
BALANCE SHEET DATA*:
               
Working capital
 $163,398  $122,108  $61,023  $107,090  $256,089 
Total assets
  1,575,344   1,649,676   1,646,030   1,632,952   1,849,613 
Shareholders’ equity
  1,158,644   1,191,088   1,204,796   1,213,456   1,415,149 
*Including assets and liabilities that were accounted as discontinued operations
Risk Factors
 
General Risks Relating to Our BusinessGlobal Economy, Competition and Markets
 
We depend onConditions and changes in the successlocal and global economic environments may adversely affect our business and financial results.
Adverse economic conditions in markets in which we operate can harm our business, and our results of operations can be affected by adverse changes in local and global economic conditions, slowdowns, recessions, economic instability, political unrest, armed conflicts or natural disasters around the world. To the extent that our business suffers as a result of such unfavorable economic and market conditions, our operating results may be materially adversely affected.  In particular, enterprises may reduce spending in connection with their contact centers, financial institutions may reduce spending in relation to trading floors and operational risk management (as IT-related capital expenditures are typically lower priority in times of economic slowdowns), and our customers may prioritize other expenditures over our solutions. In addition, enterprises’ ordering and payment patterns are influenced by market conditions and could cause fluctuations in our quarterly results. If any of the above occurs, and our customers or partners significantly reduce their spending or significantly delay or fail to make payments to us, our business, results of operations, and financial condition would be materially adversely affected.
In addition, over half of our recording solutions.
Our recording solutionssales are based ongenerated from North America. If there is deterioration or a computer telephony integrated multi-channel voice recording and retrieval system. We are dependent on the success of our recording solutions to maintain profitability. Our recording solutions currently generate, and in recent years have generated, a large portion of our revenues, and we will continue to be dependent on the sales of our recording solutionscrisis in the next several years.  However, there can be no assurance that the recording market will continue to grow. Also, switch manufacturers, such as Avaya Inc. (Avaya)economic and Cisco Systems Inc. (Cisco), offer various types of recording solutions, which could result in a significant decline in sales of our recording solutions, which could also result in a decline in sales of related applications, or a significant decreasefinancial stability in the profit margin on such solutions, thatUnited States, particularly in the financial services sector (which is our main industry vertical), our top tier customers could reduce spending, delay or postpone orders. This could have a material adverse effect on our sales in this region and our results of operations. Any such deterioration in the economic condition in the United States could also negatively impact the accuracy of our forecast of future trends and make plans for our future business development.
Disruption to the global economy could also result in a number of follow-on effects on our business, including a possible (i) slow-down in our business, resulting from lower customer expenditure, inability of customers to pay for products and services, insolvency of customers or insolvency of key partners and vendors, (ii) negative impact on our liquidity, financial condition or resultsand share price, which may impact our ability to raise capital in the market, obtain financing and secure other sources of funding in the future on terms favorable to us, and (iii) decreases in the value of our assets that are deemed to be other than temporary, which may result in impairment losses.
3

We face risks relating to our global operations.
 
We sell our products and solutions throughout the world and intend to continue to increase our penetration of international markets. In addition, the trendeach of 2013, 2014 and 2015, approximately 99% of our total sales were derived from sales to customers outside of enterprises moving from voiceIsrael.  Our future results could be materially adversely affected by a variety of factors relating to international transactions, including:
governmental controls and regulations, including import or export license requirements, trade protection measures and changes in tariffs;
changes in applicable international and local laws, regulations and practices, including those related to trade compliance, anticorruption, data privacy and protection, tax, labor, employee benefits, customs, currency restrictions and other meansrequirements;
changes in foreign currency exchange rates;
longer payment cycles in certain countries in our geographic areas of communication with the enterprise (such as e-mail, instant messagingoperations; and chat), may result
general difficulties in a reductionmanaging our global operations.
Changes in the political or economic environments in the countries in which we operate, particularly in emerging markets, as well as the impact of economic conditions on underlying demand for our voice recording platformproducts and applications. Furthermore, if such trend continues, our customers may cease to record voice and switch to recording other means of communication. This may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
If we fail to successfully compete with infrastructure vendors, such failure may materially adversely affect our financial results.
The economic climate has forced many organizations to reassess their contact center solutions’ infrastructure. For the contact center, the enterprise and the remote and mobile workforce, an all-in-one contact center platform may be a preferred alternative to a multi-point system, as it may result in a reduction in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and the enablement of new cross systems business processes. Although we may benefit from this trend, at the same time, we are observing that there are infrastructure players, for the most part, telephony or switch vendors, that are potentially looking to introduce a “contact center in a box” type of solution that will include features and functionality currently supplied by us, in addition to the infrastructures supplied by such vendors. With the emergence of this trend, and in the event that we are not able to create an integrated experience for our customers in the form of an integrated suite, we may be faced with a new type of competition, whichservices, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
As we continue to explore the expansion of our global reach, including in emerging markets, we may be faced with risks that are more significant than if we were to do business in developed countries, which risks include less developed legal systems, unstable governments and economies, and governmental actions that may affect the flow of goods and currency. We cannot assure you that one or more of these factors will not have a material adverse effect on our international operations, business, financial condition and results of operations.
As a result of our global presence, especially in emerging markets, we face increasing challenges that could adversely impact our results of operations, reputation and business.

In light of our global presence, especially in emerging markets such as those in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, we face a number of challenges in certain jurisdictions related to poor protection of intellectual property, inadequate protection against crime (including bribery, corruption and fraud), breaches of local laws or regulations, competition from companies that are already present in the market and difficulties in recruiting sufficient personnel with appropriate skills and experience. In addition, local business practices in jurisdictions in which we operate, and particularly in emerging markets, may be inconsistent with international regulatory requirements, such as anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws and regulations (including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act) to which we are subject. Although we implement policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws, we cannot guarantee that none of our employees, contractors and agents, as well as those companies to which we outsource certain of our business operations, will not take actions in violation of our policies or applicable law. Any such violation could have an adverse effect on our business and reputation, and may expose us to criminal or civil enforcement actions, including penalties and fines.

4

The markets in which we operate are highly competitive and we may be unable to compete successfully.
The markets for our products, solutions and related services are, in general, highly competitive. Our competitors include a number of large, established developers and distributors. Some of our principal competitors or potential competitors may have advantages over us, including greater resources, a broader portfolio of products, applications and services, larger patent and intellectual property portfolios and access to larger customer bases, all of which would enable them to adapt better to new or emerging technologies or customer requirements or devote more resources to the marketing and sale of their products and services. Additionally, continued price reductions by some of our competitors, particularly at times of economic difficulty, may result in our loss of sales or require that we reduce our prices in order to compete, which would adversely affect our revenues, gross margins and results of operations.
Additional competition from new potential entrants to our markets may lead to the widespread availability and standardization of some of the products and services, which could result in the commoditization of our products and services, reduce the demand for our products and services and drive us to lower our prices.
In recent years, some of our competitors, including some of our partners, have increased their presence through internal development, partnerships and acquisitions. Infrastructure vendors, including suppliers of telecommunication infrastructure equipment, have decided or may decide in the future to enter our market space and compete with us by offering comprehensive solutions. Moreover, major enterprise software vendors, such as those from the traditional enterprise business intelligence and business analytics sector, Customer Relationship Management (or “CRM”), or infrastructure players (mostly telephony or switch vendors), have entered or may decide to enter our market space and compete with us, either by internal development of comprehensive solutions or through acquisition of any of our existing competitors. If we are not able to compete effectively with these market entrants or other competitors, we may lose market share and our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected.
While the market for our software applications is constantly growing, successful positioning and sales execution of our products is a critical factor in our ability to successfully compete and maintain growth. As a result, we expect to continue making significant expenditures on research and development and marketing. In addition, our software solutions may compete with software developed internally by potential clients, as well as software and other solutions offered by competitors. We cannot ensure that the market awareness or demand for our new products or applications will grow as rapidly as we expect, or that the introduction of new products or technological developments by others will not adversely impact the demand for our products.
5

Successful marketing of our products and services to our customers and partners will be critical to our ability to maintain growth. We cannot assure you that our products or existing partnerships will permit us to compete successfully. The market for some of our solutions is highly fragmented and includes products offering a broad range of features and capabilities. Consolidation through mergers and acquisitions, or alliances formed, among our competitors in this market, who may have greater resources than we have, could substantially influence our competitive position.
As we expand into new markets, we are faced with new competition, which may be able to more quickly develop or adapt to new or emerging technologies, better respond to changes in customer requirements or preferences, or devote greater resources to the development, promotion, and sale of their products.
Prices of most of our solutions have decreased throughout the market in recent years, primarily due to competitive pressures, and may continue to decrease.  This could have a negative effect on our gross profit and results of operations.
 
If we failare unable to develop or maintain our relationships with existing and new distribution channels, such failure maydistributors and strategic partners, our business and financial results could be materially adversely affect our financial results.affected.
 
We have agreements in place with many distributors, dealers and resellers to market and sell our products and services in addition to our direct sales force. Moreover, inIn certain regions, such as Japan, Russia,Asia and the Nordic countries,Eastern Europe, we onlypredominantly work through such partners. Our financial results could be materially adversely affected if our contracts with distribution channel partners or our other partners were terminated, if our relationship with our distribution channel partners or our other partners were to deteriorate, or if the financial condition of our distribution channel partners or our other partners were to weaken.
 
2

As our market opportunities change, our reliance on particular distribution channels may increase, which may negatively impact our gross margins. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in maintaining or expanding these channels. If we are not successful, we may lose sales opportunities, customers and market share.
If we fail to develop or maintain relationships with existing and new key strategic partners, such failure may materially adversely affect our financial results.
We believe that developing partnerships and strategic alliances is an important factor in our success in marketing our products. In some markets we have only recently started to develop a number of partnerships and strategic alliances. We cannot assure you that we willmay not be able to develop such partnerships or strategic alliances on terms that are favorable to us, if at all. Failure to develop such arrangements that are satisfactory to us may limit our ability to successfully market and sell products and may have a negative impactmaterial adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
 
As our market opportunities change, our reliance on particular distribution channels and strategic partners may increase or we may need to create new strategic partnerships and alliances to address changing market needs, all of which may negatively impact our growth and gross margins. There can be no assurance that we willWe may not be successful in maintaining, creating or expanding these partnerships. If we are not successful, we may lose sales opportunities, customers and market share.
Risks associated with direct competition from our global distribution or strategic partnership channels may materially adversely affect our financial results.
Our current distribution channel partners or our strategic partners may decide to enter into our markets in competition with us, which will likely result in the termination of our relationship and may lead to a significant reduction in sales through related channels.
A portion of our strategic partners are suppliers of telecommunication infrastructure equipment. If our competitors decide to end the relationship and expand their product offering to compete with us, this may result in a significant reduction of sales made by such strategic partners, as well as to customers who use such partners’ infrastructure or work in their environment.
Some of our channels have made changes in their business models over the last couple of years, including the sale of branded products, which are currently based on their relationships with our competitors, as well as other sources. Such channels’ offerings of telephony solutions, including by way of bundling the products of our largest competitor, is in direct competition with our offering, and is directed at the market also served by them and NICE together. While these channels continue to also sell and support NICE products, their focus on selling their own branded suites may continue to change the scope and nature of our relationship with them or result in the termination of such relationship, and therefore result in the displacement of NICE’s offering. In addition, these channels may further their direct competition with us by offering recording as a standard functionality in the telephony infrastructure systems (recording at the switch).  All of the above factors may have a substantial negative impact on our business and our relationship with these channels and may result in a significant reduction of our sales.partnerships.
 
 
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As a resultIn addition, the execution of all of these factors, including our inabilitygrowth strategy also depends on our ability to maintain our relationshipcreate new alliances and enter into strategic partnerships with these channels,certain market players. Even if we are able to enter into such as Avaya, on the one hand (for example, by entering into subsequent commercial agreements with Avaya), and the competition by them on the other hand,alliances, it may be under terms that are not favorable to us, or we may sustain loss ofnot be able to realize the benefits that are anticipated through such alliances. If we are not successful at these efforts, we may lose sales opportunities, customers and market share, which may have a material adverse effect on our business financial condition orand results of operations.
 
The markets in which we operate are characterized by rapid technological changes and frequent new products and service introductions.
We operate in several markets, each characterized by rapidly changing technology, new product introductions and evolving industry standards. The introduction of products embodying new technology and the emergence of new industry standards might exert price pressures on our existing products or render them obsolete. Our markets are also characterized by consistent demand for state of the art technology and products. Existing and potential competitors might introduce new and enhanced products that could adversely affect the competitive position of our products. One of our most significant markets is the market for Customer Interaction applications. Customer Interaction applications are utilized by entities in various sectors to capture, store, retrieve and analyze recorded data. The market for our Customer Interaction applications is, in particular, dominated by a group of highly competitive vendors that are introducing dynamic competitive offerings around evolving industry standards.
We believe that our ability to anticipate changes in technology and industry standards and to successfully develop and introduce new, enhanced and differentiated products, on a timely basis, in each of the markets in which we operate, is a critical factor in our ability to grow our business. As a result, we expect to continue to make significant expenditures on research and development, particularly with respect to new software applications, which are continuously required in all our business areas. Moreover, in the event that we do not anticipate changes in technology or industry practices or fail to timely address market needs or not be able to provide the products that are in demand, we may lose market share and our results of operations may be materially adversely affected.
The growth of new communication channels could require substantial modification and customization of our current cross-channel products, as well as the introduction of new multi-channel products. Further, customer adoption of these new technologies may be slower than we anticipate. We cannot assure you that the market or demand for our products and solutions will be sustained or grow as rapidly as we expect (if at all), that we will successfully develop new products or introduce new applications for existing products, that such new products and applications will achieve market acceptance, or that the introduction of new products or technological developments by others will not render our products obsolete. In addition, our products must readily integrate with major third party security, telephone, front-office and back-office systems. Any changes to these third party systems could require us to redesign our products, and any such redesign might not be possible on a timely basis or achieve market acceptance. Our inability to develop products that are competitive in technology and price and responsive to customer needs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Therefore, some of the factors that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations include industry-specific factors; our ability to continuously develop, introduce, deliver and support commercially viable products, solutions and technologies; the market’s rate of acceptance of the product solutions and technologies we offer; our ability to keep pace with market and technology changes; and our ability to compete successfully.
We depend on Avaya’scertain infrastructure vendors’ installation base for a significant portion of our recurring sales.
 
We sell our products, either directly or through our other distribution channels, to customers who use Avaya’s infrastructure of our distributors or of other vendors, or operate in Avaya’stheir environment. To the extent that Avaya doescertain infrastructure vendors do not allow or support the integration of our products with itstheir infrastructure or products, or usesuse other means to prevent us from selling our products to such customers, (some of our largest customers currently use Avaya for their contact center infrastructure), we may experience a reduction in sales to these customers, which is broader than Avaya’ssuch infrastructure vendors’ direct business with us. This could, of course, influence our ability to continue rendering maintenance services and other services and generate recurring sales to these customers. As a result, we may sustain loss ofcould lose customers and market share, which maycould have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operation.
 
General Risks Relating to Our Business, Offerings and Operations
We depend on the stability of the financial services sector.
The financial services sector is our main industry vertical. If there is deterioration or a crisis in the economic and financial stability of financial institutions, customers in this sector, including our top tier customers, could reduce spending or delay or postpone orders. This could have a material adverse effect on our sales to this sector and our results of operations.
We depend on the success of our recording solutions.
Our recording solutions are based on a computer telephony integrated multi-channel voice recording and retrieval system. We are dependent on the success of our recording solutions to maintain profitability and sustain growth. Our recording solutions currently generate, and in recent years have generated, a significant portion of our revenues, and we will continue to be dependent on the sales of our recording solutions and recurring revenues, such as maintenance services, in the next several years.  However, there can be no assurance that the recording market will continue to grow. Also, certain switch manufacturers offer various types of recording solutions, which could result in a significant decline in sales of our recording solutions and in sales of related applications, or a significant decrease in the profit margin on such solutions, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
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The trend of enterprise customers moving from voice to other means of communication with the enterprise (such as self-serve, e-mail, instant messaging, social media and chat), may result in a reduction in the demand for our voice recording platform and applications. If such trend continues, our customers may cease to record voice and switch to recording other means of communication. In addition, changes in regulations could reduce the need for recording, which would reduce the demand for our recording and platform. Any of the above may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our failure to successfully adapt and transform our products to offer cloud-based solutions and compete successfully in such market could negatively affect our future financial results.
In recent years, customers have embraced cloud computing, changing the way they source business solutions by moving from on-premise to cloud-based solutions, increasing the demand for hosted and cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (or “SaaS”). Although we are adapting and transforming our delivery options to include on-premise, hosted, cloud-based SaaS, or blended-hybrid deployment offerings, we may not be successful in our ability to adapt and transform our offerings to the cloud and we may not be able to timely and adequately meet customer needs. As a result, we may be unsuccessful at competing with vendors in the market that offer cloud-based solutions to cater for such customer needs, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, cloud computing may make it easier for new competitors to enter our markets due to the lower up-front technology costs and easier implementation and for existing market participants to compete with us on a greater scale. Such increased competition is likely to heighten the pressure to decrease pricing, which could have a negative effect on our revenues and results of operations.
Infrastructure players and others are introducing a “contact center as a service” cloud-based solution that includes features and functionality currently supplied by us. With the strengthening of this trend, we may be faced with a new type of competition. If we are not able to create an integrated experience for our customers in the form of an integrated suite we may lose sales, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
The business model of SaaS differs from the business model for the sale of products and services, particularly in that the period for recognizing the revenue from such orders is often spread over a number of fiscal quarters rather than being tied to a single date. Therefore, a significant shift to SaaS based sales could result in a delay in revenue recognition and materially adversely affect our results of operations and our rate of growth and profitability.
The increasing prevalence of a cloud delivery model offered by us and our competitors may unfavorably affect pricing in each of our on-premise enterprise software business and our cloud business, as well as overall demand for our on-premise software product and service offerings, which could reduce our revenues and profitability.
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The sale of advanced software applications and a multi-product offering requires significant resources and may also delay our recognition of revenues.
Providing advanced software applications and a multi-product offering requires, among other things, the continuous evolution of our sales force, maintenance and support offerings, manpower, research and development, and customer installation methods, as well as our route to market. The sale of advanced software applications is also subject to prolonged processes of customization, implementation and testing. Therefore, the sale of advanced software applications may lead to a longer period between the time we "book" an order and the time we recognize the revenue from such orders. These factors could result in a delay in revenue recognition and materially adversely affect our results of operations.
A significant portion of our business relies on software applications. We cannot guarantee that our customers’ adoption of advance software applications will meet our expectation and planning. As a result, certain applications may not reach the critical mass in sales and revenues necessary to offset the high cost of developing and maintaining such advanced applications, which could negatively affect our results of operation.
We depend on a small number of significant customers.
 
While no single customer of ours accounted for more than 5%five percent of our aggregate revenues in 2012,2015, we do have a small number of significant customers in each sector of our business, each of which could be material to a particular area of our business.
We expect that sales of our products and services to relatively few significant customers could continue to account for a substantial percentage of our sales in the foreseeable future. There can be no assurance that we will be able to retain these key customers or that such customers will not cancel purchase orders, reschedule, or decrease their level of purchases. Loss, cancellation or deferral of business to such customers could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.

We face risks relating to large projects.
 
Some of the customer projects for which we offerWe may not be able to successfully execute our securitygrowth strategy.
Our strategy is to continue investing in, enhancing and securing our business and operations and growing our business, both organically and through acquisitions. Investments in, among other things, new markets, products, solutions, and related servicestechnologies, research and development, infrastructure and systems, geographic expansion, and additional qualified and experienced personnel, are growingcritical to achieving our growth strategy. However, such investments and efforts may not be successful, and, even if successful, may negatively impact our short-term profitability. Furthermore, in size. The larger and more complex such projects are, the greaterevent of an acquisition we may decide to reduce profits over the risks associated with such projects. These risksshort-term in order to achieve long-term expansion or growth, which may include our exposure to penalties and liabilities resulting from a breach of contract,involve risks.
Our success depends on our ability to fully integrateexecute our products with third party products,growth strategy effectively and a risk of failure due to a combination of various technologies and complex environments. In some of these projectsefficiently. If we are highly dependent upon prime-contractorsunable to execute our growth strategy successfully and subcontractors for various planning aspects, solution development, integration, deliveryproperly manage our investments and the successfulexpenditures, our results of operations and timely completion of such projects. Also, westock price may be held liable formaterially adversely affected. In addition, as a result of the failureexecution of our subcontractors, from whom we may have no recourse. In addition, theregrowth strategy, our short term profitability may be more fluctuations in cash collection and revenue recognition with respect to such projects.negatively impacted, including as a result of an acquisition.
 
 
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In order to successfully compete in all sectors of our business, including security projects awarded through a competitive bid, we may be required to commit to provide certain technologies and solutions which are under development or which we may have to develop, license from a third party, or acquire, specifically for that customer. This may result in technological difficulties that may prevent us from complying with our contractual obligations, exposing us to possible penalties and legal claims, and may affect the profitability of a project, which may have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We face risks relating to government and contracts with governments and governmental entities.
We sell our products and solutions to, among other customers, governments and governmental entities. Due to financial conditions, governments may significantly reduce or terminate projects, even if already budgeted, or decide to change priorities and reallocate budgets. In addition, sales to governments and governmental entities are subject to special risks, such as delays in funding, termination of contracts or sub-contracts at the convenience of the government, termination, reduction or modification of contracts or sub-contracts in the event of changes in the government’s policies or as a result of budgetary constraints, collection difficulties and increased or unexpected costs resulting in losses or reduced profits under fixed price contracts. Furthermore, some of these engagements require delivery in phases, and while each phase requires particular customer acceptance, a customer may require acceptance of the complete system with a right of return of the system, regardless of any previous partial acceptance. Failure to obtain customer acceptance for the complete system, the customer’s exercise of a right of return, or, generally, an early termination for convenience, would not entitle us to reimbursement for all of our incurred contract costs or profit for work performed. Such occurrences have happened in the past and we cannot assure you that we will not experience problemsbe able to sustain our growth in the future years. The increasing proportion of advanced software applications in our performance of such government contracts.
Operating globally exposes us to additional and unpredictable risks.
We sell our products and solutions throughoutoverall sales mix might not compensate for the world and intend to continue to increase our penetration of international markets. In 2010, approximately 98%slowing growth rates of our total sales were derived from salesrecording solutions and other more mature products. In addition, our new solutions might not achieve wide market acceptance, and therefore might fail to customers outside of Israel. In 2011support revenue growth. The failure to implement our growth strategy successfully could affect our ability to sustain growth and 2012 approximately 99% of our total sales were derived from sales to customers outside of Israel. Our future results could be materially adversely affected by a variety of factors relating to international transactions, including:

governmental controls and regulations, including import or export license requirements, trade protection measures and changes in tariffs;
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compliance with applicable laws and regulations in the various jurisdictions, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar laws and regulations in other jurisdictions;

changes in tax laws or practices;

changes in foreign currency exchange rates;

longer payment cycles in certain countries inaffect our geographic areas of operations; and

general difficulties in managing our global operations.

Changes in the political or economic environments in the countries in which we operate, particularly in emerging markets, as well as the impact of economic conditions on underlying demand for our products and services could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

As we continue to explore the expansion of our global reach, an increasing focus of our business may be in emerging markets, including South America and in Asia and the Pacific (or, APAC). In many of these emerging markets, we may be faced with risks that are more significant than if we were to do business in developed countries, including undeveloped legal systems, unstable governments and economies, and potential governmental actions affecting the flow of goods and currency. We cannot assure you that one or more of these factors will not have a material adverse effect on our international operations, business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
Our business could be materially adversely affected as a result of the risks associated with acquisitions and investments. In particular, we may not succeed in making additional acquisitions or be effective in integrating such acquisitions.
 
As part of our growth strategy, we have made a significant number of acquisitions over the past few years, including a total of nine acquisitions during the years 2010 through 2012 (see Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Recent Acquisitions” in this annual report), andreport for a description of certain of these acquisitions). We expect to continue to make acquisitions.acquisitions and investments in the future as part of our growth strategy. We frequently evaluate the tactical or strategic opportunity available related to complementary businesses, products or technologies. The process ofThere can be no assurance that we will be successful in making additional acquisitions. Even if we are successful in making additional acquisitions, integrating an acquired company’s business into our operations and/or of investing in new technologies may (1) result in unforeseen operating difficulties and large expenditures and may(2) absorb significant management attention that would otherwise be available for the ongoing development of our business, andboth of which may result in the loss of key customers and/or personnel and expose us to unanticipated liabilities.
 
In recent years, several of our competitors have also completed acquisitions of companies in our markets or in complementary markets. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to identify suitable acquisitions or investment targets or to consummate acquisitions or investments once identified on acceptable terms or at all. If we are not able to execute on our acquisition strategy, we may not be able to achieve our growth strategy, may lose market share, or may lose our leadership position in one or more of our markets.
We often compete with others to acquire companies, and such competition may result in decreased availability of, or an increase in price for, suitable acquisition candidates. We also may not be able to consummate acquisitions or investments that we have identified as crucial to the implementation of our strategy for other commercial or economic reasons. Further, we may not be able to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, including those of competition authorities and foreign investment authorities, in countries where we seek to consummate acquisitions or make investments. For those and other reasons, we may ultimately fail to consummate an acquisition, even if we announce the intended acquisition.
In the future we may require significant financing to complete an acquisition or investment, whether through bank loans, raising of debt or otherwise. We cannot assure you that such financing options will be available to us on reasonable terms, or at all. If we are not able to obtain the necessary financing, we may not be able to consummate a substantial acquisition or investment and execute our growth strategy. In addition, if we consummate one or more significant acquisitions in which the consideration consists, in whole or in part, of our ordinary shares or American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) representing our ordinary shares, our shareholders may suffer immediate dilution of their interests in us or the value of their interests in us.
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Other risks commonly encountered with acquisitions include the effect of the acquisition on our financial and strategic position, the inability to integrate successfully integrate or commercialize acquired technologies and achieve expected synergies or economies of scale on a timely basis and the potential impairment of acquired assets. Further, we may not be able to retain the key employees that may be necessary to operate the business we acquire and we may not be able to attract, in a timely attractmanner, new skilled employees and management to replace them. From time to time, we may also need to acquire complementary technologies, whether to execute our strategies or in order to comply with customer needs. There are no assurances that we will be able to acquire or successfully integrate an acquired company, business or technology, or successfully leverage such complementary technology in the market.
 
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Moreover, thereThere can be no assurance that the anticipated benefits of any acquisition or investment will be realized. Future acquisitions or investments could result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities, amortization expenses related to intangible assets and impairment of goodwill, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. In addition, we may knowingly enter into an acquisition that will have a dilutive impact on our earnings per share.
 
There can be no assurance that we will be successful in making additional acquisitions or effective in integrating such acquisitions into our existing business. We may also compete with others to acquire companies, and such competition may result in decreased availability of, or increased prices for, suitable acquisition candidates. In addition, for possible commercial and economic considerations, we may not be able to consummate acquisitions that we have identified as crucial to the implementation of our strategy. We may not be able to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, including those of competition authorities and foreign investment authorities, in countries where we seek to consummate acquisitions. For those and other reasons, we may ultimately fail to consummate an acquisition, even if we announce that we plan to acquire a company.
In addition, if we consummate one or more significant acquisitions in which the consideration consists, in whole or in part, of ordinary shares or American Depositary Shares (ADSs), representing our ordinary shares, shareholders would suffer dilution of their interests in us. We have also invested in companies which can still be considered in the start-up or development stages. These investments are inherently risky as the market for the technologies or products they have under development are typically in the early stages and may never materialize. We could lose our entire initial investment in these companies. Due to changes in the industry and market conditions, we could also be required to realign our resources and consider restructuring or other action, which could result in an impairment of goodwill.
 
We may not be able to sustain growth.
We cannot assure you that we will be able to sustain our growth in future years. The increasing proportion of advanced software applications in our overall sales mix might not compensate for the slowing growth rates of our recording solutions and other more mature products. In addition, our new solutions might not achieve wide market acceptance, and therefore might fail to support revenues growth. The failure to successfully implement our growth strategy could affect our ability to sustain growth and could materially adversely affect our results of operations.
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Our shift towards advanced software applications could adversely affect our business.
Historically we have supplied the hardware and some software for implementing multimedia recording solutions. Our shift towards providing advanced software applications and a multi-product offering has required and will continue to require substantial investment and change in our business model, including the move to a more direct sales and service model, including customer installations. This requires, among other things, the continuous evolution of our sales force, maintenance and support offerings, manpower, research and development, and customer installation methods,  as well as our route to market. Our customers’ end-users are changing and therefore we need to expand our relationships and brand recognition within our customer base. While this new business model has so far affected our business positively in terms of growth and profitability, it leads to longer sales cycles and higher customization requirements. In addition, the sale of a multi-product offering is usually subject to a prolonged process of product testing and acceptance only once all components of the product offering are proven to be working together as a complete system. The sale of advanced software applications is also subject to prolonged processes of customization, implementation and testing. Therefore, the increasing proportion of advanced software applications in our overall sales mix leads to a longer period between the time we "book" an order and the time we recognize the revenue from such orders. All of the above factors could result in a delay in revenue recognition and materially adversely affect our results of operations.

Our failure to adequately adapt to IT industry trends and customers' consolidation could negatively impact our future operating results.
Technological trends, such as the evaluation of virtualization technologies, the need for IT efficiency (converting IT costs from capital expenses to operating expenses) and the increased demand for business agility are all contributing to the move of cloud computing into the mainstream. 
If enterprise customers embrace cloud computing, it will change the way they source business solutions, preferring Hosted and cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (or SaaS). Although we are adapting and evolving our delivery options to include on-premise, Hosted, cloud-based SaaS, or blended-hybrid deployment offerings, we may not be able to timely and adequately meet customer needs, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, the business model of SaaS differs from the business model for the sale of products and services, and could, as a result, impact our revenues and cash generation. In addition, cloud computing could make it easier for new competitors (such as telecom carriers) to enter our markets due to the lower up-front technology costs. Such increased competition is likely to heighten the pressure to decrease pricing. Such increased competition and the above-mentioned change in business model may negatively impact our revenues.
Furthermore, some of our enterprise customers have increased in size, partly due to consolidation in the financial market. If our technology is not scalable enough to support these changes, it may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation.
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If the pace of spending by government and security organizations slows, our security business may be adversely affected, perhaps materially.
The market for our Security Solutions is highly dependent on the spending cycle and spending scope of federal, state, local and municipal governments and security organizations in international markets. We cannot be sure that the spending cycle will materialize as we expect and that we will be positioned to benefit from the potential opportunities.
We face foreign exchange currency risks.
We are impacted by exchange rate fluctuations. We are likely to face risks from fluctuations in the value of the NIS, EUR, GBP and other currencies compared to the dollar, the functional currency in our financial statements. A significant portion of the expenses associated with our Israeli operations, including personnel and facilities related expenses, are incurred in NIS, whereas most of our business and revenues are generated in dollars, and to a lesser extent, in GBP, EUR and other currencies. If the value of the dollar decreases against the NIS, our earnings may be negatively impacted. In addition, a significant portion of the expenses associated with our European, operations are incurred in GBP and EUR. As a result, we may experience increase in the costs of our operations, as expressed in dollars, which could adversely impact our earnings. Furthermore, if the Israeli inflation rate exceeds the rate of the NIS devaluation against foreign currencies, or otherwise increases, and we will be required to keep our expenses in line with the rate of inflation, then our NIS expenses may grow.
We monitor foreign currency exposure and may use various instruments to preserve the value of sales transactions, expenses and commitments; however, this cannot assure our full protection against risks of currency fluctuations that could affect our financial results.  For information on the market risks relating to foreign exchange, please see Item 11, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” in this annual report.
Our unevenseasonal sales patterns could significantly impact our revenues and earnings.
 
The sales cycle for our products and services is variable, typically ranging between a few weeks to several months from initial contact with the potential client to the signing of a contract.  Frequently, sales orders accumulate towards the latter part of a given quarter. In addition, our revenues are typically highest in the fourth quarter and lowest in the first quarter.  We believe this seasonality is typical for many software companies and that it may become more pronounced as the proportion of advanced software applications in our overall sales mix continues to increase.  Looking forward, given the lead-time required by our contract manufacturer, if a large portion of sales orders are received late in the quarter, we may not be able to deliver products within the quarter and thus such sales will be deferred to a future quarter.  There can be no assurance that such deferrals will result in sales in the near term, or at all.  Thus, delays in executing client orders may affect our revenue and cause our operating results to vary widely.  Additionally, as a high percentage of our expenses, particularly employee compensation and other overhead costs, are relatively fixed, a variation in the level of sales, especially at or near the end of any quarter, may have a material adverse impact on our quarterly operating results.
 
In addition, our quarterly operating results may be subject to significant fluctuations due to other factors, including the timing and size of orders and shipments to customers (including delays in execution of customer orders), variations in distribution channels, mix of products and services, new product introductions, competitive pressures and general economic conditions.  It is difficult to predict the exact mix of products for any period between hardware, software and services as well as within the product category between interaction relatedinteraction-related platforms and related applications and transactional related platforms and applications, digital video, physical security information management and communications intelligence. Because a significant portion of our overhead consists of fixed costs, our quarterly results may be adversely impacted if sales fall below management’s expectations.applications.  Further, the period of time from order to delivery of our platforms and applications is short, and therefore our backlog for such products is currently, and is expected to continue to be, small and substantially unrelated to the level of sales in subsequent periods.  As a result, our results of operations for any quarter may not necessarily be indicative of results for any future period, and may be below our forecasts.
 
 
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Our quarterly results may be volatile at times, which could cause us to miss our forecasts.
 
Historically, our revenues have reflected seasonal fluctuations related to slower spending activities in the first quarter, and the increased activity related to the year-end purchasing cycles of many users of our products.  We believe that we will continue to encounter quarter-to-quarter seasonality, especially given the increasing proportion of advanced software applications in our overall sales mix. Moreover, we typically enter into a significant number of transactions in the last week of a given quarter. As a result, transactions that do not meet all the recognition criteria of that quarter may only be recognized in the following quarter, which may have an adverse impact on the booking and revenues in the quarter in which such transactions were entered into. In addition, the timing in which transactions are entered into may shift from one quarter to another. Customers often shift their buying decision towards the end of their budgetary year, which could result in the shifting of booking and revenues from one quarter to another and in many cases to the last quarter of a calendar year, which may also have an adverse impact on the booking and revenues in the quarter during which such transactions were to be entered into.
 
We operate with certaina backlog and we face factors such as timing and volume of orders within a given period that affect our ability to fulfill these orders and to determine the amount of our revenues within the period.
 
We derive a substantial portion of our sales through indirect channels, making it more difficult for us to predict revenues because we depend partially on estimates of future sales provided by third parties.  In addition, changes in our arrangements with our network of channel partners or in the products they offer, such as the introduction of new support programs for our customers, which combines support from our channel partners with back-end support from us, could affect the timing and volume of orders.  Furthermore, our expense levels are based, in part, on our expectations as to future revenues.  If our revenue levels are below expectations, our operating results are likely to be adversely affected, since most of our expenses are not variable in the short term.
 
Our ability to forecast our operating results is also affected by the fact that pricing, margins, and other deal terms may vary substantially from transaction to transaction, especially across business lines.
We generally provide our expectations as to future revenues in the coming quarters and year. These expectations are based on management estimation and expectation, the existing backlog and an analysis of assumptions and assessments that may not materialize or end up being inaccurate. We might not meet our expectations or those of industry analysts in a particular future quarter, including as a result of the factors described above as well as other factors mentioned in Item 3, of"Key Information" in this annual report.
We depend on our ability to recruit and retain key personnel.
In order to compete, we must recruit and retain executives and other key employees. Hiring and retaining qualified executives and other key employees is critical to our business, and competition for highly qualified and experienced managers in our industry is intense. There is no guarantee that additional key management members will not leave the Company, or if they do, that we will be able to identify and hire qualified replacements, or that the transition of new personnel will not cause disruption in our business.
 
 
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In addition, due to our growth, or as a result of regular recruitment, we will be required to hire and integrate new employees. Recruiting and retaining qualified engineers and computer programmers to perform research and development and to commercialize our products, as well as qualified personnel to market and sell those products, are critical to our success.  As of December 31, 2015, approximately 25% of our employees were devoted to research and product development and approximately 21% were devoted to marketing and sales.  There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully recruit and integrate new employees.
There is intense competition to recruit highly skilled employees in the technology industry.  We have suffered from attrition in our workforce in previous years and we believe that such attrition will continue in the future. We may not be able to offer current and potential employees a compensation package that is satisfactory in order to keep them within our employment.
In certain locations in which we have development centers, the rate of attrition is high and could have a negative impact on our ability to retain our employees in such centers, timely develop our products and service our customers. In addition, the migration of development and other activities and functions to low-cost countries may result in disruption to our business due to differing levels of employee knowledge, expertise and organizational and leadership skills, greater employee attrition and increased cost of retaining our most highly-skilled employees.
An inability to attract and retain highly qualified employees may have an adverse effect on our ability to develop new products and enhancements for existing products and to successfully market such products, all of which would likely have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial position.  Our success also depends, to a significant extent, upon the continued service of a number of key management, sales, marketing and development employees, the loss of any of whom could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we lose our key suppliers, our business may suffer.
Certain components and subassemblies that are used in the manufacture of our existing products are purchased from a single or a limited number of suppliers.  In the event that any of these suppliers are unable to meet our requirements in a timely manner or that our relationship with any such supplier is terminated, we may experience an interruption in production until an alternative source of supply can be obtained.  Any disruption, or any other interruption of a supplier’s ability to provide components to us, could result in delays in making product shipments, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Further, as suppliers discontinue their products, or modify them in manners incompatible with our current use, or use manufacturing processes and tools that could not be easily migrated to other vendors, we could have significant delays in product availability, which would have a significant adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.  Although we generally maintain an inventory for some of our components and subassemblies to limit the potential for an interruption and we believe that we can obtain alternative sources of supply in the event our suppliers are unable to meet our requirements in a timely manner, we cannot assure you that our inventory and alternative sources of supply would be sufficient to avoid a material interruption or delay in production and in availability of spare parts.
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We might recognize a loss with respectrely on software from third parties.  If we lose the right to use that software, we would have to spend additional capital to redesign our financial investments.existing software to adhere to new third party providers or develop new software.
 
We invest mostintegrate and utilize various third party software products as components of our cash through a variety of financial investments.  If the obligor of anyproducts and solutions to enhance their functionality.  Our business could be disrupted if functional versions of these investments defaultssoftware products were either no longer available to us or undergoes reorganization in bankruptcy, we may lose a portion of such investment and our financial income may decrease.no longer made available to us on commercially reasonable terms.  In addition, a downturnsome of our third party vendors use proprietary technology and software code that could require significant redesign of our products in the credit markets could adversely affectcase of a change in vendor. If we lost the liquidityright to use such third party software, we would be required to spend additional capital to either redesign our software to function with alternate third party software or develop these components ourselves.  As a result, we might be forced to limit the features available in our current or future products and solutions offerings and the commercial release of our investments, or the downgrading of the credit rating of our investmentsproducts and solutions could cause us to recognize some loss.  For information on the types of our investments, see Item 11, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” in this annual report.be delayed.
 
Incorrect or improper use of our products and solutions or failure to properly provide professional services and maintenance services could result in negative publicity and legal liability.
 
Our products and solutions are complex and are deployed in a wide variety of network environments.  The proper use of our software requires training and, if our software products are not used correctly or as intended, inaccurate resultsthere may be produced.inaccurate results.  Our products may also be intentionally misused or abused by clients who use our products.  The incorrect or improper use of our products and solutions or our failure to properly provide professional services and maintenance services, including installation, training, project management, product customizations and consulting to our clients may result in losses suffered by our clients, which could result in negative publicity and product liability or other legal claims against us.
 
We rely on software from third parties.  If we lose the right to use that software, we would have to spend additional capital to redesign our existing software to adhere to new third party providersUndetected errors or develop new software.
We integrate and utilize various third party software products as components ofmalfunctions in our products to enhance their functionality.  Our business could be disrupted if functional versions of these software products were either no longer available to us or no longer made available to us on commercially reasonable terms.  In either case, we would be required to spend additional capital to either redesign our software to function with alternate third party software or develop these components ourselves.  We might as a result be forced to limit the features available in our current or future product offerings and the commercial release of our products could be delayed.
Undetected problems in our productssolutions could directly impair our financial results and we could face potential product liability claims against us.
If flaws in the design, production, assembly or testing of our products and solutions (by us or our suppliers) were to occur, we could experience a rate of failure in our products or solutions that would result in substantial repair, replacement or service costs and potential liability and damage to our reputation.  There can be no assurance that our efforts to monitor, develop, modify and implement appropriate test and manufacturing processes for our products or solutions will be sufficient to permit us to avoid a rate of failure in our products or solutions that results in substantial delays in shipment, significant repair or replacement costs or potential damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
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We may be subject to claims that our products are defective or that some function or malfunction of our products caused or contributed to property, bodily or consequential damages.  We attempt to minimize this risk by incorporating provisions into our distribution and standard sales agreements that are designed to limit our exposure to potential claims of liability.  No assurance can be given that all claims will be barred by the contractual provisions limiting liability or that the provisions will be enforceable.  We carry product liability insurance in the amount of $25,000,000 per occurrence and $25,000,000 overall per annum.  No assurance can be given that the amount of any individual claim or all claims will be covered by the insurance or that the amount of any individual claim or all claims in the aggregate will not exceed insurance policy coverage limits.  A significant liability claim against us could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial position.
Any undetected errors or malfunctions in our products could adversely affect our reputation, result in significant costs to us, impair our ability to market our products and expose us to legal liability.claims.
 
Our software products are highly complex.  Despite extensive testing by us and by our clients, we have in the past discoveredour products may include errors, failures, bugs or other weaknesses.  Such errors, failures, bugs or other weaknesses in our software applications and will likely continue to do so in the future.  Such errors, failures, bugs or other weaknesses in products released by us could result in product returns, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our products, loss of competitive position, or claims by clients or others, which would seriously harm our revenues, financial condition and results of operations.  Correcting and repairing such errors, failures or bugs could also require significant expenditures of our capital and other resources and could cause interruptions, delays or cessation of our product licensing.
 
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In addition, the identification of errors in our software applications or the detection of bugs by our clients may damage our reputation in the market as well as our relationships with existing clients, which may result in our inability to attract or retain clients.
 
Further, since our products are used for, among other things, compliance recording and operational risk management functions that are often critical to our clients and must adhere to certain rules and regulations, we are potentially subject to product liability claims.  In particular, some of our customers, including financial institutions, may suffer significant damages as a result of a failure of our solutions to perform their functions.  Although we attempt to limit any potential exposure through quality assurance programs, insurance and contractual terms, we cannot assure you that we will be able to eliminate or successfully limit our liability for any failure of our solutions.  Any product liability insurance we carry may not be sufficient to cover our losses resulting from any such product liability claims.  The successful assertion of one or more large product liability claims against us could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
 
Risks Relating to Our Financial Condition
We face foreign exchange currency risks.
Exchange rate fluctuations affect our operations. We experience risks from fluctuations in the value of the NIS, EUR, GBP and other currencies compared to the dollar, the functional currency in our financial statements. A significant portion of the expenses associated with our Israeli operations, including personnel and facilities related expenses, are incurred in NIS, whereas most of our business and revenues are generated in dollars, and to a certain extent, in GBP, EUR and other currencies. If the value of the dollar decreases against the NIS, our earnings may be negatively affected. In addition, a significant portion of the expenses associated with our European operations are incurred in GBP and EUR. As a result, we may experience an increase in the costs of our operations, as expressed in dollars, which could adversely affect our earnings.
We monitor foreign currency exposure and may use various instruments to preserve the value of sales transactions, expenses and commitments; however, this cannot assure our full protection against risks of currency fluctuations that could affect our financial results. As part of our efforts to mitigate these risks, we use foreign currency hedging mechanisms, which may be ineffective in protecting us against adverse currency fluctuations and can also limit opportunities to profit from exchange rate fluctuations that would otherwise be favorable. For information on the market risks relating to foreign exchange, please see Item 11, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” in this annual report.
Additional tax liabilities could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
As a global corporation, we are subject to income and other taxes both in Israel and various foreign jurisdictions.  Our domestic and international tax liabilities are subject to the allocation of revenues and expenses in different jurisdictions and the timing of recognizing revenues and expenses.  Additionally, the amount of income taxes paid or accrued is subject to our interpretation of applicable laws in the jurisdictions in which we do business.  From time to time, we are subject to income and other tax audits in various jurisdictions, the timing of which is unpredictable.  While we believe we comply with applicable tax laws, there can be no assurance that a governing tax authority will not have a different interpretation of the law and assess us with additional taxes.  If we are assessed additional taxes, it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
 
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In recent years we have seen changes in tax laws resulting in an increase in applicable tax rates, especially increased liabilities of corporations and limitations on the ability to benefit from strategic tax planning, with these laws particularly focused on international corporations. Such legislative changes in one or more jurisdictions in which we operate may have implications on our tax liability and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
Inadequate
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has recently introduced the base erosion and profit shifting (“BEPS”) project. The BEPS project contemplates changes to numerous international tax principles, as well as national tax incentives, and these changes, if adopted by individual countries, could adversely affect our provision for income taxes.
We might recognize a loss with respect to our financial investments.
We invest most of our cash through a variety of financial investments.  If the obligor of any of our financial investments defaults or undergoes reorganization in bankruptcy, we may lose a portion of such investment and our assets and income may decrease.  In addition, a downturn in the credit markets or the downgrading of the credit rating of our investments could result in a reduction in the market value of our holdings and reduce the liquidity of our investments, which could require us to recognize a loss and would adversely affect our assets and income.  For information on the types of our investments, see Item 11, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” in this annual report.
Risks Relating to Intellectual Property and Data Protection
We may face risks relating to inadequate intellectual property protections could prevent usprotection and liability resulting from enforcing or defending our intellectual property and we may be subject to liability in the eventinfringement by our products infringe on the proprietary rightsor solutions of third parties and we are not successful in defending such claims.party proprietary rights.
 
Our success is dependent, to a significant extent, upon our proprietary technology.  We currently hold 110135 U.S. patents and 7450 patents issued in additional countries covering substantially the same technology as the U.S. patents.  We have over 10372 patent applications pending in the United States and other countries.  We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark law, together with non-disclosure and non-competition agreements, as well as third party licenses to establish and protect the technology used in our systems.  However, we cannot assure you that such measures will be adequate to protect our proprietary technology, that competitors will not develop products with features based upon, or otherwise similar to our systems, or that third party licenses will be available to us or that we will prevail in any proceeding instituted by us in order to enjoin competitors from selling similar products.  In most of the areas in which we operate, third parties also have patents which could be found applicable to our technology and products. Such third parties may include competitors, as well as large companies, which invest millions of dollars in their patent portfolios, regardless of their actual field of business. Although we believe that our products and solutions do not infringe upon the proprietary rights of third parties, we cannot assure you that one or more third parties will not make a contrary claim or that we will be successful in defending such claim.
 
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We generally distribute our software products under software license agreements that restrict the use of our products by terms and conditions prohibiting unauthorized reproduction or transfer of the software products.  However, effective copyrights and other intellectual property rights protection may be inadequate or unavailable to us in every country in which our software products are available, and the laws of some foreign countries may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in Israel and the United States.
 
FromIn the past we received, from time to time, we receive “cease and desist” letters alleging patent infringements.  However,Although there are currently no formal infringement claims or other actions have been filed with respectpending against us, in the event that we are required to defend ourselves against any such alleged infringement, except for past claims which have since been settled or dismissed.  Defending infringement claims or other claimsactions we could involvebe subject to substantial costs and diversion of management resources.
 
In addition, to the extent we are not successful in defending such claims, we may be subject to injunctions with respect to the use or sale of certain of our products or to liabilities for damages and may be required to obtain licenses which may not be available on reasonable terms, anyterms. Any of whichthese may have a material adverse impact on our business or financial condition.
 
We face risks relating to our use of certain “open source” software tools that may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims, the assertion of which could impair our product development plans, interfere with our ability to support our clients or require us to pay licensing fees.tools.
 
Certain of our software products contain a limited amount of open source code and we may use more open source code in the future.  In addition, certain third party software that we embed in our products contains open source code. Open source code is code that is covered by a license agreement that permits the user to liberally use, copy, modify and distribute the software without cost, provided that users and modifiers abide by certain licensing requirements.  The original developers of the open source code provide no warranties on such code.
 
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As a result of our use of open source software, we could be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source code and we may incur expenses in defending claims that we did not abide by the open source code license.  In addition, third party licensors do not provide intellectual property protection with respect to the open source components of their products, and therefore we may not be indemnified by such third party licensors in the event that we or our customers are held liable in respect of the open source software contained in such third party software. If we are not successful in defending against any such claims that may arise, we may be subject to injunctions and/or monetary damages or be required to remove the open source code from our products.  Such events could disrupt our operations and the sales of our products, which would negatively impact our revenues and cash flow.
 
In addition,
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Moreover, under certain conditions, the use of open source code to create derivative code may obligate us to make the resulting derivative code available to others at no cost.  The circumstances under which our use of open source code would compel us to offer derivative code at no cost are subject to varying interpretations.  If we are required to publicly disclose the source code for such derivative products or to license our derivative products that use an open source license, our previously proprietary software products may be available to others without charge.  If this happens, our customers and our competitors may have access to our products without cost to them, which could harm our business.
 
We monitor our use of such open source code to avoid subjecting our products to conditions we do not intend.  The use of such open source code, however, may ultimately subject some of our products to unintended conditions so that we are required to take remedial action that may divert resources away from our development efforts.
 
If we losefail to prevent information security breaches, our key suppliers, our business may suffer.
Certain components and subassemblies that are used in the manufacture of our existing products are purchased from a single or a limited number of suppliers.  In the event that any of these suppliers are unable to meet our requirements in a timely manner, we may experience an interruption in production until an alternative source of supply can be obtained.  Any disruption, or any other interruption of a supplier’s ability to provide components to us, could result in delays in making product shipments, which could have a material adverse effect on our business,operations, financial condition and results of operations.  In addition, some of our major suppliers use proprietary technology and software code that could require significant redesign of our products in the case of a change in vendor.  Further, as suppliers discontinue their products, or modify them in manners incompatible with our current use, or use manufacturing processes and tools that could not be easily migrated to other vendors, we could have significant delays in product availability, which would have a significant adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.  Although we generally maintain an inventory for some of our components and subassemblies to limit the potential for an interruption and we believe that we can obtain alternative sources of supply in the event our suppliers are unable to meet our requirements in a timely manner, we cannot assure you that our inventory and alternative sources of supply would be sufficient to avoid a material interruption or delay in production and in availability of spare parts.
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If we lose our key personnel or cannot recruit additional personnel, our businessreputation may suffer.
Due to growth, or as a result of regular recruitment, we will be required to hire and integrate new employees. Recruiting and retaining qualified engineers and computer programmers to perform research and development and to commercialize our products, as well as qualified personnel to market and sell those products, are critical to our success.  As of December 31, 2012, approximately 24% of our employees were devoted to research and product development and approximately 24% were devoted to marketing and sales.  There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully recruit and integrate new employees.
There is often intense competition to recruit highly skilled employees in the technology industry.  We have suffered from attrition in our workforce in previous years and we believe that such attrition will continue in the future. We may not be able to offer current and potential employees a compensation package that is satisfactory in order to keep them within our employ.
An inability to attract and retain highly qualified employees may have an adverse effect on our ability to develop new products and enhancements for existing products and to successfully market such products, all of which would likely have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial position.  Our success also depends, to a significant extent, upon the continued service of a number of key management, sales, marketing and development employees, the loss of any of whom could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to maintain the security of our systems, our business, financial condition and operating results could be harmed.
 
The occurrence of information security breaches (or the belief that any such breachesbreach has occurred) in the operation of our business or by third parties using our products and solutions could harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Some of our customers use our products to compile and analyze highly sensitive or confidential information. We may come into contact with such information or data when we perform service or maintenance functions for our customers. While we have internal policies and procedures for employees in connection with performing these functions, the perception or fact that any of our employees has improperly handled sensitive information of a customer or a customer’s customerend user could negatively impactaffect our business.
Cyber security attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and in many cases may not be identified until a security breach actually occurs. If in handling this information, we fail to complyrecognize and deal with such security attacks and threats and if we fail to update our privacy policiesproducts and solutions and prevent such threatened attacks in real time to protect our customers’ or privacyother parties’ sensitive information, whether retained in our systems or by our customers using our products, our business and security laws, we could incur civil liability to government agencies, customers and individuals whose privacy was compromised.  If personal information is received or used from sources outside the United States, we couldreputation will be subject to civil, administrative or criminal liability under the laws of other countries.  In addition, thirdharmed.
Third parties may attempt to breach our security measures or inappropriately usetake advantage of our productssolutions, including our SaaS and hosting services, through computer viruses, electronic break-ins and other disruptions.  If successful,We may be subject to lawsuits and other liability if confidential information, including passwords, financial information, or other personal information, including information of our customers, partners and vendors, may be improperly obtained by others and we may be subject to lawsuits and other liability.  Any internal or external security breaches could harm our reputation and even the perception of security risks, whether or not valid, could inhibit market acceptance of our products.products and services.
As we increase the scale of our cloud-based offerings, we store and process more information of our customers, including personal information of end users of those customers, in the cloud. Despite our efforts to constantly improve our security controls, it is possible we may not be able to prevent the improper disclosure of such information that we or our vendors store and manage. Misuse or improper disclosure of this information could harm our reputation, lead to legal exposure to our customers, and subject us to liability, including under data protection laws. Perceptions that our products or services do not adequately protect the privacy of personal information could inhibit sales of our products or services and limit customer adoption of our cloud-based solutions.
 
 
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Risks Relating to Regulatory Environment
Our business could be materially adversely affected by changes
Changes in the legal and regulatory environment.environment could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
 
Our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected if laws, regulations or standards relating to our business and products, us or our employees (including labor laws and regulations) are newly implemented or changed.  Newly implemented laws and regulations include requirements in the United States, Europe and other territories in relation to, data privacy and protection, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, import and export, labor, tax and environmental and social issues (such as in relation to use of hazardous substances, disposal of waste and use of conflict minerals). From time to time, we may also operate pursuant to specific authorizations of, and commitments towards, U.S., Israeli or other governmental authorities and agencies. While we make every effort to comply with such requirements, we cannot assure you that we will be fully successful in our efforts, and that our business will not be harmed. Failure to comply with such laws, regulations, authorizations and commitments could results in fines, damages, civil liability and criminal sanctions against us, our officers and our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and damage to our reputation.
We believe there is a global trend toward adoption and enforcement of data privacy, information security and cyber related legislation and procedures. Regulations or interpretive positions may be enforced specifically with respect to the use of SaaS and hosting services and other outsourced services. Adoption of such legislation and regulations may require that we invest in the modification of our solutions to comply with such legislation and regulations, cause a reduction in the use of our solutions and services or subject ourselves or our customers to liability resulting from a breach of such regulations.  If we are unable to comply with these specific requirements or guidelines, or privacy and information security legislation in general, it could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Failure to comply with privacy legislation or procedures may cause us to incur civil liability to government agencies, customers, shareholders and individuals whose privacy may have been compromised.
In addition, our revenues would be harmedadversely affected if we fail to adapt our products and services to changes in rules and regulations applicable to the business of certain of our clients, such as rules and regulations regarding securities trading, broker sales compliance and anti-money laundering, lawswhich could have an impact on their need for our products and regulations.
services.  There are growing compliance and regulatory initiatives and changes for corporations and public organizations around the world that include both internal and external regulations and are driven by events and concerns such as accounting scandals, security threats and economic conditions.
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While we attempt to prepare in advance for these new initiatives and standards, we cannot assure you that we will be successful in our efforts, that such changes will not negatively affect the demand for our products and services, or that our competitors will not be more successful or prepared than us.

With respect to the telecommunications industry specifically, there may be increased regulations, including with respect to privacy and protection of personal information.  Adoption of such regulations may require that we invest in the modification of our solutions to comply with such regulations, cause Alternatively, a reduction in the useimplementation of our solutions or subject us or our customers to liability resulting fromcompliance and regulatory requirements in the industries in which we operate could result in a breach of such regulations.  The adoption of these types of regulationsdecrease in demand, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

In recent years, the European Union issued directives on the Restrictioncertain industries in which we operate, there may be regulations or guidelines for use of the Use of Certain Hazardous SubstancesSaaS and hosting services that mandate specific controls or require enterprises to obtain certain approvals prior to outsourcing certain functions. In addition, we may be limited in Electricalour ability to transfer or outsource business to certain jurisdictions, and Electronic Equipment, or “RoHS,” and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, or “WEEE.”  We are making every effortmay be limited in orderour ability to maintain compliance with these directives, without otherwise adversely affecting the quality and functionalities of our products.  The countries of the European Union, as a single market for our products, accountedundertake development activity in 2011 and 2012 for approximately 17% of our revenues.  If our products fail to comply with WEEE or RoHS directives or any other directive issued from time to time by the European Union, we could be subject to penalties and other sanctions that could have a material adverse effectcertain jurisdictions, which may impede on our results of operationsefficiency and financial condition.  In addition, similar regulations are being formulated in other parts of the world.  We may incur substantial costs in complying with other similar programs that might be enacted outside Europe in the future.
Moreover, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains provisions to improve transparency and accountability concerning the supply of certain minerals, known as “conflict” minerals, originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries. As a result, in August 2012, the SEC adopted annual disclosure and reporting requirements for those who use conflict minerals mined from the DRC and adjoining countries in their products, as well as guidelines regarding efforts to identify the sourcing of such “conflict” minerals. These new requirements will require due diligence efforts in 2013, with initial disclosure requirements beginning in May 2014. There will be costs associated with complying with these disclosure requirements, including for due diligence to determine the sources of conflict minerals used inadversely affect our products and other potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. These requirements may have the effect of reducing the pool of suppliers who can supply DRC “conflict-free” components and parts, and we may not be able to obtain DRC conflict-free products or supplies in sufficient quantities for our operations or at competitive prices. Also, we may face reputational challenges if we determine that certain of our products contain minerals not determined to be “conflict free” or if we are unable to sufficiently verify the origins for all conflict minerals used in our products.
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If we fail to meet current and new performance criteria prescribed by compliance regulators, we may suffer a loss to our business.
Our business results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected if we fail to meet current and new performance criteria prescribed by compliance regulators on our customers,  such as the recording of 100% of the calls at our contact centers.
Unpredictable events, including extreme weather events, earthquakes and tsunamis, may adversely affect our business.
The occurrence of catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and other catastrophes that adversely affect the business climate in any of our markets could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Some of our operations are located in areas that have been in the past, and may be in the future, susceptible to such occurrences.
 
If we fail to maintain effective internal controls in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,over financial reporting, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and share price.the price of our ordinary shares and ADSs.
 
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 imposes certain duties on us.  Our effortsEffective internal controls are necessary for us to comply with the requirements of Section 404, which first applied to ourprovide reliable financial reports and prepare consolidated financial statements for 2006, have resultedexternal reporting purposes in increased generalaccordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and administrative expenses and a devotionU.S. securities laws, as well as to effectively prevent material fraud. Because of management time and attention to compliance activities, and we expect these efforts to require the continued commitment of significant resources.  Ifinherent limitations, even effective internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect every misstatement. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, we may not be able to ensure that we can conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting. Furthermore, as we grow our business or acquire businesses, our internal controls may become more complex and we may require significantly more resources to ensure they remain effective. In addition, we may identify material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting.  Failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in investigation and/or sanctions by regulatory authorities, and could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results, investor confidence in our reported financial information, and the market price of our ordinary shares and ADSs.
 
Additional tax liabilities could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
As a global corporation, we are subject to income and other taxes both in Israel and various foreign jurisdictions.  Our domestic and international tax liabilities are subject to the allocation of revenues and expenses in different jurisdictions and the timing of recognizing revenues and expenses.  Additionally, the amount of income taxes paid or accrued is subject to our interpretation of applicable laws in the jurisdictions in which we do business.  From time to time, we are subject to income and other tax audits in various jurisdictions, the timings of which are unpredictable.  While we believe we comply with applicable tax laws, there can be no assurance that a governing tax authority will not have a different interpretation of the law and assess us with additional taxes.  Should we be assessed additional taxes, there could be a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
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Risks Relating to the Marketsour Presence in Which We Operate
The markets in which we operate are highly competitive and we may be unable to compete successfully.
The markets for our products, solutions and related services are, in general, highly competitive. Some of our principal competitors or potential competitors may have advantages over us, including greater resources, a broader portfolio of products, applications and services, larger patent and intellectual property portfolios and access to larger customer bases, all of which would enable them to adapt better to new or emerging technologies or customer requirements or devote more resources to the marketing and sale of their products and services. Additionally, continued price reductions by some of our competitors, particularly at times of economic difficulty, may result in our loss of sales or require that we reduce our prices in order to compete, which would adversely affect our revenues, gross margins and results of operations.
New potential entrants to our markets may lead to the widespread availability and standardization of some of the products and services, which could result in the commoditization of our products and services, reduce the demand for our products and services and drive us to lower our prices. System integrators, as well as infrastructure vendors, that have decided and/or may decide in the future to enter our market space and compete with us by offering comprehensive solutions, could result in a substantial decline in our sales. Moreover, major enterprise software vendors, such as those from the traditional enterprise business intelligence and business analytics sector, Customer Relationship Management (or CRM), or infrastructure players (mostly telephony or switch vendors), may decide to enter our market space and compete with us in this emerging opportunity, either by internal development of comprehensive solutions or through acquisition of any of our existing competitors. Such competition could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
While the market for our software applications is constantly growing, successful positioning and sales execution of our products is a critical factor in our ability to successfully compete and maintain growth. As a result, we expect to continue making significant expenditures on research and development and marketing. In addition, our software solutions may compete with software developed internally by potential clients, as well as software and other solutions offered by competitors. We cannot ensure that the market awareness or demand for our new products or applications will grow as rapidly as we expect, or that the introduction of new products or technological developments by others will not adversely impact the demand for our products.
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In addition, the transition to VoIP platforms is continuing, and may allow one or more of our competitors to take a leadership position with respect to this technology. Strategic partners may change their vendor preference as a result or may develop embedded VoIP recording as part of the VoIP switch or networking infrastructure. Successful marketing of our products and services to our customers and partners will be critical to our ability to maintain growth. We cannot assure you that our products or existing partnerships will permit us to compete successfully. The market for some of our solutions is highly fragmented and includes products offering a broad range of features and capabilities. Consolidation through mergers and acquisitions, or alliances formed, among our competitors in this market, who may have greater resources than we have, could substantially influence our competitive position.
Our competitors include a number of large, established manufacturers and distributors of similar products, as well as newly emerging competitors. Prices of most of our solutions have decreased throughout the market in recent years, primarily due to competitive pressures. We cannot assure you that the prices will not continue to decrease or that our gross profit will not decrease as a result.  In addition, the success of some of our solutions depends on our ability to develop an effective network of distributors, while facing pricing pressures and low barriers to entry. We cannot assure you that our products and services or alliances will permit us to compete successfully.
Conditions and changes in the local and global economic environments may adversely affect our business and financial results.
Adverse economic conditions in markets in which we operate can harm our business. Global financial conditions during recent years have been characterized by increased volatility and several financial institutions either went into bankruptcy or had to be rescued by governmental authorities. These economic factors have led to decreased credit availability, as well as declines in economic growth and employment levels in almost all sectors. These financial conditions may still exist in certain jurisdictions and may expand with a much broader impact. Among these uncertainties are the financial conditions of certain governments in Europe, which may have an impact on the entire Euro zone.
To the extent that our business suffers as a result of such unfavorable economic and market conditions, our operating results may be materially adversely affected. In particular, enterprises may continue to reduce spending in connection with their contact centers. Financial institutions may also continue to reduce spending in relation to trading floors and operational risk management. IT-related capital expenditures are typically cyclical, with generally higher budgets in times of improving economic conditions and lower budgets in times of economic slowdowns. In addition, enterprises’ ordering and payment patterns are influenced by market conditions and could cause fluctuations in our quarterly results. Moreover, our clients may, due to imminent regulatory or operational deadlines or objectives or for other reasons, prioritize other expenditures over the solutions that we offer.
Disruption in the credit markets and any other disruption to the global economy could, therefore, have a number of follow-on effects on our business, including a possible: (i) slow-down in our business, resulting from lower customer expenditure, inability of customers to pay for products and services, insolvency of customers or insolvency of key partners, (ii) negative impact on our liquidity, financial condition and share price, which may impact our ability to raise capital in the market, obtain financing and secure other sources of funding in the future on terms favorable to us, and (iii) decrease in asset values that are deemed to be other than temporary, which may result in impairment losses.
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We depend on the stability of the North American market.
Over half of our sales are generated from North America. In the event that there is further deterioration or a future crisis in the economic and financial stability in the United States, specifically but not limited to the financial services sector (which is our main industry vertical), it could result in reduced spending by our top tier customers or the delay or postponement of orders, all of which may have a negative impact on our sales to this region. This may materially adversely affect our results of operations and may increase the difficulty for us to accurately forecast and plan our future business.

The markets in which we operate are characterized by rapid technological changes and frequent new products and service introductions.
We operate in several markets, each characterized by rapidly changing technology, new product introductions and evolving industry standards. The introduction of products embodying new technology and the emergence of new industry standards might exert price pressures on our existing products or render them obsolete. Existing and potential competitors might introduce new and enhanced products that could adversely affect the competitive position of our products. Our most significant market is the market for Customer Interaction applications. Customer Interaction applications are utilized by entities in various sectors to capture, store, retrieve and analyze recorded data. The market for our Customer Interaction applications is, in particular, dominated by a group of highly competitive vendors that are introducing dynamic competitive offerings around evolving industry standards.
We believe that our ability to anticipate changes in technology and industry standards and to successfully develop and introduce new, enhanced and differentiated products, on a timely basis, in each of the markets in which we operate, is a critical factor in our ability to grow our business. As a result, we expect to continue to make significant expenditures on research and development, particularly with respect to new software applications, which are continuously required in all our business areas. The convergence of voice and data networks and wired and wireless communications could require substantial modification and customization of our current cross-channel products, as well as the introduction of new multi-channel products. Further, customer adoption of these new technologies may be slower than we anticipate. We cannot assure you that the market or demand for our products and solutions will be sustained or grow as rapidly as we expect, if at all, that we will successfully develop new products or introduce new applications for existing products, that such new products and applications will achieve market acceptance, or that the introduction of new products or technological developments by others will not render our products obsolete. In addition, our products must readily integrate with major third party security, telephone, front-office and back-office systems. Any changes to these third party systems could require us to redesign our products, and any such redesign might not be possible on a timely basis or achieve market acceptance. Our inability to develop products that are competitive in technology and price and responsive to customer needs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Therefore, some of the factors that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations include industry specific factors; our ability to continuously develop, introduce and deliver commercially viable products, solutions and technologies; the market’s rate of acceptance of the product solutions and technologies we offer; and our ability to keep pace with market and technology changes and to compete successfully.
Risks Relating to Israel
 
We are subject to the political, economic and security conditions in Israel.
 
Our headquarters, and primary research and development facilities, as well as the facilitiesand a substantial percentage of Flextronics Israel Ltd., our key manufacturer,manufacturing capabilities, are located in the State of Israel, and we are directly affected by the political,Israel. Political, economic and securitymilitary conditions to whichin Israel is subject.directly affect our operations. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, in 1948, a number of armed conflicts have taken place, between Israel and its Arab neighbors.  A state of hostility, varying in degree and intensity, has led to security and economic problems for Israel.  In past years there was a high level of violenceintensity. There have been ongoing hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians, including continuous rocket and missile attacks on certain areas of the country over the last couple of years, and negotiations between Israel and representatives of the Palestinian Authority in an effort to resolve the state of conflict have been sporadic and have failed to result in peace. The establishment in 2006 of a government in the Gaza territory by representatives of the Hamas militant group has created additional unrest and uncertainty in the region. In each of December 2008 and November 2012, Israel engaged in an armed conflict with Hamas, each of which involved additional missile strikes from the Gaza Strip into Israel and disrupted most day-to-day civilian activity in the proximity of the border with the Gaza Strip.years. There can be no assurance that such attacks will not hithave an impact our premises or major infrastructure and transport facilities in the country, which may have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct business.  Recent political events
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Israel also faces threats from Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, from ISIS and continuous unrestrebel forces in various countries in the Middle East, includingSyria, and from Iran. Moreover, some of Israel’s neighboring countries (including the ongoing civil war in Syria), have shaken and continue to impact the stability of those countries.  In addition, Iran has threatened to attack Israel and is known to have long range missiles, which could hit every location in Israel and is widely believed to be developing nuclear weapons.  Iran is also believed to have a strong influence among extremist groups in the region, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which could result in rocket and missile shooting towards Israel.recently undergone or are undergoing significant political changes.  Any of these situations could escalate in the future and turn violent, which could affect the Israeli economy generally and us in particular, and have a severenegative impact on our ability to operate.  In addition, acts of terrorism, armed conflicts or political instability in the region could negatively affect global and local economic conditions and harm our results of operations.  We cannot predict the effect on the region of any diplomatic initiatives or political developments involving Israel or the Palestinians or other countries in the Middle East or North Africa. Furthermore, several countries restrict doing business with Israel and Israeli companies, and additional companies may restrict doing business with Israel and Israeli companies or boycott Israel as a result of an increase in hostilities or due to disagreement with Israel’s policies and agenda.  This may also seriously harm our operating results, financial condition and the ability to expand our business.  Our products are heavily dependent upon components imported from, and most of our sales are made to, countries outside of Israel.  Accordingly, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected if trade between Israel and its present trading partners were interrupted or curtailed.
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Our results of operations may be negatively affected by the obligation of our personnel to perform military service.
 
Some of our officers and employees are obligated to perform up to 36 days of annual military reserve duty, and in the event of a military conflict, including the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, these persons could be called to active duty at any time, for extended periods of time and on very short notice.  The absence of a number of our officers and employees for significant periods could disrupt our operations and harm our business.  We cannot assess the full impact of these obligations on our workforce or business if conditions should change.
 
Service and enforcement of legal process on us and our directors and officersIt may be difficult to obtain.enforce a U.S. judgment against us and our officers and directors in Israel or the United States, or to serve process on our officers and directors.
 
Service of process upon us, our Israeli subsidiaries, our directors and officers, and the Israeli experts, if any, named in this annual report, substantially all of whom reside outside the United States, may be difficult to obtain within the United States.  Furthermore, because the majority of our assets and substantially all of our directors, officers, and such Israeli experts are located outside the United States, any judgment obtained in the United States against us or these individuals or entities may be difficult to collect within the United States.  Additionally, it may be difficult to enforce civil liabilities under U.S. federal securities law in original actions instituted in Israel.  Israeli courts may refuse to hear a claim based on a violation of U.S. securities laws because Israel is not the most appropriate forum to bring such a claim.  In addition, even if an Israeli court agrees to hear a claim, it may determine that Israeli law and not U.S. law is applicable to the claim.  If U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proved as a fact, which can be a time-consuming and costly process.  Certain matters of procedure will also be governed by Israeli law.  There is little binding case law in Israel addressing these matters.
 
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Subject to specific time limitations and legal procedures, Israeli courts may enforce a U.S. judgment in a civil matter, including a judgment based upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. securities laws, as well as a monetary or compensatory judgment in a non-civil matter, provided that the following conditions are met:
·subject to limited exceptions, the judgment is final and non-appealable;
·the judgment was given by a court competent under the laws of the state in which the court is located and is otherwise enforceable in such state; 
·the judgment was rendered by a court competent under the rules of private international law applicable in Israel; 
·the laws of the state in which the judgment was given provides for the enforcement of judgments of Israeli courts; 
·adequate service of process has been effected and the defendant has had a reasonable opportunity to present his arguments and evidence; 
·the judgment and its enforcement are not contrary to the law, public policy, security or sovereignty of the State of Israel;
·the judgment was not obtained by fraud and does not conflict with any other valid judgment in the same matter between the same parties; and
·an action between the same parties in the same matter was not pending in any Israeli court at the time the lawsuit was instituted in the U.S. court.
We currently benefit from local government programs as well as international programs and local tax benefits that may be discontinued or reduced.
 
We derive and expect to continue to derive significant benefits from various programs including Israeli tax benefits relating to our “Approved, Privileged and Preferred“Preferred Enterprise” programs and certain grants from the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, ("OCS"Economy (or “OCS”), for research and development.
 
To be eligible for tax benefits as an “Approved, Privileged, anda Preferred Enterprise, we must continue to meet certain conditions, including making certain specified investments in fixed assets.conditions.  While we believe that we meet the statutory conditions to entitle us to previously obtained Israeli tax benefits, there can be no assurance that the tax authorities in Israel will concur.  Should it be determined that our Approved, Privileged or Preferred Enterprise programs have not, or do not meet the statutory conditions, our provision for income taxes will increase materially. On December 29, 2010, the Israeli parliament approved a further amendment to the law (“Amendment”) dealing with Approved and Privileged Enterprise programs effective as of January 1, 2011.  This amendment generally abolishes the previous tax benefit routes that were afforded under the law, specifically the tax-exemption periods previously allowed, and introduces certain new tax benefits for industrial enterprises (termed “Preferred Enterprises”) meeting the criteria of the law. The Company became subject to the Amendment commencing January 1, 2012.  We do not believe that the Amendment has had or will continue to have a material effect on our provision for taxes, as long as we meet all of the criteria mentioned therein.
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Tax-exempt income generated under our Approved or Privileged Enterprise programs, will subject us to taxes upon dividend distribution (which for Privileged Enterprises includes the repurchase of our shares – See Item 16E, “Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers” in this annual report, for additional information about repurchase programs) or complete liquidation. Our current dividend distribution plans can be found in Item 8, “Financial Income” in the section entitled Dividends. We maintain our intention not to distribute any amounts of our undistributed tax exempt income as dividends as we intend to reinvest our tax-exempt income.  Accordingly, no deferred income taxes have been provided on income attributable to our Approved or Privileged Enterprise programs as the undistributed tax exempt income is essentially permanent in duration. Please see Item 10, “Additional Information  –  Taxation  Previously tax-exempted earnings - Amendment of the Investments Law – 2012” for a description of recent relief within the law governing Israeli taxes payable on undistributed previously tax-exempt income.
 
To be eligible for OCS-related grants and benefits, we must continue to meet certain conditions, including conducting the research, development, manufacturing of products developed with such OCS grants in Israel (unless a special approval has been granted for performing manufacturing activities outside Israel) and as of 2012, providing the OCS with an undertaking that the know howknow-how to be funded and any derivatives thereof is wholly owned by us, upon its creation.  Under Israeli law, products incorporating know-how developed with grants from the OCS are required to be manufactured in Israel, unless prior approval of a governmental committee is obtained.  As a condition to obtaining this approval, we may be required to pay to the OCS up to 300% of the grants we received and to repay these grants on an accelerated basis, depending on the portion of manufacturing performed outside Israel.  In addition, we are prohibited from transferring to third parties the know-how developed with these grants without the prior approval of a governmental committee and, possibly, the payment ofpaying a fee.  See Item 4, “Information on the Company—Research and Development” in this annual report, for additional information about OCS programs.
 
 From time
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Moreover, we participate in the European Community Framework Program for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration, which funds and promotes research.  Under these programs we need to time,comply with certain conditions. If we fail to comply with these conditions, the Israeli Government has discussed reducingbenefits received could be canceled and we could be required to refund any payments previously received under these programs or eliminatingpay additional amounts with respect to the availability ofgrants received under these grants, programs and benefits and there can be no assurance that the Israeli Government’s support of these grants, programs and benefits will continue.  programs.  
If grants, programs and benefits available to us or the laws, rules and regulations under which they were granted are eliminated or their scope is further reduced, or if we fail to meet the conditions of existing grants, programs or benefits and are required to refund grants or tax benefits already received (together with interest and certain inflation adjustments) or fail to meet the criteria for future “PreferredPreferred Enterprises, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected including an increase in our provision for income taxes.affected.
 
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Moreover, we participate in the European Community Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration, which funds and promotes research.  There are no royalty obligations associated with receiving such funding.  From time to time we may apply for new grants under the Framework Programme. Under these programs we need to comply with certain conditions. If we fail to comply with these conditions, the benefits received could be canceled and we could be required to refund any payments previously received under these programs or pay additional amounts with respect to the grants received under these programs.  If the European Union, or any other applicable jurisdiction, discontinues or modifies these programs and potential tax benefits, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Provisions of Israeli law may delay, prevent or otherwise impede a merger with, or an acquisition of, us,our company, which could prevent a change of control.control, even when the terms of such a transaction are favorable to us and our shareholders.
 
Israeli corporate law regulates mergers, and tender offers, requires tender offers for acquisitions of shares above specified thresholds, requires special approvals for transactions involving directors, officers or significant shareholders and regulates other matters that may be relevant to these types of transactions.
Furthermore, Israeli tax considerations may make potential transactions unappealing to us or to someour shareholders whose country of our shareholders.residence does not have a tax treaty with Israel exempting such shareholders from Israeli tax.  These and other similar provisions could delay, prevent or impede an acquisition of us.  us or our merger with another company, even if such an acquisition or merger would be beneficial to us or to our shareholders.
See Item 10, “Additional Information—Mergers and Acquisitions” in this annual report, for additional discussion about someregarding anti-takeover effects of Israeli law.
 
Risks relatedRelating to our ADSs and Ordinary Shares and ADSs
 
Our shareThe market price of each of our ADSs and our ordinary shares is volatile and may decline.

Numerous factors, some of which are beyond our control, may cause the market price of our ADSs and ordinary shares or our ADSs, each of which represents one ordinary share, to fluctuate significantly. These factors include, among other things, announcements of technological innovations, developmentthings:

·Quarterly variations in our operating results;
·Changes in expectations as to our future financial performance, including financial estimates by securities
·Perceptions of our company held by analysts and investors;
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·Additions or departures of key personnel;
·Announcements related to dividends;
·Development of or disputes concerning our intellectual property rights;
·Announcements of technological innovations;
·Customer orders or new products by us or our competitors;
·Acquisitions or investments by us or by our competitors and partners;
·Currency exchange rate fluctuations;
·Earnings releases by us, our partners or our competitors;
·General financial, economic and market conditions;
·Political changes and unrest in regions, natural catastrophes;
·Market conditions in the industry and the general state of the securities markets, with particular emphasis on the technology and Israeli sectors of the securities markets; and
·General stock market volatility.
Our ADSs and ordinary shares are traded on different markets and this may result in price variations.

Our ADSs have been listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market since 1996 and our ordinary shares have been traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, or disputes concerningthe “TASE”, since 1991. Trading in our intellectual property rights, customer orders or new products by us orsecurities on these markets takes place in different currencies (our ADSs are traded in U.S. dollars and our competitors, currency exchange rate fluctuations, earnings releases by us, our partners or our competitors, general economicordinary shares are traded in New Israeli Shekels), and market conditions, political changesat different times (resulting from different time zones, different trading days and unrest in regions, natural catastrophes, market conditionsdifferent public holidays in the industryUnited States and Israel). As a result the general statetrading prices of our securities on these two markets may differ due to these factors. In addition, any decrease in the price of our securities on one of these markets with particular emphasiscould cause a decrease in the trading price of our securities on the technology and Israeli sectorsother market.

Substantial future sales or the perception of the securities markets.
Future sales of our ADSs may impactor ordinary shares could cause the market price of our ADSs.ADSs or ordinary shares to decline.

If we or our shareholders sellSales of substantial amounts of our ADSs or ordinary shares in the public market, or the marketperception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the price of our ADSs and ordinary shares and could decline.  Theseimpair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional shares. Such sales may also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate.  Following an acquisition,at a desirable price.

Holders of our ADSs held by new holders may become freely tradable.are not treated as shareholders of our company.

Holders of our ADSs are not treated as shareholders of our company unless they withdraw the ordinary shares underlying the ADSs from the depositary, which holds the ordinary shares underlying the ADSs. Holders of ADSs therefore do not have any rights as shareholders of our company, other than the rights that they have pursuant to the deposit agreement with the depositary.

 
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Item 4.4.            Information on the Company.
 
History and Development of the Company Background
 
OurNICE was founded on September 28, 1986, as NICE Neptun Intelligent Computer Engineering Ltd., and on October 14, 1991 was renamed NICE-Systems Ltd, which is our legal and commercial namename. NICE is NICE-Systems Ltd.  We are a company limited by shares organized under the laws of the State of Israel.  We were originally incorporated as NICE Neptun Intelligent Computer Engineering Ltd. on September 28, 1986 and were renamed NICE-Systems Ltd. on October 14, 1991.  Our principal executive officesheadquarters are located at 2213 Zarchin Street, P.O. Box 690, Ra’anana 43107,4310602, Israel and the telephone number at that location is +972-9-775-3030.  Our agent for service in(Tel. +972-9-775-3151). In the United States, is our subsidiary, NiceNICE Systems Inc., is located at 461 From Road, Paramus, New Jersey 07652.
 
For a summaryIn the last three fiscal years, our principal capital expenditures were the acquisition of other businesses, repurchases of our recentADRs and distributions of dividends.  For information regarding our acquisitions and ordinary share repurchases, please see Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Recent Acquisitions”Acquisitions,” and “Liquidity and Capital Resources,” in this annual report.  For additional information regarding our ordinary share repurchases, please also see Item 16E, “Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers,” in this annual report.
For a breakdown of total revenues by products and services and by geographic markets for each of the last three years, please see Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects – Results of Operation,” in this annual report.
About NICE
NICE is a leading global enterprise software provider that enables organizations to improve customer experience, drive business performance, ensure compliance and fight financial crime.
 
Our mission is to provide organizations with the confidence in making the right business decisions based on accurate, relevant and insightful information.
We help companies understand their customers and predict their needs, optimize their workforce to drive greater efficiency, and identify suspicious behaviour to prevent financial crime.
We do this by capturing customer interactions and transactions across multiple channels and sources. We then apply best-in-class analytics to this data to provide real-time insight and uncover intent. Our solutions allow organizations to operationalize this insight and embed it within their workflows and daily business processes.
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Our advanced technologies and core competencies around data capture and the application of advanced analytics in real-time were developed organically and through multiple acquisitions.
We rely on several key assets to drive our growth:

·      Our loyal customer base. Today, more than 20,000 organizations in over 150 countries, including 80 of the Fortune 100 companies, are using NICE solutions.
·      Our market leadership makes us a well-recognized brand, and creates top-of-mind awareness for our solutions in our areas of operation.
·      Our products and market leading data capture and analytics technologies, which are protected by a broad array of patents.
·      Our ability to quickly drive mainstream adoption for innovative solutions and new technologies, which we introduce to the market through our direct sales force and distribution network.
·      Our skilled employees and domain expertise in our core markets allows us to bring our customers the right solutions to address key business challenges and build strong customer partnerships.
·      Our services and customer support, which enable our customers to quickly enjoy the benefits of our solutions, with multiple deployment models and support for full value realization.
We have established a leadership position in many of our areas of operation through offering comprehensive and innovative enterprise-grade solutions and technologies. Our customers, across all verticals, including banking, telecommunications, healthcare, insurance, retail, travel, public safety and more, are benefiting from the tangible and practical business value that our solutions provide.
Business Overview

We are a leading provider of software solutions that enable organizations to take the next-best-action
NICE operates and is an industry leader in order to improve customer experience and business results, ensure compliance, fight financial crime, and safeguard people and assets.

Consumers transact and interact with and about organizations through various measures, including, among others,   by phone (through both landline and mobile phones), face to face in the branch or store, and through the internet - primarily through social media and instant messaging, as well as other mobile applications. Through these many channels and touchpoints, consumers are generating mass amounts of data. Organizations are faced with the task of having to analyze and understand all this data in real time, so that they can take the right action and make an immediate and positive impact.

Our end-to-end solutions enable organizations to capture either directly or indirectly, analyze, and operationalize, both off-line and in real time, mass quantities of structured and unstructured data (Big Data) from multiple customer interaction channels, including phone calls, web activity mobile apps, emails, chat, social media, video, radio transmission, physical sensors, and transactions.

We operate in three business areas. Ourtwo domains: Customer Interactions business serves customer-centric organizations in Business-to-Consumer enterprises, such as in the financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare industries, and others. Our Financial Crime & Compliance business serves financial institutions and regulatory agencies. Our Security, Safety & Operations business addresses the needs of security sensitive organizations, such as banks, airports, mass transit, utilities,Compliance. NICE’s long term strategy is to strengthen its leadership position in these two market segments and public safety agencies.

In each of our businesses, our solutions enable our customers to best prepare before, act during, and continuously improve interactions, transactions, and events. As a result, our solutions deliver substantial impact on revenue growth, operational efficiency, customer experience, compliance, and ensuring the safety and security of people and assets.further develop its position in adjacent markets.
 
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We are offering our solutions primarilyDuring 2015, NICE achieved significant milestones in an on-premise business model. To address growing market demandexecuting its long term strategy, including the divestiture of its Physical Security and customer need forCyber and Intelligence businesses. This allows NICE to place greater operational flexibility with lower upfront costs and faster implementations, we also offer many of our solutions as Hosted or as Software as a Service (SaaS). We intend to continue to expand our offering as Hosted or in a SaaS model.

For a breakdown of total revenues by products and services and by geographic markets, for each of the last three years, please see Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects – Results of Operation.”

Industry Trends
There are four major trends that we address with our solutions: increasingly demanding compliance requirements, organizations turning to advanced software to help improve revenues and efficiency, increased focus on, improving customer experience, and a growing need to safeguard people and assets.
I. An Increasingly Demanding Compliance Environment
Organizations today have to deal with more regulations than ever before, more stringent enforcementincrease its leadership position in, place, and the need to ensure compliance requirements for advanced technological solutions. This can be seen across our different markets: in customer interactions, financial transactions, and security operations.
·In the contact center the need to record and analyze customer interactions is constantly growing as compliance and regulatory pressures are increasing.
·Global financial institutions need to monitor transactions in order to ensure compliance due in part to the significant increase in enforcement by regulators, particularly across Europe and the United States, as is evidenced by substantial fines that have recently been levied.
·We believe that security-conscious organizations are expected to continue to adopt solutions in order to meet regulations regarding increased physical security and reliability, such as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC-CIP).
II. Growing Need to Drive Revenues and Efficiency with Advanced Software
This trend can be observed across our different business areas.

·Contact centers are seeking software solutions powered by advanced analytics to help them identify the motivations behind customer behaviors and thus improve service and sales.
·In contact centers we also see voice biometrics being utilized for caller authentication to shorten call handle time and improved efficiency.
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·In security we see organizations looking to video analytics in highly crowded areas to minimize queues and crowd bottlenecks.
·After investing in creating a more efficient contact center, organizations are looking to benefit from the same type of software solutions to make other areas of their business more efficient, including the back office, retail stores, and branches.
·Organizations are looking to benefit from investments made in systems, such as video analytics for security and safety to also address operations, improve service-levels, and maximization of business continuity.
III. Increased Focus on Improving Customer Experience
This is another trend we see across our diverse business areas, as follows:
·The nature of customer loyalty is evolving. Consumers today are more prone to switch their service provider or to start doing business with a competing service provider in parallel. Consumers are looking to have a consistent level of service excellence regardless of the communication channel, e.g., smart phones, web, chat, and social media.  Thus, we believe that organizations are seeking to better understand and manage the customer experience across these many channels.
·We also believe that the implementation of software solutions to combat fraud in the area of financial transactions is being driven by the need to protect the consumer and thus improve customer experience.
·In addition, security solutions that are being deployed for security and security operations also carry experience benefits with capabilities for crowd control.

IV. Growing Need to Safeguard People and Assets
·
Increased urbanization in both developed and developing countries results in an increased need for ensuring safety and security, which we believe is driving large-scale safe cityits core markets. security projects. These large-scale projects include installation and implementation of wide-scale security systems, which better synchronize and correlate multimedia data sources.
·Furthermore, we believe that advanced security solutions are being sought to address the need for (i) heightened national security around the world, (ii) corporations to protect their IT networks, personnel, and corporate facilities, and (iii) governments and companies to prevent and/or combat cyber-attacks.
·The number and variety of physical security sensors is growing substantially, with public and private organizations deploying security systems, such as surveillance cameras and access control and intrusion detection sensors.  We believe that organizations, municipalities and governmental entities are seeking to eliminate the number of information silos created by deployment of redundant security systems so they can take the right actions, share information in real time, and successfully mitigate events.
 
 
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Customer Interactions
Organizations that serve a large number of consumers are challenged to provide high quality service that is responsive to their customers’ ever changing needs and to differentiate themselves through efficient and effective customer service. In addition they have to find ways to leverage customer interactions and generate up-sell opportunities.  These organizations need to accomplish these objectives while containing their operational costs and adhering to regulations. NICE Customer Interactions solutions help organizations address these challenges.
NICE is a global leader in the Customer Interactions domain. Our portfolio of solutions serves thousands of organizations worldwide, providing cross-channel data-driven insights that empower businesses to deliver consistent and personalized experience across the customer journey. Additionally, our solutions optimize business performance and ensure compliance.
Our solutions serve contact centers, back office operations and retail branches, spanning multiple industries, including: communications, banking, insurance, healthcare, Business Processes Outsourcing (or BPO), government, utilities, travel, and entertainment.
Our customers use our solutions to know their customers better, understand their needs in real time and drive the right “best next action.” In addition, they can ensure that their employees are engaged, properly trained and in a position to provide the highest quality of service.
With an engaged workforce and understanding of the intent and journey of its consumers, NICE allows its customers to provide consistent and personalized experience that customers expect, as well as improve operational efficiency, ensure regulatory compliance and increase revenues.
Financial Crime and Compliance
Financial institutions are regularly challenged with fraud prevention, anti-money laundering, and compliance adherence. They have a common need for risk management solutions that will help them keep pace with the changing threat landscape and adapt to evolving business and regulatory requirements.
NICE provides those organizations with proven capabilities for real-time and cross-channel fraud prevention, anti-money laundering, brokerage compliance and enterprise-wide case management. With this complete set of best-in-class solutions, financial institutions can tighten risk controls, lower operational and IT costs, enhance investigation efficiency, and improve customer experience.
NICE serves hundreds of organizations, including some of the world’s top financial institutions and regulatory authorities. Our solutions monitor millions of financial transactions daily, enabling organizations to mitigate the risk of financial crime, improve compliance and reduce operational costs.
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Industry Trends
Following are the key trends that are driving demand for our solutions:
Increased Focus on Improving Customer Experience
·
Consumers demand better experiences across channels. Consumer behavior is significantly changing in terms of expectations and the way they interact with service providers. Consumers demand immediate, consistent and personalized experiences across all communication channels, including mobile apps, web, chat and over the phone. They easily and often traverse these channels depending on their task, location, time-of-day or even progress within a certain process. They view all of these channels as one, and organizations are expected to quickly adapt to the large verity of channels as well to view them in the same way their consumers do, offering a consistent experience across all channels.
·
Proliferation of analytics as a main driver for successful customer engagement. Organizations are increasingly implementing a customer-centric strategy to get better visibility to their customers’ multi-channel journey with them. Organizations are now moving from simple Business Intelligence tools to focused decisioning and real-time action solutions – being proactive instead of reactive and predictive/prescriptive instead of descriptive. Front, as well as back, office functions seek to employ analytics to better optimize their operations. Organizations today are exploring cognitive engagement solutions, like interactive computing, predictive analytics and machine learning.
·
Regulatory compliance is becoming an increasing consideration for customer service organizations. In many industries, including financial services, healthcare and utilities regulators are focusing attention on service and sales practices as well as handling customer complaints. Regulatory bodies such as the CFPB in the U.S. are directly imposing standards of care. Organizations are responding by deploying analytics software to monitor compliance adherence and alert to regulation violations in order to proactively avoid potential fines and penalties.
·
Organizations look at Big Data technologies to analyze a wealth of consumer information, derive new business insight and act in real time. Structured and unstructured data, from millions of multi-channel interactions, open up an opportunity to gain deep insight regarding customer and employee intentions and behavioral patterns. Organizations keep looking for ways to elevate their usage of Big Data and advance from glimpses of interactions and transactions to a meaningful understanding of behaviors and to identify a customer’s underlying concerns. Furthermore, they strive to ensure compliance in real time, which is then translated into action and providing the best solution and accurate response.
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·
Preventing Financial Crime and Ensuring Compliance Stringent and evolving regulatory environment. Financial services regulators are calling for a fundamental change in the underlying culture of the entities that they regulate in order to send a strong message from the executive suite on down that protecting an institution, its customers, and its assets is of primary importance. Failings in corporate attitudes towards compliance are likely to continue to be a topic of great concern to financial services organizations. The need to ensure compliance with requirements for advanced technological solutions can be seen across customer interactions and financial services markets. Financial services organizations are increasingly being asked to document and prove to their regulators that the controls that are in place are working and effective. This is evidenced by substantial fines that have recently been levied against such institutions. Furthermore, the regulatory requirements are constantly evolving, requiring financial institutions to respond with solutions that are up to date with the latest modifications.
·
An Unpredictable Threat Landscape Environment. The growing number of data breaches and cyber security incidents puts increasing amounts of personally identifiable information and sensitive data at risk of exposure. This information can be used to open accounts that can be used for laundering money, terrorist financing, account fraud, market manipulation, social engineering, and more. Such potential risks threaten an organization’s reputation, as well as create large financial exposures due to both losses as well as fines. In addition, the large volumes of data having to do with both internal and external threats place an enormous operational burden on organizations dealing with threats. Having the ability to aggregate, analyze, compare, and decision those incidents and cases increasingly points to the need for a robust and comprehensive way in which cases are handled by large financial services organizations.
·
An Integrated Risk Management Platform. The growing complexity of risks and increasing magnitude of exposure, as well as the sophistication of financial criminals creates a growing need for single view of all risk, which allows organizations to aggregate the different detection signals and analyze them in light of the magnitude of exposure as well as the risk level. Financial institutions are seeking a single dashboard that can aggregate all such information from across the organization and present it to both operational people as well as to executives.
Technology Trends

We also address theThe following technology trends: growing massestrends define the roadmap for our solutions and are essential to meet the future needs and requirements of structured and unstructured data that are being captured by organizations, broader adoption of advanced analytics technologies, growing challenges for financial firms as well as governments as a result of the proliferation of IP-based communications including VoIP, as well as mobile devices and the use of social networks.our customers:

 ·We believe that organizations
Big Data technologies to capture and manage structured and unstructured data - Organizations generate and manage an ever-increasing amount of structured and unstructured data through a myriad of daily interactions and transactions. Consequently they are seekingfaced with a growing, unmet need to collect,more accurately analyze and respondextract meaningful information from this data, in real time across multiple channels and sources and for a wide variety of business needs. As a result, organizations look for solutions to the enormous amount of Big Data generated by customer interactionscapture and transactionsmanage structured and by security sensors.unstructured data in an integrated manner, derive meaningful insights and act proactively and preemptively.
·We believe that there is a growing adoption of advanced analytics technologies for enabling organizations to (i) mine insights from customer phone interactions, email messages, and online chat sessions, (ii) improve customer satisfaction, (iii) increase operational efficiency, and (iv) optimize marketing and sales effectiveness.
·We see the adoption of video analytics to improve the effectiveness of an organization’s surveillance system. The organization can send real-time alerts to security personnel regarding intrusion management, crowd management, and situation indication.
·We also believe that the need for transactional analytics is growing in order to prevent internal and external fraud, and to mitigate other forms of financial risk.
·We believe that governments are realizing that existing intelligence capabilities are insufficient in handling challenges such as asymmetric and cyber warfare, IP-based communication and social networks proliferation, and that they are therefore more open to external solutions, which they expect to deliver not only monitoring capabilities, but also analytics-driven insights.
·Trading compliance for mobile transactions represents another trend, with mobile recording already underway in Europe and now expanding to the United States.
·Additionally, we also believe that continued pressures for improved operational efficiency is driving companies to adopt cloud based solutions due to the reduced TCO (total cost of ownership).
·We believe that the increasing connectedness of communications and production lines, driven by advanced technology, is impacting the way companies conduct business, interact with their customers, and their needs and strategies in mitigating global risks.

Our Strategy
Our strategy is to be a global, multi-business leader  in enabling large, industry-leading organizations to operationalize Big Data and take the next-best-action when interacting with people, by leveraging our unique technologies for real-time and offline analytics of structured and unstructured data.

The key elements of our corporate strategy include: continuing to provide solutions that are leaders in their respective markets; maximizing the synergies across our businesses; offering our solutions in an enterprise software model; expanding our business offering with SaaS and hosting; continuing to provide innovative cross-channel analytics solutions; continuing to invest in bringing more comprehensive solutions to our existing customers; and continuing to invest in internal innovation and development while pursuing acquisitions.
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Maintaining leadership in the markets in which we operate.
We intend to maintain our market-leading position by continuing to offer a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that is differentiated by its ability to drive decisions and actions in addressing multiple business needs. Our extensive domain expertise and ability to deliver solutions that address the needs of large organizations will also continue to drive our leading position.
We also intend to continue developing our direct contact with customers, nurturing our partner ecosystem, and targeting growth in each of the business areas in which we operate. We also intend to lead the new product categories we enter as we introduce new solutions and enter new market segments.
Enterprise Software Business Model
Our strategy is to offer our solutions in alignment with an enterprise software business model that accounts for both on-premise and cloud-based models. Currently, the largest portion of our license sales comes from a perpetual license model, under which customers purchase a license to use our software indefinitely, alongside a purchase of related professional services and annual software maintenance. We also offer some of our solutions under a term license model, under which customers purchase a license to use our software for a fixed period of time. In addition, as an alternative to on-premise deployments, we also offer many of our solutions in cloud-based models - either as a hosted license or in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, enabling our customers with a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). We intend to continue offering our solutions in a variety of models, which enables us to be flexible in effectively addressing our customers needs. This in turn will enable us to focus on growth and improving profitability.

In addition, in our on-premise business, maintenance revenues growth (which is primarily a result of very high renewal rates of maintenance contracts and the growth of our installation base) is also driving an increase in our recurring revenues. An increase in the proportion of recurring revenues out of our overall revenues mix is expected to provide more predictable revenue streams.

Expand our business offering with SaaS and Hosting.
We have expanded the delivery model of our products to provide SaaS and Hosting offerings. Some customers prefer these models as they lower the costs of deployment and allow them to scale the solutions faster while reducing capital investments. We see a growing demand for these models and they could enhance our penetration into smaller sized customers as well as enable our existing customers to broaden their use of our products. We intend to continue to broaden our offering delivered through these models.
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Commitment to providing innovative, real-time analytics, and cross-channel solutions, that have significant impact on our customers businesses.
Companies are faced with masses of data of which they need to make sense in order to make a real-time impact and own the decisive moments of customer interactions.
With our solutions, we intend to continue to address the growing, unmet need to more accurately analyze and extract meaningful information from structured and unstructured data in real time, and to do so from multiple channels in a wide variety of businesses and operational environments.  We aim to enable our customers to embed both real-time and offline analytics into their business processes in order to positively impact processes as they occur, which in turn has a positive impact on our customers’ businesses.
We will continue to enhance our abilities around operationalizing Big Data with analytics, decisioning, and guidance. We also intend to continue enabling companies to address the full lifecycle of interactions, transactions, events i.e. before, during, and after they occur.
Continue investing and bringing more comprehensive solutions to our existing customers.
We believe there are abundant opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell within our existing customer base by increasing our customers’ use of the full breadth of our solutions and by migrating them to our next-generation portfolio.
Continue to develop our solution offering through internal innovation and development while pursuing acquisitions.
We are committed to internal development and have a history of successful organic growth in all our business areas. We have also complemented this growth with successful acquisitions. We intend to continue augmenting our organic growth with additional acquisitions that broaden our product and technology portfolio, expand our presence in selected vertical markets and geographic areas, broaden our customer base, and increase our distribution channels and vertical market access.
Maximize the synergetic potential encompassing our three business areas.
We operate in three business areas, in each of which we offer leading solutions to the relevant markets. While serving a diverse set of industries, to each of which we bring deep domain expertise, most of our solutions are based on the same methodology of capturing and analyzing massive amounts of structured and unstructured data, and driving automatic decisioning and guidance in real time. An important pillar of our strategy is to maximize the synergies and cooperation between our business areas.
There are many synergies across our organization, including technology, infrastructure, services, and domain expertise, which we leverage to offer new and unique solutions across our customer base.
 
 
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Examples of these solutions include:

 
NICE Proactive Compliance for Consumer Protection, which was recently launched, brings together our speech analytics technology, extensive expertise in trading floor compliance, and total contact center recording with our years of experience in institutional, retail and employee trade surveillance and compliance.

·
NICE Contact Center Fraud PreventionReal-time analytics capabilities, which was recently launched, brings together NICE Actimize’s expertise in fraud detection with our expertise in the contact center interactions – Deriving real-time insights over growing amounts of data is becoming essential for multiple business cases. Real-time analytics capabilities are adopted to operationalize Big Data and recording.realize business value. These capabilities include:
 
 o
NICE Actimize Enterprise Risk Case Manager Customer interaction analyticsis leveraged for mining insights from multiple channels (such as phone, email, chat, social media, etc.), transactional data (usage, action taken in the company’saccount, etc.), and personal information (demographics, segmentations, etc.).
o
Transactional analytics for preventing internal and external fraud, and for mitigating other forms of financial crime, risk, and compliance segment of the business, as well as in support of  our security and customer interactions  businesses.risk.
 
 ·
Public Safety Emergency Communications solutions have long leveraged ourCloud technologies and expertiseSaaS business models – Cloud delivery is becoming increasingly popular in contact center interaction recordingproviding flexible and voice analytics.cost-effective deployment models for enterprise systems. These include SaaS, Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Contact Center as a Service, and other cloud-based solutions. There are several market needs driving this trend, such as the pressure to continually improve operational efficiency and innovate, a reduced total cost of ownership (“TCO”), and the ease of implementation.
 
 ·
Shared hosting operationsAutomation and Machine Learning - Smart and self-learning machines allow for allthe automated enhancement of our cloud-based solutions enable efficient resource utilizationreal-time guidance and lowered capital expenditure.analytics-based insights (including speech and text analytics), behavior analytics and technique focused on profiling, trending and pattern detection.
 
Shared infrastructures, best practices, processes, joint corporate support leveraging global presence.
Strategy
 
Introducing joint offerings, combining go-to-market effortsMarket leadership and leveragingexpansion
We intend to increase our market-leading position by continuing to offer and expand our comprehensive portfolio of solutions, differentiated by the ability to use analytics to drive decisions and actions addressing multiple business needs. Our brand, global reach, financial resources, extensive domain expertise technological know-how, capabilities and developments may enable usability to growdeliver solutions for large organizations will also contribute to increasing our business through additional cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.market-leading position.
 
The synergetic approach reflects a core NICE value for nurturing a winning culture that is focused on delivering high-quality customer service.expansion of our delivery model to Cloud and SaaS increases the flexibility we provide to existing customers as well as our attractiveness to new customers. We intend to continue to evolve our delivery model. We also intend to use the Cloud and SaaS models to facilitate adoption of our more sophisticated solutions to the mid-market.
 
 
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Our Business StrategiesWe intend to drive additional growth by continuing to develop our direct relationship with customers, nurturing our partner ecosystem, and Solutions
I.           Customer Interactions Business
Introductioncreating growth in each of our business areas. Additionally, we intend to the Customer Interactions Solutions
The NICE Customer Interactionslead in new product categories, as we introduce novel solutions enable businesses to improve operational efficiency, increase revenues, enhance the customer experience, and ensure compliance. They capture customer interactions, transactions, and feedback; analyze them in real time and offline to reveal business insights; uncover the context of each customer interaction, across channels and time, mapping the customer journey; and apply these insights in real time and offline.enter additional market segments.
 
Our products and technologies can provide value in markets that are adjacent to our existing markets, such as back-office operations, alternative payment service providers, and others. We plan to expand our market reach into such adjacencies, by adapting our products and leveraging technology as well as our customer relationships and brand to expand our addressable market.
Customer Interactions Business Strategy
 
Our strategy is to maintainextend our leadershipmarket leading position in thisthe customer service and experience space, while expandingcontinuing to expand beyond the contact center to the management ofdifferent customer experience.
Our broad portfolio ofexperience channels and touch points. We will do that by providing solutions supports this strategy on three levels, providing benefits beyond the agent, beyond the contact center, and beyond customer service, namely:that focus on:
 
From·Covering all customer touch points by providing solutions that focus on agent performance optimization, to providingimplemented in the contact center, as well as solutions that deliverbenefit back office operations, retail branches, and self-service channels
·Understanding the voice of the customer, across all touch points, and taking action to address the needs of Customer Experience Officers and stakeholders in the marketing department.
·Driving customer experience in each channel, and across channels.
·Analyzing individual customer journeys and operationalizing the insights extracted to create business value in real-time for customer experience and marketing stakeholders.
·Optimizing employee engagement and performance, coupled with a better understanding of customer needs and the abilityhow to meet them;address them.
 
From providing solutions that are implemented in the contact center, to solutions that benefit retail branches, back office operations, mobile interactions, and online channels; and
Financial Crime and Compliance Business Strategy
We plan to continue extending our market leading position by focusing on:
 
From providing·Delivering integrated financial crime and compliance solutions that focus on improving customer service,help financial services organizations to solutions that also benefit other business needs, such as improving salesidentify issues faster and customer retention.earlier.
·Providing solutions to many branches of the global financial services industry while constantly attempting to engage new customers, both in tier 1 financial services organizations and in smaller financial services organizations.
Our Solutions Core Capabilities
·Continuing to cross-sell and up-sell into our existing customer base around the world. Many of our customers, for instance, buy our solutions as part of their Financial Intelligence Unit strategy.
Cross-channel Interaction Management: Enables organizations to capture, either directly or indirectly, unstructured and structured interaction and transaction data from multiple customer interaction channels, including phone calls, chat, emails, customer feedback, web sessions, and social media postings. The NICE solution aggregates this data along with data from third party systems such as CRM and ERP for correlation and analysis.
Cross-channel Analytics: Analyzing customer interactions in real time and offline, across multiple communication channels.  It provides automated business insight and root-cause analysis based on speech analytics, text (chat, e-mail, and social media) analytics, desktop analytics, feedback analytics, and call flow analytics, and integrates and correlates data from external business systems such as CRM. It also provides insight to the context of different interactions, compiling a picture of what the customer did on other channels and at different times, to reveal the full customer journey, as well as hot topics that are revealed from analyzing mass amounts of interactions.
·Continuing to focus on tier-1 clients, providing them with solutions to meet their needs via both cloud and on-premise models.
 
 
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Real-time Decisioning and Guidance: A real-time decisioning engine which draws on business rules and predictive analytics models to process insights derived from analytics during the interaction in real time. It monitors agents’ desktop activity across a large number of desktop applications and automates complex processes. This combination enables organizations to make the right decision for individual interactions and across mass amounts of interactions and drive the best action in real time.
The combination of the above capabilities also enables organizations to operationalize customer insights into processes across service, sales, and marketing.
Addressing Strategic Business & Operational Needs
The NICE Customer Interactions portfolio addresses the following needs: ensuring compliance and mitigating risk, improving operational efficiency, enhancing customer experience, and increasing sales and retention.
The solution suites include:
·Leverage cloud and SaaS to expand the reach of our high-end solutions to tier-2 customers, which provide us an opportunity to significantly enhance our addressable market.
 1.·
Increasingly selling holistic solutions, combining Financial Crime and Compliance and Risk, comprised of:
offerings with Customer Interactions offerings.
·Offering our solutions to verticals outside of the traditional financial services, such as energy, insurance, healthcare, industry regulators, government agencies, and alternative payments providers.
Compliance Recording proactively captures
Continuing to deliver more comprehensive solutions to our existing customers
One of our main assets is our customer base. We believe there are opportunities to up-sell and retains allcross-sell within our existing customer interactionsbase. This includes increasing our customers’ exposure to the full breadth of our solutions, migrating them to our next-generation portfolio, and providing them the benefits of our new and expanded offerings.
Continuing organic innovation and development, while also pursuing acquisitions
We intend to continue investing in innovation and development and plan to continue augmenting our organic growth with additional acquisitions that broaden our product and technology portfolio, expand our presence in selected vertical markets and geographic areas, broaden our customer base, and increase our distribution channels.
Maximizing the synergetic potential across multiple touch pointssome of our businesses
While we bring deep domain expertise to help ensure compliance with government regulations, such as Dodd-Frank, SEC 17a-4, HIPAA, SOX, PCI-DSS, FSAa diverse set of industries, most of our solutions are based on the same methodology of capturing and MIPPA,analyzing massive amounts of structured and internal policies,unstructured data, and driving automatic decisioning and guidance in real time. Thus, an important pillar of our corporate strategy is to maximize the synergies and cooperation between our business areas, where possible.
Introducing joint offerings and combining go-to-market efforts, as well as resolve disputes, perform investigations,leveraging extensive complementary domain expertise, technological know-how, capabilities and verify sales.development, are expected to enable us to grow our business through additional cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. Moreover, this synergetic approach reflects a core NICE value of nurturing a corporate culture focused on delivering encompassing and high-quality customer service.
 
Proactive Compliance for Consumer Protection is an end-to-end solution that we recently introduced, and which includes speechProviding innovative, real-time analytics and real-time agent guidance. It monitors calls and directs agents to communicate the right information to customers. It also provides call capture, agent desktop recording, and automated monitoring and reporting.cross-channel solutions with significant impact for our customers’ businesses
 
Contact Center Fraud Prevention also recently introduced, leverages NICEs voice biometricsOur solutions address the growing, unmet need to more accurately analyze and real-time decisioningextract meaningful information from structured and guidance engines, along with Interaction Analytics and the NICE Actimize Risk Case Manager, to identify fraudsters by their voice patterns, uncover social engineering tactics, assess call risk, guide agents to appropriately handle high-risk interactions, and effectively open and manage an investigation ticket.
Real-time Authentication, a recently introduced solution, leverages a NICE patent-pending innovation that utilizes voice biometrics for authenticating customersunstructured data in real time with no customer effort. It also helps agents expedite timetime; and to servicedo so across multiple channels, in a wide variety of businesses and significantly reduces fraud risk for all customers.operational environments. We enable our customers to embed both real-time and offline analytics into their business processes, positively impacting these processes as they occur, which in turn has a positive impact on their businesses.
 
 
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We plan to continue to enhance our capabilities in operationalizing Big Data with analytics, behavior prediction, decisioning and guidance. We also plan to continue enabling companies to address the full lifecycle of interactions, transactions and events (i.e., before, during, and after they occur).
Offering an enterprise software business model
Our strategy is to offer our solutions in alignment with both on-premise and cloud-based enterprise software business models. Currently, the largest portion of our license sales is based on the perpetual license model, under which customers purchase a license to use our software indefinitely, while also purchasing related professional services and annual software maintenance. We also offer some of our solutions under a term license, according to which customers purchase a license to use our software for a fixed period of time.
Growth in maintenance revenues (which is primarily a result of high maintenance contract renewal rates and the growth of our on-premises client base) is driving an increase in our recurring revenue. An increase in the proportion of recurring revenue, out of our overall revenue mix, is expected to provide increasingly predictable revenue streams.
As an alternative to on-premise deployments, our strategy is to offer many of our solutions in cloud-based models - either as a hosted license or as SaaS, providing our customers a lower TCO. Some customers prefer these models, as they lower the costs of deployment and allow them to scale the solutions faster, while reducing capital investments. We see a growing demand for these models and they could enhance our penetration into the smaller business market segment, as well as enable our existing customers to broaden their use of our products. We intend to continue offering our solutions in a variety of models, which enables us to be flexible in effectively addressing our customers’ needs. This, in turn, will enable us to focus on growth and improving profitability.
Our Solutions
I. Customer Interactions
Our Solutions’ Core Capabilities
Trading Floor Compliance SolutionsMulti-Channel Recording and Interaction Management enableenables organizations to capture monitor,structured and analyze interactionsunstructured customer interaction and transactions in real time to proactively minimize risks, detect potential regulatory breaches, counter fraudulent activities,transaction data from multiple channels, including: phone calls, chats, emails, videos, customer feedback, web sessions, social media postings, and improve investigative capabilities. These solutions deliver comprehensive, integrated capabilities to effectively manage the complex, ongoing, high-risk exchange of interactions and transactions between traders, firms, and their counterparties.walk-in centers.
 
Essential ComplianceCross-Channel, Real-time Interaction Analytics is a setenables companies to uncover the valuable data and insights hidden in customer interactions. It uses advanced technology for analyzing speech, text, call flow, customer sentiment and employee desktop activity, in order to understand the root cause of solutions that enable trading floorsservice issues and to record and store transactions and interactions in any media, and flexibly and securely manage and access archived material on demand. Essential Compliance helps financial and energy trading firms ensure compliance with the strict recordkeeping requirements of todays regulatory environment. The solutions include: NICE Trading Recording, NICE Distributed Recording, NICE Trader Replay, and NICE Trading Replay Authorization.drive business results.
 
Proactive Compliance for Trading FloorsEmployee Engagement , which we recently introduced,enables organizations to improve agent productivity, identify performance gaps, deliver targeted coaching, and effectively forecast workloads and schedule staff. It fosters performance-driven operations and culture, leverages Compliance Recordingthe power of advanced analytics, and Interaction Analytics to monitor trading activity across trading turrets, fixed and mobile phones, email, text and instant messaging, chat and social media. It automatically detects potential risks and enables compliance officers to see emerging trends so that future compliance breaches and fraud can be averted. It offers tools to support investigation on mass structured and unstructured media, and to accurately reconstructembeds the chain of events related to a trade. This helps decrease penalties by implementing an automated risk management and analyzing system. It also enables firms to meet the requirementsvoice of the new regulatory environment established with the introduction of the Dodd-Frank Act Wall Street Reform related regulation.

2.
Workforce Optimization is a suite of solutions that enables every individual in the organization to understand their impact on customers, own their schedule development, and use best practices and coaching to constantly increase their effectiveness, providing customers greater flexibility, lower upfront costs, and faster implementations. It is offered on-premise, Hosted, or as SaaS, and is comprised of:
Performance Management maps enterprise business objectivescustomer into daily operations to group and individual goals and tracks and reports performance against these goals. It also automates critical managerial activities, including employee coaching, recognition, and performance improvement to allow front-line managers to become more effective and efficient in developing their teams. As a result, customer-facing operations are able to substantially improve productivity, boost revenue and increase customer satisfaction.
Workforce Management forecasts customer interactions, schedules agents across multiple sites with appropriate skills to manage and optimize the level of customer service resources in multi-skilled environments. It measures agent and team performance and provides real-time change management to proactively respond to changing conditions.
Quality Management enables Key Performance Indicators (KPI)-based management, automatically tracking telephony and analytics-based KPIs. It automates quality processes and selection of calls for evaluation based on performance data. The solution facilitates root-cause evaluation with easy drill down to interactions that are missing KPI targets to improve quality across voice, email, chat, and social media interactions channels.engage employees.
 
 
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Back Office Workforce Optimization Customer Journey Solutions  automates manual processes, integrates data from employees’ desktops, improves forecast accuracy, enables managers to view and manage resource capacity, and empowers employees to improve their performance. It also provides tools to ensure regulatory compliance and fulfillment accuracy, and ultimately, elevate the level of service customers receive across the entire enterprise.
3.
Operational Efficiency, comprised of:
Call Volume Reduction, recently introduced, combines the following two solutions:
First Contact Resolutionenables organizations to measureanalyze the rate at whichentire customer issues are resolved duringjourney across various transactions and events. These solutions allow our customers to have a comprehensive view of customer intents and actions throughout their journey with the first contactorganization. These solutions leverage Big Data infrastructure and predictive analytics models to identify why others result in repeat contacts.  By analyzingand sequence individual customer interactions across time and touch points. With this data,analysis, organizations can take actions to increase firstunderstand the context of each contact, resolution, improve operational efficiencyuncover patterns, predict needs and increase customer satisfaction.
Next Call Prevention uses a unique combination of speech analytics, text analytics, contact analytics, and prediction capabilities to identify repeat contact patterns, correlate one contact reason to another or to a customer lifecycle event, and enables agents to handle common secondary issues during the first call. It also identifies triggers, such as self-service weaknesses, customer lifecycle events, faulty processes, ineffective documentation and system inefficiencies, that generate first-time calls. It enables organizations to take action to fix the issues and eliminate resulting calls.
Handle Time Optimization leverages real-time speech analytics, call topic analysis, voice biometrics, and web interaction analytics, among others, to help companies understand what drives high average handle times and then take actionpersonalize interactions in real time to mitigate it, while preserving quality and customer service.time.
 
Real-time Service OptimizationDecisioning and Guidance automatically monitors agent activity in real time, enablingis a real-time decisioning engine, which draws on business rules and predictive models to process insights derived from analytics that are applied as an interaction is taking place. This combination enables organizations to identifymake the right decision during individual interactions and across a mass number of interactions, which in turn drives future next-best-action guidance through process bottlenecks and implement best practices; navigates agents through complex processes with on-screen guidance; and automates routine tasks to shorten handle time and eliminate manual processes.automation.
 
4.
Customer Experience, comprised of:
VoiceThe combination of the Customer collects and analyzes the Voice of the Customer (VoC) from all interaction touchpoints and channels; analyzes interactions in real time and provides guidance on the next-best-action; proactively engages customers for feedback immediately following an interaction; and leverages social media analyticsabove capabilities enables organizations to monitor social networks and address customers’ issues. This enables companies to drive operations byoperationalize customer perspective and deliver insights across departments.
Real-time Customer Feedback (NICE Fizzback) is part of the VoC family of solutions, also available separately. It uses a unique automated engagement mechanism to create a conversation with customers through their feedback channel of choice. Immediately following a retail, call center, or online experience, the solution reaches out for customer feedback from any touch point, including text message, email, web, social media, IVR, mobile app,service, sales and forms. It uses Natural Language Processing to accurately categorize verbatim comments and quickly locate the key drivers of customer satisfaction.marketing processes.
 
 
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Addressing Business and Operational Needs
 
1. Mobile Reach, which we recently introduced, enables organizations to offer a smart customer experience to its mobile consumers. It bridges mobile-apps on smart devices with live agents by identifying when consumers need assistance; recommending the next-best-channel for completing a transaction; seamlesslyCompliance and effectively transitioning the interaction to other channels when necessary; transferring the interaction context to the agent’s desktop; and facilitating multimedia communication between customers and agents during the interaction.Risk
 
Solution5.Description
Compliance RecordingProactively captures and retains all customer interactions across multiple touch points to help ensure compliance with government regulations, such as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), Security Exchange Commission Rule 17a-4, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, the Financial Services Authority and Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, as well as with internal policies. Compliance Recording is also an invaluable tool to resolve disputes, perform investigations and verify sales, as well as provide redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities to meet business continuity requirements.
Contact Center Fraud PreventionIdentifies fraudsters by their voice patterns, uncovers social engineering tactics and assesses call risk, as well as guides agents to appropriately handle high-risk interactions, and effectively open and manage an investigation ticket.
Trading Floor Compliance SolutionsEnables organizations to capture, monitor and analyze interactions and transactions in real time, in order to proactively minimize risks, detect potential regulatory breaches, counter fraudulent activities, and improve investigative capabilities. These solutions deliver comprehensive, integrated capabilities to effectively manage the complex, ongoing, high-risk exchange of interactions and transactions between traders, firms and their counterparties.
Essential ComplianceEnables trading floors to record and store transactions and interactions in any media, as well as securely manage and access archived material on demand and in a flexible manner. Essential Compliance helps financial and energy trading firms ensure compliance with the strict recordkeeping requirements of today’s regulatory environment.
Communication SurveillanceMonitors trading activity across trading turrets, fixed and mobile phones, email, text and instant messaging, chat and social media. It automatically detects potential risks and enables compliance officers to see emerging trends, so that compliance breaches and fraud can be averted. It also enables firms to meet the requirements of the regulatory environment established with the introduction of the Dodd-Frank Act, and related rules and regulations.
Complaint ManagementEnables organizations to use analytics to identify interactions at risk, and manage the process of handling the complaint.
Sales & Retention, comprised of:Compliance and Script Adherence
Operationalizes historical data analytics to quantify and measure current agent adherence. Monitors agent interactions, searches for any phrase, at any time, and utilizes the phrases in issue resolution and training exercises. Incorporates real-time monitoring and alerting to guide towards required behaviors. Knows which calls are contained in the audio and helps ensure reading for an audit.
Service-to-Sales identifies sales opportunities during a service call by leveraging NICE’s Cross Channel Analytics, correlated with transactional and feedback analytics. This combination delivers a real-time understanding of who the customer is (demographics, past transactions and interactions, past responses to sales offers, etc.), who the customer service rep is (profile, skills, past sales performance, etc.), and what are the customer’s needs and intent. With real-time decisioning and guidance, the solution provides service reps on-screen call-outs with scripts for making the best offer, and increasing sales conversion rates.
Incentive Compensation Management provides the end-to-end ability to create, manage and distribute all aspects of a commissions program. It automates the process of commission, bonus, and incentive administration in support of any type of variable pay strategy to deliver a pay-for-performance system which rewards employees for achieving targets that align with business strategy.
Customer Retention leverages NICE’s cross channel analytics and transaction-driven contact analytics to identify customers at risk before they churn. It analyzes the cross-channel customer experience and provides retention agents with real-time guidance, helping them tailor retention offers to each customer during the interaction.
Vertical Implementations
NICE Customer Interactions solutions are implemented by contact centers of all sizes, retail branches, and back office operations, across multiple verticals, including: Communication Service Providers, Retail Banks, Insurance, Healthcare, Outsourcing, Utilities, and Travel and Entertainment.
II.           Financial Crime & Compliance

Introduction to the Solutions
The NICE Financial Crime & Compliance solutions monitor billions of financial transactions daily, transactional Big Data, enabling clients to mitigate financial crime risk, improve compliance, and reduce operational costs. The solutions are based on a scalable, proprietary software platform and flexible applications that address hundreds of compliance, fraud, and money-laundering scenarios in real-time.
 
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Solutions are delivered on premise, as well as some in the cloud, enabling clients to be highly responsive to challenging regulatory timelines and deploy solutions in a more cost-efficient manner.2. Operational Efficiency
 
Financial Crime & Compliance Business Strategy
SolutionDescription
Contact Center RecordingProvides comprehensive call recording technology that adapts easily to the unique operational requirements of any contact center. It supports virtually any telephony environment and hybrid networks. This enables a seamless transition during technology migrations as the contact center grows and evolves. It supports thousands of concurrent IP streams in a single platform: capturing, forwarding streams in real time, recording and archiving. It also captures non-voice interactions such as video, chat and email, and stores them in a single recording platform, ensuring regulatory adherence and standardized cross-channel workforce optimization.
Performance ManagementMaps enterprise business objectives to group and individual goals, and tracks and reports performance. It also automates critical managerial activities, including employee coaching, recognition, and performance improvement, allowing front-line managers to become more effective and efficient in developing their teams. Performance Management also includes unique capabilities, such as gamification, to engage and motivate and align employees around common business goals.
Workforce ManagementForecasts an organization’s interactions load, schedules agent shifts across multiple sites with appropriate skills to manage and optimize the level of customer service resources in multi-skilled environments. It measures agent and team performance, and provides real-time change management to proactively respond to changing conditions.
Quality ManagementAutomates quality assurance processes and selection of calls for evaluation based on performance data. The solution facilitates root-cause evaluation, with easy drill down to interactions missing their Key Performance Indicator targets. Quality improvement is thus managed across voice, email, chat, and social media channels.
Interaction AnalyticsAnalyzes large quantities of customer interactions across multiple channels to identify hot topics and root causes quickly, and to produce actionable insights. These insights are then leveraged to improve processes, increase sales, optimize marketing campaigns and reduce operational costs.
Back Office Workforce OptimizationAutomates manual processes, integrates data from employees’ desktops, improves forecast accuracy, enables managers to view and manage resource capacity, and empowers employees to improve their own performance. It also provides tools to ensure regulatory compliance and accuracy, elevating the level of service customers receive across the entire enterprise.
Real-time AuthenticationLeverages voice biometrics for authenticating customers in real time. The technology helps organizations to seamlessly enroll customers, expedites agent service, and significantly reduces the risk of fraud for all customers.
Call Volume OptimizationLeverages Big Data infrastructure and advanced predictive analytics to help organizations resolve customer needs in one contact, to predict and preempt follow-up calls, and to enable customers to effectively use self-service tools.
Real-time Service Optimization-Automatically monitors agent activity in real time, enabling organizations to identify process bottlenecks and implement best practices. With this information, the solution navigates agents through complex processes using on-screen guidance, and automates routine tasks to shorten handle time and eliminate manual processing errors.
Interactive Voice Response (“IVR”) OptimizationThe IVR Optimization solution enables customers to reduce customer effort by increasing IVR containment rate, reducing IVR repeat calls, agent transfers, drop-offs and deflections and dramatically improving call center efficiency.
Robotic AutomationRobotic solution for the automation of routine back office and contact center processes. Installed on virtual servers, these robots handle end-to-end processes, essentially performing any routine task which the human user would otherwise do manually.

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3. Customer Experience
 
We will continue to try to build the most exhaustive risk and financial crime solutions enterprise-wide platform.
SolutionDescription
Voice of the Customer (“VoC”)Collects and analyzes comprehensive data from multiple interaction touch points and channels; analyzes interactions in real time and provides guidance on the next-best-action; proactively engages customers for feedback immediately following an interaction; and leverages social media analytics to monitor social networks and address customer issues. This enables companies to drive operations and deliver insights across departments by incorporating the customer’s perspective.
Real-time Customer FeedbackUses a unique, automated engagement mechanism to create a conversation with customers through their feedback channel of choice. Immediately following a retail, call center, or online experience, the solution reaches out for customer feedback from any touch point, including text message, email, IVR, mobile app, and online forms. It uses Natural Language Processing to accurately categorize verbatim comments and quickly locate the key drivers of customer satisfaction.
Customer Journey OptimizationHelps organizations optimize their overall customer interactions process across multiple touch points. The solution automatically constructs a cross-channel map of the customer journey, providing insights into trends and focus areas. It automatically assigns contact reasons to every interaction and reveals customer behavior patterns, helping to predict the customer’s next action and to respond accordingly. The solution highlights opportunities for self-service channel containment and offers real-time guidance for an improved customer experience.
Customer Satisfaction
Understands the business practices and behaviors that drive customer satisfaction. Simplifies the customer experience, through methods such as quicker caller identification. Attracts new customers by offering an easier path to service than the competition. Statistically determines which business processes and agent behaviors have the greatest impact on customer behavior.
Cost Management
Identifies the root cause of issues that cause long talk times or repeat calls. Understands technical calls and ensures agents follow the correct troubleshooting steps before issuing a service call. Determines gaps in workflow to eliminate redundant processes. Monitors problems resulting in high volumes and identify areas for more effective call routing.
Customer Churn
Analyzes historic defection data to create models for predicting future churn. Understands causes and effects of customer churn and how to design procedures to reduce the defection rate. Prioritizes at-risk customers based on search results combined with customer data. Collects information to refine retention marketing offers that are better tailored to customer types and demographics.

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4. Sales Optimization
 
We will also continue to be focused on tier-1 clients, attempting to provide them with best in class solutions to meet their needs via both cloud
SolutionDescription
Incentive Compensation ManagementProvides the end-to-end ability to create, manage and distribute all aspects of a commissions program. It automates the process of commission, bonus and incentive administration, in support of any type of variable pay system that rewards employees for achieving targets aligned with the business strategy.
Real-time Web EngagementUses customer intelligence, predictive models and machine learning to make insightful, real-time decisions during customer interactions over the Web. The solution helps organizations improve customer retention, increase online conversion rates, and deliver better service by taking the next-best-action.
Sales EffectivenessHelps organizations optimize their campaigns. Locates and quantifies specific events by building the right metrics to align with corporate objectives such as offers made versus up-sell opportunities. Correlates data points such as customer spend and purchase history to build predictive models, prioritizing customers with a propensity to buy and create the next-best offer. Identifies high-performing agents and base best practices off their behavior. Establishes thresholds and works with agents, measuring performance against sales driven metrics.

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5. Public Safety
Incident Debriefing and on premises models. In addition, due to reduced TCO, some of our high-end solutions have become affordable to mid-market players. We plan to take advantage of this opportunity to expand our presence in the mid-market segment leveraging our SaaS offering.Investigation
SolutionDescription
NICE InformAssists public safety agencies and organizations across various industries to consolidate and chronologically manage multimedia incident information efficiently and effectively. It captures and processes event information from a variety of media: audio, video, text, Computer-Aided Dispatch systems, Geographic Information Systems, and others.

Public Safety Emergency Response Optimization
SolutionDescription
NICE Audio RecordingAddresses the needs of command-and-control centers and air traffic control operations. The wide range of recording platforms automatically record, analyze, store, quickly retrieve and instantly replay Telephony, radio and IP voice calls. TDM and VoIP recordings can be used to ensure compliance with regulations, provide audio evidence, and manage and improve departmental quality and productivity.
NICE InformHelps emergency centers manage multimedia incident information efficiently and effectively. It captures available data, providing the facts as they unfold and increasing the likelihood that all vital evidence is available for review.
II. Financial Crime and Compliance
Our Solutions’ Core Capabilities
 
Our SolutionsCore Capabilitiesplatform:
Financial Crime and Compliance solutions (also known as NICE Actimize solutionssolutions) share a single, flexible and scalable core risk platform that provides organizations the abilityenables financial institutions to expand usagethe use of the company’s solutions over time, as the need of the organization dictate, whichtime. This eases implementation and lowers total cost of ownership.
 
Customization: Flexible analytics and tools:The core platform provides modelingdozens of out-of-the-box analytical models with each specific solution, as well as flexible tools that can be used to develop and customize analytical models, data sources, and business processes at both the business and IT levels.

Multi-channel transaction management: The solutions are proven to capture and analyze thousands of financial transactions a second from a variety of sources and channels.
 
Domain specificDomain-specific analytics: Comprehensive, domain specificdomain-specific solutions detect anomalous customer or employee behavior in real-time,real time, leveraging industry-proven analytics.
 
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Real-time decisioning and enforcement: A real-time decisioning engine draws on analyzed data to trigger alerts that enable optimal enforcement and resolution. Built-in capabilities for comprehensive workflow and investigation management allow effective alert management.
 
Addressing Strategic Business Needs
 
The NICE Financial Crime & Compliance portfolio is comprised of four solution families that address the following needs.
1.
Enterprise Risk Management, comprised of:
1. Enterprise Risk Case ManagerManagement enables firms to better manage and mitigate organizational risk by providing a single view of risk across the business. The solution centralizes and correlates information from existing detection systems, turning multiple flows of information into actionable insights. It serves as a central platform for managing alerts, cases, investigations, link analysis, regulatory reporting, financial losses, oversight and more across multiple lines of business, channels, products, and regions.
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2.
Anti-Money Laundering,comprised of solutions available individually or as an integrated whole, as follows:
Suspicious Activity Monitoring leverages transaction analytics to identify and report suspicious transactions related to known and unknown money laundering and terrorist financing.
Watch List Filtering provides enterprise-wide customer and transaction screening against multiple watch lists. It identifies and manages sanctioned or high-risk individuals and entities, with real-time name recognition capabilities.
Customer Due Diligence provides integrated risk-based rating and continuous monitoring of accounts throughout the entire customer life cycle, from initial applicant onboarding to periodic rescreening of existing customers.
CTR Processing & Automation provides seamless automated Currency Transaction Reporting (CTR) processing to ensure compliance with Bank Secrecy Act standards and optimize CTR processes for efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
FATCA Compliance helps U.S. and non-U.S. companies establish a structured Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act program – from identifying U.S. owners and customers and managing documentation to generating reports to meet the U.S. Internal Revenue Service requirements.
 
Solution3.Description
Enterprise Risk Case Manager
Fraud Prevention,comprisedEnables firms to better manage and mitigate organizational risk by providing a single view of solutions available individually orrisk across the business. It serves as an integrated whole, as follows:
a central platform for managing alerts, cases, investigations, link analysis, regulatory reporting, financial losses, oversight and more, across multiple lines of business, channels, products, and regions, turning them into actionable insights.
Card Fraud enables card issuers, acquirers and processors to detect fraudulent transactions, covering ATM, PIN, signature point-of-sale, and where physical cards are not present.
Remote Banking provides cross-channel analytical models for retail online and mobile banking, call center, and IVR channels to enable real-time detection of fraudulent monetary and non-monetary transactions.
Commercial Banking enables multi-channel monitoring and analytics for commercial banking transactions (e.g. wires, ACH, payroll) and non-monetary transactions (e.g. template creation, transaction approval) with user, account, and company-level profiling.  
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Employee Fraud provides proven rules and analytics, combined with proactive investigation tools, to detect theft of customer and bank assets, self-dealing, embezzlement, collusion, and identity shielding.
Cybercrime Protection provides complex device identification, malware detection, navigation-based behavioral analysis, and predictive analytics to detect and mitigate cyber threats while improving the customer experience.

Contact Center Fraud Prevention2. Anti-Money Laundering - leverages NICEs voice biometrics and real-time decisioning and guidance engines, along with Interaction Analytics and the NICE Actimize Risk Case Manager, to identify fraudsters by their voice patterns, uncover social engineering tactics, assess call risk, guide agents to appropriately handle high-risk interactions, and effectively open and manage solutions available individually or as an investigation ticket.integrated whole
 
Solution4.Description
Suspicious Activity Monitoring
BrokerageLeverages transaction analytics to offer end-to-end coverage for detection, scoring, alerting, workflow processing and reporting of suspicious activity to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. It supports the full investigation life cycle and, with NICE’s integrated case management platform, improves staff productivity, helping meet regulatory obligations in a cost-efficient manner.
Watch List FilteringProvides enterprise-wide customer and transaction screening against multiple watch lists, for end-to-end sanctions list coverage. It identifies and manages sanctioned or high-risk individuals and entities, with real-time name recognition capabilities, providing customers the ability to conduct accurate name matching to prevent non-compliance occurrences.
Customer Due DiligenceProvides integrated risk-based rating and continuous monitoring of accounts throughout the entire customer life-cycle, from initial applicant onboarding to periodic re-screening of existing customers. It is an open, flexible platform that can adapt to unique requirements across business segments, regions, and jurisdictions.
CTR Processing and AutomationProvides seamless automated Currency Transaction Reporting (“CTR”) processing to ensure compliance with U.S. Bank Secrecy Act standards, and to optimize CTR processes for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. This allows for the reduction in manual intervention and errors. Built-in validation tools and flexible capabilities enhance the quality and timeliness of completed reports while letting organizations adapt to changing regulatory and business needs.
FATCA Compliancecomprised of solutions available individually or as an integrated whole, as follows:Helps U.S. and non-U.S. companies establish a structured FATCA program – from identifying U.S. owners and customers, and managing their documentation, to generating reports to meet United States Internal Revenue Service requirements. The solution enables complete life cycle assessment for FATCA-status identification, management and reporting, ensuring compliance while minimizing operational and customer impact.
Institutional Trade Surveillance provides scenario management for market manipulation and abuse, fair dealings with customers, and insider trading across asset classes such as equities, fixed income, swaps and futures. It includes specific tools for desk supervision, control room surveillance, and trade reporting practices, to ensure comprehensive oversight and sales and trading compliance.
We also deliver a real-time, cloud-based, institutional trade surveillance solution, following our acquisition of Redkite Financial Markets in October 2012. Furthermore, by leveraging core capabilities from our Enterprise division’s Proactive Compliance for Consumer Protection solution, we now have the capability to combine trade surveillance with interaction surveillance including voice, email, chat and more.

Retail Trade Surveillance addresses organization-wide compliance across a broad range of retail sales practices relating to Know Your Customer and Suitability requirements. It enables local and regional branch management to effectively delegate supervision across products and provides automated desk supervision with electronic access and sign-off on individual trades.
Employee Trade Surveillance provides Conflicts of Interest and Rogue Trading detection. It completely automates the submission, review, and approval process for employees’ personal trades, including post-trade reconciliation. It analyzes transactions against rules mapped to the organization’s employee trading policies and procedures.
Vertical Implementations
NICE Financial Crime & Compliance solutions are implemented by financial institutions of all kinds such as retail banks, commercial banks, and brokerages, as well as industry regulators, government agencies, insurance companies and energy firms.
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III.           NICE Security, Safety & Operations Solutions
Introduction to the Solutions
NICEs Security Solutions help organizations capture, analyze, and operationalize Big Data to anticipate, manage, and mitigate security and safety risks, improve operations, and ensure the safety of the general public. The NICE solutions provide valuable insights that enable enterprises and governments to take the next-best-action at the right time by correlating structured and unstructured data from multiple sensors and channels, detecting irregular patterns, and recognizing trends.
Security Business Strategy
An important part of our Security Business strategy is to drive deployment of end-to-end security solutions. 
We are in a unique position to deliver a comprehensive solution: an integrated portfolio consisting of our proven IP video surveillance management system, video analytics suite, public safety and multimedia reconstruction capabilities, and an advanced security management solution that offers complete situational awareness, integrating information from multiple sensors. 
We intend to leverage this broad solution portfolio to strengthen our leading position and accelerate the penetration into public transportation, airports, financial services, critical facilities, city centers, public safety agencies, government institutes and corporate facilities markets, while expanding the offering to our existing installation base.
It is also our strategy to continue to address security, safety and operational risks in three main areas: Cross-time, Cross-organizational Roles, and Cross-domain. Cross-time impacts the entire lifecycle of an event—before, during and after, for planning, real-time situational awareness and management, investigation and improvement. Cross-organizational Roles means solutions for the operator in the control room, the investigator, as well as tools for decision makers. Cross-domain refers to our offering which expands beyond the traditional domain of security and safety into the domain of operations.
We also plan to address organizations looking to adopt tools that are adequate not only for the management of their security and safety situations, but such that can contribute to operational gains such as increased efficiency and service-level.
Our Solutions Core Capabilities
Multi-sensor event management: An open architecture that integrates data from third-party devices and systems and delivers real-time alerts and information from and about these systems for complete situational awareness and management.
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Real-time analytics and correlation: Proprietary, field-proven algorithms on security data, such as CCTV video feed and audio communications, analyze in real time and correlate data from multiple security sensors to identify security situations or threats.
Real-time decisioning and resolution: Following analysis, NICE technology highlights decision data and trends, initiates alerts, and provides adaptive workflows to decision makers, enabling the next-best-action for effectively resolving situations.
Multimedia reconstruction: The ability to integrate text, video, voice recordings, and others into holistic incident timelines for complete investigation and debriefing capabilities.
Trend analysis and reporting: Data analytics, reporting, and trend analysis that transforms Big Data into operational intelligence for defining and improving best practices, and predicting and preventing future events.
Addressing Strategic Business & Operational Needs
The NICE Security portfolio is comprised of five solution families that correlate and address the following needs:
1.
Incident Debriefing and Investigation, comprised of:
NICE Inform, helping public safety agencies and organizations across various industries consolidate and manage multimedia incident information efficiently and effectively.  It captures and processes event information from a variety of media: audio, video, text, Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and others. It combines data from multiple sources for a complete, chronological timeline to accurately and efficiently reconstruct and investigate events.
2.
Public Safety Emergency Response Optimization, comprised of:
NICE Audio Recording, a wide range of recording platforms that address the needs of command and control centers and Air Traffic Control operations.  These solutions can automatically record, analyze, store, quickly retrieve, and instantly replay Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) and IP voice calls.  TDM and VoIP recordings can be used to ensure compliance with regulations, provide audio evidence, and manage and improve departmental quality and productivity.
NICE Inform helps emergency centers manage multimedia incident information efficiently and effectively. It captures all available data, providing all the facts as they unfold and increasing the chances that all vital evidence is available to review.
3.
Video Surveillance & Analytics, comprised of:
NiceVision Net, a complete, end-to-end IP video surveillance management solution. The solution includes Smart Video Recorders (SVRs), high-performance encoders and decoders, an advanced video analytics suite, and feature-rich event management and control room visualization. Each component of the solution is managed from the central NiceVision Control Center.
 
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NiceVision Video Analytics3. Fraud Prevention - , fullysolutions available individually or as an integrated into the video recording infrastructure, it includes field-proven applications for intrusion management, crowd management, and situation indication. The solution also presents alerts, highlights decision data, and facilitates complex surveillance operations.whole
 
Solution4.Description
Card Fraud
Situation ManagementEnables card issuers, acquirers and processors to detect fraudulent transactions, whether ATM, PIN, signature point-of-sale, or without a physical card. The Actimize Digital & Mobile Wallet Fraud solution protects customers from digital account takeover, and protects companies from fraud liability and negative brand reputation. Monitors and protects a full range of wallet activity, including card/account provisioning, card present and not present purchases, person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and account-service events.
The Actimize Pre-Paid Card Fraud solution identifies and prevents fraud in the pre-paid sector. From ATM to point-of-sale (POS) and Card-Not-Present (CNP), comprised all transactions can be identified, interdicted on and alerted in real time. Market leading profile based behavioral analytics takes into account all available transaction, reference and location data to provide holistic coverage of: card and account takeover.
Remote BankingProvides end-to-end protection against account takeover from online, mobile, IVR, and contact center transactions. Unique industry-leading analytic models accurately detect anomalies and patterns in real time and Actimize open analytics offer the flexibility to develop in-house models and strategies. A central “risk hub” enables the sharing of internal and third-party data from multiple channels for fraud and cyber detection, operations, and investigations. By accurately and efficiently coordinating customer lifetime value, transaction amounts and service history, the solution optimizes fraud prevention by offering greater insight into cross-channel authentication and facilitates interdiction strategies.
Commercial BankingSpecifically designed to address the complexities facing commercial banks, applying targeted analytics to identify fraudulent payments among the high volume of legitimate transactions processed by commercial clients each day. The solution protects payments from origination through approval and processing, allowing organizations to interdict in real time to address suspicious activity and ensure an excellent customer experience.
Employee FraudOffers advanced analytic monitoring capabilities and flexible configuration options to detect fraudulent employee activity and violation of corporate policy across the enterprise, business lines, and channels. Comprehensive investigation tools are supported by multichannel data ingest, multi-country data and policy requirement configurations, secure and auditable user access levels, and automated configurable workflows, enabling banks to efficiently sift through employee audit reports and build cases to support fraudulent employee activity.
Deposit Account FraudHelps institutions minimize deposit fraud losses by providing comprehensive account activity monitoring. The solution analyzes risk across silos of data and lines of business, consolidates suspicious activity notifications into account and customer level alerts, and allows real-time decisioning to safely accelerate fund availability and enhance customer satisfaction.
NICE Situator, enabling automatic, real-time situation planning, response, and analysis to improve situational awareness and incident handling. It integrates, analyzes, and correlates information from a wide array of sensors and systems into a common operating picture. It then applies standard operating procedures and automated response plans, ensuring that everyone in the operational chain is aware of what is happening and what needs to be done.
5.
Intelligence & Law Enforcement, comprised of:
The NiceTrack Target 360° suite provides end-to-end solutions for communication interception, analysis and investigation. The solutions support the entire intelligence production cycle both in real-time and offline, and helps law enforcement and intelligence agencies, national and internal security agencies, and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) organizations fight organized crime, drug trafficking, terrorist activities and other threats to national security. The solutions are designed to provide full, 360° target monitoring by addressing the dynamic and complex nature of communications and the Internet arena.

To provide a comprehensive intelligence picture, NiceTrack offers a unified platform for the interception, collection, processing and analysis of telephony and internet communications and data from of all types of networks and applications. It includes various products and modules:

·Advanced IP and voice monitoring for simplifying the work of the intelligence analyst and generating meaningful intelligence products;   
·3D accurate positioning for locating high value targets in real-time;
·Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) for harvesting data from the World Wide Web and social networks;
·Speech and text analytics for creating effective intelligence production;  
·Pattern analysis for automatically uncovering hidden communication patterns within billions of daily intercepted interactions; and
 
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4. Financial Markets Compliance - comprised of solutions available individually or as an integrated whole
 
Solution·Description
Institutional Trade SurveillanceSatellite interception
As a real-time, cloud-based, institutional trade surveillance solution, it provides scenario management for collection, retentionidentifying market manipulation and analysisabuse, fair dealings with customers, and insider trading across asset classes (such as equities, fixed income, swaps and futures). It includes specific tools for desk supervision, control room surveillance, and trade reporting practices, to ensure comprehensive oversight and sales and trading compliance.
By leveraging communication surveillance capabilities from NICE’s Customer Interactions business, customers benefit from holistic and integrated surveillance solutions that include trade, voice, email, chat and more.
Retail Trade SurveillanceAddresses organization-wide compliance across a broad range of voice, fax, video, emailretail sales practices relating to Know Your Customer (“KYC”) and other data transmitted via fixedSuitability requirements. It enables local and mobile satellite communication networks.regional branch management to effectively delegate supervision across products and provides automated desk supervision, with electronic access and sign-off on individual trades.
Employee Trade SurveillanceDetects Conflicts of Interest and Rogue Trading. It completely automates the submission, review and approval process for employees’ personal trades, including post-trade reconciliation. It analyzes transactions against rules mapped to the organization’s employee trading policies and procedures.
Enterprise Conflicts ManagementOffers a unified approach to maintain controls and detect conflicts of interest before they occur on a global, enterprise-wide scale. Enables organizations to effectively manage employee requests for personal trades by evaluating details of the proposed trade in real time and automatically determining if the request should be approved, rejected, or escalated to a supervisor for approval. The solution includes detection models that compare executions with the employee’s trade request history to determine whether the trade was pre-cleared and approved and to reconcile the trade details with the terms and conditions of the approved trade request.
Sales Practices and SuitabilityProvides coverage for a broad range of sales practices and issues, helping firms meet current and future global regulatory requirements and ensure investment recommendations are consistent with each client’s investment objectives and suitability profiles. It also includes a comprehensive toolset to automate sales practice compliance processes. By automating oversight and supervision, firms can ensure consistency and maintain a consolidated audit trail, lowering regulatory risk while improving productivity and efficiency.

Vertical Implementations
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NICE Security Solutions are used by thousands of customers worldwide, including transportation systems, critical infrastructure, city centers, banks, enterprises and government agencies.
Strategic Alliances

We sell our solutions and products worldwide, both directly to customers and indirectly through selected partners to better serve our global customers. We partner with companies in a variety of sales channels, including service providers, system integrators, consulting firms, distributors, value addedvalue-added resellers and complimentary technology vendors. These partners are industry leaders who form a vital network for selling and supporting our solutions and products. For our business partners, we have established the NICE Business Partner Program, which provides full support and a broad portfolio of sales supporting tools to help them promote and sell the NICE offerings, drivinghelping to drive mutual revenue growth and success.
 
Through a well-defined collaborative framework, the NICE Business Partner Program aligns and supports the business goals of both NICE and our business partners. Its multi-tiered structure recognizes both commercial achievement and certification in selling and supporting specific NICE offerings.

We also have strategic technology partnerships in place to ensure full integration with NICE’s offerings, to deliverdelivering value added capabilities that address a variety of technology environments.

We have global distribution agreements, as well as alliance and partnership programs, with leading vendors, service providers, and consulting firms. The following is a partial list of our main partners, some of which we cooperate with across all of our businesses, while others inare only involved in a portion of our business: Amdocs, Avaya, BT, Cassidian Communications,initiatives: Boston Consulting Group, Cisco, Dell, Deloitte, FIS, Honeywell, IBM, IPC, Motorola, Orange BusinessPWC, Tata Consulting Services Raytheon Company, SAIC, Siemens, Thales, and Verizon.

Professional Service and Support
 
The NICE Professional Services and Support organization delivers the following portfolio of end-to-end serviceenables our customers to derive sustainable business value from our solutions.
The Professional Service and Support offerings focus on enabling and sustaining business value for our customers. We address all stages of the NICE technology lifecycle, including projectdefining requirements, planning, and design, implementation, andcustomization, optimization, proactive maintenance and product support:ongoing support.
 
Customization Solutions to help extend the value of NICE technology by adding specialized capabilities and functions that can save users time, perform functions unique to the organization, or integrate seamlessly with other systems in the organization.
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Business Consulting to enable customer success through value added services that are targeted to improve business operations by leveraging and integrating NICE solutions and products into the customer’s daily practices. The Business Consulting Team consists of industry experts who have extensive experience in implementing vertical market solutions for many industries and are Six Sigma and COPC certified. We use a value realization score card (VRSC) during and after the implementation to measure our solution adoption and customer value with our solution. This helps our customers accelerate return on investment, increase revenue and minimize business costs.Enabling Value
 
Solution Delivery to help optimizeoptimizes solution delivery planning with a view to enablingand enables our customers to achieve their specific business and organizational goals, on time and on budget. NICE solutions are delivered by certified project managers, technical experts, and application experts. Theyspecialists. We follow a proven methodology that includes a business discovery to map solutions to business processes. Furthermore, technical
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Business Consulting promotes customer success through value-added services targeted to improve business operations, by leveraging and integrating NICE solutions into the customer’s daily practices. This global consulting team consists of industry experts map design details tailored to the customer site to ensurewho have accumulated a smooth implementationbroad portfolio of best practices and honed domain expertise, with extensive experience in implementing vertical market solutions for many industries. This helps our customers accelerate return on investment, increase revenue and minimize business costs.
 
Customer Education Services to provide users with the necessary knowledge and skills to operate NICE solutions and to leverage their capabilities to meet customer needs,needs. These services are offered both before and after the rolloutdeployment of the applicable NICE solution.solutions.
Sustaining Value
Value Realization means working hand-in-hand with our customers to identify areas that can maximize business value and minimize complications, ensuring continued delivery of business benefits.
 
Cloud Services ensure that solutions hosted in the NICE cloud run optimally, maximizing availability, performance and quality while ensuring the security of customer information. This includes: Hosting Operations, running our Hosting Centers; Development Operations, ensuring that our product development teams optimize our solutions for the cloud environment; and the Hosted Application Support team that operates the solutions, ensuring up-time, scalability and security.
Customer Support and Maintenance responds to provide professionalcustomer requests for support on a 24/7 global support for hardware or software issuesbasis, using the most advanced tools and methodologies.
NICE delivers proactive maintenance and upgrades for installed systems and offers flexible service level agreements (SLAs) to meet the level of service our customers need. 
customers’ needs. Our solutions are generally sold with a warranty for repairs of hardware and software defects andor malfunctions. Our customers may renew maintenance agreements from our dealers or directly from us. Software maintenance includes an enhancement support program with ongoing delivery of “like-for-like” unspecified upgrade releases, service packs and hot fixes.
 
Proactive Maintenance addresses issues before they can significantly impact our customers’ businesses. These offerings include:
·
Proactive Health Checks – Technical experts perform system-level audits to ensure ongoing compliance with operational specifications.
·
Network Operations Center – A 24/7 function that proactively monitors NICE-hosted and customer-premises environments with triage, resolution and escalation of system alarms.
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Manufacturing and Source of Supplies

Our productsThe vast majority of our solutions are built in accordance with industry standard infrastructuresoftware-based and are PC compatible.  Thedeployed by customers on standard commercial servers.
There is a small portion of our products that have certain hardware elements in our productsthat are based primarily on standard commercial off-the-shelf components and utilize proprietary in-house developed circuit cards and algorithms, and digital processing techniques and software. We also have “software only” solutions for use on standard commercial servers.These products are IT-grade compatible.

We manufacture those of our products that contain hardware elements through subcontractors, with the exception of our CSS product line (formerly CyberTech) which is manufactured by us.  Under manufacturing agreements with Flextronics Israel Ltd. ("Flextronics"), a subsidiary of a global electronics manufacturing services provider, with Bynet Communications Ltd. (“Bynet”), and with EMET Computing Ltd. (“EMET”), Flextronics, Bynet, and EMETsubcontractors.  Our manufacturers provide us with turnkey manufacturing solutions including order receipt, purchasing, manufacturing, testing, configuration, inventory management and delivery to customers.  These agreements covercustomers for all of our product lines (with the exception of our CSS product line), including our voice recording family of products, our video product lines, our upgrade lines and our spare parts and return material authorization (RMA).lines.  NICE is entitled to, and exercises, various control mechanisms and supervision over the entire production process.  In addition, Flextronics, the manufacturer of a significant portion of oursuch products, which is a subsidiary of a global electronics manufacturing service provider, is obligated to ensure the readiness of a back-up site in the event that the main production site is unable to operate as required.  We believe these outsourcing agreements provide us with a number of cost advantages due to Flextronics’such manufacturer's large-scale purchasing power, and greater supply chain flexibility.

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Some of the components we use have a single approved manufacturer while others have two or more options for purchasing.  In addition, we maintain an inventory for some of the components and subassemblies in order to limit the potential for interruption.  We also maintain relationships directly with some of the more significant manufacturers of our components.  Although certain components and subassemblies we use in our existing products are purchased from a limited number of suppliers, we believe that we can obtain alternative sources of supply in the event that such suppliers are unable to meet our requirements in a timely manner.
Quality control is conducted at various stages at our manufacturing outsourcers’ facilities and at their subcontractors’ facilities.  We generate reports to monitor our operations, including statistical reports that track the performance of our products from production to installation.  This comprehensive data allows us to trace failure and to perform corrective actions accordingly.

We have qualified for and received the ISO-9001:20002008 quality standard for all of our products, as well as the ISO 2700127001:2013 and ISO 14001:2004 certifications.

Research and Development

We believe that the development of new products and the enhancement of existing products are essential to our future success.  Therefore, we intend to continue to devote substantial resources to research and new product development, and to continuously improve our systems and design processes in order to reduce the cost of our products.  Our research and development efforts have been financed through our internal funds and programs sponsored through the Government of Israel and the European community.  We believe our research and development effort has been an important factor in establishing and maintaining our competitive position.  Gross expenditures on research and development in 2010, 2011,2013, 2014 and 20122015 were approximately $102.2$117.9 million, $113.7$126.0 million, and $126.6$132.0 million respectively, of which approxi­mately $3.8$2.1 million, $3.4$2.5 million, and $4.1$2.2 million, respectively, were derived from third-party funding, and $1.3$0.4 million, $1.2$0.4 million, and $1.1$1.4 million, respectively, were capitalized software development costs.
 
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In 2012,2015, we were qualified to participate in 158 programs funded by the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor ("OCS")OCS to develop generic technology relevant to the development of our products.  Such programs are approved pursuant to the Law for the Encouragement of Industrial Research and Development, 1984, or the Research and Development Law, and the regulations promulgated thereunder.  We were eligible to receive grants constituting between 40% and 66% of certain research and development expenses relating to these programs.  Some of these programs are members ofwere approved as programs approved for companies with large research and development activities and some of these programs are membersin the form of membership in certain Magnet consortiums.  Accordingly, the grants under these programs are not required to be repaid by way of royalties.  However, the restrictions of the Research and Development Law described below apply to these programs.  In 2010, 2011,2013, 2014, and 20122015 we received a total of $3.5$1.6 million, $3.1$2.2 million, and $2.5$2.1 million from the OCS programs, respectively, and we anticipate receiving approximately $1.4$0.5 million in 20132016 from 20122014 and 2015 approved programs.
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The Research and Development Law generally requires that the product incorporating know-how developed under an OCS-funded program be manufactured in Israel.  However, upon the approval of the OCS (or notification in the event set forth below, as the case may be), some of the manufacturing volume may be performed outside of Israel, provided that the grant recipient pays royalties at an increased rate, which may be substantial, and the aggregate repayment amount is increased, which increase might be up to 300% of the grant (depending on the portion of the total manufacturing volume that is performed outside of Israel).  Following notification (rather than approval) to the OCS (and provided the OCS did not object), up to 10% of the grant recipient’s approved Israeli manufacturing volume, measured on an aggregate basis, may be transferred out of Israel, subject to payment of the increased royalties referenced above.  The OCS is also authorized to approve the transfer of manufacturing rights outside of Israel in exchange for an import of different manufacturing into Israel as a substitute, in lieu of the increased royalties.  The Research and Development Law also allows for the approval of the program in cases in which the applicant declares that part of the manufacturing will be performed outside of Israel or by non-Israeli residents and the OCS is convinced that doing so is essential for the execution of the program.  This declaration will be a significant factor in the determination of the OCS whether to approve a program and the amount and other terms of benefits to be granted.  The increased royalty rate and repayment amount may be required in such cases.
 
The Research and Development Law also provides that know-how developed under an approved research and development program may not be transferred to third parties without the approval of the OCS.  Such approval is not required for the sale or export of any products resulting from such research or development.  The OCS, under special circumstances, may approve the transfer of OCS-funded know-how outside Israel, including, in the following cases: (a)event of a sale of the know how or sale of the grant recipient, provided that the grant recipient pays to the OCS a portion of the sale price paid in consideration for such OCS-funded know-how or in consideration for the sale of the grant recipient itself, as the case may be, which portion will not exceed six times the amount of the grants received plus interest (or three times the amount of the grant received plus interest, in the event that the recipient of the know-how has committed to retain the R&D activities of the grant recipient in Israel after the transfer); (b) the grant recipient receives know-how from a third party in exchange for its OCS-funded know-how; (c) such transfer of OCS-funded know-how arises in connection with certain types of cooperation in research and development activities; or (d) if such transfer of know-how arises in connection with a liquidation by reason of insolvency or receivership of the grant recipient..
 
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The Research and Development Law imposes reporting requirements with respect to certain changes in the ownership of a grant recipient.  The law requires the grant recipient and its controlling shareholders and non-Israeli interested parties to notify the OCS of any change in control of the recipient, or a change in the holdings of the means of control of the recipient that results in a non-Israeli becoming an interested party directly in the recipient, and if the interested party is non-Israeli, requires the new non-Israeli interested party to undertake to the OCS to comply with the Research and Development Law.  In addition, the rules of the OCS may require prior approval of the OCS or additional information or representations in respect of certain of such events.  For this purpose, “control” is defined as the ability to direct the activities of a company other than any ability arising solely from serving as an officer or director of the company.  A person is presumed to have control if such person holds 50% or more of the means of control of a company.  “Means of control” refers to voting rights or the right to appoint directors or the chief executive officer.  An “interested party” of a company includes a holder of 5% or more of its outstanding share capital or voting rights, its chief executive officer and directors, someone who has the right to appoint its chief executive officer or at least one director, and a company with respect to which any of the foregoing interested parties owns 25% or more of the outstanding share capital or voting rights or has the right to appoint 25% or more of the directors.  Accordingly, any non-Israeli who acquires 5% or more of our ordinary shares or ADSs will be required to notify the OCS that it has become an interested party and to sign an undertaking to comply with the Research and Development Law.  Furthermore, the Research and Development Law imposes reporting requirements in the event that proceedings commence against the grant recipient, including under certain applicable liquidation, receivership or debtor's relief law or in the event that special officers, such as a receiver or liquidator, are appointed to the grant recipient.
 
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Failure to satisfy the Research and Development Law’s requirements may subject us to mandatory repayment of grants received by us (together with interest and penalties), as well as expose us to criminal proceedings. In addition, the Government of Israel may from time to time audit sales of products which it claims incorporates technology funded through OCS programs which may lead to additional royalties being payable on additional products.
 
The funds available for OCS grants out of the annual budget of the State of Israel were reduced in recent years, and the Israeli authorities have indicated in the past that the government may further reduce or abolish OCS grants in the future.  Even if these grants are maintained, we cannot presently predict what would be the amounts of future grants, if any, that we might receive.
 
We may participate from time to time in the European Community Framework ProgrammeProgram for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration, which funds and promotes research.  There are no royalty obligations associated with receiving such funding.  From time to time we may apply for new grants under the Framework Programme. During 2010 and 2011 we were selected to participate in four FP-7 programs. The programs will continue for three and half years, with a total expected grant of approximately EUR 1.6 million. In addition, we were selected to coordinate one of these programs.
 
47Intellectual Property

 

Intellectual Property
We currently rely on a combination of trade secret, patent, copyright and trademark law, together with non-disclosure and non-compete agreements, to establish and/or protect the technology used in our systems.
 
We currently hold 110135 U.S. patents and 7450 patents issued in additional countries covering substantially the same technology as the U.S. patents.  We have over 10372 patent applications pending in the United States and other countries.  We believe that the improvement of existing products and the development of new products are important in establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage.  We believe that the value of our products is dependent upon our proprietary software and hardware continuing to be “trade secrets” or subject to copyright or patent protection.  We generally enter into non-disclosure and non-compete agreements with our employees and subcontractors.  However, there can be no assurance that such measures will protect our technology, or that others will not develop a similar technology or use technology in products competitive with those offered by us.  In most of the areas in which we operate, third parties also have patents which could be found applicable to our technology and products. Such third parties may include competitors, as well as large companies, which invest millions of dollars in their patent portfolios, regardless of their actual field of business. Although we believe that our products do not infringe upon the proprietary rights of third parties, there can be no assurance that one or more third parties will not make a contrary claim or that we will be successful in defending such claim.
 
FromIn the past we received, from time to time, we receive “cease and desist” letters claiming patent infringements.  However,Although there are currently no formal infringement claims or other actions have been filed with respectpending against us, in the event that we are required to defend ourselves against any such alleged infringement, except for past claims which have since been settled or dismissed.  Defending infringement claims or other claimsactions, we could involvebe subject to substantial costs and diversion of management resources.
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In addition, to the extent we are not successful in defending such claims, we may be subject to injunctions with respect to the use or sale of certain of our products or to liabilities for damages and may be required to obtain licenses which may not be available on reasonable terms. Any of these may have a material adverse impact on our business or financial condition.
 
We own the following trademarks and/or registered trademarks in different countries:  ACTIMIZE, Actimize logo, Alpha,Adaptive WFO, Customer Engagement Analytics, Decisive Moment, eGlue Interact, FAST, FAST alpha Silver, Fortent, Fortent Logo, IEX, Insight from Interactions, Intent. Insight. Impact., Know More Risk Less, Last Message Replay, Mass Detection Center, Mirra, NICE, NICE Analyzer, NICE Engage, NICE Engage Platform, NICE Interaction Management, NICE Sentinel, NICE Inform, NICE Inform Lite, NICE Inform Media Player, NICE Inform Verify, NICE Logo, NICE Perform, NICE SecurityWork Force Management, NICE Incentive Compensation Management, NICE Real Time Solutions, NICE Trading Recording, NICE Situator,Proactive Compliance, NICE Seamless, NICE Security Recording, NICE SmartCenter, NICE Systems, NiceLog, NiceTrack, NiceTrack IP Probe, NiceTrack Location Tracking, NiceTrack Mass Detection Center, NiceTrack Monitoring Center, NiceTrack Pattern Analyzer, NiceTrack Traffic Analysis, NiceVision, NiceVision Alto, NiceVision Analytics, NiceVision Control Center, NiceVision Digital, NiceVision Net, NiceVision NVSAT, NiceVision Pro, Open Situation Management, Own the Decisive Moment, Scenario Replay, Searchspace, Syfact, Syfact Investigator and TotalView.
 
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Seasonality
 
OurThe majority of our business is in the process of transitioning tooperates as an enterprise software model, which is characterized, in part, by uneven business cycles throughout the year and under which a significant number of our licenses are entered into in the fourth quarter of each calendar year. We believe that seasonality in our business may become more prominent as the proportion of advanced software applications out of our overall sales mix continues to increase. We believe that these seasonal factors primarily reflect customer spending patterns and budget cycles.  While seasonal factors such as these are common in the software and technology industry, this pattern should not be considered a reliable indicator of our future revenue or financial performance.  Many other factors, including general economic conditions, also have an impact on our business and financial results.  See “Risk Factors” under Item 3, "Key Information" of this annual report for a more detailed discussion of factors which may affect our business and financial results.
 
Regulation
 
Export Restrictions
 
The export of certain defense products from Israel, such as our NiceTrack line of products, requires a permit from the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MOD).  In addition, the sale of products to certain customers, mostly armed forces, also requires a permit from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.  In 2012, the vast majority of our sales were not subject to such permit requirements. To date, we have encountered no difficulties in obtaining such permits.  However, the MOD notifies us from time to time not to conduct business with specific countries that are undergoing political unrest, violating human rights or exhibiting hostility towards Israel, or imposes certain requirements as a condition to NICE being permitted to export products which are under the control of the MOD.  We may be unable to obtain permits for our intelligence products we could otherwise sell in particular countries in the future.
We may also be subject to applicable export control regulations in other countries from which we export goods and services, including the United States.  Such regulations may apply with respect to product components that are developed or manufactured in, or shipped from, the United States, or with respect to certain content contained in our products.  There are restrictions that apply to software products that contain encryption functionality, especially in the United States and Israel.  In the event that our products and services are subject to such controls and restrictions, we may be required to obtain an export license or authorization and comply with other applicable requirements pursuant to such regulations.
 
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European Environmental Regulations
 
Our European activities require us to comply with Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (“RoHS 1”), which came into effect on July 1, 2006, and the new Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment which came into effect on January 1, 2013  (together with RoHS 1, “RoHS”).  RoHS provides, inter alia,among other things, that producers of electrical and electronic equipment may not place new equipment containing lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers,certain materials, in amounts exceeding certain maximum concentration values, on the market in the European Union.  We are also required to comply with the European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006) that deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances (“REACH”), Currently SVHC-168), which came into effect on June 1, 2007.  REACH requires producers to manage the risks from chemicals used in their products and to provide safety information on the substances found in their products.
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Our products meet the requirements of the RoHS and REACH directives and we are making every effort in order to maintain compliance, without adversely affecting the quality and functionalities of our products.  If we fail to maintain compliance, including by reason of failure of our suppliers to comply, we may be restricted from conducting certain business in the European Union, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
 
Our European activities also require us to comply with Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (“WEEE”).  The WEEE directive covers the labeling, recovery and recycling of IT/Telecommunications equipment, electrical and electronic tools, monitoring and control instruments and other types of equipment, devices and items, and already partly came into effect on August 13, 2005.  Our products fall within the scope of the WEEE directive, and we have set up the operational and financial infrastructure required for collection and recycling of WEEE, as stipulated in the WEEE directive, including product labeling, registration and the joining of compliance schemes.  We are taking and will continue to take all requisite steps to ensure compliance with this directive.  If we fail to maintain compliance, we may be restricted from conducting certain business in the European Union, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
 
Similar regulations are being formulated in other parts of the world.  We may be required to comply with other similar programs that might be enacted outside Europe in the future.
 
Competition

The Customer Interactions Management market is highly competitive and includes numerous companies offering a broad range of features and capabilities.  As the market is still developing, we anticipate the introduction of new and enhanced products by the players in the market.
We believe that our solutions have aseveral competitive advantage based onadvantages (as set forth above in this Item 4 – “Business Overview”) as well as: their ability to serve large, multi-site, multi-channel, multi-touch point customer service organizationsscale, performance and their holistic integrationaccuracy, comprehensiveness of solutions and capture of various structured and unstructured data sources, their ability to extract insight with a multi-dimensional approach, and to drive cross-departmental action to impact business results.
In the WFO suite domain we are facing competition from vendors such as Aspect, Avaya, Software Inc., Callabrio, Genesys, Interactive Intelligence Inc. and Verint Systems.    broad functionality.
 
In Customer Interactions space, we are seeing more CRM and Business Intelligence companies offer solutions that compete with our Customer Interactions analytics offerings. Also, with the Real-time Cross-channel Analytics arenashift to cloud, CCaaS providers are offering complete solutions that include several of our WFO capabilities. In this market, we face competition fromcompete against WFO vendors, as well as contact center infrastructure vendors that expand their offering to include some WFO or analytics capabilities, such as Hewlett-Packard(through its acquisition of Autonomy Corp.), CallMiner, ClickFox, Infor, Mattersight (formerly eLoyalty), Nexidia, Pegasystems,vendors include Aspect Technology, Genesys and Utopy (now Genesys). Some of these vendors provide solutions which are not Real-time in nature and some provide solutions focused on one channel analytics (e.g. speech analytics).Verint Systems,
 
 
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In the Real-Time Decisioning and Guidance market we face competition from vendors such as Oracle ATG, Jacada and OpenSpan.
Following our recent acquisition of Fizzback, we introduced our Voice of the Customer solution for holistic view of the customer in the Customer Experience Management market. In this domain we are facing competition from vendors such as Medallia and ResponseTek.
We recently launched our Contact Center Fraud Prevention solution, which complements our cross divisional offering. We now face competition against vendors that offer Voice Biometrics such as Victrio.
As we are expanding our Software as a Service (SaaS) offering we are facing competition from some of our traditional competitors mentioned above, offering their solution in a SaaS model as well as competition from specific WFO providers offering their solution in a SaaS model only such as Interactive Intelligence and InContact.
A competitive advantage in the Customer Interactions Management market can be achieved through differentiation in product offering or business model.  With respect to products, we consider breadth of offering, application functionality, system performance and reliability, the ability to integrate with a variety of external systems and ease of use as key factors.  With respect to the business model, we consider marketing and distribution capacity, price and global service and support capacity as key factors.  We believe that NICE established a competitive advantage in the market based on our ability to service large, multi-site, multi-channel, multi-touch point customer service organizations and their holistic integration and our solutions capabilities to capture various structured and unstructured data sources, to extract insight with a multi-dimensional approach, and to drive cross-departmental action to impact business results. Furthermore, we believe the strength of our installed customer base alongside the size and capabilities of our global distribution network, our business partners, and our global service and support capacity provide us a significant differentiation factors in the market.
The driving forces of the Financial Crime and Compliance software solutions market are the introductionwe compete against niche vendors that provide one subset of new regulationsfunctionality to protect against a specific risk and financial crime patternsagainst vendors that impact the entire financial services industry. The competitive landscape is highly fragmented. We face no single competitor that competes with us across all our solution areas. That being said, we face significant competition for each solution that we offer.  We believe that our focus on the financial services (and related) market provides us deep domain expertise that combined with our fast time to market, ability to provide service across the enterprise using one core platform and our ability to serve specific “point” solutions, all serve as levers to establish dominance in the market.  Our software solutions face competition from custom solutions developed internally by financial services institutions, as well as software and other solutions offered by commercial competitors thata more comprehensive offering. Such vendors include ACI Worldwide, BAE Systems, FICO, Oracle Corporation, Progress Software,and SAS Institute Inc. and Sungard Data Systems.
 
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In the public safety voice recording for emergency calls market our ability to deliver an integrated recording system that can capture voice, video, data and meta-data information from trunk radio systems and computer aided dispatch systems, provide us a superior market position in respect to our competitors mainly in the large high-end emergency centers.  Another differentiating factor can be found in our applications for scenario reconstruction connecting multiple multimedia sources, including voice, video, data, GIS and meta-data together. Some of our competitors in the public safety market include ASC Telecom, Redbox Recorders, Ultra Electronics AudioSoft and Verint Systems. 
 In the video platform, applications and analytics market we compete against, amongst others,  Bosch Security Systems, Genetec Inc., IndigoVision Group, Milestone Systems A/S, On-Net Surveillance Systems, Schneider Electric (formerly Pelco) and Verint Systems. In this fragmented market we offer a full solution based on our self-developed recording, management software, networking devices and real-time content analysis. This solution provides open interfaces to third party devices and applications and creates a competitive advantage for us in this market.
There are a few competitors who have products in the Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) market that compete with our Situator platform.  These include, amongst others, ADT Security Services (formerly Proximex), CNL Software, Verint Systems and VidsSys.  We offer a comprehensive and open solution that integrates with dozens of systems and sensors. This has spelled into a significant advantage for us in the market.  Furthermore, the domain expertise we have gained across each of our verticals means that we can tailor business logic (such as workflows and rules), specifically to the customer requirements.
There are a number of competitors in the telecommunications monitoring market, having products competing with our NiceTrack family of solutions. The primary ones are Atis, BAE Systems, JSI Telecom, Pen-link Ltd., SS8 Networks, Inc., Trovicor and Verint Systems.  We believe that our solutions offer innovations that provide law enforcement agencies and intelligence organizations the tools and capabilities they require to meet the challenges of today’s advanced telecommunications world.
Moreover, major enterprise software vendors, such as those from the traditional enterprise business intelligence and business analytics sector, Customer Relationship Management (or CRM), or infrastructure players (mostly telephony or switch vendors), may decide to enter our market space and compete with us in this emerging opportunity, either by internal development of comprehensive solutions or through acquisition of any of our existing competitors.
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Organizational Structure
 
The following is a list of our significant subsidiaries, including the name and country of incorporation or residence. Each of our significant subsidiaries is wholly-owned by us.
 
Name of Subsidiary
 
Country of Incorporation or Residence
Nice Systems Australia PTY Ltd. Australia
NICE Systems Technologies Brasil LTDA Brazil
NICE Systems Canada Ltd. Canada
Nice Systems China Ltd. China
Nice Systems S.A.R.L. France
NICE Systems GmbH Germany
NICE APAC Ltd. Hong Kong
NICE Systems Kft Hungary
Nice Interactive Solutions India Private Ltd. India
Nice Technologies Ltd. Ireland
Actimize Ltd. Israel
Nice Japan Ltd. Japan
NICE Technologies Mexico S.R.L. Mexico
CyberTech B.V.Netherlands
IEX CorporationNICE Systems B.V. Netherlands
Nice Systems (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Singapore
Nice Switzerland AG Switzerland
Actimize UK Limited United Kingdom
CyberTechNICE Systems Technologies UK LimitedUnited Kingdom
Fortent LimitedUnited Kingdom
Merced Systems Limited United Kingdom
NICE Systems UK Ltd. United Kingdom
Redkite Financial Markets Ltd.
River Projects International Limited
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The Fizzback Group LimitedUnited Kingdom
Actimize Inc.United States
Cybertech North America L.L.C.United States
IEX CorporationUnited States
Merced Systems Inc. United States
Nice Systems Inc. United States
Nice Systems Latin America, Inc. United States
Nice Systems Technologies Inc.United States

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Property, Plants and Equipment
 
Our executive offices and engineering, research and development operations are located in North Ra’anana, Israel. The offices include three buildings, which occupy: (i)occupy approximately 116,000320,811 square feet (which are partially sub-leased as detailed below), with an annual rent and maintenance fee of approximately $3.15 million, paid in NIS and linked to the Israeli consumer price index, (ii) approximately 64,000 square feet, with an annual rent and maintenance fee for this facility of approximately $1.58 million, paid in NIS and linked to the Israeli consumer price index, and (iii) a new building completed during August 2012, of approximately 118,000 square feet, with an annual rent and maintenance fee for this facility of approximately $2.6$11.7 million, paid in NIS and linked to the Israeli consumer price index.  The lease for these three buildingsoffices in our Northern Ra’anana facilities will expire in December 2022October 2022.
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Due to the sale of our Cyber and fully replacedIntelligence and Physical Security business units during 2015, some of our office space was sub-leased and our portion of the Ra’anana Central Officesannual rent and maintenance fee is now approximately $9.0 million, paid in January 2013.NIS and linked to the Israeli consumer price index.
 
We have leased various other offices and facilities in several other countries.  Our material leased facilitiesheadquarters in each region consist of the following:following facilities:

· ·Our new North American headquarters in Paramus, New Jersey which occupies approximately 34,50034,416 square feet and includes training and lab facilities.  We also have an additional office in New York, which occupies an aggregate 48,000of approximately 36,674 square feet; bothfeet. Both locations are used as office space. In 2016 we plan to consolidate our North American locations into new leased offices in Hoboken, New Jersey.
·Our EMEA headquarters in Southampton, U.K., occupies approximately 11,151 square feet. We also have an additional office in London, which occupies approximately 22,504 square feet. Both locations are used as office space and include a lab; and
·Our APAC headquarters in Singapore occupies approximately 7,788 square feet and is used as office space.
 
We also have additional material leased facilities, consisting of the following:
·Our office in Denver, Colorado which occupies approximately 27,063 square feet and is used as office space and includes a training facility and lab;
 
·Our office in Richardson, Texas which occupies approximately 37,564 square feet and is used as office space;
 
·Our office in Southampton, U.K., whichPune, India occupies 26,878 square feet and includes a training center; and
·Our office in the Netherlands occupies approximately 23,42810,452 square feet and is used as office space and includes a training facility and lab;
·     Our offices in London, U.K., which occupies approximately 21,500 square feet and is used as office space and includes a lab;
·     Our office in Berkshire, U.K., which occupies approximately 10,158 square feet and is used as office space;
·     Our office in Redwood Shores California, which occupies approximately 27,776 square feet and is used as office space and includes a lab;
·     Our office in the Netherlands, which occupies approximately 32,290 square feet and is used as office space and includes a training facility,test lab, and a production area; and
·     Our office in Singapore, which occupies approximately 5,591 square feet and is used as office space.area.
 
We believe that our existing facilities are adequate to meet our current and foreseeable future needs.
Item 4A.         Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.
 
 
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Item 4A.              Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.
Item 5.            Operating and Financial Review and Prospects.
 
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this annual report.  This discussion contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  As a result of many factors, including those set forth under Item 3, “Key Information - Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this annual report, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements.  For more information about forward-looking statements, see the Preliminary Note that precedes the Table of Contents of this annual report.
 
Overview
 
We are
NICE is a leading global enterprise software provider of software solutions that enableenables organizations to take the next-best-action in order to improve customer experience, anddrive business results,performance, ensure compliance and fight financial crime,crime.
Our mission is to provide organizations with the confidence in making the right business decisions based on accurate, relevant and safeguard peopleinsightful information.
We help companies understand their customers and assets.predict their needs, optimize their workforce to drive greater efficiency, and identify suspicious behaviour to prevent financial crime.
We do this by capturing customer interactions and transactions across multiple channels and sources. We then apply best-in-class analytics to this data to provide real-time insight and uncover intent. Our solutions allow organizations to operationalize this insight and embed it within their workflows and daily business processes.

Consumers transact
Our advanced technologies and interact withcore competencies around data capture and about organizations through various measures, including, among others, by phone – landline and mobile, face to facethe application of advanced analytics in the branch or store,real-time were developed organically and through social media. Through these many channels and touchpoints, consumers are generating mass amounts of data. Organizations are faced with the task of havingmultiple acquisitions.
We rely on several key assets to analyze and understand all this data in real time, so that they can take the right action and make an immediate and positive impact.drive our growth:

·Our end-to-end solutions enable organizations to capture either directly or indirectly, analyze, and operationalize, both off-line and in real time, mass quantities of structured and unstructured data (Big Data) from multipleloyal customer interaction channels, including phone calls, web activity,  mobile apps, emails, chat, social media, video, radio transmission, physical sensors, and transactions.

We operate in three business areas. Our Customer Interactions business serves customer-centricbase. Today, more than 20,000 organizations in Business-to-Consumer enterprises, such asover 150 countries, including 80 of the Fortune 100 companies, are using NICE solutions.
·      Our market leadership makes us a well-recognized brand, and creates top-of-mind awareness for our solutions in the financial services, telecommunications,our areas of operation.
·      Our products and healthcare industries,market leading data capture and others. Our Financial Crime & Compliance business serves financial institutions and regulatory agencies. Our Security, Safety & Operations business addresses the needsanalytics technologies, which are protected by a broad array of security sensitive organizations, such as banks, airports, mass transit, utilities, and public safety agencies.patents.
 
 
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·      Our ability to quickly drive mainstream adoption for innovative solutions and new technologies, which we introduce to the market through our direct sales force and distribution network.
In each of
·      Our skilled employees and domain expertise in our businesses,core markets allows us to bring our customers the right solutions to address key business challenges and build strong customer partnerships.
·      Our services and customer support, which enable our customers to best prepare before, act during, and continuously improve interactions, transactions, and events. As a result,quickly enjoy the benefits of our solutions, deliver substantial impact on revenue growth, operational efficiency, customer experience, compliance,with multiple deployment models and ensuring the safety and security of people and assets.support for full value realization.

We are offering our solutions primarilyhave established a leadership position in an on-premise business model. To address growing market demand and customer need for greater operational flexibility with lower upfront costs and faster implementations, we also offer many of our areas of operation through offering comprehensive and innovative enterprise-grade solutions as Hosted or as Software as a Service (SaaS). We intend to continue to expandand technologies. Our customers, across all verticals, including banking, telecommunications, healthcare, insurance, retail, travel, public safety and more, are benefiting from the tangible and practical business value that our offering as hosted or in a SaaS model.solutions provide.

For a breakdown of total revenues by products and services and by geographic markets, for each of the last three years, please see Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects – Results of Operation.”

Recent Acquisitions
 
The following acquisitions were accounted for by the acquisition method of accounting, and, accordingly, the purchase price was allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their respective fair values.  The results of operations related to each acquisition, other than the acquisition of Nexidia (which is expected to occur in 2016) are included in our consolidated statement of income from the date of acquisition.
 
On OctoberMarch 22, 2012,2016, we completed the acquisition of RedKite Financial Markets Limited (“RedKite”)Nexidia Inc., an emerginga leading provider of real-time, cloud-based institutional trade surveillance solutions.advanced customer analytics. We acquired RedKiteNexidia for total consideration of approximately $11.6$135.0 million in cash. The acquisition will allow us to offer a combined offering, featuring analytics capabilities with accuracy, scalability and performance, enabling organizations to expand their analytics usage in critical business use cases. Organizations will benefit from the combined offering, which features a best-in-class, analytics-based solution.
On August 12, 2013, we completed the acquisition of Causata Inc. (“Causata”), a provider of real-time Big Data analytics. We acquired Causata for total consideration of approximately $22.7 million comprised of $9.0$21.4 million in cash and $2.6$1.3 million representing the fair value of earn-out based on performance milestones, amounting to an additional maximum payment of $5.8 million.$2.0 million. The acquisition allows NICE Actimize’s enterprise trading compliance platform, broad library of regulatory coverage modules, market leadership,to offer solutions which provide greater visibility into a customer’s activities on the Web and global tier-one client presence, are expectedapply the insights from that data in real time, across other touch points such as the contact center. Organizations will be better positioned to benefit fromenhance the RedKite acquisition, with the addition of RedKite’s innovative, front-office based approach to real-time trade surveillance to the Actimize trading compliance solutions suite.
On February 7, 2012, we completed the acquisition of Merced Systems, Inc. ("Merced"), the leading provider of performance management solutions that drive business execution in sales and service functions. We acquired Merced for total consideration of approximately $185.9 million.  Merced’s performance management solutions help drive sales effectiveness, superior customer experience, increase revenues, and operating efficiency across a range of vertical industries. Merced’s products serve Global 2000 customers, and include advancedachieve greater operational efficiency. These solutions are further augmented by Causata’s Web-based predictive analytics and reporting, incentive compensation management, coaching,machine learning technologies, which, when applied to terabytes of information, allow organizations to improve real-time decisioning and other performance execution applications. It is expected that integrating Mercedguidance. NICE benefits from Causata’s real-time Hadoop-based interaction repository, real-time decisioning, dynamic customer profiles, and NICE capabilities will create a closed-loop performance management solution.Web personalization.
 
 
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On October 26, 2011, weMarch 11, 2016, NICE completed the acquisition of Fizzback Group (Holdings) Ltd. ("Fizzback"), a global provider of Voice of the Customer (VoC) solutions, providing software solutions for real-time customer feedback that drive customer loyalty and employee performance. The Fizzback solution helps companies listen, respond and act in real-time to their customers’ comments.  We acquired Fizzback for a total consideration of approximately $80.9 million. The combination of Fizzback and NICE will both improve Customer Experience Management (CEM) as well as operationalize VoC both for the contact center and across the enterprise.
On March 4, 2011, we completed the acquisition of CyberTech Investments (“CyberTech”), a global provider of compliance recording solutions and value-added applications. We acquired CyberTech for total cash consideration of approximately $59.4 million. The addition of CyberTech solutions to the NICE portfolio broadens our offering for financial institutions, strengthens our commitment to the small and medium size business sector, and adds to our public safety solutions.
On July 15, 2010, we completed the acquisition of e-Glue Software Technologies,Voiceprint International, Inc. ("e-Glue"), a leading provider of real-time decisioning and guidance solutions.  The acquisition was for total consideration of approximately $31.4 million, comprised of $25.6 million in cash and $5.8 million representing the fair value of earn out based on performance milestones amounting to additional payment of $6 million.  
On May 25, 2010, we completed the acquisition of Lamda Communication Networks Ltd. (“Lamda”), a provider of satellite communications interception technology based in Israel.  The acquisition wasworkforce optimization software and services for total consideration of approximately $6.9 million, comprised of $5.0 million in cashenterprises, contact centers, first responders and $1.9 million representing the fair value of a potential earn out based on performance milestones amountingtrading floors.

In addition, from time to a maximum additional payment of up to $3 million.  Lamda's unique technology addresses the growing demand for satellite communication interception capabilitiestime we complete acquisitions and enables law enforcement, internal security and intelligence agencies to fight crime and terror more effectively.
On January 11, 2010, we completed the acquisition of certain assets and liabilities of Orsus Solutions Limited and certain subsidiaries of Orsus (collectively, “Orsus”), a leading provider of Security Management Solutions.  The acquisition was for total consideration of approximately $21.5 million in cash.  Orsus' flagship solution, Situator, provides a framework for fusing data silos from disparate security and safety systems as well as multiple command and control centers, into a single, holistic operational view and automating security procedures.
We also completed the acquisition of certain assets of Composia Ltd. and MindCite (Israel) Ltd., in 2011 and 2012, respectively.  The technologies acquired as part of these acquisitions add to both our Enterprise and Security offerings.  These acquisitions wereinvestments that are not considered material to our business and operations.

Discontinued Operations
In order to allow NICE to focus on its core business as an enterprise software company in accordance with its long-term strategic plan, we recently completed the sale of the Physical Security and Cyber and Intelligence business units.

In September 2015, we sold our Physical Security business unit to Battery Ventures for total consideration of $92.5 million, consisting of $74.6 million in cash, notes of $2.9 million and up to a $15.0 million earn out based on future performance. ​Through NICE’s Physical Security business unit, we previously provided video surveillance technologies and capabilities to security-aware organizations. We previously accounted for the Physical Security unit under the Security Solution segment.
In July 2015, we sold our Cyber and Intelligence business unit to Elbit Systems for total consideration of $151.6 million, consisting of $111.6 million in cash and $40.0 million earn out based on future performance. ​Through NICE’s Cyber and Intelligence business unit, we previously offered solutions which provide law enforcement agencies, intelligence organizations and signal intelligence agencies with tools for generating intelligence from communications. We previously accounted for the Cyber and Intelligence unit under the Security Solution segment.
Following the sale of these two business units, we have classified their results of operations (including the gain on their disposal) and their assets and liabilities as discontinued operations in accordance with ASC 205-20, “Presentation of Financial Statements - Discontinued Operations”.

The carrying amount used in determining the gain on disposal of the operations included goodwill in an amount calculated based on the relative fair values of the disposed operations and the portion of the operation that was retained within the segment.

Off-Balance Sheet Transactions
 
We have not engaged in nor been a party to any off-balance sheet transactions, as defined in Item 5 of Form 20-F.
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Critical Accounting Policies
 
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make judgments and estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from those estimates.  Management believes that the significant accounting policies which affect its more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements and those that are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our reported results include the following:
 
 ·Revenue recognitionrecognition;
 
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 ·Allowance for doubtful accountsaccounts;
 
 ·Impairment of long-lived assetsassets;
 
 ·Taxes on incomeincome;
 
 ·ContingenciesContingencies;
 
 ·Business combinationcombination;
 
 ·Stock-based compensation; and
 
 ·Valuation of investmentinvestments in marketable securities.
 
Revenue Recognition.  We derive ourgenerate revenues primarily from sales of software products and services, which include support and maintenance, installation,implementation, configuration, project management, customization, consulting, training, hosting and hosting,SaaS, as well as hardware sales. Revenue related toWe sell our products directly through our sales force and indirectly through a global network of distributors, system integrators and strategic partners, all of whom are considered end-users.
The basis for our software revenue recognition is substantially governed by the accounting guidance contained in ASC 985-605, “Software-Revenue Recognition.” Revenues from sales of our software products is generallyare recognized when persuasive evidence of an agreement exists, delivery of the product has been delivered and title and risk of loss have passed tooccurred, the buyer, the sales pricefee is fixed or determinable and collectability is probable. Sales agreements whichIn transactions where a customer's contractual terms include a provision for customer acceptance, revenues are not recognized as revenue until either the customer has confirmed that the product or servicewhen such acceptance has been acceptedobtained or as the acceptance provision has lapsed.
 
For arrangements with multiple elementselement arrangements within the scope of software revenue recognition guidance, we allocate revenuerevenues are allocated to the different elements in the arrangement under the residual method"residual method" when vendor specific objective evidenceVendor Specific Objective Evidence ("VSOE") of fair value exists for all undelivered elements and no VSOE exists for the delivered elements. This means thatUnder the residual method, we defer the arrangement fee equivalent torevenue for the fair value of theits undelivered elements and recognize revenue for the remainder of the arrangement fee attributable to the elements initially delivered in the arrangement (software licenses) when the basic criteria in ASC 985-605 have been met. Any discount in the arrangement is allocated to the delivered element. Revenues from maintenance and professional services are recognized ratably over the contractual period and as services are performed, respectively.
 
 
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Starting January 1, 2011, we adopted the guidance of ASU 2009-13, Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements, (amendments to FASB ASC Topic 605, Revenue Recognition) ("ASU 2009-13") and ASU 2009-14, Certain Arrangements That Include Software Elements, (amendments to FASB ASC Topic 985, Software) ("ASU 2009-14"). ASU 2009-13 requires entities to allocate revenue in an arrangement using estimated selling prices of the delivered goods and services based on a selling price hierarchy. The amendment eliminates the residual method of revenue allocation and requires revenue to be allocated using the relative selling price method. ASU 2009-14 removes tangible products from the scope of software revenue guidance and provides guidance in determining whether software deliverables in an arrangementFor arrangements that includes a tangible product are covered by the scope of the software revenue guidance. As such, we prospectively applied these provisions to all revenue arrangements entered into or materially modified after January 1, 2011.  This guidance does not generally change the units of accounting for our revenue transactions. Most products and services qualify as separate units of accounting and the revenue is recognized when the applicable revenue recognition criteria are met. Our arrangements generally do not include any provisions for cancellation, termination, or refunds that would significantly impact recognized revenue. While certain of our products with embedded software are now accounted for following ASC 605, other software deliverables which are occasionally sold together with tangible products are not essential for the performance of the tangible products and thus continued to be within the scope of ASC 985-605. As a result, the impact of the adoption of these standards was immaterial.
Our revenue recognition policies provide that, when a sales arrangement contains multiple elements, such ascontain both software and non-software components that function together to deliver the products’products' essential functionality, we allocate revenue to each element based on its relative selling price. In such circumstances, the accounting principles establish a hierarchy to determine the selling price hierarchy.to be used for allocating revenue to deliverables. The selling price for a deliverable is based on its VSOE, if available, third party evidence ("TPE"(“TPE”) if VSOE is not available, or best estimated selling price ("ESP"(“BESP”) if neither VSOE nor TPE isare available. We establish VSOE of selling pricefair value using the price charged for a deliverable when sold separately and, in rare instances, using the price established by management having the relevant authority. When VSOE cannot be established, we attempt to establish selling pricefair value of each element based on TPE. TPE is determined based on competitor prices for similar deliverables when sold separately. Generally, our go-to-market strategy differs from that of our peers and our offerings contain a significant level of differentiation such that the comparable pricing of products with similar functionality cannot be obtained. Furthermore, we are unable to reliably determine what similar competitor products’ selling prices are on a standalone basis. Therefore, we are typically not able to determine TPE.  The best estimate of sellingBESP price is established considering several external and internal factors including, but not limited to, historical sales, pricing practices and geographies in which we offer our products. The determination of the ESPBESP is subject to discretion.
 
In multiple element arrangements where more-than-incidental software deliverables are included, revenue is allocated to each separate unit of accounting for each of the non-software deliverables and to the software deliverables as a group using the relative selling prices of each of the deliverables in the arrangement based on the aforementioned selling price hierarchy. If the arrangement contains more than one software deliverable, the arrangement consideration allocated to the software deliverables as a group is then allocated to each software deliverable using the guidance for recognizing software revenue, as amended.
For all periods presented, amounts billed to customers related to shipping and handling are classified as revenue, and our shipping and handling costs are included in cost of sales.
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Our policy for establishing VSOE of fair value of maintenance services is based on the price charged when the maintenance is renewed separately. Establishment of VSOE of fair value of professional services is based on the price charged when these services are sold separately.
 
Revenues from maintenance and professional services are recognized ratably over the contractual period or as services are performed, respectively.
Revenues from fixed price contracts that require significant customization, integration and installation are recognized based on ASC 605-35, “Construction-Type and Production-Type Contracts,” using the percentage-of-completion method of accounting based on the ratio of costs related to contract performance incurred to date to the total estimated amount of such costs. The amount of revenue recognized is based on the total fees under the arrangementsarrangement and the percentage of completion achieved. Provisions for estimated losses on uncompleted contracts are made in the period in which such losses are first determined, in the amount of the estimated loss on the entire contact.
 
We also generate sales from SaaS offerings which provide our customers access to certain of our software within a cloud-based IT environment that we manage and offer to customers on a subscription basis. Revenues for our software SaaS subscription offerings are recognized ratably over the contract term commencing fromwith the date its service is made available to customers and when all other revenue recognition criteria have been satisfied.
 
To assess the probability of collection for revenue recognition, we have an established a credit policy that determines the credit limit that reflects an amount that is deemed probably collectible for each customer.  These credit limits are reviewed and revised periodically on the basis of new customer financial statementstatements information, credit insurance data and payment performance.
 
We recordmaintain a provision for product returns which is estimated sales returns in accordance with ASC 605, "Revenue Recognition" in the same period as the related revenues are recorded.  We base these estimatesbased on the historical sales returns ratioour past experience and other known factors.is deducted from revenues. Actual returns could be different from our estimates.
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Deferred revenues include advances and payments received from customers, for which revenue has not yet been recognized.
 
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts.  We regularly review our allowance for doubtful accounts by considering factors such as historical experience, age of the account receivable and current economic conditions that may affect a customer’s ability to pay.  We allocate a certain percentage for the provision based on the length of time the receivables are past due.
 
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets.  Our long-lived assets include goodwill, property and equipment In Process Research and Development, and identifiable other intangible assets that are subject to amortization.  In assessing the recoverability of our goodwill, property and equipment and other identifiable intangible assets that are held and used, we make judgments regarding whether impairment indicators exist based on legal factors, market conditions and operating performances of our reporting units or asset groups.  Future events could cause us to conclude that impairment indicators exist and that the carrying values of these long-lived assets are impaired.  Any resulting impairment loss could have a material adverse impact on our financial position and results of operations.
 
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Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price in a business combination over the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired. Under ASC 350 "Intangible“Intangible – Goodwill and Other,"” goodwill is not amortized, but rather is subject to an annual impairment test. ASC 350 requires that goodwill be tested for impairment at the reporting unit level on an annual basis andor between annual tests if an event occurs orin certain circumstances, change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying value.  These events or circumstances could include a significant change in the business climate, legal factors, operating performance indicators, competition or sale or disposition of a significant portion of a reporting unit.  We operate in three operation-based segments: Customer Interactions Solutions, Security Solutions and Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions - and these segments comprise our reporting units.
In September 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB issued ASU 2011-08, Testing Goodwill for Impairment, codified in ASC 350 "Intangibles – Goodwill and Other." The revised accounting standard is intended to simplify how an entity tests goodwill for impairment. The amendment allows an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test. An entity is no longer required to calculate the fair value of a reporting unit unless the entity determines, based on a qualitative assessment, that it is more likely than not that its fair value is less than its carrying amount. We adopted the new guidance as of January 1, 2012.
written down when impaired.  Application of the goodwill impairment test requires judgment, including the identification of reporting units, assignment of assets and liabilities to reporting units, assignment of goodwill to reporting units and determination of the fair value of each reporting unit. The goodwill impairment test is a two-step test.  Underperformed according to the first step, the fair value of the reporting unit is compared with its carrying value (including goodwill).  If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, an indication of goodwill impairment exists for the reporting unit and the enterprise must perform step two of the impairment test (measurement).  Under step two, an impairment loss is recognized for any excess of the carrying amount of the reporting units’ goodwill over the implied fair value of that goodwill.  If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying value, step two does not need to be performed.  The fair value of each reporting unit is estimated using a discounted cash flow methodology.  This requires significant judgments including estimation of future cash flows, which is dependent on internal forecasts, estimation of the long-term rate of growth for our reporting units, the period over which cash flows will occur and determination of our weighted average cost of capital.  Changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially affect the determination of fair value and/or goodwill impairment for each reporting unit.  We allocate goodwill to reporting units based on the reporting unit’s expected benefit from the acquisition.following principles:
 
Following the adoption of the new standard described above we performed a qualitative assessment and concluded that for the Customer Interactions Solutions and the Security Solutions, it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting units is less than their respective carrying amounts and accordingly it is not necessary to perform the two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test. For the Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions segment, we concluded that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount and accordingly a quantitative goodwill impairment test was performed during the fourth quarter of 2012. Based upon the annual impairment test of the Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions, the estimated fair value of the reporting unit was not substantially in excess of its respective carrying values (exceeded by approximately 13%). Because the estimated fair value did not exceed the carrying value in the quantitative test, no impairment of goodwill existed and the second step of the goodwill impairment test was not required. Therefore in the event of unfavorable changes in forecasted cash flows, terminal value multiples and/or weighted-average cost of capital, the Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions reporting unit is at risk of failing the first step of the goodwill impairment test.
·An initial qualitative assessment of the likelihood of impairment may be performed. If this indicates that the qualitative assessment does not result in a more likely than not indication of impairment, no further impairment testing is required. If it does result in a more likely than not indication of impairment, the two-step impairment test is performed. Alternatively, ASC 350 permits an entity to bypass the qualitative assessment for any reporting unit and proceed directly to performing the first step of the goodwill impairment test.
·Under the first step of the impairment test, the fair value of the reporting unit is compared with its carrying value (including goodwill). If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value of the net assets allocated to that unit, goodwill is not impaired, and no further testing is required. If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, an indication of goodwill impairment exists for the reporting unit and the enterprise must perform the second step of the two-step impairment test to measure the amount of the impairment.
·Under the second step, the reporting unit’s fair value is allocated to all the assets and liabilities of the reporting unit, including any unrecognized intangible assets, in a hypothetical analysis that simulates the business combination principles to derive an implied goodwill value. If the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill is less than its carrying value, the difference is recorded as impairment.
 
 
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Fair value is determined using discounted cash flows. Significant estimates used in the fair value methodologies include estimates of future cash flows, future growth rates and the weighted average cost of capital of the reporting units.
 
We are required to assessoperate in operation-based segments, which also comprise our reporting units: Customer Interactions Solutions and Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions. We performed a qualitative assessment for our reporting units during the fourth quarter of 2015 and concluded that the qualitative assessment did not result in a more likely than not indication of impairment in any of our reporting units, and therefore no further impairment testing is required.
Our long-lived assets tangible and intangible, other than goodwill, underidentifiable intangibles that are subject to amortization are reviewed for impairment in accordance with ASC 360, "Property,“Property, Plant, and Equipment," when” whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying valueamount of an asset may not be recoverable.  Impairment indicators include any significant changes in the manner of our use of the assets or the strategy of our overall business,and significant negative industry or economic trends and significant decline in our share price for a sustained period.trends.
 
Upon determination that the carrying value of a long-lived asset may not be recoverable based upon a comparison of aggregate undiscounted projected future cash flows to the carrying amount of the asset, an impairment charge is recorded for the excess of fair value over the carrying amount.amount over fair value.  No impairment of long-lived asset was recorded for 2015
 
Taxes on Income.  We record income taxes using the asset and liability method.  Management judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate.  The provision for income tax is calculated based on our assumptions as to our entitlement to various benefits under the applicable tax laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate.  The entitlement to such benefits depends upon our compliance with the terms and conditions set out in these laws.  We have considered future reversal of existing temporary differences, future taxable income, prudent and feasible tax planning strategies and other available evidence in determining the need for a valuation allowance.  Although we believe that our estimates are reasonable and that we have considered future taxable income and ongoing prudent and feasible tax strategies in estimating our tax outcome, there is no assurance that the final tax outcome will not be different than those which are reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals.   Such differences could have a material effect on our income tax provision, net income and cash balances in the period in which such determination is made.
 
We implement a two-step approach to recognize and measure uncertain tax positions.  The first step is to evaluate the tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that, on an evaluation of the technical merits, the tax position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes.  The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% (on a cumulative basis) likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement.
 
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We record interest on late tax payments and tax related penalties as  a component of our Taxes on Income. Beginning 2012, we revised our accounting policy and now classify interest and penalties related toon income taxes (which includes uncertain tax positions) as a component of the provision for income taxes in taxesTaxes on income (tax benefit) on the consolidated statements of income. We believe that the classification of interest and penalties in the provision for income taxes is preferable because we believe these interest and penalties are costs of managing taxes payable (as opposed to, for example, interest being the cost of a debt). It is also more consistent with the way in which we manage the settlement of uncertain tax positions as one overall amount inclusive of interest and penalties and will provide more meaningful information to investors by including only interest income related to the our financial assets within financial income, net.
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The change in accounting method for presentation of interest and penalties for income taxes was accounted for in accordance with ASC 250, "Accounting Changes and Error Corrections."  Accordingly, the change in accounting principle has been applied retrospectively by adjusting the financial statement amounts for the prior periods presented. The change to current or historical periods presented herein due to the change in accounting principle was limited to income statement classification, with no effect on net income.Income.
 
Contingencies.  From time to time, we are a defendant or plaintiff in various legal actions, which arise in the normal course of business.  We are required to assess the likelihood of any adverse judgments or outcomes to these matters as well as potential ranges of probable losses.  A determination of the accrual required for these contingencies, if any, which would be charged to earnings, is made after careful and considered analysis of each individual action together with our legal advisors.  The required reserves may change in the future due to new developments in each matter or changes in circumstances, such as a change in settlement strategy.  A change in the required reserves would affect our earnings in the period the change is made.
 
Business Combination.  We apply the provisions of ASC 805, "Business“Business Combination,"” and accordingly we are required to allocate the purchase price of acquired companies to the tangible and intangible assets acquired, liabilities assumed, as well as in-process research and development based on their estimated fair values.  In allocating the purchase price of acquired companies to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed, we developed the required assumptions underlying the valuation work.  Critical estimates in valuing certain of the intangible assets include but are not limited to: future expected cash flows from customer contracts, customer lists, distribution agreements and acquired developed technologies; expected costs to develop the in-process research and development into commercially viable products and estimating cash flows from the projects when completed; the acquired company’s brand awareness and market position, as well as assumptions about the period of time the brand will continue to be used in the combined company’s product portfolio; and discount rates.  Management’s estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, utilizing a market participant approach, but which are inherently uncertain and unpredictable.  Assumptions may be incomplete or inaccurate, and unanticipated events and circumstances may occur.  We were assisted by a third party appraiser in applying the required economic models (such as income approach and cost approach), in order to estimate the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the business combination.
 
Stock-based Compensation.  We account for stock-based compensation in accordance with the provisions of ASC 718, "Compensation“Compensation - Stock Compensation."  Under the fair value recognition provisions of ASC 718, stock-based compensation cost is estimated at the grant date based on the fair value of the award and is recognized as expense ratably over the requisite service period of the award.  We estimate the fair value of stock options granted using the Black-Scholes-Merton option-pricing model and values restricted stock based on the market value of the underlying shares at the date of grant.  We recognize compensation costs using the graded vesting attribution method that results in an accelerated recognition of compensation costs.
 
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The fair value of an award is affected by our stock price on the date of grant and other assumptions, including the estimated volatility of our stock price over the term of the awards and the estimated period of time that we expect employees to hold their stock options.  Share-based compensation expense recognized in our consolidated statements of income was reduced for estimated forfeitures.
 
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Valuation of investmentsInvestments in marketable securitiesMarketable Securities.  We review the valuation of our securities for impairment in accordance with ASC 320-10-65. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment charge is recognized in earnings when a decline in the fair value of investments below the cost basis is judged to be other-than-temporary. Factors considered in making such a determination include the duration and severity of the impairment, the reason for the decline in value, the potential recovery period and our intent to sell, including whether it is more likely than not that we will be required to sell the investment before recovery of cost basis. For securities with an unrealized loss that we intend to sell, or it is more likely than not that we will be required to sell before recovery of their amortized cost basis, the entire difference between amortized cost and fair value is recognized in earnings. For securities that do not meet these criteria, the amount of impairment recognized in earnings is limited to the amount related to credit losses, while declines in fair value related to other factors are recognized in other comprehensive income (loss).
 
We apply the provisions of ASC 820, "Fair“Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures."  ASC 820 clarifies that fair value is an exit price, representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants.  As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or a liability.  As a basis for considering such assumptions, ASC 820 establishes a three-tier value hierarchy, as set forth below, which prioritizes the inputs used in the valuation methodologies in measuring fair value:
 
 ·Level 1 – Valuations based on quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that we have the ability to access.  Valuation adjustments and block discounts are not applied to Level 1 instruments.  Since valuations are based on quoted prices that are readily and regularly available in an active market, valuation of these products does not entail a significant degree of judgment.
 
 ·Level 2 – Valuations based on one or more quoted prices in markets that are not active or for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly.
 
 ·Level 3 – Valuations based on unobservable inputs which are supported by little or no market activity and significant to the overall fair value measurement.
 
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The fair value hierarchy also requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value.
 
Our marketable securities trade in markets that are not considered to be active, but are valued based on quoted market prices, broker or dealer quotations, or alternative pricing sources with reasonable levels of price transparency and accordingly are categorized as Level 2.

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We classified foreign currency derivative contracts within Level 2 as the valuation inputs are based on quoted prices and market observable data of similar instruments.

The actual value at which such securities could actually be sold or settled with a willing buyer or seller may differ from such estimated fair values depending on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, current and future economic conditions, the quantity sold or settled, the presence of an active market and the availability of a willing buyer or seller.
 
Adoption of New Accounting Standards
As discussed above in “ – Impairment of Long-Lived Assets,” in September 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-08, Testing Goodwill for Impairment, codified in ASC 350 "Intangibles – Goodwill and Other."  We adopted the new guidance as of January 1, 2012 and concluded that only for the Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions segment it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount and accordingly a quantitative goodwill impairment test was performed only for this reporting unit.

In June 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-05, Presentation of Comprehensive Income, codified in ASC 220 “Comprehensive Income.”  The standard requires an entity to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. The guidance also eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of equity. We adopted the new guidance as of January 1, 2012 and chose to present the Comprehensive Income in two separate but consecutive statements.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
 
In February 2013,April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU 2014-08, Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity. ASU 2014-08 states that only disposals representing strategic shifts in operations that have, or will have, a major effect on an entity's operations should be reported as discontinued operations when any of the following occurs: the component of an entity or group of components of an entity is classified as held for sale, the component of an entity or group of components of an entity is disposed of by sale, or the component of an entity or group of components of an entity is disposed of other than by sale. A strategic shift could include a disposal of (i) a separate major line of business, (ii) a separate major geographic area of operations, (iii) a major equity method investment, or (iv) other major parts of an entity. ASU 2014-08 is effective for annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2014, which is effective for us for the year ended December 31, 2015.  We have considered the sale of the Intelligence and Physical Security operations as a strategic shift and accordingly implemented this guidance in our consolidated financial position and results of operations.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2013-02 Presentation2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Topic 606 (ASU 2014-09), to supersede nearly all existing revenue recognition guidance under U.S. GAAP. The core principle of Comprehensive Income, codifiedASU 2014-09 is to recognize revenues when promised goods or services are transferred to customers in ASC 220 “Comprehensive Income.”an amount that reflects the consideration that is expected to be received for those goods or services. ASU 2014-09 defines a five step process to achieve this core principle and, in doing so, more judgment and estimates may be required within the revenue recognition process than are required under existing U.S. GAAP, including identifying performance obligations in the contract, estimating the amount of variable consideration to include in the transaction price and allocating the transaction price to each separate performance obligation. ASU 2014-09 is effective for us in 2018 using either (i) retrospective application of ASU 2014-09 to each prior reporting period presented with the option to elect certain practical expedients as defined within ASU 2014-09 or retrospective application of ASU 2014-09 with the cumulative effect of initially applying ASU 2014-09 recognized at the date of initial application and providing certain additional disclosures as defined per ASU 2014-09. We are currently in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of the update on our consolidated financial statements, implementing accounting system changes related to the adoption and considering additional disclosure requirements.

In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-17, Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes, related to balance sheet classification of deferred taxes. The standardASU requires that deferred tax assets and liabilities be classified as noncurrent in the statement of financial position, thereby simplifying the current guidance that requires an entity to provide information about the amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component. In addition, an entity is required to present, either on the face of the statement where net income is presented orseparate deferred assets and liabilities into current and noncurrent amounts. The ASU will be effective beginning in the notes, significant amounts reclassified outfirst quarter of accumulatedfiscal year 2018, though early adoption is permitted. We have early adopted the ASU as of December 31, 2015 and our statement of financial position as of this date reflects the revised classification of current deferred tax assets and liabilities as noncurrent. There is no other comprehensive income byimpact on our financial statements of early-adopting the respective line items of net income.ASU.

 
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Results of Operations
 
The following table sets forth our selected consolidated statements of income for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2011,2013, 2014, and 20122015, expressed as a percentage of total revenues. Totals may not add up due to rounding.
 
 2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015 
Revenues                  
Products
  47.2%  44.8%  42.0%  34.1%  33.2%  34.3%
Services
  52.8   55.2   58.0   65.9   66.8   65.7 
  100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0 
Cost of revenues                        
Products*
  32.9   32.7   33.3   24.8   22.1   20.9 
Services*
  44.5   43.6   44.8   42.5   41.1   38.9 
  39.0   38.7   40.0   36.5   34.8   32.8 
                        
Gross Profit  61.0   61.3   60.0 
Gross profit  63.5   65.2   67.2 
                        
Operating expenses                        
Research and development, net  14.1   13.7   13.8   14.1   14.1   13.9 
Selling and marketing
  25.9   25.1   26.2   26.1   26.5   24.4 
General and administrative
  11.1   12.0   10.9   10.5   9.6   9.8 
Amortization of acquired intangibles  2.8   3.0   3.7   3.6   2.2   1.3 
Restructuring expenses  -   -   0.2   0.1   0.6   0.0 
Total operating expenses
  53.9   53.8   54.8   54.3   53.0   49.3 
                        
Operating income
  7.1   7.5   5.2   9.2   12.2   17.9 
Financial income, net
  1.3   1.3   0.9   0.5   0.5   0.7 
Other income (expenses), net   0.0   (0.1)  (0.1)
                        
Income before taxes
  8.4   8.8   6.1   9.7   12.6   18.5 
Taxes on income
  1.3   1.6   (1.6)
Taxes on income (Tax benefit)   3.3   1.1   3.3 
                        
Net income
  7.1   7.2   7.7 
Net income from continuing operations  6.4   11.5   15.2 

Discontinued operations                                                                0.5   0.6   16.4 
Taxes on income on discontinued operations  0.2   0.2   3.7 
             
Net income on discontinued operations  0.3   0.4   12.7 
             
Net income                                                                6.7   11.9   27.9 
_______________________
(*) Respective revenues

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Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 20112014 and 20122015
 
Revenues
 
Our total revenues increased by approximately 10.7%6.3% to $879.0$926.9 million in 20122015 from $793.8$872.0 million in 2011.2014.  Revenues from sales of Customer Interactions Solutions were $566.0 million in 2012, an increase of 18.5% from 2011, revenues from sales of Security Solutions were $185.9 million in 2012, a decrease of 3.1% from 2011, and revenues from sales of Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions in 2015 were $127.1$688.1 million in 2012,and $238.8 million, respectively, an increase of 2.2%2.0% and 21.1% from 2011.  Approximately 47% of the2014, respectively. The growth in revenues from Customer Interactions Solutions is attributed to the inclusion of Merced results for the first time in 2012, approximately 27% of the growth in revenues from Customer Interactions Solutions is attributable to the inclusion of full year results of Fizzback compared with two months of results included in 2011 and the inclusion of full year results of Cybertech compared with ten months of results included in 2011. The remaining growth in revenues of 26% from Customer Interactions Solutions is attributed to organic growthprimarily driven by acceleratedincreased demand for analytics based applications.  The decline in revenues from Security Solutions is attributable primarilyour portfolio of solutions, as they enable organizations to a decrease in revenues from communication intelligence solutions due to a deferral of a number of major deals into 2013 which has partially been offset by the increase ofimprove operational efficiency and customer experience, enhance compliance and improve sales of our situation management solutions.optimization. The increase in revenues from Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions is attributed to organic growthprimarily driven by increasing regulationincreased scrutiny by regulatory authorities to ensure that financial institutions across the globe have adequate controls in place to secure financial transactions and the need for compliance, increasingprevent fraud attempts and a shift from in-house to best-of-breed shelf solutions.complex financial crimes, amplified by the continued evolution of advancements in technology.
 
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Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
  2011  2012  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
             
Product Revenues
 $355.8  $369.4  $13.6   3.8%
Service Revenues
  438.0   509.6   71.6   16.3 
Total Revenues
 $793.8  $879.0  $85.2   10.7%
  
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
  2014  2015  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
             
Product revenues $289.6  $317.9  $28.3   9.8%
Service revenues  582.4   609.0   26.6   4.6 
Total revenues $872.0  $926.9  $54.9   6.3%

Approximately 54% of theThe increase in product revenues is dueattributable to organic growth driven by increased demand foran increase of $14.4 million in our analytics based applications andrevenues from Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions partially offset by a decreaseand an increase of $13.9 million in revenues from Securityour Customer Interactions Solutions. Approximately 46% of the increase in product revenues is attributed to the inclusion of Merced results for the first time in 2012.
 
Approximately 47% of theThe increase in service revenues is attributedattributable to an increase in professional services, of which 58% of the increase is attributed to installations and integrations services and the rest is attributed in maintenance revenueservices resulting primarily from an increase in the install base from previous years’ sales and due to the inclusion of Merced results for the first time in 2012. Approximately 40% of the increase in service revenues is attributed to an increase in SaaS and hosting revenues resulting from the inclusion of full year results for Fizzback in 2012 compared to two months in 2011 and the inclusion of Merced results for the first time in 2012. The remaining 13% of the increase in service revenues is attributed to an increase in professional services revenues primarily as a result of the inclusion of Merced results for the first time in 2012.sales.
 
Revenue by Region
 
 
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
        
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
 2011  2012  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
  2014  2015  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
                        
United States, Canada and Central and South America (“Americas”) $499.2  $549.6  $50.4   10.1% $591.1  $630.1  $39.0   6.6%
Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”)  196.6   210.4   13.8   7.0   189.2   196.9   7.7   4.1 
Asia-Pacific (“APAC”)
  98.0   119.0   21.0   21.4   91.7   99.9   8.2   8.9 
Total Revenues
 $793.8  $879.0  $85.2   10.7%
Total revenues $872.0  $926.9  $54.9   6.3%

64

The Americas revenue increased by 10.1%6.6%, of which approximately 69%$23.1 million is dueattributed to growth in the inclusion of Merced results for the first time in 2012, approximately 19%Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions and $15.9 million is attributable to the inclusion of Fizzback and Cybertech results for a full year and the remaining 12% is attributed to organic growth in the Customer Interactions Solutions partially offset by a decrease in the Security Solutions.
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The EMEA revenue increased by 7.0%4.1%. The increase is primarily attributable to the inclusion of full year 2012 results for Fizzback and Cybertech, the inclusion of Merced for the first time in 2012 and organic growth in the SecurityFinancial Crime and Compliance Solutions of$15.9 million, partially offset by a decrease in the Customer Interactions Solutions.of $8.2 million.
 
The APAC revenue increased by 21.4%, of which approximately 36%8.9%. The increase is primarily attributable to organic growth in the Security Solutions, approximately 30% is attributable to organic growth in the Customer Interaction Solutions revenues, approximately 18% is attributed to the inclusion of Merced results for the first time in 2012, approximately 9% is attributable to organic growth inInteractions and Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions revenues and the remaining 7% is attributable to the inclusion of Fizzback and Cybertech results for a full year in 2012.Solutions.
 
Cost of Revenues
 
  
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
  2011  2012  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
             
Cost of product revenues
 $116.3  $122.9  $6.6   5.7%
Cost of service revenues
  191.0   228.3   37.3   19.5 
  Total cost of revenues
 $307.3  $351.2  $43.9   14.3%

  
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
  2014  2015  Dollar Change  Percentage Change 
             
Cost of product revenues $63.9  $66.4  $2.5   3.9%
Cost of service revenues  239.6   237.2   (2.4)  (1.0)
Total cost of revenues $303.5  $303.6  $0.1   0.0%
Cost of product revenues increased on a dollar basis, andbut decreased as a percentage of product revenues.  The increase on a dollar basis is mostly a result of an increase in product revenues and higherroyalties payable to third party vendors, partially offset by lower amortization of intangible assets following previous years’ acquisitions.  The decrease in a total amount of $42.8  million in 2012 compared to $30.2 million in 2011, which is primarily a result of the acquisition of Merced and the inclusion of Cybertech and Fizzback for a full year.  The increase as a percentage of cost of product revenuesfrom product revenue is primarily duemainly attributed to higher amortization of intangible assets.  revenue increase from software based solutions.
Cost of service revenues increaseddecreased on a dollar basis and as a percentage of service revenues. The increasedecrease on a dollar basis is primarily due to an increase ofa decrease in cost of wages as a result of additional headcount to support the growthand travel expenses, partially offset by an increase in the businesssub-contractors and amortization of intangibles assets due to the acquisition of Merced.consultants. The increasedecrease in the percentage of cost of service from service revenues is mainly attributed to higher amortizationincreasing efficiency and better utilization of intangible assets.
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service resources.
 
Gross Profit
 
 
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
     
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
    
 2011  2012  Dollar Change  
Percentage
Change
  2014  2015  Dollar Change  
Percentage Change
 
                        
Gross profit on product revenues  $239.5  $246.5  $7.0   2.9% $225.7  $251.5  $25.8   11.4%
as a percentage of product revenues  67.3%  66.7%          77.9%  79.1%        
Gross profit on service revenue   247.0   281.3   34.3   13.9%
Gross profit on service revenues  342.8   371.8   29.0   8.4%
as a percentage of service revenues  56.4%  55.2%          58.9%  61.0%        
Total gross profit
 $486.5  $527.8  $41.3   8.5% $568.5  $623.3  $54.8   9.6%
as a percentage of total revenues   61.3%  60.0%          65.2%  67.2%        
 
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The decreaseincrease in gross profit margin on product revenues is primarily a result of an increase in product revenues, continued increase in software based solutions with higher margins and a lower amortization of intangible assets.
The increase in gross profit margin on service revenues is a result of a higher amortization of intangible assets dueprimarily attributed to the acquisition of Mercedan increase in service revenues and the inclusion of Fizzback and Cybertech for a full year in 2012.improved efficiency.
 
Operating Expenses
 
    
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
     
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
 
2011
  2012  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
  2014  2015  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
                        
Research and development, net  $109.1  $121.4  $12.3   11.3% $123.1  $128.5  $5.4   4.4%
Selling and marketing  199.0   230.2   31.2   15.7   231.1   225.8   (5.3)  (2.3)
General and administrative   95.7   96.1   0.4   0.4   83.4   90.4   7.0   8.4 
Amortization of acquired intangible assets  23.7    32.6   8.9   37.6    19.2    12.5   (6.7)  (34.9)
Restructuring expenses  -   1.9   1.9   N/A   5.4   0.0   (5.4)  (100)
 
Research and Development, Net.  Research and development expenses, before capitalization of software development costs and government grants, increased to $126.6$132.0 million in 2012,2015, as compared to $113.7$125.9 million in 20112014, and represented 14.4%14.2% and 14.3%14.4% of revenues in 20122015 and 2011,2014, respectively. The increase in research and development, net is attributed primarily to an increase in cost of wages and subcontractors, primarily as a result of the Merced acquisition and the inclusion of Fizzback results for a full year in 2012.
travel expenses. Capitalized software development costs were $1.1$1.4 million in 2012,2015, as compared to $1.2$0.4 million in 2011.2014. The increase is  a result of capitalization of software development for internal use software that supports our SaaS business.  Amortization of capitalized software development costs included in cost of product revenues were $1.2 million and $1.3$0.4 million in 2012each of 2015 and 2011, respectively.2014.
 
Selling and Marketing Expenses.  Selling and marketing expenses increaseddecreased to $230.2$225.8 million in 2012,2015 as compared to $199.0$231.1 million in 2011,2014, and represented 26.2%24.4% and 26.5% of total revenues in 2012, as compared to 25.1% of total revenues2015 and in 2011.  Approximately 48% of the increase2014, respectively. The decrease in selling and marketing expense is attributed primarily to an increasea decrease in cost of wages asfollowing a result of increaseddecrease in headcount, approximately 32% of the increase is attributed to the inclusion of Merced results for the first time in 2012. The remainder of the increase is primarily due tosales incentives and travel, partially offset by an increase in traveladvertising and exhibitionsother marketing expenses.
 
General and Administrative Expenses.  General and administrative expenses increased to $96.1$90.4 million in 2012,2015 as compared to $95.7$83.4 million in 2011,2014, and represented 10.9%9.8% of total revenues in 2012,2015 as compared to 12.0%9.6% of total revenues in 2011.2014.  The increase in general and administrative expense is due primarily to an increaseadditional administrative cost incurred in acquisition-related costs2015 partially offset by a reductiondecrease in legal fees.rent and utilities expenses following a reorganization and  operational efficiency of our facilities, while in 2014 we recorded an income due to re-measurement of earn-out liabilities that resulted from prior year’s acquisitions.
 
 
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Amortization of acquired intangible assets.  Amortization of acquired intangibles included in the operating expenses represent 3.7%represented 1.3% and 3.0%2.2% of our 2012revenues in 2015 and 2011 revenues,2014, respectively. The increasedecrease in amortization of acquired intangible assets is primarily attributable to the completion of amortization of intangible assets related to the acquisition of Merced, and the amortization of intangible assets related to Fizzback for a full year in 2012.previous years’ acquisitions.
 
Restructuring expenses.  RestructuringWe did not incur restructuring expenses in a total amount2015, as compared to $5.4 million in 2014. The restructuring expenses in 2014 were attributed mainly to restructuring of $1.9 million comprised of retirement of leasehold improvements and property evacuation costs.our workforce in certain geographies in order to improve efficiency.
 
Financial and Other Income
 
 
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
        
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
 2011  2012  
Dollar Change
  Percentage Change  2014  2015  
Dollar Change
  Percentage Change 
                        
Financial income, net $10.8  $6.7  $(4.1)  (38.0)% $3.8  $5.7  $1.9   50%
Other income (expenses), net   (0.2)  1.5   1.6   --- 
Other expenses, net  0.0   0.4   0.4   100%
 
Financial Income, Net.  Financial income, net, was $5.7 million in 2015 compared to $3.8 million in 2014. The decreaseincrease in financial income, net is attributable primarily to the decrease ina higher cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities average balance in 2012 as compared to 2011.volume invested.
 
Other Expenses, Net.  Other expenses, net amounted to $0.4 million in 2015, comprised primarily of loss on disposal of assets.
Taxes on Income.    In 2012 we recorded a benefit for2015, taxes on income amountingamounted to $14.0$30.8 million, as compared to an expense of $12.4$9.9 million in 2011. The2014.  Our provision for taxes during 2015 increased as compared with 2014, mainly as taxes on income for 2014 were favorably affected by certain releases of tax benefit arose as a result of the combination of (i) the releaseprovisions made in prior years.

Our effective tax rate for 2015 was 18.0% compared to 9.0%  in 2014. Our tax rate in 2014 was lower due to being favorably affected by releases of tax provisions made in prior years primarily asupon a resultsettlement during 2014 of the unadjusted expiration of the statute of limitations, and settlements of routinea further multi-year tax audits with certain tax authorities together with (ii) the realization of deferred tax liabilities which in a business combination is initially recorded due to the significant difference between the amounts assigned to the acquired intangible assets for financial reporting and tax purposes. This deferred tax liability was correspondingly realized against the amortization of the acquired intangible assets related to Merced as well as to those for the first full year of Fizzback.audit.
 
The introductionmajority of our income in Israel continues to benefit from lower tax rates pursuant to our Preferred Enterprise program from 2012programs which were 16.0% in 2014 and 2015, the resultant substitutiondetails of our Approved and Privileged Enterprises had only a minor impact on our effective tax rate.  This is because the benefits from the reduced tax rates under the Preferred Enterprise programs are largely similar to those we previously enjoyed under the Approved and Privileged Enterprise programs.
Further information with regard to our Approved and Privileged Enterprise programswhich can be found in Item 3, “Risk Factors” under the caption “We currently benefit from local government programs as well as international programs and local tax benefits that may be discontinued or reduced” and in Note 1312 of our Consolidated Financial Statements under the caption “Taxes on Income.”
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Income”.
 
Subject to unpredictable effects of any future settlements with tax authorities, unadjusted expiration of the statute of limitations, future changes in law or accepted practice and effects of potential mergers and acquisitions, we expect our effective tax rate (which includes effects of FIN No. 48, which has been incorporated into ASC 740) to be approximately 15-17% in the coming17-19% for 2016 and future years.
 
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Net IncomeIncome..  Net income was $67.9$140.6 million in 2012,2015, as compared to $57.3$100.2 million in 2011.2014.  The increase in 20122015 resulted primarily from the increase in revenues and the benefit fromoperating margin, offset by an increase in taxes on income.income in 2015.
Discontinued operations. During 2015 we sold our Cyber and Intelligence and Physical Security business units for gain of $101.8 million and $45.5 million, respectively, which is presented as part of the net income on discontinued operations. There were no divestment activities in 2014.
 
Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 20102013 and 20112014
 
Revenues
 
Our total revenues increased by approximately 15.1%6.1% to $793.8$872.0 million in 20112014 from $689.5$821.5 million in 2010.2013.  Revenues from sales of Customer Interactions Solutions were $477.6 million in 2011, an increase of 18.2% from 2010, revenues from sales of Security Solutions were $191.8 million in 2011, an increase of 15.5% from 2010, and revenues from sales of Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions in 2014 were $124.4$674.8 million in 2011,and $197.2 million, respectively, an increase (decrease) of 4.1%2.5%, 20.9% from 2010.  Approximately 50% of the2013, respectively. The growth in revenues from Customer Interactions Solutions is attributed primarily to organicincreased revenues from analytics solutions. This growth is driven by increasing transaction volume and complexity, data center consolidation, financial industry consolidation and accelerated demand for analytics based applications, approximately 35% is attributedthese solutions as they enable organizations to the inclusion of Cybertechimprove operational efficiency and Fizzback results for the first time in 2011customer experience, enhance compliance and the remaining 15% of the growth in revenues from Customer Interactions Solutions is attributable to the inclusion of full year results of e-Glue compared with five and a half months of results included in 2010 and the increasing demand for real time interaction solutions.  Approximately 77% of the growth in revenues from Security Solutions is attributable to organic growth as a result of our focus on strengthening our solutions, approximately 11% is attributable to the increase inimprove sales of our situation management solutions and the remaining 12% of the growth in revenues from Security Solutions is attributed to the inclusion of Cybertech results for the first time in 2011.optimization. The increase in revenues from Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions is mainly attributed to organic growthprimarily driven by increasing regulationthe increased scrutiny by regulatory authorities to ensure that financial institutions across the globe have adequate controls in place to secure financial transactions and the need for compliance, increasingprevent fraud attempts and a clear shift from in-house to best-of-breed shelf solutions.complex financial crimes, amplified by the continued evolution of advancements in technology.
 
  
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
  2010  2011  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
             
Product Revenues
 $325.5  $355.8  $30.3   9.3%
Service Revenues
  364.0   438.0   74.0   20.3 
Total Revenues
 $689.5  $793.8  $104.3   15.1%
  
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
  2013  2014  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
             
Product revenues $280.1  $289.6  $9.5   3.4%
Service revenues  541.4   582.4   41.0   7.6 
Total revenues $821.5  $872.0  $50.5   6.1%

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Approximately 58% of theThe increase in product revenues is attributedattributable to the inclusionincrease of Cybertech results for the first time$13.5 million in 2011. Approximately 42%our revenues from Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions offset by a decrease of the increase$4.0 million in product revenues is due to organic growth driven by increased demand for our public safety solutions and real time interaction solutions, a growth in average transaction size, and substantial upgrades of systems.Customer Interactions Solutions.
 
Approximately 65% of theThe increase in service revenues is attributed to an increase in maintenance revenue of $24.3 million resulting primarily from an increase in the install base from previous years’ sales, and due to the inclusionincrease of Cybertech and Fizzback results for the first time in 2011. Approximately 35%professional services of the increase in service revenues is attributed to$11.6 million resulting primarily from an increase in professional services revenues mainly as a result ofinstallations and integrations and an increase of $5.1 million in sales of risk managementSaaS and real time interaction services and due to the inclusion of Cybertech and Fizzback results for the first time in 2011.hosting revenues.
 
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Revenue by Region
 
  
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
  2010  2011  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
             
United States, Canada and Central and South America (“Americas”) $429.9  $499.2  $69.3   16.1%
Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”)  182.8   196.6   13.8   7.5 
Asia-Pacific (“APAC”)
  76.8   98.0   21.2   27.6 
Total Revenues
 $689.5  $793.8  $104.3   15.1%
  
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
  2013  2014  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
             
Americas $540.4  $591.1  $50.7   9.4%
EMEA  188.3   189.2   0.9   0.5 
APAC  92.8   91.7   (1.1)  (1.2)
Total revenues $821.5  $872.0  $50.5   6.1%

The Americas revenuesrevenue increased by 16.1%9.4%, approximately 45% of which approximately $26.8 million is attributableattributed to organic growth in the SecurityFinancial Crime and Compliance Solutions approximately 21%and $23.9 million is attributable to organic growth in the Customer Interactions Solutions, approximately 13%Solutions.
The EMEA revenue increased by 0.5%. The increase is primarily attributable to organic growth in the Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions, revenues, approximately 11% of the increase is attributable to the inclusion of e-Glue results for a full year and the remaining 10% increase is due to the inclusion of Cybertech and Fizzback results for the first time in 2011.
The EMEA revenues increased by 7.5%. The increase is mainly attributable to the inclusion of Cybertech and Fizzback results for the first time in 2011 and to organic growth in the Customer Interactions Solutions,partially offset by a decrease in the Security Solutions and decrease in Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions revenues.Customer Interactions.
 
The APAC revenue increaseddecreased by 27.6%, approximately 77% of which1.2%. The decrease is primarily attributable to organic growtha decrease in the Customer Interactions Solutions, approximately 15% is attributable to the inclusion of Cybertech results for the first time in 2011 and the remaining 8% increase is attributable to organic growth in Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions revenues offset by a decrease in the Security Solutions revenues.
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Solutions.
 
Cost of Revenues
 
 
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
        
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
 2010  2011  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage
Change
  2013  2014  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
                        
Cost of product revenues
 $107.2  $116.3  $9.1   8.5% $69.3  $63.9  $(5.4)  (7.8)%
Cost of service revenues
  161.9   191.0   29.1   18.0   230.3   239.6   9.3   4.0 
Total cost of revenues
 $269.1  $307.3  $38.2   14.2% $299.6  $303.5  $3.9   1.3%

Cost of product revenues decreased on a dollar basis and as a percentage of product revenues.  The decrease on a dollar basis and as a percentage of product revenues is mostly a result of decrease in royalties payable to third party vendors and lower amortization of intangible assets, which is primarily due to the completion of amortization of intangible assets related to previous year’s acquisitions, partially offset by an increase in cost of wages and sub-contractors.  Cost of service revenues increased on a dollar basis while decreasing as a percentage of productservice revenues. The increase on a dollar basis is mostly a result of increase in product revenue and higher amortization of intangible assets in a total amount of $30.2 million in 2011 compared to $25.8 million in 2010, which is mainly a result of the acquisitions of Cybertech and Fizzback and the inclusion of Orsus, Lamda and e-Glue for a full year.  The decrease as a percentage of product revenues is a result of a higher proportion of software in the product mix, which have lower cost of product.  Cost of service revenues increased on a dollar basis mainlyprimarily due to an increase of cost of wages asand sub-contractors, partially offset by a resultdecrease in travel expenses and lower amortization of additional headcountintangible assets, which is primarily due to support the growth in the business, while decreasing as a percentagecompletion of service revenues.amortization of intangible assets related to previous year’s acquisitions.  The decrease in the percentage of cost of service from service revenues is mainly attributed to increasing efficiency and better utilization of headcount.
 
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Gross Profit
 
 
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
        
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
 2010  2011  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage
Change
  2013  2014  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
                        
Gross profit on product revenues  $218.3  $239.5  $21.2   9.7% $210.8  $225.7  $14.9   7.0%
as a percentage of product revenues  67.1%  67.3%          75.2%  77.9%        
Gross profit on service revenue   202.1   247.0   44.9   22.2 
Gross profit on service revenues  311.1   342.8   31.7   10.2%
as a percentage of service revenues  55.5%  56.4%         57.5%  58.9%        
Total gross profit  $420.4  $486.5  $66.1   15.7% $521.9  $568.5  $46.6   8.9%
as a percentage of total revenues   61.0%  61.3%          63.5%  65.2%        
 
The increase in gross profit margin on product revenues is primarily a result of an increase in product revenues, continued increase in software based analytics solutions and a higher proportionlower amortization of software in the product mix as indicated in “Total Cost of Revenue,” above.  intangible assets.
The improvementincrease in gross profit margin on service revenues is mainlyprimarily attributed to the improvementan increase in headcount utilization.
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service revenues and improved efficiency.
 
Operating Expenses
 
 
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
        
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
 2010  2011  
Dollar
Change
  
Percentage
Change
  2013  2014  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
                        
Research and development, net  $97.1  $109.1  $12.0   12.4% $115.4  $123.1  $7.7   6.7%
Selling and marketing   178.4   199.0   20.6   11.5   214.6   231.1   16.5   7.7 
General and administrative   76.3   95.7   19.4   25.4   86.5   83.4   (3.1)  (3.6)
Amortization of acquired intangible assets  19.5   23.7  $4.2   21.5    29.4    19.2   (10.2)  (34.7)
Restructuring expenses  0.5   5.4   4.9   980.0 

Research and Development, Net.  Research and development expenses, before capitalization of software development costs and government grants, increased to $113.7$125.9 million in 2011,2014, as compared to $102.2$117.9 million in 20102013, and represented 14.3% and 14.8%14.4% of revenues in 2011each of 2014 and 2010, respectively.2013. The increase in research and development, net is attributed primarily to an increase in cost of wages and subcontractors, partially as a result of the Cybertech and Fizzback acquisitions.resulting from increased headcount.
 
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Capitalized software development costs were $1.2$0.4 million in 2011, as compared to $1.3 million in 2010.each of 2014 and 2013.  Amortization of capitalized software development costs included in cost of product revenues were $1.3 million and $1.2$0.4 million in 2011 and 2010, respectively.2014 as compared to $0.5 million in 2013.
 
Selling and Marketing Expenses.  Selling and marketing expenses increased to $199.0$231.1 million in 2011,2014, as compared to $178.4$214.6 million in 2010,2013 and represented 25.1%26.5% and 26.1% of total revenues in 2011, as compared to 25.9%2014 and in 2010.  Approximately 82% of the2013, respectively.  The increase in selling and marketing expense is attributed primarily to an increase in cost of wages asand sales incentives resulting from high performance in our business, partially offset by a result of increased headcount. The remainder of the increase is mainly due to an increasedecrease in travel, sub-contractors and exhibitionsother marketing expenses.
 
General and Administrative Expenses.  General and administrative expenses increaseddecreased to $95.7$83.4 million in 2011,2014, as compared to $76.3$86.5 million in 2010,2013, and represented 12.0%9.6% and 10.5% of total revenues in 2011, as compared to 11.1%2014 and in 2010.2013, respectively.  The increasedecrease in general and administrative expense is due mainlyprimarily to an increase in: (i) costre-measurement of wages which accounts for approximately 46% of the increase, (ii) legal fees which accounts for approximately 25% of the increase andearn-out liabilities that resulted from prior years- acquisitions, partially offset by an increase in rent and utilities costs which accounts for approximately 17%cost of the increase.wages.
 
Amortization of acquired intangible assets.  Amortization of acquired intangibles assets included in the operating expenses represent 3.0%represented 2.2% and 2.8%3.6% of our 20112014 and 20102013 revenues, respectively.  The increasedecrease in amortization of acquired intangible assets is mainlyprimarily attributable to the completion of amortization of intangible assets related to the acquisitions of Cybertech and Fizzback.previous year’s acquisitions.
 
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Restructuring expenses.  Restructuring expenses were $5.4 million in 2014, as compared to $0.5 million in 2013. The 2014 restructuring expenses were attributed mainly to restructuring of our workforce in certain geographies in order to improve efficiency.
 
Financial and Other Income
 
 
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
        
Years Ended December 31,
(U.S. dollars in millions)
       
 2010  2011  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
  2013  2014  
Dollar Change
  
Percentage Change
 
                        
Financial income, net  $9.3  $10.8  $1.5   16.1% $4.0  $3.8  $(0.2)  (5.0)%
Other expenses, net   (0.1)  (0.2)  -   -   (0.1)  (0.0)  0.1   (100)%
 
Financial Income, Net.  The increasedecrease in financial income, net is attributable mainlyprimarily to a decline in interest rates in the increaseglobal markets during 2014.
Other Expenses, Net.  Other expenses, net in cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities average balancea total amount of $0.1 million in 2011 as compared to 2010.2013, was comprised primarily of loss on property disposal.
 
Taxes on Income.  In 20112014, taxes on income amounted to $12.4$9.9 million, as compared to $9.5$26.9 million in 2010.  2013. Our provision for taxes during 2013 was abnormally high due to the inclusion of an expense of $19.2 million as a result of a settlement with the Israeli Tax Authorities during 2013 of a specific multi-year tax audit and our election to take advantage of a special limited time program initiated by the Israeli government that allowed us to release our previously tax-exempted profits at a discounted tax rate that would otherwise have been due upon actual distribution of these profits.
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Our effective tax rate amountedfor 2014 was 9.0% and was lower than expected due to 17.8%being favorably affected by releases of tax provisions made in 2011 which is broadly in line with our effectiveprior years upon a settlement during 2014 of a further multi-year tax rate of 16.4% in 2010.audit.
 
The decline of the corporate tax rate in Israel from 25% in 2010 to 24% in 2011 had only a minor impact on our effective tax rate.  This is because the majority of our income earned in Israel benefitscontinues to benefit from the reducedlower tax rates applicable to us as a result of our Approved and Privileged Enterprise programs.
Further information with regardpursuant to our ApprovedPreferred Enterprise programs, which were 12.5% and Privileged Enterprise programs16.0% in 2013 and 2014, respectively, the details of which can be found in Item 3, “Risk Factors” under the caption “Our results may be affected by the availability of government grants and tax benefits.  Our participation in these programs restricts our ability to freely transfer manufacturing rights and technology out of Israel” and in Note 1312 of our Consolidated Financial Statements under the caption “Taxes on Income.”
Subject to unpredictable effects of any future settlements with tax authorities, unadjusted expiration of the statute of limitations, future changes in law or accepted practice and effects of potential mergers and acquisitions, we expect our effective tax rate (which includes effects of FIN No. 48 which has been incorporated into ASC 740) to be approximately 17% in the coming years.Income”.
 
Net IncomeIncome..  Net income was $57.3$100.2 million in 2011,2014, as compared to $48.7$52.5 million in 2010.2013.  The increase in 20112014 resulted primarily from the increase in revenues, and an increase in gross margin.operating margin and decrease in taxes on income in 2014.
 
Liquidity and Capital Resources
 
In recent years, the cash generated from our operating activities has financed our operations.operations as well as the repurchase of our ordinary shares and payment of dividends.  Generally, we invest our excess cash in highly liquid investment grade securities.  AtAs of December 31, 2012,2015, we had $444.7$828.4 million of cash and cash equivalents and short-term and long-term investments, as compared to $562.6$500.0 million at December 31, 20112014 and $663.25$443.2 million at December 31, 2010.
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2013.
 
Cash provided by operating activities was $135.6$244.7 million, $154.4$182.3 million, and $145.0$124.3 million in 2012, 2011,2015, 2014, and 2010,2013, respectively.  Net cash from operations in 20122015 consisted primarily of net income of $67.9$111.5 million (excluding  gain on disposal of discontinued operations of $147.3), adjusted for non-cash activities such as depreciation and amortization of $57.9 million, stock-based compensation of $28.4 million as well as working capital changes derived from an increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $38.5 million and increase in deferred revenues of $54.9, which were partially offset by decrease in trade receivables, net of $56.3. Net cash from operations in 2014 consisted primarily of net income of $103.1 million and adjustments for non-cash activities including depreciation and amortization of $95.5$73.3 million, decrease in other receivables and prepaid expenses of $3.8 million and stock-based compensation of $23.6$29.8 million which were partially offset byand working capital changes derived from an increase in trade receivables of $11.9 million, deferred tax of $24.2 and decrease in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $17.9$10.3 million, which were partially offset by a decrease in deferred taxes, net of $27.8 million and in trade payables of $13.8 million. Net cash from operations in 20112013 consisted primarily of net income of $57.3$55.2 million and adjustments for non-cash activities including depreciation and amortization of $67.0 million, increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $35.6$91.3 million and stock-based compensation of $21.2 million which were partially offset by an increase in trade receivables of $20.6 million and deferred tax of $8.8 million.  Net cash from operations in 2010 consisted primarily of net income of $48.7 million and adjustments for non-cash activities including depreciation and amortization of $57.1 million, an increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $25.9 million, stock-based compensation of $21.1 million, and a decrease in trade receivables of $6.3$26.3 million, which were partially offset by a decrease in deferred taxes, net of $17.3 million and in trade payablesreceivables, net of $7.1 and deferred tax of $4.9$34.5 million.
 
Net cash used in investing activities was $164.3$28.3 million, [in 2012. Net cash provided by investing activities was $9.4$8.9 million and $33.1 million in 20112015, 2014 and net cash used in investing activities was $276.7 million in 2010.2013, respectively.  In 2012,2015, net cash used in investing activities consisted primarily of payment for the acquisition of Merced, RedKite and other acquisitionsnet investment in an aggregate of $164.5 million and net purchase of property and equipment of $27.7 million, offset by net proceed of marketable securities and short-termshort term bank deposits of $32.9 million. In 2011, net cash provided by investing activities consisted primarily of net proceeds from marketable securities of $174.2 million which funded payment for the acquisitions of Fizzback, Cybertech and other acquisitions in an aggregate of $143.4$195.0 million and purchase of property and equipment of $17.3$16.6 million, which were offset by proceeds from sale of discontinued operations of $186.1 million. In 2010,2014, net cash used in investing activities consisted primarily of net investment in marketable securities of $251.4$28.4 million and net purchase of property and equipment of $16.8 million, which were partially offset by net proceeds from short-term bank deposits of $37.8 million.  In 2013, net cash used in investing activities consisted primarily of payment for the acquisitionsacquisition of e-Glue, OrsusCausata and other acquisitions in an aggregate of $52.3$23.9 million and net purchase of property and equipment of $11.7$20.3 million, which were partially offset by net proceeds from short-term bank deposits of $40.0marketable securities of $17.4 million.
 
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Net cash used in financing activities was $76.6$71.8 million, $101.8 million and $69.2 million in 20122015, 2014 and $68.8 million in 2011. Net cash provided by financing activities was $26.0 million in 2010.2013, respectively. In 2012, net cash used in financing activities was attributed primarily to the purchase of our ordinary shares of $107.0 million under the three programs to repurchase ordinary shares in a total amount of up to $300 million, which were offset by proceeds from issuance of shares upon exercise of options and purchase of shares under employee share purchase plans of $30.4 million. In 2011,2015, net cash used in financing activities was attributed primarily to the repurchase of our ordinary shares of $95.9$68.4 million under the first program to repurchase ordinary shares in a total amount up to $100.0and payment of dividends of $38.2 million, which were offset by proceeds from the issuance of shares upon exercise of options and purchase of shares under employee share purchase plans of $26.8$27.5 million.  In 2010,2014, net cash provided fromused in financing activities consistedwas attributed primarily to the purchase of our ordinary shares of $94.3 million and payment of dividends of $38.0 million, which were partially offset by proceeds from the issuance of shares upon exercise of options and purchase of shares under employee share purchase plans of $26.0$29.5 million.  AsIn 2013, net cash used in financing activities was attributed primarily to the purchase of December 31, 2012, we had non-binding arrangements for the renderingour ordinary shares of credit lines$79.4 million and payment of dividends of $29.0 million, which were offset by proceeds from banks against our portfolio with those banks.
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issuance of shares upon exercise of options and purchase of shares under employee share purchase plans of $38.4 million.
 
We believe that based on our current operating forecast, the combination of existing working capital and expected cash flows from operations will be sufficient to finance our ongoing operations for the next twelve months.
 
Research and Development and Intellectual Property
 
For information on our research and development policies and intellectual property, please see Item 4, “Information on the Company” in this annual report.
 
Trend Information
 
Our development efforts are aimed at addressing several industry trends, including: theincreasingly demanding compliance requirements, organizations turning to advanced software to help improve revenues and efficiency, increased focus on improving customer experience, and a growing need of organizations to analyzesafeguard people and respond to vast amountsassets. The technology trends addressed: growing masses of structured and unstructured data; heighteneddata that are being captured by organizations, broader adoption of advanced analytics technologies in real time, increased penetration of cloud technology and more complex regulatory and compliance requirements; and more sophisticated security threats. Our development efforts are also influenced byXaaS models (business models offering technology trends,as a service such as the evolutionSaaS, Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Contact Center as a Service, etc.), growing challenges for financial institutions as well as governments as a result of real-time analytics and the proliferation of alternate communication channels to voice, suchIP-based communications including VoIP, as chat, email,well as mobile devices and the use of social media. networks.
 
In connection with our Customer InteractionInteractions Solutions, such industry trends include the evolution of contact centers into strategic customer interaction hubs, an increased focus on improving customer experience across the enterprise, contact centers seekingneed to impactrecord and analyze customer interactions in real time, enterprises expanding their operational efficiency activities beyond the contact center,is constantly growing as compliance and increased adoption of contact center hosting solutions.regulatory pressures are increasing.
 
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In connection with our Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions, such trends include enterprise-wide risk andthe need to monitor transactions in order to ensure compliance technology consolidation;due in part to the changing technology in the financial services market; and growth in emerging markets.
In the Security sector there is ansignificant increase in challenges for public safety, homeland securityenforcement by regulators, particularly across Europe and intelligence agencies. These include emerging needs for holistic situational awareness and event management in the security market; increased focus on physical corporate security; increased urbanizationUnited States, as is evidenced by substantial fines that raises rates of crime and risks of terror attacks; and a requirement for increased service level, operational efficiency and business continuity.have recently been levied against financial institutions.
 
For more information on trends in our industry, please see Item 4, “Information on the Company—Business Overview—Industry Background and Trends.”Trends” in this annual report.
 
For more information on trends, uncertainties, demands, commitments or events that are reasonably likely tomay have a material effect on revenue, please see Item 3, “Key Information—Risk Factors.”
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Factors” in this annual report.
 
Contractual Obligations
 
Set forth below are our contractual obligations and other commercial commitments over the medium term as of December 31, 20122015 (in thousands of U.S. dollars).

 Payments Due by Period  Payments Due by Period 
Contractual Obligations Total  Less than 1 year  1- 3 years  3-5 years  More than 5 years  Total  Less than 1 year  1- 3 years  3-5 years  More than 5 years 
Operating Leases  113,927   16,835   29,552   23,733   43,807   68,580   15,743   24,033   17,603   11,201 
Unconditional Purchase Obligations  13,591   7,195   6,396   -   -   19,619   13,083   6,536   -   - 
Severance Pay*  24,327                   17,952                 
Total Contractual Cash Obligations  151,845   24,030   35,948   23,733   43,807   106,151   28,826   30,569   17,603   11,201 
Uncertain Income Tax Positions **  37,965                   18,236                 
 
*Severance pay relates to accrued obligations to employees as required under applicable labor laws.  These obligations are payable only upon termination, retirement or death of the respective employees.
**
Uncertain income tax positions under ASC 740 are due upon settlement and we are unable to reasonably estimate the ultimate amount or timing of settlement.  See Note 13(h)12(h) of our Consolidated Financial Statements for further information regarding our liability under ASC 740.pay relates to accrued obligations to employees as required under applicable labor laws.  These obligations are payable only upon termination, retirement or death of the respective employees.
     Amount of Commitment Expiration Per Period 
Other Commercial Commitments Total Amounts Committed  Less than 1 year  1- 3 years  3-5 years  More than 5 years 
Guarantees – continuing operations  15,161   8,558   5,231   -   1,372 

Qualitative and Quantitative Disclosure About Market Risk
For information on the market risks relating to our operations, please see Item 11, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” in this annual report.
 
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     Amount of Commitment Expiration Per Period 
Other Commercial Commitments Total Amounts Committed  Less than 1 year  1- 3 years  3-5 years  More than 5 years 
Guarantees – Continuing operations  3,159,420   3,109,011   -   50,410   - 
Guarantees – Discontinued operations*  24,298,737   4,868,198   18,266,633   1,163,906   - 
Total Guarantees  27,458,157   7,977,209   18,266,633   1,214,316   - 

* Guarantees which were not endorsed and remain in effect in relation to contracts assumed as part of the sale of the Cyber and Intelligence business for which NICE has a back to back contractual commitment and is entitled to indemnification to the extent that these guarantees are realized.

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Item 6.6.            Directors, Senior ManagementManagement and Employees.
 
6.A. Directors and Senior Management
 
The following table setstables set forth, as of March 17, 2013,10, 2016, the name, age and position of each of our directors and executive officers:officers and, in regard to our directors, any of the committees of our board of directors on which they serve and whether any such director is an outside director:
 
Members of the Board of Directors

Name
Age
Position
Audit Committee MemberCompensation Committee MemberInternal Audit Committee MemberMergers and Acquisitions MemberNominations Committee MemberOutside Director*
David Kostman(1)(4)(5)
48
51
Chairman of the Board of Directors
XXX
Joseph Atsmon(1)(3)
Rimon Ben-Shaoul
64
71
Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors
Director
XX
Rimon Ben-Shaoul(2)(4)
Dan Falk
68
71
Director
XXXXXX
Yoseph Dauber(2)(3)
Yocheved Dvir
77
63
Director
XXXX
Dan Falk(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)
Yehoshua Ehrlich
68
66
Director
X
Yocheved Dvir(1)(2)(3)(6)
Leo Apotheker
60
62
Director
XX
Yehoshua Ehrlich(4)
Joe Cowan
63
67
Director
XX
Zeev BregmanZehava Simon
57DirectorXXXX
* See Item 6, “Directors, Senior Management and Employees—Board Practices— Outside Directors.”
Members of Management
Name
51
Age
President, Position
Barak Eilam40Chief Executive Officer and Director
Yochai Rozenblat
Miki Migdal
51
55
President, Enterprise Product Group
Yaron Tchwella
Joseph Friscia
52
61
President, Security Group and Executive Vice President Business Operation
NICE-Actimize
Amir Orad
Sarit Sagiv
37
47
President and Chief Executive Officer, NICE-Actimize
Dafna Gruber
48
Chief Financial Officer
Yechiam Cohen
56
59
Corporate Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Eran Porat5053
Corporate Vice President, Finance
Eran Liron
45
48
Executive Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Development
Benny Einhorn
Tom Dziersk
52President, NICE Americas
John O’Hara57
President, NICE EMEA and Chief Marketing Officer
Barak Eilam
Raghav Sahgal
3753
President, NICE Americas
APAC
Raghav Sahgal
Christopher Wooten
50
Executive Vice President, NICE APAC
Vertical Markets
Sigal Gillmore
Gill-more
4346
Executive Vice President, Human Resources
 ___________________________
(1)    Member of the Audit Committee.
(2)    Member of the Compensation Committee.
(3)    Member of the Internal Audit Committee.
(4)Member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee.
(5)Member of the Nominations Committee.
(6)Outside Director.  See Item 6, “Directors, Senior Management and Employees—Board Practices— Outside Directors.”

 
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At our annual meeting of shareholders held on September 12, 2012, we elected the following six (6) members to the Board of Directors, in addition to  the two outside directors of the Company, to serve as directors of the Company until the next annual general meeting of the shareholders, or until termination of office according to the Company’s articles of association and applicable law:In January 2016, Mr. Ron Gutler, Mr. Joseph Atsmon, Mr. Rimon Ben-Shaoul, Mr. Yoseph Dauber, Mr. David Kostman and Mr. Yehoshua (Shuki) Ehrlich to increase the number of directors to eight, and to add to our board another director with relevant hi-tech experience and background.
In July 2012, Udi Ziv, resignedBenny Einhorn retired from his position as President, of our Enterprise Group,NICE EMEA, and Yochai Rozenblat, then-current President and Chief Executive Officer of NICE AmericasMr. John O’Hara assumed the position of President of our Enterprise Group. Barak Eilam assumed the position of President of NICE Americas.
In July 2012, Ad Ketelaars resigned from his position as President of NICE EMEA. In July 2012, Benny Einhorn, the Company’s Chief Marketing Officer, assumed the position of President of NICE EMEA in addition to his current position.
On February 13, 2013, Ron Gutler resigned from his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors, and David Kostman was appointed by the Board of Directors and assumed the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors.
On March 14, 2013, Zeev Bregman, our President and Chief Executive Officer, was appointed to serve as a director of the Company.
 
Set forth below is a biographical summary of each of the above-named directors and executive officers of NICE.  Each of our directors qualifies as an independent director under applicable NASDAQ rules.
 
David Kostman has served as one of our directors since 2001, with the exception of the period between June 2007 and July 2008, and as our Chairman of the Board since February 2013.  Mr. Kostman is currently Executive Chairman of Nanoosh LLC and Chairman of Leisure Class LLC. UntilHe recently he served on the board of directors of publicly traded Retalix Ltd., which was acquired by NCR Corporation, and serves on the board of directors of several other private companies.Outbrain, Inc. and ironSource Ltd.  From 2006 until 2008, Mr. Kostman was a Managing Director in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers, heading the Global Internet Group.  From April 2003 until July 2006, Mr. Kostman was Chief Operating Officer and then Chief Executive Officer of Delta Galil USA, a subsidiary of publicly traded Delta Galil Industries Ltd.  From 2000 until 2002, Mr. Kostman was President of the International Division and Chief Operating Officer of publicly traded VerticalNet Inc.  Prior to that Mr. Kostman worked in the investment banking divisions of Lehman Brothers (1994-2000) focusing on the technology and Internet sectors and NM Rothschild & Sons (1992-1993), focusing on M&A and privatizations. Mr. Kostman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Tel Aviv University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from INSEAD.
 
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Joseph Atsmon has served as one of our directors since September 2001 and Vice-Chairman of the Board since May 2002.  Mr. Atsmon currently serves as a director of Ceragon Networks Ltd.  From 1995 until 2000, Mr. Atsmon served as Chief Executive Officer of Teledata Communications Ltd., a public company acquired by ADC Telecommunications Inc. in 1998.  Mr. Atsmon had a twenty-year career with Tadiran Ltd.  In his last role at Tadiran Ltd., Mr. Atsmon served as Corporate VP for business development.  Prior to that, he served as President of various military communications divisions.  Mr. Atsmon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
Rimon Ben-Shaoul has served as one of our directors since September 2001.  Since 2001, Mr. Ben-Shaoul has served as Co-Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Koonras Technologies Ltd., a technology investment company controlled by LEADER Ltd., an Israeli holding company.  Mr. Ben-Shaoul also serves as a director of MIND C.T.I. Ltd. and several private companies, and served as a director of BVR Systems Ltd.  In addition, he isserved as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Polar Communications Ltd., which manages media and communications investments.  Mr. Ben-Shaoul also servesserved as the Chairman of T.A.T Technologies Ltd., a public company listed on NASDAQ and TASE. Between 1997 and 2001, Mr. Ben-Shaoul was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Clal Industries and Investments Ltd., one of the largest holding companies in Israel with substantial holdings in the high tech industry.  During that time, Mr. Ben-Shaoul also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Clal Electronics Industries Ltd., Scitex Corporation Ltd., and various other companies within the Clal Group.  Mr. Ben-Shaoul also served as a director of ECI Telecom Ltd., Fundtech Ltd., Creo Products, Inc. and Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd.  From 1985 to 1997, Mr. Ben-Shaoul was President and Chief Executive Officer of Clal Insurance Company Ltd. and a director of the company and its various subsidiaries.  Mr. Ben-Shaoul holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, both from Tel-Aviv University.
 
Yoseph Dauber has served as one of our directors since April 2002.  Mr. Dauber has served in various senior positions at Bank Hapoalim since 1973.  Until June 2002, Mr. Dauber was Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management and Joint Managing Director of Bank Hapoalim and was responsible for the commercial division of the bank.  From 1994 to June 2002, Mr. Dauber served as Chairman of the Isracard Group.  From 1995 to July 2002, Mr. Dauber also served as Chairman of Poalim American Express.  From 2002 to 2003, he served as Chairman of the Israel Maritime Bank Ltd. and from 2003 to 2008 he served as a director of Bank Hapoalim.  Mr. Dauber currently serves as a director of MAGICJACK VOCALTEC Ltd., Delek Group Ltd., S.Shlomo Holdings Ltd and Chairman of KCPS Manof Fund.  Mr. Dauber holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a Master’s degree in Law from Bar Ilan University.
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Dan Falk has served as one of our statutory outside directors since 2001.  From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Falk was President and Chief Operating Officer of Sapiens International Corporation N.V.  From 1985 to 1999, Mr. Falk served in various positions in Orbotech Ltd., the last of which were Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President.  From 1973 to 1985, he served in several executive positions in the Israel Discount Bank.  Mr. Falk also serves as the Chairman of ORAD Hi-Tech SystemsAVT-Advanced Vision Technology Ltd., and serves on the board of directors of Orbotech Ltd., Ormat Technologies Inc., and Attunity Ltd., Nova Measuring Systems Ltd., Amiad Water Systems Ltd., and Plastopil Ltd.. Mr. Falk holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, both from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
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Yocheved Dvir has served as one of our statutory outside directors since January 2008.  Since 2000, Ms. Dvir has served as a strategic advisor in business development affairs to multiple companies and initiatives that were being founded.  Ms. Dvir also serves on the board of directors of Menorah Insurance Company and its subsidiary, Alrov Real Estate Visa Cal, Edey Med, and Applisonix Ltd. UntilEndey Med. She recently she served on the boards of Visa Cal, Trendline Business Information & Communications Ltd., Menorah Insurance Company Ltd., Israel Corporation Ltd., ECI Telecom Ltd., Strauss Industries Ltd., Phoenix Holding and Phoenix Insurance Co.  Between 1990 and 2000, Ms. Dvir served as a Senior Vice President of the Migdal Group.  Ms. Dvir joined the Migdal Group in 1981 and, until late 2000, held a number of senior financial and managerial positions, including Head of the Group’s Economics Department (1986-1988), Head of the Group’s Corporate Office (1989-1992), Head of the Group’s General Insurance Division and Corporate Office (1993-1997), Group CFO (1997-1999), Head of the Group’s Strategic Development Division and Marketing Array and Risk Manager (2000).  Ms. Dvir holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics from the University of Haifa and completed studies towards a full second degree in Statistics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
 
Yehoshua (Shuki) Ehrlich has served as one of our directors since September 2012. Mr. Ehrlich is an active social investor, serving as Chairman of "Committed to Give", a group formed by Israeli social investors for promoting philanthropy in Israel and several other social organizations. Mr. Ehrlich also serves as a member of the executive board of Israel Venture Network and a board member of AfterDox, an angels' investment group. Between the years 2000 and 2010, Mr. Ehrlich served as Managing Director at Giza Venture Capital, where he focused on the communications, enterprise software and information technology sectors. Formerly, Mr. Ehrlich had a fifteen-year career with Amdocs, a public software company specializing in billing, CRM, order management systems for telecommunications and Internet service providers. In his last role at Amdocs, Mr. Ehrlich served as Senior Vice President of Business Development. Mr. Ehrlich holds a BScBachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Tel Aviv University.

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Zeev BregmanLeo Apotheker has served as one of our Presidentdirectors since August 2013. Mr. Apotheker was the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer since September 2009.co-founder of efficiency capital SAS, a growth capital advisory firm, from 2012 to 2014. From 20012010 to 2007,2011, Mr. BregmanApotheker served as Chief Executive Officer of Comverse Inc.Hewlett Packard Company. From 19872008 to 2001,2010, he served in various research and development, sales, marketing, and management positions within Comverse, including Vice President Headas Chief Executive Officer of SAP AG. In addition, he is currently Chairman of the EMEA division,board of KMD, one of Denmark’s leading IT and software companies, Vice PresidentChairman of Unit4, a leading Dutch ERP provider for mid-sized people centric companies, and HeadVice Chairman and Lead Independent Director of the Messaging division, and Chief Operating Officer.Schneider Electric SA. Mr. BregmanApotheker holds a Bachelor’s degree in MathematicsEconomics and Computer ScienceInternational Relations from Tel-Avivthe Hebrew University a Master's degree in Computer Science from Tel-Aviv University and a Master's degree in Business Administration from a joint program of Kellogg Business School and Tel Aviv University.Jerusalem.
 
Yochai RozenblatJoe Cowan has served as one of our directors since August 2013. Mr. Cowan has been the CEO and director of Epicor since October 2013. During 2013 Mr. Cowan served as President of DataDirect Networks, Inc., and from 2010 until 2013, Mr. Cowan served as the Enterprise Group since July 2012.Chief Executive Officer and President of Online Resources Corp. During 2009, Mr. Cowan served as an Operating Executive and Consultant at Vector Capital. From September2007 to 2009, Mr. Cowan served as the Chief Executive Officer of Interwoven Inc. From 2004 to June 2012,2006, Mr. Rozenblat wasCowan served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of our American division.Manugistics Inc. and Manugistics Group Inc. Prior to that, Mr. RozenblatCowan served in various senior executive positions, including as the Chief Executive Officer of Baan Co. NV and Avantis GOB NV. He has been a Director of DataDirect Networks, Inc. between 2011 and February 2014. Mr. Cowan has also served on the boards of various publicly traded companies, including Interwoven Inc., Online Resources Corporation, Manugistics Group Inc. and Blackboard Inc., as well as several private companies. Mr. Cowan holds a M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University and holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University.
Zehava Simon has served as one of our statutory outside directors since July 2015. Ms. Simon served as a Vice President of BMC Software Inc. from 2000 until 2013, most recently as Vice President of Corporate Development. From 2002 to 2011, Ms. Simon served as Vice President and General Manager of BMC Software in Israel. Prior to that, Ms. Simon held various positions at Intel Israel, which she joined in 1982, including leading of Finance & Operations and Business Development for Intel in Israel. Ms. Simon is currently a board member of Audiocodes, a public company traded on NASDAQ and TASE, Nova Measurements, a publicly-traded company on NASDAQ and TASE, and Amiad Water Systems, a public company traded on the London Stock Exchange. Ms. Simon is a former member of the board of directors of Insightec Ltd., M-Systems Ltd. (acquired by SanDisk Corp.) and Tower Semiconductor Ltd. Ms. Simon holds a B.A. in Social Sciences from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, a law degree (LL.B.) from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and an M.A. in Business and Management from Boston University.

Barak Eilam has served as Chief Executive Officer since April 2014. In his previous position with NICE, Mr. Eilam was President of our American division from July 2012 to March 2014. Prior to that, Mr. Eilam was the head of sales and the general manager of the Enterprise Group in the Americas. From 20032007 to 2007,2009, Mr. RozenblatEilam founded and served as our Vice Presidentthe general manager of Sales, responsible for North Americathe NICE Interaction Analytics Global Business Unit. Mr. Eilam has also served in a variety of executive positions within NICE, managing different aspects of the business in product development, sales and from 2007 his responsibilities also extended to South America.product management. Before joining NICE in 2004,1999, Mr. Rozenblat ledEilam was an officer for an elite intelligence unit in the Enterprise Sales Team at Clarify, the CRM division of Amdocs.Israeli defense forces. Mr. Rozenblat hasEilam holds a Bachelor’sBachelor's degree in LawElectrical and Electronics Engineering from Tel Aviv University.
 
 
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Yaron TchwellaMiki Migdal has served as President of the SecurityNICE Enterprise Product Group and Executive Vice President, Business Operation since June 2011.July 2014. Prior to joining NICE, he served as chief executive officerMr. Migdal was the CEO of Blue Phoenix Solutions Ltd. During 2007SAP Israel and 2008 Mr. Tchwella served asheld additional leadership roles at SAP including Senior Vice President of Comverse Inc. Prior to this positionDevelopment at SAP Global and as partPresident of his 10 yearsSAP Labs Israel. He also served in executive positions at Comverse,B.V.R Systems, Amdocs and Mercury Interactive (HP Software). Mr. Tchwella served as president of the Messaging Division and a member of the executive management team at Comverse. Mr. Tchwella also held various executive managerial positions within the product, services and customer-facing organizations at Comverse. Prior to joining Comverse, Mr. Tchwella held engineering and managerial positions over a 13-year period in the security and defense division at Advanced Technology Ltd., known today as Ness Technology Ltd. Mr. TchwellaMigdal holds a Bachelor’s degreeB.Sc. in Electronic EngineeringMath and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University.
 
    Amir OradJoseph Friscia has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of NICE-ActimizeNICE Actimize since April 2010.  From 2007 until 2010,2014. Prior to joining NICE, Mr. OradFriscia served in various positions in NICE-Actimize, includingas President of theBAE Systems’ Applied Intelligence Americas Executive Vice President of Product Management and Business Development, and Chief Marketing Officer.  From 2005 until 2006, Mr. Orad was VP Marketing of RSA Security and from 1999 until 2005,business.  He joined BAE when BAE Systems acquired Norkom Technologies, where he was a member of the founding teamhad served as General Manager and Executive Vice President of Marketingthe Americas.  Prior to Norkom, Mr. Friscia was a co-founder of CyotaPegasystems, Inc., an online securitythe leading Business Process Management software company, from its origin and anti-fraud company that was acquired by RSA Security.through taking it public in 1996. Mr. OradFriscia holds an MBA degree from Columbia University's executive programAdelphi University and a B.S. in Computer Science and ManagementB.A. from Tel AvivLong Island University.
 
Dafna GruberSarit Sagiv has served as our Chief Financial Officer since June 2007.March 2015.  From 2001April 2012 until May 2007,September 2013, she served as the Chief Financial Officer of AlvarionRetalix Ltd., a NASDAQ-listed companypublicly traded leading global provider of software and services to retailers (acquired by NCR Corporation in 2013). From September 2007 to October 2010 Ms. Sagiv served as Vice President Finance for Amdocs Limited, a publicly traded market leader in software and services for service providers in the communications, media and entertainment industry, and prior to that, provides innovative wireless network solutions.  From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Gruber wasas Finance Director of the Emerging Markets Division at Amdocs.  In addition, she has held various senior financial positions including the role of management member at Quantum Pacific Group, an international private group of businesses. She also served as the Chief Financial Officer of BreezeCOM Ltd., which was merged with Floware Wirelessat publicly traded Orad Hi-Tec Systems Ltd. to create Alvarion, prior to which she was the controller of BreezeCOM from 1996 to 1997.  From 1993 to 1996, Ms. Gruber was a controller at Lannet Data Communications Ltd., subsequentlyand Cimatron Ltd (later acquired by Lucent Technologies Inc.3D Systems). Ms. GruberSagiv is a certified public accountant and holds a Bachelor’s degreeBA in Accounting and Economics and an MBA, both from Tel Aviv University alongside an MA in law from Bar Ilan University.

Yechiam Cohen has served as our Corporate Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since 2005.  From 1996 to 2004, he served as General Counsel of Amdocs, a publicly traded company and a leading provider of billing and CRM software solutions to the telecommunications industry.  Before joining Amdocs, Mr. Cohen was a partner in the Tel Aviv law firm of Dan Cohen, Spigelman & Company.  From 1987 to 1990, he was an associate with the New York law firm of Dornbush, Mensch, Mandelstam and Schaeffer.  Mr. Cohen served as a law clerk to Justice Beijski of the Supreme Court of Israel in Jerusalem.  He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Hebrew University School of Law and is admitted to practice law in Israel and New York.
 
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Eran Porat has served as our Corporate Vice President, Finance since 2004.  From March 2000 to 2004, he served as our Corporate Controller.  From 1997 to February 2000, Mr. Porat served as Corporate Controller of Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd.  From 1996 to 1997, he served as Corporate Controller of Nechushtan Elevators Ltd.  Mr. Porat is a certified public accountant and holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from Tel Aviv University.
 
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Eran Liron has served as our Executive Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Development since October 2013, and as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development since February 2006.  From 2004 to 2006, he served as Director of Corporate Development at Mercury Interactive Corporation, a software company, and prior thereto he held several business development positions at Mercury Interactive.  Before joining Mercury, Mr. Liron served in several marketing roles at software startups and at Tower Semiconductor.  Mr. Liron holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and a Doctorate in Business from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in California.
 
Benny EinhornTom Dziersk has served as the President of NICE Americas since April 2014. Prior to NICE, Mr. Dziersk was Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing and Senior Vice President, Americas at JDA Software Group, Inc. He has held other senior executive leadership roles as President and Chief Executive Officer at SAMSys, President and Chief Executive Officer at Clear Orbit, and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Essentus International. He also held various management and sales positions with JBA International and Loadstar Computer Systems. Mr. Dziersk holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan.
John O’Hara has served as our President of NICE EMEA and Chief Marketing Officer since January 2016.  From July 2012.2013 to January 2016, Mr. Einhorn acted as Chief Marketing Officer since April 2012 and was responsible for NICE’s global marketing, business partner and channel activities. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. EinhornO’Hara served as non-executive Chairman at Rosslyn Data Technologies, where he supported the cloud-based data and analytics software start-up until its IPO.  Prior to that, between 2007 and 2013, he was Executive Vice President, of Sales & Marketing in Modu, an innovative manufacturer of the world’s lightest modular mobile phones.  From 2001 to 2008, he was the Chief Marketing OfficerInternational for Pitney Bowes Software and President of EMEAPitney Bowes Software. He also acted as General Manager, Enterprise and Partner Group, at Comverse Inc.Microsoft UK, where he ran the enterprise sales organization of Microsoft UK and previously held leadership positions at IBM, Pivotal Corporation and Lotus Development Corporation. Mr. EinhornO’Hara holds an MBA degreea B.A. (with honors) in Applied Science from the University of Wales, Institute of Science and Technology and a Bachelor's degreeMasters in Industrial EngineeringComputer Science from Tel Aviv University.
Barak Eilam has served as Presidentthe University of our American division since July 2012. In his previous position with NICE, Mr. Eilam was the head of sales and the general manager of the Enterprise Group in the Americas. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Eilam founded and served as the general manager of the NICE Interaction Analytics Global Business Unit. Mr. Eilam has also served in a variety of executive positions within NICE, managing different aspects of the business in product development, sales and product management. Before joining NICE in 1999, Mr. Eilam was an officer for an elite intelligence unit in the Israeli defense forces. Mr. Eilam holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Tel Aviv University.Manchester.
 
Raghav Sahgal has served as President of NICE APAC since October 2010.  From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Sahgal served as Vice President, Communications, Global Business Unit – APAC of Oracle.  Prior to that, Mr. Sahgal held various senior positions in the management, strategic planning, global field operations, sales and marketing groups at Intense Technologies Inc., Suntec Inc., Comverse Technology, CSG Systems and Lucent Technologies.  Mr. Sahgal is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Executive General Management Program, has a Master's degree in Computer System Management from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Tulane University.
 
Christopher Wooten has served as Executive Vice President, Vertical Markets since September 2015, and previously served as Executive Vice President of the Surveillance Group since June 2014. During his tenure with NICE, Mr. Wooten has also held various other executive positions, including Vice President and General Manager of the Public Safety Division, President of the Public Safety Global Business Unit and President of the Americas Security Division. Mr. Wooten has previously held executive positions with Motorola, JTECH Communications and Thales Contact Solutions. Thales Contact Solutions was subsequently acquired by NICE in 2002. Mr. Wooten holds a BSBA Degree in Marketing and Business Administration from the University of Central Florida.

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Sigal GillmoreGill-more has served as Executive Vice President, Human Resources since September 2009.  From 1996 until 2009, Ms. GillmoreGill-more held several field, regional and corporate roles at Microsoft.  In her most recent role at Microsoft, Ms. GillmoreGill-more led the staffing function across all international regions (EMEA, Asia, Latin America) overseeing both Sales and R&D sites. Ms. GillmoreGill-more holds a Master’s degree in organizational behavior from Tel Aviv University.
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There are no family relationships between any of the directors or executive officers named above.
 
6.B. Compensation
 
(a) Aggregate Executive Compensation
The aggregate compensation paid to or accrued on behalf of all our directors and executive officers as a group of 2224 persons during 20122015 consisted of approximately $8.6$11.5 million in salary, fees, bonus, commissions and directors’ fees and approximately $0.5$1.0 million in amounts set aside or accrued to provide pension, retirement or similar benefits, but excluding amounts we expended for automobiles made available to our officers, expenses (including business travel, professional and business association dues and expenses) reimbursed to our officers and other fringe benefits commonly reimbursed or paid by companies in Israel.
 
We have a performance-based bonus plan for our executive management team. The plan is based on our overall performance, the particular unit performance, individual performance and the results of the customer satisfaction survey conducted annually. The measurements can change year over year, and are a combination of financial parameters, including revenues, booking, operating income and collection. The plan is reviewed and approved by our Board of Directors annually, as is any bonus payment under the plan.
 
During 2012,2015, our officers and directors received, in the aggregate, (i) options to purchase 539,997478,865 ordinary shares, that include 101,365 options with an exercise price equal to the par value of the ordinary shares (the “par value options”), and 44,166(ii) 36,166 restricted share units, under our equity based compensation plans.  The options (other than the par value options) have a weighted average price of $27.92$52.13 and all options will expire six years after the date of grant.  The restricted shares units are granted at par value of the ordinary shares.  For information regarding our option exchange program, see "–Share"Share Ownership–Option Exchanges and Price Adjustment" below.
 
Pursuant to the requirements of the Israeli Companies Law, 5759–1999, or the Israeli Companies Law, remuneration of our directors requires shareholder approval.  Compensation and reimbursement for outside directors (as described below) is statuto­rily determined pursuant to the Israeli Companies Law.  Effective as of OctoberJuly 1, 2012,2015, our shareholders approved the payment to each of our non-executive directors, including outside directors, of an annual fee of NIS 120,000 (equivalent to approximately $32,145)$40,000 and a meeting attendance fee of $1,500 for each Board meeting attended (whether in person or through media), and $1,000 for each Board committee meeting attended (whether in person or through media) (in each case paid in U.S. dollars or in NIS 3,250 (equivalent to approximately $871), including for meetings of committeesbased on the exchange rate on the date of the board of directors.  The cash amounts set forth above areapproval by shareholders), subject to adjustment for changes in the Israeli consumer price index after September 2012.additional value added tax, as applicable.
 
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On September 12, 2012,July 9, 2015, at our 20122015 annual general meeting of shareholders, following the recommendation of our compensation committee and approval by our Board of Directors, our shareholders approved the increase ofan amended compensation policy for directors and officers. In addition, our shareholders approved a supplemental annual cash fee for the Chairman of the Board’s special annual cash fee from NIS 390,000 (equivalent to approximately $104,474) toBoard in the amount of NIS 450,000 (equivalent to approximately $120,546), effective as of October 1, 2012.$115,652).  The specialsupplemental annual fee is subject to adjustment for changes in the Israeli consumer price index after September 2012.
 
(b) Individual Compensation of Covered Executives
The following describes the compensation of our five most highly compensated executive officers in 2015, based on the total of salary costs, bonus cost and equity granted in 2015 ("Covered Executives").
The Compensation specified below is broken down into the following components (all amounts specified below are in terms of cost to the Company, as recorded in our financial statements). U.S. dollar amounts indicated for Salary, Bonus and Equity Costs are in thousands of dollars and for Covered Executives in Israel are based on the Shekel exchange rate of 3.89, which represents the average rate for the year, and for the Covered Executive in Singapore are based on the Singapore dollar exchange rate of 1.37, which represents the average rate for that year.
(1)Salary Costs. Salary Costs include gross salary, benefits and perquisites, including those mandated by applicable law which may include, to the extent applicable to each Covered Executive, payments, contributions and/or allocations for pension, severance, vacation, travel and accommodation, car or car allowance, medical insurances and risk insurances (e.g., life, disability, accidents), phone, convalescence pay, relocation, payments for social security, and other benefits consistent with the Company's guidelines.
(2)Bonus Costs. Bonus Costs represent bonuses granted to the Covered Executive with respect to the year ended December 31, 2015, paid in accordance with the Company's performance-based bonus plan or as detailed in footnotes below.
(3)Equity Costs. Represents the expense recorded in our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2015, with respect to equity granted in 2015 and in previous years (if applicable). For assumptions and key variables used in the calculation of such amounts see note 13b of our audited consolidated financial statements.
i.
Barak Eilam – CEO. Salary Costs - $597; Bonus Costs - $960; Equity Costs - $1,368 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in 2015 and $1,539 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in previous years.
 
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ii.
Thomas Dziersk – President, NICE Americas. Salary Costs - $470; Bonus Costs - $525; Equity Costs - $493 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in 2015 and $512 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in previous years.
iii.
Joseph Friscia – President, NICE Actimize. Salary Costs - $405; Bonus Costs - $600; Equity Costs - $370 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in 2015 and $341 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in previous years.
iv.
Raghav Sahgal – President, NICE APAC. Salary Costs - $493; Bonus Costs - $555; Equity Costs - $326 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in 2015 and $458 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in previous years.
v.
Christopher Wooten – EVP, NICE Vertical Markets. Salary Costs - $354; Bonus Costs - $691; Equity Costs - $308 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in 2015 and $259 expense recorded in 2015 for equity granted in previous years.
Board Practices
 
Corporate Governance Practices
 
We are incorporated in Israel and therefore are subject to various corporate governance practices under the Israeli Companies Law, relating to such matters as outside directors, the internal audit committee, the internal auditor and approvals of interested party transactions.  These matters are in addition to the ongoing listing conditions of the NASDAQ and other relevant provisions of U.S. securities laws.  Under applicable NASDAQ rules, a foreign private issuer may generally follow its home country rules of corporate governance in lieu of comparable NASDAQ requirements, except for certain matters such as composition and responsibilities of the audit committee and the independence of its members.  For further information see Item 16G, “Corporate Governance.”Governance” of this annual report.
 
General Board Practices
 
Our articles of association provide that the number of directors serving on the boardBoard shall be not less than three but shall not exceed thirteen.  Our directors, other than outside directors, are elected at the annual shareholders meeting to serve until the next annual meeting or until their earlier death, resignation, bankruptcy, incapacity or removal by an extraordinary resolution of the general shareholders meeting.  Directors may be re-elected at each annual shareholders meeting.  The boardBoard may appoint additional directors (whether to fill a vacancy or create new directorships) to serve until the next annual shareholders meeting, provided, however, that the boardBoard shall have no obligation to fill any vacancy unless the number of directors is less than three.
 
The boardBoard may, subject to the provisions of the Israeli Companies Law, appoint a committee of the boardBoard and delegate to such committee all or any of the powers of the board,Board, as it deems appropriate.  Notwithstanding the foregoing and subject to the provisions of the Israeli Companies law, the boardBoard may, at any time, amend, restate or cancel the delegation of any of its powers to any of its committees.  The boardBoard has appointed an internal audit committee under the Israeli Companies Law that has fourthree members, an audit committee that has fourfive members, a compensation committee that has fourfive members, a nominations committee that has two members and a mergers and acquisitions committee that has foursix members.  We do not have, nor do our subsidiaries have, any directors’ service contracts granting to the directors any benefits upon termination of their employment. In addition, from time to time the boardBoard may appoint an ad hoc committee for certain purposes, such as the review, negotiation and recommendation of approval of M&A transactions.
 
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Outside Directors

Under the Israeli Companies Law, companies incorporated under the laws of Israel whose shares have been offered to the public in or outside of Israel are required to appoint at least two “outside” directors.

Outside directors are required to possess professional qualifications as set out in regulations promulgated under the Israeli Companies Law.  The Israeli Companies Law provides that a person may not be appointed as an outside director if (i) such person or person’s relative or affiliate has, at the date of appointment, or had at any time during the two years preceding such date, any affiliation with the company, a controlling shareholder thereof or their respective affiliates; or (ii) in a company that does not have a 25% shareholder, such person has an affiliation with any person who, at the time of appointment, is the chairman, the chief executive officer, the chief financial officer or a 5% shareholder of the company. In general, the term “affiliation” includes:
 
•      
·
an employment relationship;
 
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·
a business or professional relationship maintained on a regular basis;
 
•      a business or professional relationship maintained on a regular basis;
·
control; and
 
•      control; and
•      
·
service as an office holder.
 
No person may serve as an outside director if the person’s position or other activities create, or may create a conflict of interest with the person’s responsibilities as an outside director or may otherwise interfere with the person’s ability to serve as an outside director. Until the lapse of two years from termination of office, a company or its controlling shareholder may not give any direct or indirect benefit to the former outside director.
 
Outside directors are to be elected by a majority vote at a shareholders’ meeting, provided that either:
 
·the majority of shares voted at the meeting shall include at least a majority of the shares of non-controlling shareholders present at the meeting and voting on the matter (without taking into account the votes of the abstaining shareholders); or
 
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·the total number of shares of non-controlling shareholders voted against the election of the outside directors does not exceed two percent of the aggregate voting rights in the company.
 
The initial term of an outside director is three years and may be extended for up to two additional three-year terms.  Thereafter, he or she may be reelected by our shareholders for additional periods of up to three years each only if the internal audit committee and the boardBoard of directorsDirectors confirm that, in light of the outside director’s expertise and special contribution to the work of the boardBoard of directorsDirectors and its committees, the reelection for such additional period is beneficial to the company.  Reelection of an outside director may be effected through one of the following mechanisms: (1) the boardBoard of directorsDirectors proposed the reelection of the nominee and the election was approved by the shareholders by the majority required to appoint outside directors for their initial term; or (2) a shareholder holding one percent or more of a company’s voting rights or the outside director proposed the reelection of the nominee, and the reelection is approved by a majority of the votes cast by the shareholders of the company, excluding the votes of controlling shareholders and those who have a personal interest in the matter as a result of their relations with the controlling shareholders, provided that the aggregate votes cast in favor of the reelection by such non-excluded shareholders constitute more than two percent of the voting rights in the company. An outside director may be removed only in a general meeting, by the same percentage of shareholders as is required for electing an outside director, or by a court, and in both cases only if the outside director ceases to meet the statutory qualifications for appointment or if he or she has violated the duty of loyalty to us.  Each committee of a company’s boardBoard of directorsDirectors which is empowered to exercise any of the board’sBoard’s powers is required to include at least one outside director, provided that each of the internal audit committee and compensation committee must include all of the outside directors.
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An outside director is entitled to compensation as provided in regulations adopted under the Israeli Companies Law and is otherwise prohibited from receiving any other compensation, directly or indirectly, from the company.  In accordance with such regulations, our shareholders approved that our outside directors are to receive compensation equal to that paid to the other members of the boardBoard of directors.Directors.  For further information, please see Item 6, “Directors, Senior Management and Employees—Compensation” in this annual report.
 
Financial and Accounting Expertise
 
Pursuant to the Israeli Companies Law, our boardBoard of directorsDirectors has determined that at least one member of our boardBoard of directorsDirectors must be an “accounting and financial expert.”  The Israeli Companies Law requires that all outside directors must be “professionally qualified.” Under applicable NASDAQ rules, each member of our audit committee must be financially literate and at least one of the members must have experience or background that results in such member’s financial sophistication.  Our boardBoard of directorsDirectors has determined that each of Dan Falk and Yocheved Dvir is an “accounting and financial expert” for purposes of the Israeli Companies Law and is financially sophisticated for purposes of applicable NASDAQ rules.  See also Item 16A, “Audit Committee Financial Expert” in this annual report.
 
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Independent Directors
 
Under the rules of the NASDAQ, a majority of our directors are required to be “independent” as defined in applicable NASDAQ rules.  All of our directors satisfy the respective independence requirements of NASDAQ.
 
In addition, our Articles of Association provide that, if we do not have a shareholder that holds 25% or more of our issued and outstanding share capital, then a majority of the directors shall be "independent" as defined in the Israeli Companies Law and the regulations promulgated thereunder. If we have a shareholder that holds 25% or more of our issued and outstanding share capital, then at least one third of the directors shall be "independent." All of our directors satisfy the respective independence requirements of the Israeli Companies Law. The qualifications for independent directors under the Israeli Companies Law are similar to those for outside directors, as described above under “—Outside Directors”, including the nine-year term limit and the ability to extend such term beyond nine years upon the approval of our internal audit committee and Board of Directors.

Internal Audit Committee

The Israeli Companies Law requires public companies to appoint an internal audit committee.  The role of the internal audit committee under the Israeli Companies Law is to examine flaws in the management of the company’s business in consultation with the internal auditors and the independent accountants, and to propose remedial measures to the board.  The internal audit committee also reviews interested party transactions for approval as required by law, including approval of the remuneration of a director in any capacity, which also requires Board, Compensation Committee and shareholder approval.  The internal audit committee also assesses our internal audit system and the performance of our internal auditor, and oversees the implementation and enforcement of our compliance program. Under the Israeli Companies Law, an internal audit committee must consist of at least three directors, including all of the outside directors. The members of the internal audit committee must satisfy certain independence standards under the Israeli Companies Law, and the chairman of the internal audit committee must be an outside director. The chairman of the boardBoard of directors,Directors, any director employed by the company or by its controlling shareholder or by an entity controlled by the controlling shareholder, a director who regularly provides services to the company or to its controlling shareholder, any director who derives most of its income from the controlling shareholder and a controlling shareholder or any relative of a controlling shareholder, may not be a member of the internal audit committee.  All of the current members of our internal audit committee (presently comprised of Yocheved Dvir (Chairman), Joseph Atsmon, Dan Falk and Yoseph Dauber)Zehava Simon) meet these qualifications.
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Internal Auditor

Under the Israeli Companies Law, the boardBoard of directorsDirectors must appoint an internal auditor, proposed by the internal audit committee.  The role of the internal auditor is to examine, among other matters, whether the company’s activities comply with the law and orderly business procedure.  Under the Israeli Companies Law, the internal auditor may be an employee of the company but may not be an interested party or office holder, or a relative of any interested party or office holder, and may not be a member of the company’s independent accounting firm or its representative.  We have appointed an internal auditor in accordance with the requirements of the Israeli Companies Law.
 
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Audit Committee

The NASDAQ rules also require that the audit committee of a listed company must be composed of at least three directors, each of whom is (i) independent; (ii) does not receive any compensation (except for board fees) from the company; (iii) is not an affiliated person of the company or any subsidiary; and (iv) has not participated in the preparation of the company’s (or a current subsidiary’s) financial statements during the past three years.  All of the current members of our audit committee (presently comprised of Joseph AtsmonRimon Ben-Shaoul (Chairman), David Kostman, Dan Falk, Yocheved Dvir and Yocheved Dvir)Zehava Simon) meet the NASDAQ standards described above.

Our audit committee has adopted a charter specifying the committee’s purpose and outlining its duties and responsibilities which include, among other things, (i) appointing, retaining and compensating the company’s independent auditor, subject to shareholder approval, (ii) pre-approving all services of the independent auditor,  (iii) reviewing the annual audited financial statements and approve all related party transactionsquarterly financial statements and the content of our earnings press releases, and (iv) overseeing our accounting and financial reporting processes and the audits of our financial statements.  Our audit committee is also authorized to act as our “qualified legal compliance committee.” As such, our audit committee will be responsible for investigating reports made by attorneys appearing and practicing before the SEC in representing us, of perceived material violations of U.S. federal or state securities laws, breaches of fiduciary duty or similar material violations of U.S. law by us or any of our agents.
 
We believe we currently meet the applicable NASDAQ requirements with respect to our Audit Committee and we intend to continue to take all actions as may be necessary for us to maintain our compliance with applicable NASDAQ requirements.
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requirements with respect to our Audit Committee.
 
Compensation Committee
 
As required by NASDAQ rules, our compensation committee approves the compensation of our executive officers. The compensation committee is also authorized to approve the grant of stock options and other securities to eligible grantees under our benefit plans pursuant to guidelines adopted by our boardBoard of directors.Directors.  However, grants of stock options and other securities to our executive officers also require approval of our boardBoard of directors.Directors.  Under a recent amendment to the Israeli Companies Law, the boardBoard of directorsDirectors of a public company must establish a compensation committee. The compensation committee must consist of at least three directors who satisfy certain independence qualifications as further detailed above in relation to Internal Audit Committee members, and the chairman of the compensation committee is required to be an outside director. Under the Israeli Companies Law, the role of the compensation committee is to recommend to the boardBoard of directors,Directors, for ultimate shareholder approval by a special majority, a policy governing the compensation of office holders based on specified criteria, to review modifications to the compensation policy from time to time, to review its implementation and to approve the actual compensation terms of office holders prior to the approval thereof by the boardBoard of directors.Directors.
 
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Pursuant to the NASDAQ rules, our compensation committee is required to consist of at least two members, with all members of the compensation committee required to be independent, unless we elect to take advantage of the exemption provided to "foreign private issuers" to comply with home country practice instead of the listing rules of exchanges such as NASDAQ, which we do not presently intend to do.  The determination of whether a director is independent takes into account all factors relevant to whether a director has a relationship to us which would be material to such director’s ability to be independent from management in connection with carrying out the duties of a compensation committee member. Factors required for consideration in making this determination specifically include (i) the source of compensation of such director (including any consulting, advisory or other compensatory fee paid by us to such director) and (ii) whether such director is affiliated with us or one of our affiliates or subsidiaries.  Pursuant to the NASDAQ rules, we are also required to have a compensation committee charter, which, among other things, must set forth the scope of the compensation committee’s responsibilities and how they will be carried out, as well as grant the compensation committee the power to retain compensation advisers following consideration of certain factors that may be indicative of a conflict of interest by the compensation adviser in rendering compensation advice.
Our Board of Directors adopted a compensation committee charter that includes the requirements of the NASDAQ rules.  However, the charter provides that if there is any conflict between the responsibilities and requirements set forth therein and either the Israeli Companies Law or compensation policy approved by our Board of Directors upon the recommendation of our compensation committee and subsequently approved by our shareholders (the “Compensation Policy”), the latter will govern.  For information regarding the Compensation Policy, see Item 10 - “Additional Information - Memorandum and Articles of Association – Approval of Office Holder Compensation” in this annual report.
We do not believe that there are any existing conflicts between the compensation committee charter and either of the Israeli Companies Law or the Compensation Policy.  However, if any such conflict should develop, such that we are no longer in compliance with the requirements of the NASDAQ rules, we intend to utilize the foreign private issuer exemption described above with respect to such requirement, and in accordance with the NASDAQ rules we will disclose the practice that we follow in lieu of the applicable NASDAQ requirement in our future annual reports.
All of the current members of thisthe compensation committee, all of whom satisfiesDan Falk (chairman), Yocheved Dvir, Joe Cowan, Leo Apotheker and Zehava Simon, satisfy the respective independence requirements of both the NASDAQ rules and the Israeli Companies Law, are Dan Falk (chairman), Rimon Ben Shaoul, Yoseph Dauber and Yocheved Dvir.Law.
 
Nominations Committee
 
As required by NASDAQ rules, our nominations committee recommends candidates for election to our boardBoard of directorsDirectors pursuant to a written charter.  TheBoth of the current members of this committee, all of whom are independent directors, are David Kostman and Dan Falk.Falk, are independent directors.
 
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Mergers and Acquisitions Committee
 
Our Board of Directors has delegated powers with respect to the review and recommendation of mergers and acquisitions and related investments and transactions, which are then subject to approval by the Board of Directors. The committee also has limited authority to approve mergers and acquisitions for consideration up to a certain amount.  TheAll of the current members of this committee, all of whom are independent directors, are David Kostman (chairman), Dan Falk, Rimon Ben Shaoul, Yehoshua Ehrlich, Leo Apotheker and Yehoshua Ehrlich.Joe Cowan, are independent directors.
 
Employees

AtAs of December 31, 2012,2015, we had 3,4003,316 employees worldwide, which represented an increasea decrease of approximately 9%5.6% from year-end 2011.
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December 31, 2014.
 
The following table sets forth the number of our full-time employees at the end of each of the last three fiscal years as well as the main category of activity and geographic location of such employees:
 
 At December 31,  At December 31, 
Category of Activity
 
2010
  
2011
  
2012
  
2013
  
2014
  2015* 
                   
Operations
  122   147   110   110   108   86 
Customer Support
  1,018   1,204   1,291   1,393   1,343   1,374 
Sales & Marketing
  604   677   809   840   811   682 
Research & Development
  705   728   803   865   890   801 
General & Administrative
  345   373   387   368   361   352 
Total
  2,794   3,129   3,400   3,576   3,513   3,316 
                        
Geographic Location
                        
Israel
  1,212   1,200   1,206   1,285   1,256   946 
Americas
  1,009   1,095   1,298   1,365   1,344   1,263 
Europe
  352   564   607   631   607   564 
Asia Pacific
  221   270   289   295   306   543 
Total
  2,794   3,129   3,400   3,576   3,513   3,316 
* The decrease in number of employees in 2015 resulted mainly from the sale of the Cyber and Intelligence and Physical Security businesses in 2015 (for more information, please see Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Discontinued Operations” in this annual report).
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We also utilize temporary employees in various activities.  On average, we employed 8050 temporary employees and obtained services from 764756 consultants (not included in the numbers set forth above) during 2012.2015.
 
Our future success will depend in part upon our ability to attract and retain highly skilled and qualified personnel.  Although competition for such personnel is generally intense, we believe that adequate personnel resources are currently available in Israel to meet our requirements.
 
We are not a party to any collective bargaining agreement with our employees or with any labor organization.  However, we are subject to certain labor related statutes, and to certain provisions of collective bargaining agreements between the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and the Coordinating Bureau of Economic Organizations (includ­ing the Industrialists’ Association of Israel) that are applicable to our Israeli employ­ees by order of the Israeli Ministry of Labor and Welfare.  These statutes and provisions principally concern the length of the work day and the work week, minimum wages for workers, insurance for work-related accidents, determination of severance pay and other conditions of employment.  Furthermore, pursuant to such provisions, the wages of most of our Israeli employees are automatically adjusted based on changes in the Israeli consumer price index, or CPI.  The amount and frequency of these adjustments are modified from time to time.  Israeli law generally requires the payment by employers in Israel of severance pay upon the death of an employee, his retirement or upon termination of employment by the employer without due cause.  We currently fund our ongoing severance obligations in Israel by making monthly payments to approved severance funds or insurance policies.  PleaseFor more information, please see Note [2p]2p to our Consolidated Financial Statements.  In addition, according to the National Insurance Law, Israeli employers and employees are required to pay predetermined sums to the National Insurance Institute, an organization similar to the U.S. Social Security Administration.  These contributions entitle the employees to benefits in periods of unemployment, work injury, maternity leave, disability, reserve military service and bankruptcy or winding-up of the employer.  Since January 1, 1995, such amount also includes payments for national health insurance.  The payments to the National Insurance Institute are equal to approximately 17%17.25% of an employee’s wages (up to a certain cap as determined from time to time by law), of which the employee contributes approximately 66%62% and the employer contributes approximately 34%38%.
 
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In addition to our severance obligations for employees located in Israel, we pay severance benefits to our employees located elsewhere in accordance with the local laws and practices of the countries in which they are employed.  Moreover, we are subject to Dutch labor laws and practices for our employees in Alkmaar.
 
Employment Agreements
 
We have employment agreements with our officers.  Pursuant to these employ­ment agreements, each party may terminate the employment for nowithout cause by giving a 30, 60 or 90 day prior written notice (six to twelve months in the case of certain senior officers).  In addition, we may terminate such agreement for cause with no prior notice.  The agreements generally include non-competition and non-disclosure provisions, although the enforceability of non-competition provisions in employment agreements under Israeli law is very limited.
 
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Share Ownership
 
As of March 17, 2013,10, 2016, our directors and executive officers beneficially owned options to purchase an aggregate of 801,797314,019 options to purchase ordinary shares that were vested on such date or that wereare scheduled to vest within the following 60 days thereafter, or approximately 1.31%0.53% of our outstanding ordinary shares. The options have an average exercise price of $29.24$36.83 per share and expire between 20132016 and 2017. The restricted share units are granted at the nominal value of the ordinary shares.2021. No individual director or executive officer beneficially owns 1% or more of our outstanding ordinary shares.
 
The following is a description of each of our option equity plans, under which awards were outstanding during 2015.
2016 Share Incentive Plan
In February 2016, we adopted the NICE-Systems Ltd. 2016 Share Incentive Plan, or 2016 Plan, to provide incentives to employees, directors, consultants and/or contractors by rewarding performance and encouraging behavior that will improve our profitability. Under the 2016 Plan, our employees, directors, consultants and/or contractors may be granted any equity-related award, including any type of an option to acquire our ordinary shares and/or share appreciation right and/or share and/or restricted share and/or restricted share unit and/or other share unit and/or other share-based award and/or other right or benefit under the Plan, including any such equity related award that is a performance based award (each an “Award”).
Generally, under the terms of the 2016 Plan, and unless determined otherwise by the Board of Directors, 25% of the restricted share units and par value options granted become vested on each of the four consecutive annual anniversaries following the date of grant. Specifically with respect to options (other than options granted at an exercise price equal to their nominal value), unless determined otherwise by the Administrator, 25% of an Award granted becomes exercisable on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 6.25% becomes exercisable once every quarter during the subsequent three years.  Certain executive officers are entitled to acceleration of vesting of awards in the event of a change of control, subject to certain conditions. Awards with a vesting period expire six years after the date of grant. Options that are performance-based shall expire seven years following the date of grant. Awards are non-transferable except by will or the laws of descent and distribution.
Options would be granted at an exercise price equal to the average of the closing prices of one American Depositary Receipts or ADR, as quoted on the NASDAQ market, during the 30 consecutive calendar days preceding the date of grant, unless determined otherwise by the administrator of the 2016 Plan (including in some cases options granted with an exercise price equal to the nominal value of an ordinary share).
Our Board of Directors also adopted an addendum to the 2016 Plan for Awards granted to grantees who are residents of Israel (the “Addendum”) and resolved to elect the “Capital Gains Route” (as defined in Section 102(b)(2) of the Tax Ordinance for the grant of Awards to Israeli grantees. The U.S. addendum of the 2015 Plan provides only for non-qualified stock options for purposes of U.S. tax laws.
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The 2016 Plan provides that the number of shares that may be subject to Awards granted under the 2016 Plan shall be an amount per calendar year, equal to 3.5% of our issued and outstanding share capital as of December 31 of the preceding calendar year.  Out of such quantity, options that are not granted in a particular calendar year will not be allocated during the next calendar years.  By setting these terms, our Board of Directors took into account the need for current employee retention and retention of future employees, including, specifically, the need to retain in certain years employees that join through acquisitions.

The 2016 Plan is generally administered by our Board of Directors and compensation committee, which determines the grantees under the 2016 Plan and the number of Awards to be granted.  As of March 10, 2016, no options and restricted share units to purchase ordinary shares were outstanding under the 2016 Plan. A grant of options currently outstanding and restricted share units to purchase in the weighted average exercise price.aggregate 360,706 ordinary shares under the 2016 Plan will become effective in March and May 2016.

2008 Share Incentive Plan

In June 2008, we adopted the NICE-Systems Ltd. 2008 Share Incentive Plan, or 2008 Plan, to provide incentives to employees, directors, consultants and/or contractors by rewarding performance and encouraging behavior that will improve our profitability. Under the 2008 Plan, our employees, directors, consultants and/or contractors may be granted any equity-related award, including any type of an option to acquire our ordinary shares and/or share appreciation right and/or share and/or restricted share and/or restricted share unit and/or other share unit and/or other share-based award and/or other right or benefit under the Plan (each an “Award”).  We have registered, through the filing of registration statements on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, 6,000,0008,000,000 ADSs for issuance under the 2008 Plan.
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Generally, under the terms of the 2008 Plan, 25% of an Award granted becomes exercisable on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 6.25% becomes exercisable once every quarter during the subsequent three years.  Specifically with respect to restricted share units and par value options, unless determined otherwise by the boardBoard of directors,Directors, 25% of the restricted share units and par value options granted becomesbecome vested on each of the four consecutive annual anniversaries following the date of grant. Certain executive officers are entitled to acceleration of vesting of awards in the event of a change of control, subject to certain conditions. Awards with a vesting period expire six years after the date of grant. Pursuant to an amendment of the 2008 Plan approved by our Board of Directors on February 4, 2014, options that are performance-based and are granted during calendar year 2014 and thereafter shall expire seven years following the date of grant. Awards are non-transferable except by will or the laws of descent and distribution.
 
In December 2010, we amended the 2008 Plan such that: (i)was amended to provide that options arewould be granted at an exercise price equal to the average of the closing prices of one American Depositary Receipts or ADR, as quoted on the NASDAQ market, during the 30 consecutive calendar days preceding the date of grant, unless determined otherwise by the administrator of the 2008 Plan (including in some cases options granted with an exercise price equal to the nominal value of an ordinary share), and (ii). Prior to the amendment of the 2008 Plan that occurred in 2010, options to acquire ordinary shares were granted withat an exercise price equal toof not less than the nominalfair market value of anthe ordinary share shall have a vesting schedule identicalshares on the date of the grant, subject to thatcertain exceptions which could be determined by the Company's Board of restricted share units, as indicated above.Directors, including in some cases the granting of par value options.
 
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Our boardBoard of directorsDirectors adopted an addendum to the 2008 Plan for Awards granted to grantees who are residents of Israel (the “Addendum”).  On June 16, 2008, our boardBoard of directorsDirectors resolved to elect the “Capital Gains Route” (as defined in Section 102(b)(2) of the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance (the “Tax Ordinance”))Ordinance) for the grant of Awards to Israeli grantees, which is described abovebelow under “1995“2003 Stock Option Plan.” The U.S. addendum of the 2008 Plan provides only for non-qualified stock options for purposes of U.S. tax laws.
 
The 2008 Plan provides that the number of shares that may be subject to Awards granted under the 2008 Plan shall be an amount per calendar year, equal to 3.5% of our issued and outstanding share capital as of December 31 of the preceding calendar year.  Out of such quantity, options that are not granted in a particular calendar year will not be allocated during the next calendar years.  By setting these terms, our boardBoard of directorsDirectors took into account the need for current employee retention and retention of future employees, including, specifically, the need to retain in certain years employees that join through acquisitions. During 2012,2015, we granted 1,536,1451,242,168 options and restricted share units under the 2008 Plan (which constituted 2.5%1.7% of our issued and outstanding share capital as of December 31, 2012)2015).
 
The 2008 Plan is generally administered by our boardBoard of directorsDirectors and compensation committee, which determines the grantees under the 2008 Plan and the number of Awards to be granted.  As of March 17, 2013,10, 2016, options and restricted share units to purchase 4,291,2683,038,900 ordinary shares were outstanding under the 2008 Plan at a weighted average exercise price of $19.19.  On May 14, 2012, we registered, through the filing of registration statements on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, an additional 1,000,000 ADSs, issuable to participants in the 2008 Plan.$19.57.
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2003 Stock Option Plan

In December 2003, we adopted the NICE-Systems Ltd. 2003 Employee Stock Option Plan, or 2003 Plan, to attract, motivate and retain talented employees by rewarding performance and encouraging behavior that will improve our profitability.  Under the 2003 Plan, our employees, officers and directors may be granted options to acquire our ordinary shares.  The options to acquire ordinary shares are granted at an exercise price of not less than the fair market value of the ordinary shares on the date of the grant, subject to certain exceptions which may be determined by our board of directors.  We have registered, through the filing of registration statements on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, 8,962,112 ADSs for issuance under the 2003 Plan.
Generally, under the terms of the 2003 Plan, 25% of the stock options granted become exercisable on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 6.25% becomes exercisable once every quarter during the subsequent three years.  Stock options expire six years after the date of grant.  Stock options are non-transferable except upon the death of the grantee.  For information regarding options granted under the 2003 Plan to our directors, please see Item 6, “Directors, Senior Management and Employees–Compensation” in this annual report.
Pursuant to the tax reform and in order to comply with the provisions of Section 102 of the Tax Ordinance, on January 5, 2004, our board of directors adopted an addendum to our share option plan with respect to options granted as of December 2, 2003, to grantees who are residents of Israel (the “Addendum”).  The Addendum does not add to nor modify our share option plan in respect of grantees that are not residents of Israel.  On December 19, 2003, the board of directors resolved to elect the “Capital Gains Route” (as defined in Section 102(b)(2) of the Tax Ordinance) for the grant of options to Israeli grantees.  Generally, subject to the fulfillment of the provisions of Section 102 of the Tax Ordinance, under the Capital Gains Route gains realized from the sale of shares issued upon exercise of options will mostly be taxed at a rate of only 25% and partially at the marginal income tax rate applicable to the grantee (up to 48% in 2011).  In general, all options granted to Israeli grantees, shares issued upon exercise of such options and any bonus shares issued with respect to such shares will be held in trust for the benefit of the grantee for at least a period of 24 months from the date of grant.  The options may not be released from the trust prior to the payment of the grantee’s tax liabilities.  In the event the requirements of Section 102 for the allocation of options according to the Capital Gains Route are not met, the applicable marginal income tax rates will apply.
The 2003 Plan provides that the number of ordinary shares reserved for issuance thereunder shall increase each year commencing in 2004 by the lesser of (x) 600,000 ordinary shares or (y) two percent (2%) of the total number of outstanding ordinary shares as of December 31 of the immediately preceding calendar year.  On September 28, 2005, our shareholders approved the transfer of ordinary shares reserved for issuance under our ESPP (as defined below) to the 2003 Plan.  According to such shareholders’ resolution, 1,437,888 ordinary shares remained registered under the ESPP at such time, and the balance of 3,062,112 ordinary shares were transferred to the 2003 Plan, of which 1,062,112 ordinary shares were transferred immediately and an additional 500,000 ordinary shares that were added annually to the pool of ordinary shares were transferred to the 2003 Plan each year until calendar year 2009.  In addition, on December 21, 2006, our shareholders approved an increase in the number of ordinary shares reserved for issuance under the 2003 Plan by 1,300,000 shares.
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The 2003 Plan is generally administered by our compensation committee, which determines the grantees under the 2003 Plan and the number of options to be granted.  As of March 17, 2013, options to purchase 60,000 ordinary shares were outstanding under the 2003 Plan at a weighted average exercise price of $28.28.
1999 Amended and Restated Employee Stock Purchase Plan
In 1999, we adopted the NICE-Systems Ltd. 1999 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or ESPP, in order to provide an incentive to our employees and the employees of our subsidiaries by providing them with an opportunity to purchase our ordinary shares through accumulated payroll deductions, and thereby enable such persons to share in the future growth of our business.  We amended the ESPP in December 2003 and in December 2005.  We have registered, through the filing of registration statements on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act, 1,737,888 ADSs for issuance under the ESPP.  For information on the transfer of ordinary shares reserved for issuance under the ESPP to the 2003 Plan, please see the description under the caption “2003 Stock Option Plan” above.
Under the terms of the ESPP, eligible employees (generally, all our employees and the employees of our eligible subsidiaries who are not directors or controlling shareholders) may, on January 1 and July 1 of each year in which the ESPP is in effect, elect to become participants in the ESPP for that six-month period by filing an agreement with us arranging for payroll deductions of between 2% and 10% of such employee’s compensation for the relevant period.  An employee’s election to purchase ordinary shares under the ESPP is subject to his or her right to withdraw from the ESPP prior to exercise, six months after the offering date.  The price per ordinary share under the ESPP is 95% of the closing sales price of one ADR as quoted on NASDAQ on the semi-annual purchase date.
 
Actimize Ltd. 2003 Omnibus Stock Option and Restricted Stock Incentive Plan
 
Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition of Actimize Ltd. in August 2007, we assumed and replaced the stock options and restricted shares granted by Actimize.
 
In 2003, Actimize adopted the 2003 Omnibus Stock Option and Restricted Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2003 Actimize Plan, to afford an incentive to employees, officers, office holders, directors, subcontractors and consultants of Actimize or any subsidiary of Actimize, to acquire a proprietary interest in Actimize, to increase their efforts on behalf of Actimize and to provide the success of Actimize’s business.  Under the 2003 Actimize Plan, the grantees could be granted options to acquire Actimize’s ordinary shares, restricted shares and shares.  Incentive stock options to acquire ordinary shares of Actimize were granted at an exercise price not less than the fair market value of the ordinary shares of Actimize on the date of grant or as determined by Actimize’s boardBoard of directorsDirectors or by a committee thereof.  In addition, the options were granted at an exercise price of not less than the par value of the ordinary shares of Actimize.
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In September 2007, we registered, through the filing of a registration statement on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act, an aggregate of 987,104 ADSs, which are comprised of (i) 564,225 ADSs subject to issuance upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under the 2003 Actimize Plan and (ii) 422,879 ADSs representing restricted ordinary shares issued in lieu of restricted shares issued under the 2003 Actimize Plan.
 
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Generally, under the terms of the 2003 Actimize Plan, 25% of the options granted become exercisable on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 6.25% become exercisable following the lapse of every consecutive quarter thereafter during the subsequent three years.  Options generally expire ten years after the date of grant.  Options are non-transferable except upon the death of the grantee.  When applicable, the options are held by, and registered in the name of, a trustee for a period of two years after the date of grant in accordance with Section 102 of the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance.
 
As of March 17, 2013,10, 2016, assumed Actimize options to purchase 52,7357,977 ordinary shares of NICE were outstanding at a weighted average exercise price of $10.08.$12.13.  No additional grants are being made under this plan following the acquisition of Actimize.
Orsus Solutions Limited 2007 Incentive Option Plan
In 2007, Orsus adopted the 2007 Incentive Option Plan that was further amended by Orsus on January 10, 2010 (the “2007 Orsus Plan”), to afford an incentive to employees, office holders and service providers of Orsus and its subsidiaries.  Under the 2007 Orsus Plan, the grantees could be granted options to acquire Orsus’ ordinary A shares, restricted ordinary A shares or restricted ordinary A share units.
Pursuant to the terms of the Orsus acquisition agreement, we assumed and converted the outstanding stock options and restricted share units granted by Orsus under the Orsus 2007 Plan, into stock options to purchase ordinary shares of NICE or restricted share units of NICE, pursuant to a set formula (the “Assumed Awards”).  The Assumed Awards include (i) options or restricted share units granted to certain key employees of Orsus or its subsidiaries (the “Key Employee Awards”); and (ii) retention options granted to certain employees of Orsus or its subsidiaries (the “Retention Options”).  Under the terms of the 2007 Orsus Plan and the acquisition agreement, 50% of the Key Employee Awards granted become exercisable and vest after a period of twelve months of continuous employment with NICE (or its applicable subsidiary) commencing on January 11, 2010 and the remaining 50% become exercisable following the lapse of 6 months thereafter.  In addition, if employment of a key employee is terminated within a limited time period and under certain circumstances, such key employee’s Options shall become vested immediately.  The Retention Options vest over a course of four years as follows: (i) 25% vest and become exercisable at the lapse of 12-month period of continuous employment with NICE (or its applicable subsidiary) commencing on January 11, 2010, and (ii) the balance thereof vests on a quarterly basis during the 36 months period thereafter, such that 6.25% vest and become exercisable at the lapse of each quarter of continuous employment with NICE (or its applicable subsidiary).  Options generally expire ten years after the date of grant and restricted share units generally expire seven years after the date of grant.  Options are non-transferable except upon the death of the grantee.  When applicable, the options are held by, and registered in the name of, a trustee for a period of two years after the date of grant in accordance with Section 102 of the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance.
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As of March 17, 2013, assumed Orsus options to purchase 9,292 ordinary shares of NICE were outstanding under the 2007 Orsus Plan, comprised of 7,000 ordinary shares underlying the Retention Options at an exercise price per share of $30.78; and 2,292 ordinary shares underlying the Key Employee Awards at an exercise price per share equal to the nominal value of the ordinary shares of NICE.  We have registered, through the filing of registration statements on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, 60,000 ADRs for issuance under the 2007 Orsus Plan.
 
e-Glue Software Technologies Inc., 2004 Stock Option Plan
 
In 2004, e-Glue adopted the 2004 Stock Option Plan that was further amended by e-Glue on June 9, 2010 (the “2004 e-Glue Plan”), for the grant of awards to employees, directors and service providers of e-Glue and its subsidiaries.  The 2004 e-Glue Plan provides for the grant of options to acquire e-Glue’s stock, for the grant of restricted stock and for the grant of restricted share units.
 
Pursuant to the terms of the e-Glue acquisition agreement, we assumed the outstanding stock options and restricted share units granted by e-Glue under the 2004 e-Glue Plan that did not expire upon closing of the e-Glue acquisition.  Following such assumption, the options represent rights to purchase ordinary shares of NICE or restricted share units of NICE, pursuant to a set formula (such options and restricted share units, together the “Assumed e-Glue Options”).  Some of the Assumed e-Glue Options have a three year vesting period, with a third becoming vested and exercisable one year from their date of grant and the remainder vesting and become exercisable in equal installments on an annual basis over the following two years. The remaining portion of the Assumed e-Glue Options vest as follows: 25% vest and become exercisable one year from their date of grant, and the remaining 75% vested and became exercisable on December 31, 2011. Certain Assumed e-Glue Options are subject to acceleration rights if employment is terminated within a limited time period and under certain circumstances. If the grantee ceases to be an employee or service provider of us or one of our subsidiaries, for any reason, the optionee may exercise or be entitled to the Assumed e-Glue Options to the extent they were vested and exercisable on the date of termination of employment or service, as the case may be, but only during the period ending on the earlier of (a) 10 years from the date of grant (unless sooner terminated as provided in a specific award agreement) or (b) three months after the date of termination of employment or service, as the case may be.  However, if the optionee dies or becomes disabled prior to the expiration date of his or her Assumed e-Glue Options while still in the employ or service of us or one of our subsidiaries, or during the three month period described in the preceding sentence, or in the event of the retirement of the optionee for reasons of disability (within the meaning of Section 22(e)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, 1986), the Assumed e-Glue Options shall remain exercisable until the earlier of their expiration date in accordance with the award agreement or one year from the date of such death or retirement.  When applicable, the Assumed e-Glue Options shall be held by, and registered in the name of, a trustee, according to Section 102(b) of the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance [New Version], 5731-1961.Ordinance.
 
 
9795

 
As of March 17, 2013,10, 2016, Assumed e-Glue Options and restricted share unit to purchase 32,642494 ordinary shares of NICE were outstanding under the 2004 e-Glue Plan.  The exercise price per share underlying the options and restricted share units is equal to the nominal value of an ordinary share.  We have registered, through the filing of a registration statement on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, 76,035 ADRs for issuance under the 2004 e-Glue Plan.  
 
Fizzback Group (Holdings) Limited Employee Share Option Scheme
 
In July 2010, Fizzback adopted the Fizzback Group (Holdings) Limited Employee Share Option Scheme, as amended (the "Fizzback Plan"), to grant options to employees, directors and consultants, as applicable, of Fizzback. Under the Fizzback Plan, the grantees could be granted options which are deemed "qualifying options" for the purposes of the EMI Code (as that term is defined in the United Kingdom’s Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 1993) to acquire Fizzback’s ordinary shares, restricted share units and unapproved options.
 
Pursuant to the terms of the Fizzback share purchase agreement, we replaced the options and restricted share units originally granted under the Fizzback Plan with stock options to purchase ordinary shares of NICE and restricted share units of NICE, respectively.
 
Under the Fizzback Plan, the exercise price per option shall be determined by the boardBoard of directorsDirectors in its sole and absolute discretion provided that such price shall not be less than the nominal value per option, or (when applicable) such price as from time to time adjusted pursuant to the Fizzback Plan. If a grantee ceases to be an employee, all options which have not become exercisable or which, having become exercisable, have not been exercised, shall lapse.
 
Options generally expire, inter alia, ten years after the date of grant, upon an insolvent liquidation of Fizzback or upon the grantee being adjudged bankrupt.
 
As of March 17, 2013,10, 2016, assumed Fizzback options and restricted share units to purchase 113,45710,261 ordinary shares of NICE were outstanding under the Fizzback Plan.Plan, at a weighted average exercise price of $0.53.  We have registered, through the filing of a registration statement on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, 165,695 ordinary shares for issuance under the Fizzback Plan.
 
Merced Plans
 
Merced Systems, Inc. 2001 Stock Plan
 
In 2001, Merced adopted the Merced Systems, Inc. 2001 Stock Plan, as amended (the "2001 Merced Plan"), to afford an incentive to employees and consultants of Merced and to promote the success of Merced’s business.  Under the 2001 Merced Plan, the grantees could be granted options to acquire Merced’s ordinary shares and restricted shares.
 
96

Pursuant to the terms of the Merced acquisition agreement, we assumed and converted Merced's options and replaced Merced’s restricted shares that were originally granted under the 2001 Merced Plan into stock options to purchase ordinary shares of NICE, and with restricted shares of NICE, respectively.
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Under the 2001 Merced Plan, the exercise price per share of incentive stock options granted to an employee shall be no less than 100% of the fair market value per share on the date of grant, or 110% of the fair market value if the employee was a 10% shareholder of Merced at the date of grant. The exercise price per share of non-statutory stock options granted shall be no less than 85% of the fair market value per share on the date of grant, or 110% of the fair market value if the person was a 10% shareholder of Merced at the date of grant, if required by applicable law and, if not so required, the exercise price per share shall be determined by the plan administrator. Notwithstanding the foregoing, options may be granted with an exercise price per share other than as required above pursuant to a merger or other corporate transaction.
 
An option granted under the 2001 Merced Plan is exercisable at the rate of at least 20% per year over five years from the date the option was granted.  Options generally expire ten years after the date of grant.
 
Merced Systems, Inc. 2011 Stock Plan
 
In 2011, Merced adopted the Merced Systems, Inc. 2011 Stock Plan (the "2011 Merced Plan"), to afford an incentive to employees and consultants of Merced and to promote the success of Merced’s business.  Under the 2011 Merced Plan, the grantees could be granted options to acquire Merced’s ordinary shares and restricted share units.
 
Pursuant to the terms of the Merced acquisition agreement, we assumed and converted Merced's options and restricted share units originally granted under the 2011 Merced Plan into stock options to purchase ordinary shares of NICE and restricted share units of NICE, respectively.
 
Under the 2011 Merced Plan, the exercise price per share of incentive stock options granted to an employee shall be no less than 100% of the fair market value per share on the date of grant, or 110% of the fair market value if the employee was a 10% shareholder of Merced at the date of grant. The exercise price per share of non-statutory stock options shall be no less than 85% of the fair market value per share on the date of grant, or 110% of the fair market value if the person was a 10% shareholder of Merced at the date of grant, if required by applicable law and, if not so required, the exercise price per share shall be determined by the plan administrator. Notwithstanding the foregoing, options may be granted with an exercise price per share other than as required above pursuant to a merger or other corporate transaction.
 
An option granted under the 2011 Merced Plan is exercisable at the rate of at least 20% per year over five years from the date the option was granted.  Options generally expire ten years after the date of grant.
 
As of March 17, 2013,10, 2016, assumed Merced options, restricted share units and restricted shares to purchase 163,43713,954 ordinary shares of NICE were outstanding under the 2001 Merced Plan and the 2011 Merced Plan.Plan, at a weighted average exercise price of $14.83.  We have registered, through the filing of a registration statement on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, 343,288 ordinary shares for issuance under the 2001 Merced Plan and the 2011 Merced Plan.
 
 
9997

 
Causata, Inc. 2013 Executive Share Option Scheme and 2010 Stock Plan
Causata Inc. Executive Share Option Scheme
On July 31, 2013, Causata adopted the Causata Executive Share Option Scheme (the “Causata Scheme”), to grant options to employees and directors, as applicable, of Causata. Under the Causata Scheme, the participants could be granted options which are deemed “qualifying options” for the purposes of the EMI Code to acquire Causata’s ordinary shares and unapproved options.
Pursuant to the terms of the Causata agreement and plan of merger, we assumed and converted the options originally granted under the Causata Scheme with stock options to purchase ordinary shares of NICE.
Under the Causata Scheme, the option price per share shall be determined by the Board of Directors in its sole and absolute discretion provided that such price shall not be less than the nominal value per share, or (when applicable) such price as from time to time adjusted pursuant to the Causata Scheme. If a participant ceases to be an employee or director, all options which have not become exercisable or which, having become exercisable, have not been exercised, shall lapse.
Options generally expire, inter alia, on the earliest of the following: on July 31, 2023, upon an insolvent liquidation of Causata, upon the participant being adjudged bankrupt or upon the date on which the option shall lapse in accordance with the terms of the option letter.
As of March 10, 2016, assumed Causata options to purchase 10,560 ordinary shares of NICE were outstanding under the Causata Scheme, at a weighted average exercise price of $0.26.  We have registered, through the filing of a registration statement on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, 131,316 ordinary shares for issuance under the Causata Scheme.
Causata Inc. 2010 Stock Plan
On October 19, 2010, Causata adopted the Causata Inc. 2010 Stock Plan, to offer an opportunity to employees, outside directors and consultants of Causata to acquire a proprietary interest in the success of Causata. Causata adopted an appendix to such plan for the grant of restricted stock units (together with the Causata Inc. 2010 Stock Plan, the “Causata Plan”). Under the Causata Plan, the grantees can be granted options to acquire Causata’s ordinary shares and restricted stock units.
Pursuant to the terms of the Causata agreement and plan of merger, we assumed and converted Causata's restricted stock units originally granted under the Causata Plan into restricted stock units of NICE to purchase ordinary shares of NICE.
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Under the Causata Plan, the exercise price per share of incentive stock options granted to an employee shall be no less than 100% of the fair market value per share on the date of grant, or 110% of the fair market value if the employee was a 10% shareholder of Causata at the date of grant. The exercise price per share of non-statutory stock options shall be no less than 85% of the fair market value per share on the date of grant, or 110% of the fair market value if the person was a 10% shareholder of Causata at the date of grant, if required by applicable law and, if not so required, the exercise price per share shall be determined by the plan administrator. Notwithstanding the foregoing, options may be granted with an exercise price per share other than as required above pursuant to a merger or other corporate transaction.
Each stock option agreement shall specify the date when all or any installment of the option is to become exercisable. Options generally expire ten years after the date of grant.
Under the Causata Plan, the Board of Directors may decide to grant restricted stock units, under certain terms and conditions, for a consideration of no more than the underlying share’s nominal value (the “Consideration”). Upon the lapse of the vesting schedule of a restricted stock unit, such restricted stock unit shall automatically vest into a share (subject to adjustments under the Causata Plan) and the grantee shall pay to Causata the Consideration. The Board of Directors, in its discretion, shall set vesting criteria or performance objectives which, depending on the extent to which they are met, will determine the number of restricted stock units that will vest, all as specified in the applicable restricted stock unit agreement.
As of March 10, 2016, assumed Causata restricted stock units to purchase 8,970 ordinary shares of NICE were outstanding under the Causata Plan at a weighted average exercise price of $0.26.
We have registered, through the filing of a registration statement, on Form S-8 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, dated September 16, 2013, 131,316 ordinary shares for issuance under the Causata Scheme and the Causata Plan.
 
Option Exchanges and Price Adjustment
 
On June 23, 2009, we commenced a tender offer to offer eligible employees in Israel, Hong Kong, the United States and the United Kingdom, excluding our directors, Chief Executive Officer and certain other executive officers, the opportunity to tender options granted before September 1, 2008 under the 2003 Plan or the 2003 Actimize Plan (almost all of which had an exercise price per share above $34.00), in exchange for restricted share units (RSUs) or options (depending on the employee’s country of residence) with a per share exercise price or per share purchase price equal to the par value of our ordinary shares, or NIS 1.00 (approximately $0.25).  The exchange was on a one-for-three basis, meaning that eligible employees electing to participate received a new RSU or option with respect to one share for every three shares subject to the options tendered for exchange.  The new awards vestvested in 25% annual increments over a four-year period starting from August 5, 2009 and have a new six-year term.  Options surrendered in the exchange were cancelled.  On August 5, 2009, the expiration date of the exchange offer, we accepted for exchange eligible options to purchase an aggregate of 1,492,204 ordinary shares that had been granted under the 2003 Plan and the 2003 Actimize Plan, and granted, under the 2008 Plan, new options to purchase 311,454 ordinary shares, and new RSUs representing 185,932 ordinary shares, in exchange for the eligible options tendered and accepted pursuant to the exchange offer.
 
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On June 15, 2009, our boardBoard of directorsDirectors approved the reduction of the exercise price per share of our options to acquire ordinary shares granted on September 2, 2008 under the 2008 Plan held by eligible employees, including certain of our executive officers, based in Israel, Hong Kong, the United States, and the United Kingdom.  The exercise price per share of these options was originally $30.25 per share, and was reduced to $22.53 per share, which was the closing price of our ADSs on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on June 15, 2009.  Other than the exercise price, no other terms of these options were modified.  The aggregate number of our ordinary shares that are subject to the options that have been repriced is 1,020,400.
 
In addition, on June 15, 2009, our boardBoard of directorsDirectors approved an option exchange with three of our executive officers, in which such executive officers exchanged options to purchase an aggregate of 265,000 ordinary shares, issued in 2007 under the 2003 Plan and having an exercise price between $34.00 and $39.00 per share, for new options to be issued under the 2008 Plan with a per share exercise price equal to $22.53 per share, which was the closing price of our ADSs on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on June 15, 2009.  The new options issued in this exchange vest in four equal annual installments (or as nearly as possible) following the new grant date and will expire six years following the new grant date.
 
Item 7.7.            Major ShareholdersShareholders and Related Party Transactions
 
Major Shareholders
 
The following table sets forth certain information with respect to the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares, with respect to each person known to us to be the beneficial owner of 5% or more of our outstanding ordinary shares, reported as of March 17, 2013.10, 2016.  None of our shareholders has any different voting rights than any other shareholder.
 
Name and Address
 
Number of Shares
  
Percent of Shares Beneficially Owned (1)
 
Janus Capital Management LLC
151 Detroit Street
Denver, Colorado 80206, USA
  3,826,621(2)  6.4%
         
Psagot Investment House Ltd.
14 Ahad Ha’am Street
Tel Aviv 65142, Israel
  3,645,806(3)  6.1%
         
IDB Development Corporation Ltd.
The Triangular Tower, 44th floor, 3 Azrieli Center, Tel Aviv 67023, Israel
  3,481,910(4)  5.9%
         
Massachusetts Financial Services Company
111 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02199
  3,356,795(5)  5.5%
         
Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.
4 Efal Street; P.O. Box 3063 Petach Tikva 49512, Israel
  3,245,107(6)  5.4%
         
Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.
Harel House
3 Abba Hillel Street
Ramat Gan 52118, Israel
  3,198,207(7)  5.4%
 
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Name and Address Number of Shares  
Percent of Shares Beneficially Owned (1)
 
       
Psagot Investment House Ltd.
14 Ahad Ha’am Street
Tel Aviv 65142, Israel
  3,432,205(2)  5.7%
         
Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd.  3,128,315(3)  5.2%
___________
(1)           Based upon 60,501,102 ordinary59,498,331ordinary shares issued and outstanding as of March 17, 2013.  10, 2016.

(2)           This information is based upon a Schedule 13G filed by Janus Capital Management LLC with the SEC on February 16, 2016.
(2)(3)           These securities are held for members of the public through, among others, portfolio accounts managed by Psagot Securities Ltd., Psagot Exchange Traded Notes Ltd., mutual funds managed by Psagot Mutual Funds Ltd., provident funds managed by Psagot Provident Funds and Pension Ltd., and pension funds managed by Psagot Pension (Haal) Ltd., according to the following segmentation: 1,798,1621,671,758 ordinary shares are held by portfolio accounts managed by Psagot Securities Ltd., 988,3211,132,461 ordinary shares are held by Psagot Exchange Traded Notes Ltd., 673,303 ordinary shares are held by provident funds managed by Psagot Provident Funds and Pension Ltd., 529,190 ordinary shares are held by Psagot Exchange Traded Notes Ltd., 97,983158,575 ordinary shares are held by mutual funds managed by Psagot Mutual Funds Ltd. (of this amount, 13,500 26,100 shares may also be considered beneficially owned by Psagot Securities Ltd., but are not included in the shares beneficially owned by Psagot Securities Ltd., as indicated above), and 18,5499,709 ordinary shares are held by pension funds managed by Psagot Pension (Haal)Insurance Company Ltd.  Each of the foregoing companies is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Psagot Investment House Ltd.   This information is based upon a Schedule 13G/A filed by Psagot Investment House Ltd. with the SEC on February 13, 2013.15, 2016.

(4)           Of these securities, IDB Development Corporation Ltd. (“IDB”) disclaims ownership of 3,479,410 ordinary shares reported as owned by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (“Clal”) and 2,500 ordinary shares are reported as held by Bayside Land Corporation Ltd., an indirect subsidiary of IDB. The 3,479,410 ordinary shares reported as beneficially owned by Clal (i) include 139,236 ordinary shares are beneficially held for its own account, and (ii) are held for members of the public through, among others, provident funds and/or pension funds and/or insurance policies, which are managed by subsidiaries of Clal, which subsidiaries operate under independent management and make independent voting and investment decisions. This information is based upon a Schedule 13G/A filed by IDB and Clal with the SEC on February 16, 2016.
(3)           (5)           These securities consist of (i) American Depositary Shares that can be converted to ordinary shares and (ii) ordinary shares. This information is based upon a Schedule 13G/A filed by Massachusetts Financial Service Company with the SEC on February 11, 2016.
(6)            Of these securities, (i) 3,110,502 ordinary shares are held for members of the public through, among others, provident funds, mutual funds, pension funds and insurance policies, which are managed by subsidiaries of Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. (“Migdal”),Reporting Person, according to the following segmentation: 1,598,555(i) 3,093,237 Ordinary Shares are held for members of the public through, among others, provident funds, mutual funds, pension funds and insurance policies, which are managed by subsidiaries of Migdal, according to the following segmentation: 1,835,852 Ordinary Shares ordinary shares are held by Profit participatingprofit-participating life assurance accounts; 1,091,636 Ordinary Sharesaccounts, 1,164,822 ordinary shares are held by Providentprovident funds and companies that manage provident funds, and 165,749 Ordinary Shares347,125 ordinary shares are held by companies for the management of funds for joint investments in trusteeship, each of which subsidiaries operates under independent management and makes independent voting and investment decisions, and (ii) 35,078134,605 are beneficially held for their own account (Nostro account).This information is based upon a Schedule 13G filed by Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. with the SEC on August 22, 2012.February 10, 2016.

As(7)           Of these securities, (i) 2,893,491 ordinary shares are held for members of March 18, 2013, we had approximately 60 registered ADS holdersthe public through, among others, provident funds and/or mutual funds and/or pension funds and/or insurance policies, which are managed by subsidiaries of recordHarel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. ("Harel"), each of which subsidiaries operates under independent management and makes independent voting and investment decisions; (ii) 172,610 ordinary shares are held by third-party client accounts managed by a subsidiary of Harel as portfolio managers, which subsidiary operates under independent management and makes independent investment decisions and has no voting power in the United States, holding approximately 63% of our outstandingsecurities held in such client accounts and (iii) 132,106 ordinary shares as reported by The Bank of New York Mellon, the depositaryare beneficially held for our ADSs.
As of December 31, 2010, The Phoenix Holding Ltd. ("Phoenix") held 3,032,139, or 4.82% of our ordinary shares.its own account. This information is based upon a Schedule 13G filed by PhoenixHarel with the SEC on March 1, 2011.  Based on the Schedule 13G, Phoenix is an indirect majority-owned subsidiary of Delek Investments and Properties Ltd. ("Delek Investments").  Delek Investments is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delek Group Ltd.  The majority of Delek Group Ltd.'s outstanding share capital and voting rights are owned, directly and indirectly, by Itshak Sharon (Tshuva) through private companies wholly-owned by him, and the remainder is held by the public. As of March 1, 2010, Phoenix and Excellence Investments Ltd. ("Excellence") held 3,479,696, or 5.6% of our ordinary shares.  This information is based upon information provided to us by Phoenix and Excellence.January 28, 2016.
 
 
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As of March 10, 2016, we had approximately 44 registered ADS holders of record in the United States, with our ADS holders holding in total approximately 45% of our outstanding ordinary shares, as reported by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., the depositary for our ADSs.
 
To our knowledge, we are not directly or indirectly owned or controlled by another corporation or by any foreign government and there are no arrangements that might result in a change in control of our company.
 
Related Party Transactions

None.

Item 8.            Financial Information.
 
Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information
 
See Item 18, “Financial Statements.”Statements” in this annual report.
 
Legal Proceedings
 
From time to time we or our subsidiaries may be involved in legal proceedings and/or litigation arising in the ordinary course of our business. While the outcome of these matters cannot be predicted with certainty, we do not believe they will have a material effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

We are not involved in any legal proceedings that we believe, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operation, except as noted below.
 
Calyon Dispute
In December 2006, Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank filed a suit against us in the District Court of Tel Aviv, demanding repayment of $648,144 plus accrued interest, for a total amount of $740,395.  We had deducted this amount in January 2004 from a payment transferred in connection with our acquisition of Thales Contact Solutions ("TCS").  We had notified TCS in 2004 that we had set off such amount with respect to an overdue paymentPatent Lawsuit by TCS to us.  The dispute was submitted to mediation, however the mediation process failed and the proceedings were returned to the District Court of Tel Aviv.  A trial was held on September 11, 2011, and on May 6, 2012 the Court ruled in our favor, dismissing all claims filed by Calyon and ordering Calyon to pay our expenses.  On June 26, 2012, Calyon filed an appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ordered Calyon to submit its written summary by June 18, 2013, and NICE to submit its written summary by August 15, 2013. A hearing is scheduled for November 20, 2013.

Actimize Former Employee Dispute
On October 15, 2007,August 27, 2015, we initiated a former employee of Actimize Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of ours, filed a claim with the Tel Aviv District Labor Court, seeking a declaration that he is entitled to 0.5% of the outstanding share capital of Actimize Ltd.  The preliminary stages of the claim ended and the parties submitted their testimonies by way of written affidavits.  The hearing and cross-examination of the testimonies took place on June 16 and June 23, 2010.   On July 31, 2011, the court ruled in favor of Actimize, dismissing all claims filed by the former employee and ordering him to pay expenses.
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Fair Isaac Patent Infringement Lawsuit
On September 16, 2009 Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) filed a claimlawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware by filing a complaint against Actimize Inc., a wholly owned subsidiaryClickFox for infringement of ours,NICE's U.S. Patent No. 8,976,955 (“the ‘955 patent”) entitled “System and NICE, claiming that Actimizemethod for tracking web interactions with real time analytics”. ClickFox moved to dismiss the complaint on October 26, 2015. Subsequently, we filed an amended complaint alleging infringement of additional claims of the 955 patent, and NICE are infringing on two U.S. patents.  These patents cover various aspects of fraud detection.  FICO requested damages and an injunction.  On January 18, 2012, the parties agreed to the terms of settlement proposed by the court.  The parties resolved the case andClickFox filed a Stipulation of Dismissal on June 29, 2012, and the court ordered the dismissal on July 2, 2012.
Nuvation Dispute
On March 10, 2010, Nuvation Research Corporation (“Nuvation”) filed a lawsuit against us with the Supreme Court of the State of New York.renewed motion to dismiss. The lawsuit alleges, among others, thatmotion hearing is scheduled for April 2016. At this preliminary stage we breached a contract with Nuvation and defrauded Nuvation.  Nuvation is claiming damages in a total amount of $8 million.  On or about September 19, 2011, the parties reached an agreement in principle to settle the dispute through binding arbitration/mediation and also agreed that the mediation outcome will be subject to a minimum payment by NICE to Nuvation of $100,000. The parties had a one-day arbitration/mediation meeting on March 14, 2012, and an award, dated April 25, 2012, was issued and the Judge dismissed all of Nuvation’s claims with prejudice.    NICE paid such amount to Nuvation, and the parties also exchanged general releases and executed and filed a Stipulation of Dismissal, with prejudice. The case has been resolved.
Tal-Yam Dispute
On July 15, 2010, Tal-Yam Engineering Projects Management and Initiation (“Tal-Yam”) filed a suit against us in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.  The suit alleges a breach of contract due to failure to pay for services rendered to us.  Tal-Yam is seeking damages in the amount of approximately NIS 1.0 million and disclosure of certain invoices and related documentation.  NICE submitted its statement of defense on October 24, 2010.  The parties participated in mediation proceedings that were not successful and pre-trial proceedings are currently taking place.  Trial hearings took place during January 2013, and summation has yet to be scheduled by the court.
Discrimination in Employment Disputes
On August 20, 2010, a former employee of IEX Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours, filed a complaint with the District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, alleging that we, and our subsidiary IEX Corp., engaged in prohibited discrimination in terminating his employment.  The case was settled in April 2011, and the matter is no longer pending.
On November 7, 2012, a former employee of Actimize Inc. filed a suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York claiming discrimination on the basis of disability. The suit includes a claim for reinstatement as well as compensatory damages and other relief. The parties are scheduled to hold mediation on May 16, 2013, and the estimated demand for settlement by the plaintiff is about $310,000 plus attorney fees. The company is unable to evaluate the probability of a favorable or unfavorable outcome in this dispute.

 
103102

 
Dispute under Sale Agreement

Following the divestiture of one of our business units, the buyer of such business unit made certain demands and allegations, claiming indemnification pursuant to the sale agreement between NICE and such buyer. The parties corresponded regarding these claims, and NICE has denied all demands and allegations made by the buyer. If the parties fail to reach a negotiated resolution, the buyer may initiate legal proceedings against NICE to enforce its indemnification claims. If such buyer is successful in such proceedings, it will result in a reduction of the consideration amount under the sale agreement within the discontinued operation. At this preliminary stage we cannot estimate the probability of a favorable or unfavorable outcome in this dispute.

Dividends

On February 13, 2013, we announced that our boardOur Board of directors hasDirectors approved a dividend plan under which we intend to pay quarterly cash dividends to holders of our ordinary shares and ADRs subject to declaration by the board. We expect the initialBoard. The annual dividend to beamount under the dividend plan is currently $0.64 per share, or $0.16 per share quarterly.  The first payment is expected to be madetotal amount of dividends paid in the second quarter of 2013.2015 was $0.64 per share. Under Israeli law, dividends may be paid only out of profits and other surplus (as defined in the law) as of our most recent financial statements or as accrued over a period of two years, whichever is higher, provided that there is no reasonable concern that the dividend distribution will prevent us from meeting our existing and foreseeable obligations as they come due.  Apart from these dividends, the Company has never declared or paid cash dividends on its ordinary shares.
Payment of future dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our boardBoard of directorsDirectors and will depend on various factors, such as our statutory profits, financial condition, operating results and current and anticipated cash needs.  In the event cash dividends are declared by us, we may decide to pay such dividends in Israeli currency. Under current Israeli regulations, any cash dividend in Israeli currency paid in respect of ordinary shares purchased by non-residents of Israel with non-Israeli currency may be freely repatriated in such non-Israeli currency, at the rate of exchange prevailing at the time of conversion. For more information regarding the taxation implications of the dividend plan, see “Item 10 - Additional Information - Taxation.”Taxation” of this annual report.
 
Significant Changes

There are no significant changes that occurred since December 31, 2012,2015, except as otherwise disclosed in this annual report and in the annual consolidated financial statements included in this annual report.
 
103

The Offer andand Listing.
 
Trading in the ADSs

Our American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, have been quoted on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol “NICEV” from our initial public offering in January 1996 until April 7, 1999, and thereafter under the symbol “NICE.”  Prior to that time, there was no public market for our ordinary shares in the United States.  Each ADS represents one ordinary share.  The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low reported market (sale) prices for our ADSs.
 
  ADSs 
  High  Low 
Annual      
2011  38.49   27.17 
2012  40.04   29.51 
2013  42.12   33.63 
2014  51.75   37.08 
2015  68.38   47.95 
         
Quarterly        
         
Quarterly 2014        
First Quarter $45.00  $37.79 
Second Quarter  46.07   37.08 
Third Quarter  41.55   37.84 
Fourth Quarter  51.75   38.60 
         
Quarterly 2015        
First Quarter $61.92  $47.95 
Second Quarter  68.38   58.15 
Third Quarter  67.56   53.06 
Fourth Quarter  64.92   54.54 
         
Quarterly 2016        
First Quarter (through March 22, 2016)  65.06   54.12 
         
Monthly        
September 2015 $61.32  $53.06 
October 2015  62.50   54.54 
November 2015  64.92   60.00 
December 2015  63.00   56.55 
January 2016  60.58   55.10 
February 2016  63.62   54.12 
March 2016 (through March 22, 2016)  65.06   59.34 
On March 22, 2016, the last reported price of our ADSs was $64.05 per ADS.
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. is the depositary for our ADSs.  Its address is 4 New York Plaza, Floor 12, New York, New York 10004.
 
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  ADSs 
  High  Low 
Annual      
2008 $35.87  $16.11 
2009  33.42   18.04 
2010  35.20   25.10 
2011  38.49   27.17 
2012  40.04   29.51 
         
Quarterly        
Quarterly 2011        
First Quarter $37.35  $32.01 
Second Quarter  38.49   32.60 
Third Quarter  37.50   27.17 
Fourth Quarter  37.82   27.61 
         
Quarterly 2012        
First Quarter $40.04  $33.66 
Second Quarter  39.84   35.52 
Third Quarter  37.34   29.51 
Fourth Quarter  34.95   30.64 
         
Quarterly 2013        
March 2013 (through March 24)
 $38.28  $34.02 
         
Monthly        
September 2012 $33.49  $30.07 
October 2012  34.95   30.64 
November 2012  34.35   31.54 
December 2012  34.50   32.14 
January 2013  38.28   34.02 
February 2013  37.56   34.88 
March 2013 (through March 24)
  37.44   35.24 
On March 24, 2013, the last reported price of our ADSs was $37.17 per ADS.
 
The Bank of New York Mellon is the depositary for our ADSs.  Its address is 1 Wall Street, New York, New York 10286.
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Trading in the Ordinary Shares
 
Our ordinary shares have been listed on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange, or TASE, since 1991.  Our ordinary shares are not listed on any other stock exchange and have not been publicly traded outside Israel (other than through ADSs as noted above).  The table below sets forth the high and low reported market (sale) prices of our ordinary shares (in NIS and dollars) on the TASE.  The translation into dollars is based on the daily representative rate of exchange published by the Bank of Israel.
 
  Ordinary Shares 
  High  Low 
  NIS  $  NIS  $ 
Annual            
             
2011  139.00   37.45   97.25   27.12 
2012  150.00   38.82   117.80   30.29 
2013  149.10   42.21   122.10   33.27 
2014  203.30   51.94   130.60   36.90 
2015  262.6   68.76   189.4   47.95 
                 
Quarterly 2014                
First Quarter  155.00   44.45   133.70   36.90 
Second Quarter  158.70   45.71   130.60   37.73 
Third Quarter  152.30   41.74   132.70   37.70 
Fourth Quarter  203.30   51.94   145.20   38.85 
                 
Quarterly 2015                
First Quarter  246.7   61.58   189.4   47.95 
Second Quarter  262.6   68.76   228.8   58.25 
Third Quarter  259.0   67.93   209.3   53.35 
Fourth Quarter  252.0   64.86   211.1   54.99 
                 
Quarterly 2016                
First Quarter (through March 22, 2016)  250.7   65.00   207.2   53.29 
Monthly                
September 2015  240.8   61.66   209.3   53.35 
October 2015  241.9   62.30   211.1   54.99 
November 2015  252.0   64.86   231.2   59.42 
December 2015  244.3   62.85   217.6   56.27 
January 2016  239.0   60.34   216.9   55.09 
February 2016  249.5   63.08   207.2   53.29 
March 2016 (through March 22, 2016)  250.7   65.00   233.2   59.88 
   Ordinary Shares 
  High  Low 
  NIS   $  NIS  $ 
Annual             
2008  133.80   35.54   63.00   16.72 
2009  125.00   33.70   74.05   18.18 
2010  129.70   34.66   97.20   25.08 
2011  139.00   37.45   97.25   27.12 
2012  150.00   38.82   117.80   30.29 
                 
Quarterly 2011                
First Quarter  131.50   37.45   114.50   32.12 
Second Quarter  131.70   38.68   110.50   32.18 
Third Quarter  139.00   37.45   97.25   27.12 
Fourth Quarter  135.10   37.32   105.30   27.98 
                 
Quarterly 2012                
First Quarter  148.90   40.08   127.70   34.00 
Second Quarter  150.00   38.82   134.00   34.90 
Third Quarter  145.90   37.29   119.80   30.12 
Fourth Quarter  136.20   35.07   117.80   30.29 
                 
Quarterly 2013                
First Quarter (through March 24)
  144.00   38.69   124.20   33.27 
                 
Monthly                
September 2012  130.50   33.25   121.60   31.10 
October 2012  136.20   35.07   117.80   30.29 
November 2012  131.80   34.04   125.50   31.76 
December 2012  132.00   34.69   121.60   32.46 
January 2013  144.00   38.69   124.20   33.27 
February 2013  138.20   37.38   128.60   34.88 
March 2013 (through March 24)  137.90   37.32   131.50   35.32 
 
As of March 24, 2013,22, 2016, the last reported price of our ordinary shares on the TASE was NIS 137.20245.7 (or $37.42)$63.80) per share.
 
 
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Item 10.         Additional Information.
 
Memorandum and Articles of Association
 
Organization and Register
 
We are a company limited by shares organized in the State of Israel under the Israeli Companies Law.  We are registered with the Registrar of Companies of the State of Israel and have been assignedthe company number 52-0036872.
 
Objectives and Purposes
 
Our objectives and purposes include a wide variety of business purposes, including all kinds of research, development, manufacture, distribution, service and maintenance of products in all fields of technology and engineering and to engage in any other kind of business or commercial activity.  Our objectives and purposes are set forth in detail in Section 2 of our memorandum of association.
 
Directors
 
Our articles of association provide that the number of directors serving on the boardBoard shall be not less than three but shall not exceed thirteen, including at least two outside directors.  Our directors, other than outside directors, are elected at the annual shareholders meeting to serve until the next annual meeting or until their earlier death, resignation, bankruptcy, incapacity or removal by resolution of the general shareholders meeting.  Directors may be re-elected at each annual shareholders meeting.  The boardBoard may appoint additional directors (whether to fill a vacancy or create new directorship) to serve until the next annual shareholders meeting, provided, however, that the boardBoard shall have no obligation to fill any vacancy unless the number of directors is less than three.  Our officers serve at the discretion of the board.Board.
 
The boardBoard of directorsDirectors may meet and adjourn its meetings according to the Company’s needs but must meet at least once every three months.  A meeting of the boardBoard may be called at the request of any two directors.  The quorum required for a meeting of the boardBoard consists of a majority of directors who are lawfully entitled to participate in the meeting and vote thereon.  The adoption of a resolution by the boardBoard requires approval by a simple majority of the directors present at a meeting in which such resolution is proposed.  In lieu of a boardBoard meeting, a resolution may be adopted if all of the directors lawfully entitled to vote thereon consent not to convene a meeting.
 
Subject to the Israeli Companies law, the boardBoard may appoint a committee of the boardBoard and delegate to such committee all or any of the powers of the board,Board, as it deems appropriate.  Under the Israeli Companies Law the boardBoard of directorsDirectors must appoint an internal audit committee, comprised of at least three directors and including bothall of the outside directors.  The function of the internal audit committee is to review irregularities in the management of the Company’s business and recommend remedial measures.  The committee is also required, under the Israeli Companies Law, to approve certain related party transactions and to assess our internal audit system and the performance of our internal auditor.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, the boardBoard may, at any time, amend, restate or cancel the delegation of any of its powers to any of its committees.  The boardBoard has appointed an internal audit committee which has three members, an audit committee which has fourfive members, a compensation committee which has fourfive members, a nominations committee which has two members and a mergers and acquisitions committee which has foursix members.  For more information on the Company’s committees, please see Item 6, “Directors, Senior Management and Employees—Board Practices” in this annual report.
 
 
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Fiduciary Duties of Officers

The Israeli Companies Law codifies the fiduciary duties that “office holders,” including directors and executive officers, owe to a company.  An office holder’s fiduciary duties consist of a duty of care and a duty of loyalty.  The duty of loyalty includes avoiding any conflict of interest between the office holder’s position in the company and his personal affairs, avoiding any competition with the company, avoiding exploiting any business opportunity of the company in order to receive personal advantage for himself or others, and revealing to the company any information or documents relating to the company’s affairs which the office holder has received due to his position as an office holder.
 
Approval of Certain Transactions
 
The Israeli Companies Law requires that an office holder of the company promptly disclose any personal interest that he or she may have and all related material information known to him or her, in connection with any existing or proposed transaction by the company.  In addition, if the transaction is an extraordinary transaction as defined under Israeli law, the office holder must also disclose any personal interest held by the office holder’s spouse, siblings, parents, grandpar­ents, descendants, spouse’s descendants and the spouses of any of the foregoing.  In addition, the office holder must also disclose any interest held by any corporation in which the office holder is a 5% or greater shareholder, director or general manager or in which he or she has the right to appoint at least one director or the general manager.  An extraordinary transaction is defined as a transaction not in the ordinary course of business, not on market terms, or that is likely to have a material impact on the company’s profitability, assets or liabilities.
 
In the case of a transaction which is not an extraordinary transaction, after the office holder complies with the above disclosure requirement, only boardBoard approval is required unless the articles of association of the company provide otherwise.  The transaction must not be adverse to the company’s interest.  Furthermore, if the transaction is an extraordinary transaction, then, in addition to any approval stipulated by the articles of association, it also must be approved by the company’s internal audit committee and then by the boardBoard of directors,Directors, and, under certain circumstances, by a meeting of the shareholders of the company.   An office holder who has a personal interest in a transaction that is considered at a meeting of the boardBoard of directorsDirectors or the internal audit committee generally may not be present at the deliberations or vote on this matter, unless the chairman of the boardBoard or chairman of the internal audit committee, as the case may be, determined that the presence of such person is necessary to present the transaction to the meeting.  If a majority of the directors have a personal interest in an extraordinary transaction with the Company, shareholder approval of the transaction is required.
 
 
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It is the responsibility of the audit committee to determine whether or not a transaction should be deemed an extraordinary transaction.  In addition, as a result of a recent amendment to the Israeli Companies Law, the audit committee must also establish (i) procedures for the consideration of any transaction with a controlling shareholder, even if it is not extraordinary, such as a competitive process with third parties or negotiation by independent directors, and (ii) approval requirements for controlling shareholder transactions that are not negligible. 
 
The Israeli Companies Law applies the same disclosure requirements to a controlling share­holder of a public company, which includes a shareholder that holds 25% or more of the voting rights if no other shareholder owns more than 50% of the voting rights in the company.  Extraor­dinary transactions with a controlling shareholder or in which a controlling shareholder has a personal interest, and the terms of management fees of a controlling shareholder or compensation of a controlling shareholder who is an office holder, require the approval of the audit committee, the boardBoard of directorsDirectors and the shareholders of the company by simple majority, provided that either such majority vote must include at least a simple majority of the shareholders who have no personal interest in the transaction and are present at the meeting (without taking into account the votes of the abstaining shareholders), or that the total shareholdings of those who have no personal interest in the transaction who vote against the transaction represent no more than two percent of the voting rights in the company. Any such extraordinary transaction whose term is longer than three years requires further shareholder approval every three years, unless (with respect to transactions not involving management fees or employment terms) the internal audit committee approves that a longer term is reasonable under the circumstances.
 
In addition, under the Israeli Companies Law, a private placement of securities requires approval by the boardBoard of directorsDirectors and the shareholders of the company if it will cause a person to become a controlling shareholder or if:
 
· 
·
the securities issued amount to twenty percent20% or more of the company’s outstanding voting rights before the issuance;
 
·some or all of the consideration is other than cash or listed securities or the transaction is not on market terms; and
 
·the transaction will increase the relative holdings of a shareholder that holds five percent or more of the company’s outstanding share capital or voting rights or that will cause any person to become, as a result of the issuance, a holder of more than five percent of the company’s outstanding share capital or voting rights.
 
According to the Company’s articles of association certain resolutions, such as resolutions regarding mergers, and windings up, require approval of the holders of 75% of the shares represented at the meeting and voting thereon.
 
Approval of Office Holder Compensation
 
A recent amendment toUnder the Israeli Companies Law, imposes new approval requirements for the compensation of office holders. Every public company mustwe are required to adopt a compensation policy, recommended by the compensation committee, and approved by the boardBoard of directorsDirectors and the shareholders, in that order, no later than September 2013.at least once every three years.  Following the recommendation of our compensation committee and approval by our Board of Directors, our shareholders approved such compensation policy at our 2013 annual general meeting of shareholders held on August 27, 2013, and an amended compensation policy at our 2015 annual general meeting of shareholders held on July 9, 2015.  The shareholder approval requires a majority of the votes cast by shareholders, excluding any controlling shareholder and those who have a personal interest in the matter (similar to the threshold described above). In general, all office holders’ terms of compensation – including fixed remuneration, bonuses, equity compensation, retirement or termination payments, indemnification, liability insurance and the grant of an exemption from liability - must comply with the company's compensation policy. Although NASDAQ rules generally require shareholder approval when an equity based compensation plan is established or materially amended, as a foreign company we follow the aforementioned requirements of the Israeli Companies Law.
 
 
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In addition, the compensation terms of directors, the chief executive officer, and any employee or service provider who is considered a controlling shareholder generally must be approved separately by the compensation committee, the boardBoard of directorsDirectors and the shareholders of the company, (by the same majority noted above), in that order. The compensation terms of other officers require the approval of the compensation committee and the boardBoard of directors.Directors.
 
Duties of Shareholders

Under the Israeli Companies Law, a shareholder has a duty to act in good faith towards the Company and other shareholders and to refrain from abusing his or her power in the company including, among other things, voting in a general meeting of shareholders on the following matters:
 
·any amendment to the articles of association;
 
·an increase of the company’s authorized share capital;
 
·a merger; or
 
·approval of interested party transactions which require shareholder approval.
 
In addition, any controlling shareholder, any shareholder who knows that it possesses power to determine the outcome of a shareholder vote and any shareholder who, pursuant to the provisions of a company’s articles of association, has the power to appoint or prevent the appointment of an office holder in the company, is under a duty to act with fairness towards the company.  The Israeli Companies Law does not describe the substance of this duty but provides that a breach of his duty is tantamount to a breach of fiduciary duty of an officer of the Company.
 
Exemption, Insurance and Indemnification of Directors and Officers
 
We provide our directors with indemnification letters whereby we agree to indemnify them to the fullest extent permitted by law.  On September 19, 2011, at our 2011 annual general meeting of shareholders, after the approval of the Audit Committeeaudit committee and the Board, our shareholders approved a modified form of indemnification letter to ensure that our directors are afforded protection to the fullest extent permitted by law.
 
 
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Exemption of Office Holders

Under the Israeli Companies Law, an Israeli company may not exempt an office holder from liability for breach of his duty of loyalty, but may exempt in advance an office holder from liability to the company, in whole or in part, for a breach of his duty of care (except in connection with distributions), provided the articles of association of the company allow it to do so.  Our articles of association do not allow us to do so.
 
Office Holder Insurance
 
Our articles of association provide that, subject to the provisions of the Israeli Companies Law, including the receipt of all approvals as required therein or under any applicable law, we may enter into an agreement to insure an office holder for any responsibility or liability that may be imposed on such office holder in connection with an act performed by such office holder in such office holder's capacity as an office holder of us with respect to each of the following:
 
·a violation of his duty of care to us or to another person,
 
·a breach of his duty of loyalty to us, provided that the office holder acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds to assume that his act would not prejudice our interests,
 
·a financial obligation imposed upon him for the benefit of another person,
 
·a payment which the office holder is obligated to make to an injured party as set forth in Section 52(54)(a)(1)(a) of the Israeli Securities Law, 5728-1968, as amended (the "Securities Law") and Litigation Expenses (as defined below) that the office holder incurred in connection with a proceeding under Chapters H'3, H'4 or I'1 of the Securities Law, and
 
·any other event, occurrence or circumstance in respect of which we may lawfully insure an office holder.
 
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Indemnification of Office Holders

Our articles of association provide that, subject to the provisions of the Israeli Companies Law, including the receipt of all approvals as required therein or under any applicable law we may indemnify an office holder with respect to any liability or expense for which indemnification may be provided under the Companies Law, including the following liabilities and expenses, provided that such liabilities or expenses were imposed upon or incurred by such office holder in such office holder's capacity as an office holder of us:
 
·a monetary liability imposed on or incurred by an office holder pursuant to a judgment in favor of another person, including a judgment imposed on such office holder in a settlement or in an arbitration decision that was approved by a court of law;
 
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·reasonable Litigation Expenses, expended by the office holder as a result of an investigation or proceeding instituted against him by a competent authority, provided that such investigation or proceeding concluded without the filing of an indictment against him and either (A) concluded without the imposition of any financial liability in lieu of criminal proceedings or (B) concluded with the imposition of a financial liability in lieu of criminal proceedings but relates to a criminal offense that does not require proof of criminal intent (mens rea) or in connection with a financial sanction;
 
·“conclusion of a proceeding without filing an indictment” in a matter in which a criminal investigation has been instigated and “financial liability in lieu of a criminal proceeding,” have the meaning ascribed to them under the Israeli Companies Law. The term “Litigation Expenses” shall include, without limitation, attorneys’ fees and all other costs, expenses and obligations paid or incurred by an office holder in connection with investigating, defending, being a witness or participating in (including on appeal), or preparing to defend, be a witness or participate in any claim or proceeding relating to any matter for which indemnification may be provided;
 
·reasonable Litigation Expenses, which the office holder incurred or with which the office holder was charged by a court of law, in a proceeding brought against the office holder, by the Company, on its behalf or by another person, or in a criminal prosecution in which the office holder was acquitted, or in a criminal prosecution in which the office holder was convicted of an offense that does not require proof of criminal intent (mens rea);
 
·a payment which the office holder is obligated to make to an injured party as set forth in Section 52(54)(a)(1)(a) of the Securities Law, and Litigation Expenses that the office holder incurred in connection with a proceeding under Chapters H'3, H'4 or I'1 of the Securities Law; and
 
·any other event, occurrence or circumstance in respect of which we may lawfully indemnify an office holder.
 
The foregoing indemnification may be procured by us (a) retroactively and (b) as a commitment in advance to indemnify an office holder, provided that, in respect of the first bullet above, such commitment shall be limited to (A) such events that in the opinion of the Board of Directors are foreseeable in light of our actual operations at the time the undertaking to indemnify is provided, and (B) to the amounts or criterion that the Board of Directors deems reasonable under the circumstances, and further provided that such events and amounts or criterion are set forth in the undertaking to indemnify, and which shall in no event exceed, in the aggregate, the greater of: (i) twenty five percent (25%)25% of our shareholder’s equity at the time of the indemnification, or (ii) twenty five percent (25%)25% of our shareholder’s equity at the end of fiscal year of 2010.
 
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We have undertaken to indemnify our directors and officers pursuant to applicable law. We have obtained directors' and officers' liability insurance for the benefit of our directors and officers.  The Company currently has a directors and officers liability insurance policy limited to $100 million (the “Policy”), at an annual premium of approximately $467,170.$386,888. Our internal audit committee, boardBoard of directors,Directors, and shareholders have approved the Company’s entering into an additional “Side A” Difference in Conditions extension of the Policy, limited to an additional $25 million, which provides the directors and officers with personal asset protection in situations when other sources of insurance or indemnification fail or are not available (the “Extended Policy”). The Extended Policy portion will beis at an additional annual premium of approximately $65,000.$54,112.
 
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Limitations on Exemption, Insurance and Indemnification
 
The Israeli Companies Law provides that a company may not exempt or indemnify an office holder, or enter into an insurance contract, which would provide coverage for any monetary liability incurred as a result of any of the following:
 
·a breach by the office holder of his duty of loyalty unless, with respect to insurance coverage or indemnification, the office holder acted in good faith and had a reasonable basis to believe that the act would not prejudice the company;
 
·a breach by the office holder of his duty of care if the breach was done intentionally or recklessly (other than if solely done in negligence);
 
·any act or omission done with the intent to derive an illegal personal benefit; or
 
·a fine, civil fine or ransom levied on an Office Holder, or a financial sanction imposed upon an Office Holder under Israeli Law.
 
Required Approvals

In addition, under the Israeli Companies Law, any exemption of, indemnification of, or procurement of insurance coverage for, our office holders must be approved by our audit committee and our boardBoard of directorsDirectors and, if the beneficiary is a director, by our shareholders.  We have obtained such approvals for the procurement of liability insurance covering our officers and directors and for the grant of indemnification letters to our officers and directors.

Rights of Ordinary Shares
 
Our ordinary shares confer upon our shareholders the right to receive notices of, and to attend, shareholder meetings, the right to one vote per ordinary share at all shareholders’ meetings for all purposes, and to share equally, on a per share basis, in such dividends as may be declared by our boardBoard of directors;Directors; and upon liquidation or dissolution, the right to participate in the distribution of any surplus assets of the Company legally available for distribution to shareholders after payment of all debts and other liabilities of the Company.  All ordinary shares rank pari passu in all respects with each other.  Our boardBoard of directorsDirectors may, from time to time, make such calls as it may think fit upon a shareholder in respect of any sum unpaid in respect of shares held by such shareholder which is not payable at a fixed time, and each shareholder shall pay the amount of every call so made upon him (and of each installment thereof if the same is payable in installments).
 
 
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Meetings of Shareholders
 
An annual general meeting of our shareholders shall be held once in every calendar year at such time and at such place either within or without the State of Israel as may be determined by our boardBoard of directors.Directors.
 
Our boardBoard of directorsDirectors may, whenever it thinks fit, convene a special general meeting at such time and place, within or without the State of Israel, as may be determined by the boardBoard of directors.Directors. Special general meetings may also be convened upon shareholder request in accordance with the Israeli Companies Law and our articles of association.
 
The quorum required for a meeting of shareholders consists of at least two shareholders present in person or by proxy who hold or represent between them at least 25% of the outstanding voting shares, unless otherwise required by applicable rules.  Although NASDAQ generally requires a quorum of 33-1/3%, we have an exception under the NASDAQ rules and follow the generally accepted business practice for companies in Israel, which have a quorum requirement of 25%.  A meeting adjourned for lack of a quorum generally is adjourned to the same day in the following week at the same time and place or any time and place as the chairman may designate with the consent of a majority of the voting power represented at the meeting and voting on the matter adjourned.  At such reconvened meeting the required quorum consists of any two members present in person or by proxy.
 
Mergers and Acquisitions
 
A merger of the Company shall require the approval of the holders of a majority of seventy five percent (75%)75% of the voting power represented at the annual or special general meeting in person or by proxy or by written ballot, as shall be permitted, and voting thereon in accordance with the provisions of the Israeli Companies Law.  Upon the request of a creditor of either party of the proposed merger, the court may delay or prevent the merger if it concludes that there exists a reasonable concern that as a result of the merger, the surviving company will be unable to satisfy the obligations of any of the parties to the merger.  In addition, a merger may not be completed unless at least (i) 50 days have passed from the time that the requisite proposal for the merger has been filed by each party with the Israeli Registrar of Companies and (ii) 30 days have passed since the merger was approved by the shareholders of each party.
 
The Israeli Companies Law also provides that an acquisition of shares of a public company must be made by means of a tender offer if, as a result of the acquisition, the purchaser would become a 25% or greater shareholder of the company and there is no existing 25% or greater shareholder in the company.  An acquisition of shares of a public company must be made by means of a tender offer if, as a result of the acquisition, the purchaser would become a 45% or greater shareholder of the company and there is no existing 45% or greater shareholder in the company.  These requirements do not apply if the acquisition (i) occurs in the context of a private placement by the company that received shareholder approval, (ii) was from a 25% shareholder of the company and resulted in the acquirer becoming a 25% shareholder of the company or (iii) was from a 45% shareholder of the company and resulted in the acquirer becoming a 45% shareholder of the company.  The tender offer must be extended to all shareholders, but the offeror is not required to purchase more than 5% of the company’s outstanding shares, regardless of how many shares are tendered by shareholders.  The tender offer may be consummated only if (i) at least 5% of the company’s outstanding shares will be acquired by the offeror and (ii) the number of shares tendered in the offer exceeds the number of shares whose holders objected to the offer.
 
 
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If as a result of an acquisition of shares the acquirer will hold more than 90% of a company’s outstanding shares, the acquisition must be made by means of a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares.  If as a result of a full tender offer the acquirer would own more than 95% of the outstanding shares, then all the shares that the acquirer offered to purchase will be transferred to it.  The law provides for appraisal rights if any shareholder files a request in court within six months following the consummation of a full tender offer, but the acquirer is entitled to stipulate that tendering shareholders forfeit their appraisal rights.  If as a result of a full tender offer the acquirer would own 95% or less of the outstanding shares, then the acquirer may not acquire shares that will cause his shareholding to exceed 90% of the outstanding shares. Shareholders may request an appraisal in connection with a tender offer for a period of six months following the consummation of the tender offer, but the purchaser is entitled to stipulate as a condition of such tender offer that any tendering shareholder renounce its appraisal rights.
 
Material Contracts
 
CyberTech Acquisition
Not Applicable.

On March 4, 2011, we completed the acquisition of CyberTech Investments (“CyberTech”), a global provider of compliance recording solutions and value-added applications. We acquired CyberTech for a total cash consideration of approximately $59.4 million. The addition of CyberTech solutions to the NICE portfolio broadens our offering for financial institutions, strengthen our commitment to the small and medium size business sector, and add to our public safety solutions.
Fizzback Acquisition
On October 26, 2011, we completed the acquisition of Fizzback Group (Holdings) Ltd. ("Fizzback"), a global provider of Voice of the Customer (VoC) solutions, providing software solutions for real-time customer feedback that drive customer loyalty and employee performance. The Fizzback solution helps companies listen, respond and act in real-time to their customers’ comments.  We acquired Fizzback for a total consideration of approximately $80.9 million.  The combination of Fizzback and NICE will both improve Customer Experience Management (CEM) as well as operationalize VoC both for the contact center and across the enterprise.
Merced Acquisition
On February 7, 2012, we completed the acquisition of Merced Systems, Inc. ("Merced"), the leading provider of performance management solutions that drive business execution in sales and service functions. We acquired Merced for total consideration of approximately $185.9 million.  Merced’s performance management solutions help drive sales effectiveness, superior customer experience and operating efficiency across a range of vertical industries. Merced’s products serve Global 2000 customers, and include advanced analytics and reporting, incentive compensation management, coaching, and other performance execution applications. Integrating Merced and NICE capabilities creates a closed-loop performance management solution.
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Exchange Controls
 
Holders of ADSs are able to convert dividends and liquidation distributions into freely repatriable non-Israeli currencies at the rate of exchange prevailing at the time of repatriation, pursuant to regulations issued under the Currency Control Law, 5738–1978, provided that Israeli income tax has been withheld by us with respect to amounts that are being repatriated to the extent applicable or an exemption has been obtained.
 
Our ADSs may be freely held and traded pursuant to the General Permit and the Currency Control Law.  The ownership or voting of ADSs by non-residents of Israel, except with respect to citizens of countries that are in a state of war with Israel, are not restricted in any way by the our memorandum of association or articles of association or by the laws of the State of Israel.
 
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Taxation
 
The following is a discussion of Israeli and United States tax consequences material to our shareholders.  The discussion is not intended, and should not be construed, as legal or professional tax advice and does not exhaust all possible tax considerations.
 
Holders of our ADSs should consult their own tax advisors as to the United States, Israeli or other tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our ADSs, including, in particular, the effect of any foreign, state or local taxes.
 
Israeli Tax Considerations
 
The following is a summary of the principal tax laws applicable to companies in Israel, with special reference to their effect on us.  The following also contains a discussion of the material Israeli tax consequences to purchasers of our ordinary shares or ADSs.  This summary does not discuss all the aspects of Israeli tax law that may be relevant to a particular investor in light of his or her personal investment circumstances or to some types of investors subject to special treatment under Israeli law.  To the extent that the discussion is based on new tax legislation which has not been subject to judicial or administrative interpretation, we cannot assure you that the views expressed in the discussion will be accepted by the appropriate tax authorities or the courts.  The discussion is not intended, and should not be construed, as legal or professional tax advice and is not exhaustive of all possible tax considerations.

General Corporate Tax Structure

Generally, Israeli companies are subject to Corporate Taxcorporate tax on taxable income at the rate of 24%26.5% for the 20112014 and 2015 tax year, 25% for the 2012 tax year and 25% for the 2013 tax year.years.  Following an amendment to the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance, [New Version], 1961 (the “Tax Ordinance”), which came into effect on January 1, 2012,2016, the corporate tax rate is scheduledhas been reduced to remain at a rate of 25%25.0% for the 2016 tax year and for future tax years.  Israeli companies are generally subject to capital gains tax at the corporate tax rate.  However, the effective tax rate payable by a company that derives income from an Approved, Privileged ora Preferred Enterprise (see below), may be considerably less.
 
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        In 2012, we electedWe are permitted to measure our Israeli taxable income in U.S. dollars.  We were permitted to make such a changedollars pursuant to regulations published by the Israeli Minister of Finance, which provide the conditions for doing so.  We believe that we meet and will continue to meet, the necessary conditions and as such, will continue towe measure our results for tax purposes based on the U.S. dollar/NIS exchange rate.
 
Tax Benefits Under the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959, as amended.
 
We derive and expect to continue to derive significant tax benefits in Israel relating to our “Approved, Privileged and Preferred“Preferred Enterprise” programs, pursuant to the Law for Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959, or the Investments Law.  To be eligible for these tax benefits, we must continue to meet certain conditions, including making certain specified investments in fixed assets.conditions.  In the event of a failure to comply with these conditions, the benefits may be canceled and we may be required to refund the amount of the benefits, in whole or in part, including interest and certain inflation adjustments.  As of December 31, 20122015, we believe that we are in compliance with all the conditions required by the law.
 
        Full details regarding our Approved, Privileged and Preferred Enterprises may be found in Note 13(a)(2) of our Consolidated Financial Statements.
 
        Other than by way of our complete liquidation, if we distribute dividends from the income of our “Approved Enterprises” which was exempted from taxes pursuant to our “Approved Enterprise” benefits, we will be taxed as if the exempt income was subject to the regular reduced corporate tax rate arising under our “Approved Enterprise” programs.  Tax-exempt income generated under our Privileged Enterprises, will subject the Company to taxes upon dividend distribution (which includes the repurchase of our shares) or complete liquidation.
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        The Company does not intend to distribute any amounts of its undistributed tax-exempt income as dividends as it intends to reinvest its tax-exempt income within the Company.  Accordingly, no deferred income taxes have been provided on income attributable to the Company’s Approved or Privileged Enterprise programs as the undistributed tax exempt income is essentially permanent in duration.
Income from sources other than the “Approved or Privileged“Preferred Enterprises” during the period of benefits will be taxable at regular corporate tax rates.
 
Reform of the Investments Law
On December 29, 2010, the Israeli parliament approved an amendment to the Investments Law, effective as of January 1, 2011, which constitutes a reform of the incentives regime under such law.  This amendment revises the objectives of the Investments Law to focus on achieving enhanced growth in the business sector, improving the Israeli industry’s competitiveness in international markets and creating employment and development opportunities in remote areas of Israel.  The amendment allows enterprises meeting certain required criteria to enjoy grants as well as tax benefits.  The amendment also introduces certain changes to the map of geographic development areas for purposes of the Investments Law, which will take effect in future years.
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The amendment generally abolishes the previous tax benefit routes that were affordedBenefits under the Investment Law, specifically the tax-exemption periods previously allowed, and introduces new tax benefits for industrial enterprises meeting the criteria of the law, which include the following:Preferred Enterprise regime include:
 
 ·A reduced corporate tax rate for industrial enterprises, provided that more than 25% of their annual income is derived from export, which will apply to the enterprise’s entire preferred income so that in the tax years 2011-2012export. In 2015, the reduced tax rate was 10%9% for preferred income derived from industrial facilities located in development area A and 15%16% for those located elsewhere in Israel, inIsrael. These tax rates are scheduled to remain at the tax years 2013-2014 the reduced tax rate will be 7% for development area A and 12.5%same level for the rest of Israel, and in the2016 tax year 2015 and onwards the reduced tax rate will be 6% for development area A and 12% for the rest of Israel.year.
 
 ·The reduced tax rates willare no longer be contingent upon making a minimum qualifying investment in productive assets.
 
 ·A definition of “preferred income” was introduced into the Investments Law to include certain types of income that are generated by the Israeli production activity of a Preferred Enterprise.
 
 ·A reduced dividend withholding tax rate of 15% will applyfor the tax year 2013, and 20% for the tax year 2014 and thereafter applies to dividends paid from preferred income to both Israeli and non-Israeli investors, with an exemption from such withholding tax applying to dividends paid to an Israeli company.
 
 ·A special tax benefits route will be granted to certain industrial enterprises entitling them to a reduced tax rate of 5% for preferred income derived from industrial facilities located in development area A and 8% for those located elsewhere in Israel, provided certain threshold requirements are met and such enterprise can demonstrate its significant contribution to Israel’s economy and promotion of national market objectives.
 
AFull details regarding our Preferred Company (as definedEnterprises may be found in the Investments Law) may generally elect to apply the provisions of the amendment to preferred income produced or generated by it commencing from January 1, 2011. The amendment provides various transitional provisions which allow, under certain circumstances, to apply the new regime to investment programs previously approved or elected under the Investments Law in its previous form, or to continue existing investment programs under the provisions of the Investment Law in its previous form for a certain period of time. We have elected to become subject to the amendment from January 1, 2012, which if validly made, the majorityNote 12(a)(1) of our previous Approved or Privileged Enterprise programs will be substituted for Preferred Enterprises.Consolidated Financial Statements.
 
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Previously tax-exempted earnings - Amendment of the Investments Law - 2012
As explained above, under the Approved and Privileged Enterprise regimes, a company that pays a dividend (which for a Privileged Enterprise includes the repurchase of our shares) out of income derived during the tax exemption period will be subject to Corporate Tax in respect of the amount distributed at the rate which would have been applicable had the company not been exempt from tax under the aforementioned regimes.
On November 12, 2012, an amendment to the Investments Law was published which intends to encourage companies to voluntarily elect for an immediate payment of corporate tax on previously tax-exempted earnings pursuant to Approved and/or Privileged Enterprises  statuses accumulated until December 31, 2011. The reduced corporate tax rates are determined in accordance with the proportion of previously tax-exempted earnings covered by the election. There is no requirement for an actual distribution of these previously tax-exempted earnings. Should the previously tax-exempted earnings on which the election was made actually be distributed, there will be no further Israeli corporate tax payable. The current rates of Israeli withholding tax as described below under “Taxation of Dividends Paid on our Ordinary Shares” on actual distributions will apply irrespective of whether an election was made pursuant to this amendment.
Unless extended, the above amendment, which was published as a temporary provision, will apply to companies that make such election no later than the lapse of one year from the date of publication of the amendment. We are currently assessing the impact of the amendment.
Tax Benefits and Grants for Research and Development

Israeli tax law allows, under specified conditions, a tax deduction for expenditures, including capital expenditures, for the year in which they are incurred.  These expenses must relate to scientific research and development projects and must be approved by the relevant Israeli government ministry, determined by the field of research, and the research and development must be for the promotion of the company and carried out by or on behalf of the company seeking such deduction.  However, the amount of such deductible expenses shall be reduced by the sum of any funds received through government grants for the finance of such scientific research and development projects.  Expenditures not so approved are deductible over a three-year period.
 
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Tax Benefits Under the Law for the Encouragement of Industry (Taxes), 1969

Under the Law for the Encouragement of Industry (Taxes), 1969 (the “Industry Encouragement Law”), Industrial Companies (as defined below) are entitled to the following tax benefits, among others:
 
 ·deductions over an eight-year period for purchases of know-how and patents;
 
 ·deductions over a three-year period of expenses involved with the issuance and listing of shares on a stock market;
 
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 ·the right to elect, under specified conditions, to file a consolidated tax return with other related Israeli Industrial Companies; and
 
 ·accelerated depreciation rates on equipment and buildings.
 
Eligibility for benefits under the Industry Encouragement Law is not subject to receipt of prior approval from any governmental authority.  Under the Industry Encouragement Law, an “Industrial Company”“industrial company” is defined as a company resident in Israel, at least 90% of the income of which, in any tax year, determined in Israeli currency, exclusive of income from government loans, capital gains, interest and dividends, is derived from an “Industrial Enterprise” owned by it.  An “Industrial Enterprise” is defined as an enterprise whose major activity in a given tax year is industrial production activity.  We believe that we currently qualify as an Industrial Companyindustrial company within the definition of the Industry Encouragement Law.  No assurance can be given that we will continue to qualify as an Industrial Companyindustrial company or that the benefits described above will be available in the future.
 
Israeli Transfer Pricing Regulations
On November 29, 2006, Income Tax Regulations (Determination of Market Terms), 2006, promulgated under Section 85A of the Tax Ordinance, came into force (the “Transfer Pricing Regulations”).  Section 85A of the Tax Ordinance and the Transfer Pricing Regulations generally require that all cross-border transactions carried out between related parties will be conducted on an arm’s length principle basis and will be taxed accordingly.  As the Transfer Pricing Regulations are broadly similar to transfer pricing regimes already in place in other jurisdictions in which we operate outside of Israel, we do not expect the Transfer Pricing Regulations to have a material impact on the Company.
Capital Gains Tax on Sales of Our Ordinary Shares

Israeli law generally imposes a capital gains tax on the sale of any capital assets by residents of Israel, as defined for Israeli tax purposes, and on the sale of assets located in Israel, including shares in Israeli companies, by both residents and non-residents of Israel, unless a specific exemption is available or unless a tax treaty between Israel and the shareholder’s country of residence provides otherwise.  The law distinguishes between real gain and inflationary surplus.  The inflationary surplus is a portion of the total capital gain, which is equivalent to the increase of the relevant asset’s purchase price, which is attributable to the increase in the Israeli consumer price index, or a foreign currency exchange rate, between the date of purchase and the date of sale.  The real gain is the excess of the total capital gain over the inflationary surplus.
 
The following discussion refers to the sale of our ordinary shares.  However, the same tax treatment would apply to the sale of our ADSs.
 
Taxation of Israeli Residents

As of January 1, 2012, the tax rate generally applicable to the capital gains derived from the sale of shares, whether listed on a stock market or not, is 25% for Israeli individuals, unless such shareholder is considered a “significant shareholder” at any time during the 12-month period preceding such sale (i.e., such shareholder holds directly or indirectly, including jointly with others, at least 10% of any means of control in the company) the tax rate will be 30%.  Israeli companies are subject to the corporate tax rate on capital gains derived from the sale of listed shares.  However, different tax rates may apply to dealers in securities and shareholders who acquired their shares prior to an initial public offering.
 
 
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The tax basis of our shares acquired prior to January 1, 2003, will generally be determined in accordance with the average closing share price in the three trading days preceding January 1, 2003.  However, a request may be made to the tax authorities to consider the actual adjusted cost of the shares as the tax basis if it is higher than such average price.
As of January 1, 2013, shareholders that are individuals who have taxable income that exceeds NIS 800,000 in a tax year (linked to the CPI each year) (NIS 810,720 in 2015), will be subject to an additional tax, referred to as Income Surtax, at the rate of 2% on their taxable income for such tax year which is in excess of NIS 800,000.such threshold. For this purpose taxable income will include taxable capital gains from the sale of our shares and taxable income from dividend distributions.
 
Taxation of Non-Israeli Residents

Non-Israeli residents are generally exempt from Israeli capital gains tax on any gains derived from the sale of shares publicly traded on the TASE provided such gains did not derive from a permanent establishment of such shareholders in Israel.  Non-Israeli residents are also exempt from Israeli capital gains tax on any gains derived from the sale of shares of Israeli companies publicly traded on a recognized stock market outside of Israel, provided such shareholders did not acquire their shares prior to the issuer’s initial public offering (in which case a partial exemption may be available), that the gains did not derive from a permanent establishment of such shareholders in Israel.  However, non-Israeli corporations will not be entitled to such exemption if Israeli residents (i) have a controlling interest of more than 25% or more in such non-Israeli corporation, or (ii) are the beneficiaries of or are entitled to 25% or more of the revenues or profits of such non-Israeli corporation, whether directly or indirectly.
 
In addition, the sale, exchange or disposition of our ordinary shares by a shareholder who is a U.S. resident (for purposes of the U.S.-Israel Tax Treaty) and who holds ordinary shares as a capital asset is also exempt from Israeli capital gains tax under the U.S.-Israel Tax Treaty unless either (i) the shareholder holds, directly or indirectly, shares representing 10% or more of our voting power during any part of the 12-month period preceding such sale or (ii) the capital gains arising from such sale are attributable to a permanent establishment of the shareholder located in Israel.  If the above conditions are not met, the U.S. resident would be subject to Israeli tax, to the extent applicable; however, under the U.S.-Israel Tax Treaty, the gain would be treated as foreign source income for United States foreign tax credit purposes and such U.S. resident would be permitted to claim a credit for such taxes against the United States federal income tax imposed on such sale, exchange or disposition, subject to the limitations under the United States federal income tax laws applicable to foreign tax credits.
 
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Taxation of Dividends Paid on our Ordinary Shares

The following discussion refers to dividends paid on our ordinary shares.  However, the same tax treatment would apply to dividends paid on our ADSs.
 
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Taxation of Israeli Residents
 
Israeli resident individuals are generally subject to Israeli income tax on the receipt of dividends paid on our ordinary shares, other than bonus shares (share dividends) or stock dividends. As of January 1, 2012, the tax rate applicable to such dividends is 25% or 30% for a shareholder that is considered a significant shareholder at any time during the 12-month period preceding such distribution. Dividends paid out of profits sourced from ordinary income are subject to withholding tax at the rate of 25% or 30%.  Dividends paid from income derived from our Approved and Privileged or Preferred Enterprises are subject to withholding at the rate of 15%, although we.  Dividends paid as of January 1, 2014 from income derived from our Preferred Enterprises will be subject to withholding at the rate of 20%. We cannot assure you that we will designate the profits that are being distributed in a way that will reduce shareholders’ tax liability.

All dividend distributions to Israeli resident corporations whether sourced in ordinary income, freed “trapped profits” accruing from our Approved or Privileged Enterprises, or income from our Preferred Enterprises are not subject to a withholding tax.
For information with respect to the applicability of Income Surtax on distribution of dividends, please see "Capital Gains Tax on Sales of Our Ordinary Shares" and "Taxation of Israeli Residents" above in this Item 10.
 
Taxation of Non-Israeli Residents
 
Non-residents of Israel, both companies and individuals, are generally subject to Israeli income tax on the receipt of dividends paid on our ordinary shares, at the aforementioned rates applicable to Israeli residents, which tax will be withheld at source, unless a different rate is provided in a treaty between Israel and the shareholder’s country of residence.
 
Under the U.S.-Israel Treaty, the maximum Israeli withholding tax on dividends paid by us is 25%.  Dividends of an Israeli company distributed from income of an Approved Enterprise (or Privileged Enterprise or Preferred Enterprise) are subject to a 15% withholding tax under the U.S.-Israel Tax Treaty.  The U.S.-Israel Tax Treaty further provides for a 12.5% Israeli dividend withholding tax on dividends paid by an Israeli company to a United States corporation owning at least 10% or more of such Israeli company’s issued voting power for, in general, the part of the tax year which precedes the date of payment of the dividend and the entire preceding tax year.  The lower 12.5% rate applies only to dividends from income not derived from an Approved Enterprise (or Privileged Enterprise or Preferred Enterprise) in the applicable period and does not apply if the company has more than 25% of its gross income derived from certain types of passive income.  Residents of the United States generally will have withholding tax in Israel deducted at source.  They may be entitled to a credit or deduction for United States federal income tax purposes in the amount of the taxes withheld, subject to detailed rules contained in United States tax legislation.
 
A non-resident of Israel who has dividend income derived from or accrued in Israel, from which tax was withheld at source, is generally exempt from the duty to file tax returns in Israel in respect of such income, provided such income was not derived from a business conducted in Israel by the taxpayer.
 
 
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U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations
 
The following is a summary of the material U.S. Federal income tax consequences that apply to U.S. holders (defined below) who hold ADSs as capital assets for tax purposes.  This summary is based on the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), existing final, temporary and proposed regulations thereunder, judicial decisions and published positions of the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S.-Israel income tax treaty in effect as of the date of this annual report, all of which are subject to change at any time (including changes in interpretation), possibly with retroactive effect.  It is also based in part on representations by TheJPMorgan Chase Bank, of New York Mellon,N.A., the depositary for our ADSs, and assumes that each obligation under the Deposit Agreement between us and TheJPMorgan Chase Bank, of New York MellonN.A. and any related agreement will be performed in accordance with its terms.  This summary does not address all U.S. Federal income tax matters that may be relevant to a particular prospective holder or all tax considerations that may be relevant with respect to an investment in ADSs.
 
This summary does not address tax considerations applicable to a holder of an ADS that may be subject to special tax rules including, without limitation, the following:
 
 ·dealers or traders in securities, currencies or notional principal contracts;
 
 ·financial institutions;
 
 ·insurance companies;
 
 ·real estate investment trusts;
 
 ·banks;
 
 ·investors subject to the alternative minimum tax;
 
 ·tax-exempt organizations;
 
 ·regulated investment companies;
 
 ·investors that actually or constructively own 10 percent or more of our voting shares;
 
 ·investors that will hold the ADSs as part of a hedging or conversion transaction or as a position in a straddle or a part of a synthetic security or other integrated transaction for U.S. Federal income tax purposes;
 
 ·investors that are treated as partnerships or other pass through entities for U.S. Federal income tax purposes and persons who hold the ADSs through partnerships or other pass through entities;
 
 ·investors whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar; and
 
 ·expatriates or former long-term residents of the United States.
 
 
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This summary does not address the effect of any U.S. Federal taxation other than U.S. Federal income taxation.  In addition, this summary does not include any discussion of state, local or foreign taxation or the indirect effects on the holders of equity interests in a holder of an ADS.
 
You are urged to consult your own tax advisor regarding the foreign and U.S. Federal, state and local and other tax consequences of an investment in ADSs.
 
For purposes of this summary, a “U.S. holder” is a beneficial owner of ADSs that is, for U.S. Federal income tax purposes:
 
 ·an individual who is a citizen or a resident of the United States;
 
 ·a corporation (or other entity taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) created or organized in or under the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof;
 
 ·an estate whose income is subject to U.S. Federal income tax regardless of its source; or
 
 ·a trust if:
 
 (a)a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over administration of the trust; and
 
 (b)one or more United States persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust.
 
If an entity that is classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes holds ADSs, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of its partners will generally depend upon the status of the partners and the activities of the partnership.  Entities that are classified as partnerships for U.S. federal tax purposes and persons holding ADSs through such entities should consult their own tax advisors.
 
In general, if you hold ADSs, you will be treated as the holder of the underlying shares represented by those ADSs for U.S. Federal income tax purposes.  Accordingly, no gain or loss will be recognized if you exchange ADSs for the underlying shares represented by those ADSs.
 
The U.S. Treasury has expressed concerns that parties to whom ADSs are released may be taking actions that are inconsistent with the claiming of foreign tax credits for U.S. holders of ADSs.  Such actions would also be inconsistent with the claiming of the reduced rate of tax, described below, applicable to dividends received by certain non-corporate U.S. holders.  Accordingly, the analysis of the creditability of Israeli taxes and the availability of the reduced tax rate for dividends received by certain non-corporate U.S. holders, each described below, could be affected by actions taken by parties to whom the ADSs are released and the positions of the U.S. Treasury.
 
 
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U.S. Taxation of ADSs
 
Distributions
 
Subject to the discussion under “Passive Foreign Investment Companies” below, the gross amount of any distribution, including the amount of any Israeli taxes withheld from these distributions (see “Israeli Tax Considerations”), actually or constructively received by a U.S. holder with respect to ADSs will be taxable to the U.S. holder as a dividend to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits as determined under U.S. Federal income tax principles.  Distributions in excess of earnings and profits will be non-taxable to the U.S. holder to the extent of, and will be applied against and reduce, the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in the ADSs.  Distributions in excess of earnings and profits and such adjusted tax basis will generally be taxable to the U.S. holder as capital gain from the sale or exchange of property.  We do not maintain calculations of our earnings and profits under U.S. Federal income tax principles.  If we do not report to a U.S. holder the portion of a distribution that exceeds earnings and profits, the distribution will generally be taxable as a dividend even if that distribution would otherwise be treated as a non-taxable return of capital or as capital gain under the rules described above.  The amount of any distribution of property other than cash will be the fair market value of that property on the date of distribution.  The U.S. holder will not, except as provided by Section 245 of the Code, be eligible for any dividends received deduction in respect of the dividend otherwise allowable to corporations.
 
Under the Code, certain dividends received by non-corporate U.S. holders will be subject to a maximum income tax rate of 20%.  This reduced income tax rate is only applicable to dividends paid by a “qualified foreign corporation” that is not a “passive foreign investment company” and only with respect to shares held by a qualified U.S. holder (i.e., a non-corporate holder) for a minimum holding period (generally 61 days during the 121-day period beginning 60 days before the ex-dividend date).  We should be considered a qualified foreign corporation because (i) we are eligible for the benefits of a comprehensive tax treaty between Israel and the U.S., which includes an exchange of information program, and (ii) the ADSs are readily tradable on an established securities market in the U.S.  In addition, based on our current business plans, we do not expect to be classified as a “passive foreign investment company” (see “Passive Foreign Investment Companies” below).  Accordingly, dividends paid by us to individual U.S. holders on shares held for the minimum holding period should be eligible for the reduced income tax rate.  In addition to the income tax on dividends discussed above, certain non-corporate U.S. holders will also be subject to the 3.8% Medicare tax on dividends as discussed below under “Medicare Tax on Unearned Income”.
 
The amount of any distribution paid in a currency other than U.S. dollars (a “foreign currency”) including the amount of any withholding tax thereon, will be included in the gross income of a U.S. holder in an amount equal to the U.S. dollar value of the foreign currencies calculated by reference to the exchange rate in effect on the date of receipt, regardless of whether the foreign currencies are converted into U.S. dollars.  If the foreign currencies are converted into U.S. dollars on the date of receipt, a U.S. holder generally should not be required to recognize foreign currency gain or loss in respect of the dividend.  If the foreign currencies received in the distribution are not converted into U.S. dollars on the date of receipt, a U.S. holder will have a basis in the foreign currencies equal to its U.S. dollar value on the date of receipt.  Any gain or loss on a subsequent conversion or other disposition of the foreign currencies will be treated as ordinary income or loss.
 
 
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Dividends received by a U.S. holder with respect to ADSs generally will be treated as foreign source income for the purposes of calculating that holder’s foreign tax credit limitation.   Subject to certain conditions and limitations, any Israeli taxes withheld on dividends at the rate provided by the U.S.-Israel income tax treaty may be deducted from taxable income or credited against a U.S. holder’s U.S. Federal income tax liability.  The limitation on foreign taxes eligible for the U.S. foreign tax credit is calculated separately with respect to “passive” income and “general” income.  The rules relating to foreign tax credits and the timing thereof are complex.  U.S. holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the availability of a foreign tax credit under their particular situation.
 
Sale or Other Disposition of ADSs
 
If a U.S. holder sells or otherwise disposes of its ADSs, gain or loss will be recognized for U.S. Federal income tax purposes in an amount equal to the difference between the amount realized on the sale or other disposition and such holder’s adjusted tax basis in the ADSs.  Subject to the discussion below under the heading “Passive Foreign Investment Companies,” such gain or loss generally will be capital gain or loss and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the holder had held the ADSs for more than one year at the time of the sale or other disposition.  Long-term capital gains realized by individual U.S. holders generally are subject to a lower marginal U.S. Federal income tax rate (currently up to 20%) than the marginal tax rate on ordinary income.  In addition to the income tax on gains discussed above, certain non-corporate U.S. holders will also be subject to the 3.8% Medicare tax on net gains as discussed below under “Medicare Tax on Unearned Income.”  Under most circumstances, any gain that a holder recognizes on the sale or other disposition of ADSs will be U.S. source for purposes of the foreign tax credit limitation and any recognized losses will be allocated against U.S. source income.
 
If a U.S. holder receives foreign currency upon a sale or exchange of ADSs, gain or loss, if any, recognized on the subsequent sale, conversion or disposition of such foreign currency will be ordinary income or loss, and will generally be income or loss from sources within the United States for foreign tax credit limitation purposes.  However, if such foreign currency is converted into U.S. dollars on the date received by the U.S. holder, the U.S. holder generally should not be required to recognize any gain or loss on such conversion.
 
A U.S. Holder who holds shares through an Israeli stockbroker or other Israeli intermediary may be subject to Israeli withholding tax on any capital gains recognized if the U.S. Holder does not obtain approval of an exemption from the Israeli Tax Authorities or claim any allowable refunds or reductions.  U.S. Holders are advised that any Israeli tax paid under circumstances in which an exemption from (or a refund of or a reduction in) such tax was available will not give rise to a deduction or credit for foreign taxes paid for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If applicable, U.S. Holders are advised to consult their Israeli stockbroker or intermediary regarding the procedures for obtaining an exemption or reduction.
 
 
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Medicare Tax on Unearned Income
 
For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012, certainCertain U.S. holders that are individuals, estates or trusts are required to pay an additional 3.8% tax on among other things,all or a portion of their “net investment income,” which includes dividends and net gains from the sale or other dispositions of ADSs (other than ADSs held in a trade or business).

Passive Foreign Investment Companies (“PFIC”)
 
For U.S. Federal income tax purposes, we will be considered a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) for any taxable year in which either 75% or more of our gross income is passive income, or at least 50% of the average value of all of our assets for the taxable year produce or are held for the production of passive income.  For this purpose, passive income includes dividends, interest, royalties, rents, annuities and the excess of gain over losses from the disposition of assets which produce passive income.  If we were determined to be a PFIC for U.S. Federal income tax purposes, highly complex rules would apply to U.S. holders owning ADSs.
 
Based on our estimated gross income, the average value of our gross assets and the nature of our business, we do not believe that we will be classified as a PFIC in the current taxable year.  Our status in any taxable year will depend on our assets and activities in each year and because this is a factual determination made annually at the end of each taxable year, there can be no assurance that we will not be considered a PFIC for any future taxable year.  If we were treated as a PFIC in any year during which a U.S. holder owns ADSs, certain adverse tax consequences could apply, as described below.  Given our current business plans, however, we do not expect that we will be classified as a PFIC in future years.
 
If we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year,
 
 ·a U.S. holder would be required to allocate income recognized upon receiving certain dividends or gain recognized upon the disposition of ADSs ratably over its holding period for such ADSs,
 
 ·the amount allocated to each year during which we are considered a PFIC other than the year of the dividend payment or disposition would be subject to tax at the highest individual or corporate tax rate, as the case may be, and an interest charge would be imposed with respect to the resulting tax liability allocated to each such year,
 
 ·the amount allocated to the year of the dividend payment or disposition would be taxable as ordinary income, and
 
 ·a U.S. holder would be required to make an annual return on IRS Form 8621 regarding distributions received and gain realized with respect to ADSs.ADSs, and additionally recently promulgated regulations impose an additional annual filing requirement for U.S. holders who are shareholders of a PFIC.
 
 
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One method to avoid the aforementioned treatment is for a U.S. holder to make an election to treat us as a qualified electing fund.  A U.S. holder may make a qualified electing fund election only if we furnish the U.S. holder with certain tax information and we do not presently intend to prepare or provide this information.  Alternatively, another method to avoid the aforementioned treatment is for a U.S. holder to make a timely mark-to-market election in respect of its ADSs.  If a U.S. holder elects to mark-to-market its ADSs, any excess of the fair market value of the ADSs at the close of each tax year over the adjusted basis in such ADSs will generally be included in income.  If the fair market value of the ADSs had depreciated below the adjusted basis at the close of the tax year, the U.S. holder may generally deduct the excess of the adjusted basis of the ADSs over its fair market value at that time.  However, such deductions generally would be limited to the net mark-to-market gains, if any, that were included in income by such holder with respect to ADSs in prior years.  Income recognized and deductions allowed under the mark-to-market provisions, as well as any gain or loss on the disposition of ADSs with respect to which the mark-to-market election is made, is treated as ordinary income or loss.
 
You are urged to consult your own tax advisor regarding the possibility of us being classified as a PFIC and the potential tax consequences arising from the ownership and disposition (directly or indirectly) of an interest in a PFIC.
 
Backup Withholding and Information Reporting
 
Payments of dividends with respect to ADSs and the proceeds from the sale, retirement, or other disposition of ADSs made by a U.S. paying agent or other U.S. intermediary will be reported to the IRS and to the U.S. holder as may be required under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations.  We, or an agent, a broker, or any paying agent, as the case may be, may be required to withhold tax (backup withholding), currently at the rate of 28%, if a non-corporate U.S. holder that is not otherwise exempt fails to provide an accurate taxpayer identification number and comply with other IRS requirements concerning information reporting.  Certain U.S. holders (including, among others, corporations and tax-exempt organizations) are not subject to backup withholding.  Any amount of backup withholding withheld may be used as a credit against your U.S. Federal income tax liability provided that the required information is timely furnished to the IRS.  U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors as to their qualification for exemption from backup withholding and the procedure for obtaining an exemption.
 
Foreign Asset Reporting
Certain U.S. Holders who are individuals are required to report information relating to an interest in our ADSs on IRS Form 8938, subject to certain exceptions (including an exception for shares held in accounts maintained by financial institutions). U.S. Holders are encouraged to consult their tax advisors regarding their information reporting obligations, if any, with respect to their ownership and disposition of our ADSs.
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Documents on Display
 
We are subject to certain of the information reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.  As a “foreign private issuer” we are exempt from the rules and regulations under the Securities Exchange Act prescribing the furnishing and content of proxy statements, and our officers, directors and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and “short-swing” profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act, with respect to their purchase and sale of our shares.  In addition, we are not required to file reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. companies whose securities are registered under the Securities Exchange Act.  NASDAQ rules generally require that companies send an annual report to shareholders prior to the annual general meeting.   We havemeeting, however we rely upon an exception under the NASDAQ rules and follow the generally accepted business practice for companies in Israel.  Specifically, we file annual reports on Form 20-F, which contain financial statements audited by an independent accounting firm, electronically with the SEC and post a copy on our website.  We will also furnish to the SEC quarterly reports on Form 6-K containing unaudited financial information after the end of each of the first three quarters.
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You may read and copy any document we file with the SEC at its public reference facilities at, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549 and at the SEC’s regional offices at 500 West Madison Street, Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60661-2511.  You may also obtain copies of the documents at prescribed rates by writing to the Public Reference Section of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549.  The SEC also maintains a web site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants that file electronically with the SEC.  The address of this web site is http://www.sec.gov.  Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference facilities.  In addition, our ADSs are quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, so our reports and other information can be inspected at the offices of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. at 1735 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006.
 
Quantitative and QualitativeQualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
 
General

Market risks relating to our operations result primarily from weak economic conditions in the markets in which we sell our products and changes in interest rates and exchange rates.  To manage the volatility related to the latter exposure, we may enter into various derivative transactions.  Our objective is to reduce, where it is deemed appropriate to do so, fluctuations in earnings and cash flows associated with changes in currency exchange rates.  It is our policy and practice to use derivative financial instruments only to manage exposures.  We do not use financial instruments for trading purposes and are not a party to any leveraged derivative.
 
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Foreign Currency Risk
 
We conduct our business primarily in U.S. dollars but also in the currencies of the United Kingdom, the European Union and Israel as well as other currencies.  Thus, we are exposed to foreign exchange movements, primarily in GBP, EUR and NIS.   We monitor foreign currency exposure and, from time to time, may use various instruments to preserve the value of sales transactions and commitments; however, this cannot assure our protection against risks of currency fluctuations. For more information regarding foreign currency related risks, please refer to “GeneralItem 3, “Key Information—General Risks Relating to Our Business,” on page 3.Business” of this annual report.  We use currency forward contracts and option contracts in order to protect against the increase in value of forecasted non-dollar currency cash flows and to hedge future anticipated payments.
 
As of December 31, 2012,2015, we had outstanding forwardcurrency option contracts to hedge payroll and currency optionsfacilities expenses, denominated in NIS, in the total amount of approximately $195.5$115 million. The fair value of those contracts was approximately $0.6 million.  These transactions were for a period of up to a one year period.
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year.
 
The following table below details the balance sheet exposure (i.e., the gapdifference between assets and liabilitiesliabilities) in a given currency) by currency and geography,our main foreign currencies, as of December 31, 2012.  All data in2015, against the tables have been converted into U.S. dollar equivalents.relevant functional currency.
 
  In U.S. dollars in millions: 
  U.S. Dollars  British Pound  Euro  New Israeli Shekel  Swiss Frank  Canadian Dollar  Hong Kong Dollar  Japanese Yen  Singapore Dollar  Australian Dollar  Other currencies  Total 
                                     
Israel  -   13.19   7.56   (40.92)*  0.87   2.08   (1.80)  (1.90)  (1.53)  1.28   (0.57)  (21.74)
European Union  23.85   12.11   14.25   -   0.43   (0.23)  (0.29)  0.46   0.19   (0.07)  (0.28)  50.42 
Switzerland  3.03   (0.09)  0.37   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   3.31 
United States of America  0.38   (0.58)  0.16   -   -   1.06   (0.01)  2.73   0.02   0.71   0.62   5.09 
Canada  2.49   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   2.49 
Hong Kong  0.19   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   0.02   -   0.13   0.34 
Australia  0.88   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   (0.02)  -   0.03   0.89 
                                                 
   30.82   24.63   22.34   (40.92)  1.30   2.91   (2.10)  1.29   (1.32)  1.92   (0.07)  40.80 
 
Net Exposure:
  
NIS/
USD
  GBP/ USD  EUR/ USD  CAD/USD  
HKD/
USD
  
CHF/
USD
  AUD/USD  
CNY/
USD
  JPY/ USD  SGD / USD  GBP / EUR  SGD/ EUR  
CHF/
EUR
  GBP/ CHF  GBP/ JPY  
 
 
SGD/
HKD
  
 
 
SGD/
AUD
  
Other/
Other
  Total 
                                                          
 Net Exposure  (40.92)*  25.20   19.13   5.63   (1.65)  4.02   2.87   0.03   0.84   (1.51)  26.21   0.19   0.37   0.22   0.25   0.02   (0.02)  (0.07)  40.80 
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* Treasury Bills in an amount of $106.6 million (dominated in New Israeli Shekel) are not included in the tables above due to hedging contracts.
  Functional currencies 
  (In U.S. dollars in millions) 
  USD  GBP  EUR  CAD  MXN  CHF  AUD  BRL  Other currencies 
Foreign curren-cies                           
USD  -   22.7   14.5   1.6   0.1   (0.5)  1.1   (1.0)  - 
GBP  26.6   -   1.0   -   -   0.1   -   -   - 
EUR  (4.0)  25.0   -   -   -   (0.1)  -   -   - 
CAD  1.6   2.2   1.2   -   -   -   -   -   - 
AUD  1.9   0.3   0.5   -   -   -   -   -   - 
MXN  1.9   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   - 
CHF  0.7   0.6   -   -   -   -   -   -   - 
JPY  (0.6)  -   -   -   -   -   -   -   - 
INR  (0.6)  -   -   -   -   -   -   -   - 
SGD  (3.5)  -   0.2   -   -   -   -   -   - 
HKD  (3.0)  -   -   -   -   -   -   -   - 
ILS  0.4   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   - 
Other currencies  -   0.3   -   -   -   -   0.2   -   (1.7)

The table below presents the fair value of firmly committed transactions for lease obligations denominated in currencies other than the functional currency:

In U.S. dollars in millions:
  New Israeli Shekel  Other currencies  Total 
  (In U.S. dollars in millions) 
Less than 1 year  6.24   0.08   6.32 
1-3 years  9.99   0.04   10.03 
3-5 years  9.99   -   9.99 
Over 5 years  9.15   -   9.15 
Total  35.37   0.12   35.49 
 
  New Israel Shekel  Other currencies  Total 
less than 1 year  6.74   0.07   6.81 
1-3 years  13.91   0.04   13.95 
3-5 years  14.09   -   14.09 
Over 5 years  34.05   -   34.05 
Total  68.79   0.11   68.90 
The fair value of derivative instruments and the notional amount of the hedged instruments are set forth in the table below:
In U.S. dollars in millions:
  New Israeli Shekels 
  Notional Amount  Fair Value 
Option contracts to hedge payroll expenses  88.0   2.80 
         
Forward contracts to hedge Israeli Treasury Bills (*)  107.4   (4.1)
* The average investment in one-year Israeli Treasury Bills dominated in NIS during 2012 was approximately $115 million against which we have entered into Forward contracts to protect against the increase in value of forecasted non-dollar currency cash flows.
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Interest Rate Risk
 
Our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to our investment in marketable securities and deposits.  Our marketable securities portfolio consists of investment-grade corporate debentures, U.S. Government agency debentures,agencies and U.S. treasuries and Israeli Treasury bills.treasuries.  As of December 31, 2012, 86%2015, 89% of our portfolio was in such securities.
 
We invest in dollar deposits with U.S. banks, European banks, Israeli banks and money market funds.  As of December 31, 2012, 14%2015, 11% of our portfolio was in such deposits.  Since these investments are for short periods, interest income is sensitive to changes in interest rates.
 
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The decline in interest rates in the global markets has a direct effect on our interest income and our ability to maintain our portfolio’s yield level in line with prior years.  In a market environment of declining interest rates, we are likely to reinvest the redeemed proceeds from our called or matured marketable securities in lower yielding investments.  Conversely, an increase in market interest rates could also have an adverse effect on the value of our investment portfolio, for example, by decreasing the fair values of the fixed income securities that comprise a substantial majority of our investment portfolio.
 
The average duration of the securities portfolio, as of December 31, 2012,2015, is 1.52.5 years.  The securities in our marketable securities portfolio are rated generally at the least as A- according to Standard and Poor’s rating or A3, according to Moody’s rating.  Securities representing 11%5% of the marketable securities portfolio are rated as AAA; securities representing 29% of the marketable securities portfolio are rated as AA; securities representing 59%61% of the marketable securities portfolio are rated as A; and securities representing 0.8%5% of the marketable securities portfolio are rated as BBB+below A- after being downgraded during 2012.
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the last two years.
 
The table below presents the fair value of marketable securities which are subject to risk of changes in interest rate, segregated by maturity dates:
 
  Amortized Cost  Estimated fair value 
  Up to 1 year  1-3 years  4-5 years  6-10 years  Total  Up to 1 year  1-3 years  4-5 years  6-10 years  Total 
Corporate debentures  62.08   97.91   30.84   -   190.83   62.22   100.34   32.00   -   194.56 
U.S. Government   agency debentures  -   0.38       -   -   0.38   -   0.38   -       -   0.38 
US treasuries  -   6.21   -   7.01   13.22   -   6.49   -   6.95   13.44 
Israeli Treasury Bills(*)  106.33   -     -   -   106.33   106.57   -   -     -   106.57 
   168.41   104.50   30.84   7.01   310.76   168.79   107.21   32.00   6.95   314.95 

* These securities bear Israel sovereign risk which is rated A+ stable by Standard and Poor’s and A1 stable by Moody’s.
  Amortized Cost  Estimated fair value 
  
Up to
1 year
  
1-3
 years
  4-5 years  6-10 years  Total  Up to 1 year  1-3 years  4-5 years  6-10 years  Total 
Corporate debentures  59.0   259.1   134.4   -   452.6   59.0   257.7   133.7   -   450.5 
U.S. treasuries  -   -   -   7.0   7.0   -   -   -   6.8   6.8 
U.S. govern-ment  agencies  -   2.0   3.0   -   5.0   -   2.0   3.0   -   5.0 
Total  59.0   261.1   137.4   7.0   464.6   59.0   259.7   136.7   6.8   462.3 
 
Other risks and uncertainties that could affect actual results and outcomes are described in Item 3, “Key Information—Risk Factors.”Factors” in this annual report.
 
Description of Securities Other than Equity Securities.
 
American Depositary Shares and Receipts

On April 6, 2015, we engaged JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. to act as Depositary for our ADSs and ADRs.  Prior to this time, The Bank of New York Mellon acted as the depositary.

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Set forth below is a summary of certain provisions in relation to charges and other payments under the Deposit Agreement, as amended, among NICE, TheJPMorgan Chase Bank, of New York MellonN.A. as depositary (the "Depositary"), and the owners and holders from time to time of ADRs (or the Deposit Agreement)issued thereunder (the “Deposit Agreement”).  This summary is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by the Deposit Agreement, a form of which has been filed as Exhibit 1 to the registration statementRegistration Statement on Form F-6 (Registration No. 333-13518)333-203623) filed with the SEC on February 17, 2011.April 24, 2015.

Charges of the Depositary

We willThe depositary may charge each person to whom ADSs are issued, including, without limitation, issuances against deposits of shares, issuances in respect of share distributions, rights and other distributions, issuances pursuant to a stock dividend or stock split declared by us or issuances pursuant to a merger, exchange of securities or any other transaction or event affecting the ADSs or deposited securities, and each person surrendering ADSs for withdrawal of deposited securities or whose ADRs are cancelled or reduced for any other reason, $0.05 for each ADS issued, delivered, reduced, cancelled or surrendered, as the case may be. The depositary may sell (by public or private sale) sufficient securities and property received in respect of a share distribution, rights or other distribution prior to such deposit to pay the fees, reasonable expenses and out-of-pocket charges of the Depositary and those of any registrar only in accordance with agreements in writing entered into between us and the Depositary from time to time.  such charge.

The following additional charges shall be incurred by the ADR holders, by any party depositing or withdrawing ordinary shares or by any party surrendering ADRsADSs or to whom ADRsADSs are issued (including, without limitation, issuance pursuant to a stock dividend or stock split declared by us or an exchange of stock regarding the ADRsADSs or the deposited ordinary sharessecurities or a distribution of ADRs pursuant to the terms of the Deposit Agreement):ADSs), whichever is applicable:

 (1)·a fee of $1.50 per ADR for transfers of certificated or direct registration ADRs;
·a fee of up to $0.05 per ADS for any cash distribution made pursuant to the deposit agreement;
·a fee of up to $0.05 per ADS per calendar year (or portion thereof) for services performed by the depositary in administering the ADRs (which fee may be charged on a periodic basis during each calendar year and shall be assessed against holders of ADRs as of the record date or record dates set by the depositary during each calendar year and shall be payable in the manner described in the next succeeding provision);
·a fee for the reimbursement of such fees, charges and expenses as are incurred by the depositary or any of its agents (including, without limitation, the custodian and expenses incurred on behalf of holders in connection with compliance with foreign exchange control regulations or any law or regulation relating to foreign investment) in connection with the servicing of the shares or other deposited securities, the sale of securities (including, without limitation, deposited securities), the delivery of deposited securities or otherwise in connection with the depositary's or its custodian's compliance with applicable taxeslaw, rule or regulation (which fees and charges shall be assessed on a proportionate basis against holders as of the record date or dates set by the depositary and shall be payable at the sole discretion of the depositary by billing such holders or by deducting such charge from one or more cash dividends or other governmental charges,cash distributions);
 
 
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 (2)·any applicablestock transfer or registration fees,other taxes and other governmental charges;
 (3)·certain cable, telex and facsimile transmission and delivery charges as providedincurred at the request of an ADR holder in connection with the Deposit Agreement,deposit or delivery of shares;
 (4)·transfer or registration fees for the registration of transfer of deposited securities on any expenses incurredapplicable register in connection with the deposit or withdrawal of deposited securities;
·in connection with the conversion of foreign currency into U.S. dollars, the fees, expenses and other charges charged by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. or its agent (which may be a division, branch or affiliate) so appointed in connection with such conversion; and
 (5)·a feefees of $5.00any division, branch or less per 100 ADSs (or a portion thereof) foraffiliate of the execution and deliverydepositary utilized by the depositary to direct, manage or execute any public or private sale of ADRs andsecurities under the surrender of ADRs, anddeposit agreement.

(6)a fee for the distribution of proceeds of rights that the Depositary sells pursuant to the Deposit Agreement.
The Depositarydepositary may own and deal in our securities and in our ADRs.
Liability of Holders for Taxes, Duties or Other Charges
Any taxgenerally refuse to provide services until it is reimbursed applicable amounts, including stock transfer or other taxes and other governmental charge with respectcharges, and is paid its fees for applicable services.

The fees and charges an ADR holder may be required to ADRs or any deposited ordinary shares representedpay may vary over time and may be changed by any ADR shall be payableus and by the holder of suchdepositary. Our ADR to the Depositary.  The Depositary may refuse to effect transfer of such ADR or any withdrawal of deposited ordinary shares represented by such ADR until such payment is made, and may withhold any dividends or other distributions or may sell for the accountholders will receive prior notice of the holderincrease in any part orsuch fees and charges.

We will pay all other charges and expenses of the deposited ordinary shares represented by such ADRdepositary and may apply such dividends or distributions orany agent of the proceeds of any such sale in payment of any such tax or other governmental chargedepositary (except the custodian) pursuant to agreements from time to time between us and the holder of such ADR shall remain liable for any deficiency.depositary. The charges described above may be amended from time to time by agreement between us and the depositary.

Fees paid by the Depositary

The Bank of New York Mellon, asOur depositary has agreed to reimburse NICEus for certain expenses it incurswe incur that are related to establishment and maintenance of the ADR program upon such terms and conditions as we and the depositary may agree from time to time. The depositary may make available to us a set amount or a portion of the depositary fees charged in respect of the ADR program or otherwise upon such terms and conditions as we and the depositary may agree from time to time.

From April 6, 2015 (the date that JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. was engaged as our depositary) to December 31, 2015, NICE received from the depositary $362,675 as reimbursement for its expenses incurred in relation to the maintenance and administration of the ADR program. During 2015 NICE also received reimbursement from The depositary has also agreedBank of New York Mellon on account of 2014 and the relative part of 2015 in which it acted as depositary. Such reimbursement is for NICE’s expenses incurred in relation to pay certain out-of-pocket administrative,the maintenance and shareholder services expenses for providing services toadministration of the registered holdersADR program during the relative part of ADRs. There are limits on the amount of expenses for which the depositary will reimburse NICE, but the amount of reimbursement available to NICE is not necessarily tied to the amount of fees the depositary collects from investors.
From January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012, NICE received from the depositary $33,982.64 as reimbursement for maintenance2014 and administrative related expenses.
2015 and totals approximately $248,227.
 
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PART II

Item 13.         Defaults, Dividend ArrearagesArrearages and Delinquencies.
 
None.
 
Item 14.         Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds.
 
None.
 
Item 15.         Controls and Procedures.
 
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
 
An evaluation was performed under the supervision and with the participation of NICE’s management, including its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of NICE’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) as of the end of the period covered by this report.  Based on that evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that NICE’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of such date.
 
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
 
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rule 15d-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act.  Our internal control over financial reporting system was designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
 
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements and even when determined to be effective can only provide reasonable assurance with respect to financial statements.  Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
 
Our management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2012.2015. Our management based its assessment on criteria established in Internal Control—IntegratedControl-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.Commission (COSO).  Based on this assessment, our management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2012,2015, our internal control over financial reporting is effective.

Attestation Report of the Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
 
Our independent registered public accounting firm, Kost, Forer, Gabbay & Kasierer, a member of Ernst & Young Global independently assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and has issued an attestation report, which is included under Item 18 on page F-3 of this annual report.
 
 
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Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by this annual report that have materially affected, or that are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Item 16.                [Reserv16ed].
Item 16A.A.      Audit Committee Financial Expert.
 
Our boardBoard of directorsDirectors has determined that each of Dan Falk and Yocheved Dvir meets the definition of an audit committee financial expert, as defined in Item 407 of Regulation S-K, and is independent under the applicable regulations.
 
Item 16B.      Code of Ethics.
 
We have adopted a Code of Ethics that applies to our principal executive and financial officers, and that also applies to all of our employees.  The Code of Ethics is publicly available on our website at www.nice.com.  Written copies are available upon request.  If we make any substantive amendments to the Code of Ethics or grant any waiver from a provision of this code to our chief executive officer, principal financial officer or corporate controller, we will either disclose the nature of such amendment or waiver on our website or in our annual report on Form 20-F.
 
                On February 14, 2012, our Board of Directors approved an amendment to our Code of Ethics, which included new provisions regarding sexual harassment in the workplace and a revised section on bribery and corruption, as well as other non-material revisions.
Item 16C.      Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
 
Fees Paid to Independent Auditors
 
Fees billed or expected to be billed by Kost, Forer, Gabbay & Kasierer, a member of Ernst & Young Global, and other members of Ernst & Young Global for professional services for each of the last two fiscal years were as follows:
 
Services Rendered 2011 Fees  2012 Fees  2014 Fees  2015 Fees 
Audit (1) $689,000  $686,000  $691,000  $676,865 
Audit-related (2) $195,000  $65,000  $72,000  $76,787 
Tax (3) $576,000  $609,000  $399,000  $146,645 
Total $1,460,000  $1,360,000  $1,162,000  $900,297 
 

(1)
 
Audit fees are for audit services for each of the years shown in this table, including fees associated with the annual audit for 20122015 (including audit in accordance with section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) and certain procedures regarding our quarterly financial results submitted on Form 6-K, consultations concerning financial accounting and various accounting issues and performance of local statutory audits.

(2)Audit-related fees relate to assurance and associated services that traditionally are performed by the independent auditor, including: accounting consultation and consultation concerning financial accounting, reporting standards and government approvals and due diligence investigations.investigations and audit services provided in connection with other statutory or regulatory filings.

(3)Tax fees are for professional services rendered by our auditors for tax compliance, tax advice on actual or contemplated transactions, tax consulting associated with international transfer prices and global mobility of employees.
 
 
135133

 
 
Policies and Procedures

Our audit committee has adopted a policy and procedures for the pre-approval of audit and non-audit services rendered by our external auditors, Kost, Forer, Gabbay & Kasierer, a member of Ernst & Young.Young Global.  The policy, which is designed to ensure that such services do not impair the independence of our auditors, requires pre-approval from the audit committee on an annual basis for the various audit and non-audit services that may be performed by our auditors.  If a type of service, that is to be provided by our auditors, has not received such general pre-approval, it will require specific pre-approval by our audit committee. Any proposed services exceeding pre-approved cost levels or budgeted amounts will also require specific pre-approval by our audit committee.  The policy prohibits retention of the independent auditors to perform the prohibited non-audit functions defined in Section 201 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 or the rules of the SEC, and also considers whether proposed services are compatible with the independence of the public auditors.
 
Item 16D.      Exemptions from the ListingListing Standards for Audit Committees.
 
Not applicable.
 
134



Item 16E.       Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers.

During 2012,2015, we repurchased our ordinary shares as described in the table below.
 
Period (a) Total number of shares purchased  (b) Average price paid per share  (c) Total number of shares purchased as part of publicly announced plans or programs  (d) Maximum number (or approximately dollar value) of shares that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs  (a) Total number of shares purchased  (b) Average price paid per share  (c) Total number of shares purchased as part of publicly announced plans or programs  (d) Maximum number (or approximately dollar value) of shares that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs 
 (In U.S. dollars, except share amounts) 
                        
January 1 – January 31  395,950   34.83   395,950   89,952,528   3,417   47.99   3,417   23,401,540 
February 1 - February 28  367,772   35.32   367,772   76,964,054   -   -   -   23,401,540 
March 1 - March 31  281,791   36.70   281,791   66,621,402   122,601   59.73   122,601   16,078,382 
April 1 - April 30  110,755   38.20   110,755   62,390,822   183,071   -   183,071   5,187,292 
May 1 - May 31  483,831   37.28   483,831   44,353,511   -   -   -   105,187,292 
June 1 - June 30  182,469   36.41   182,469   37,710,675   -   -   -   105,187,292 
July 1 - July 31  202,456   34.68   202,456   30,689,400   -   -   -   105,187,292 
August 1 - August 31  326,601   31.33   326,601   20,456,953   195,096   62.31   195,096   93,030,803 
September 1 - September 30  332,829   31.57   332,829   9,948,799   298,054   59.84   298,054   75,196,688 
October 1 - October 31  315,432   33.07   315,432   99,518,163   -   -   -   75,196,688 
November 1 - November 30  -   -   -   99,518,163   134,068   62.52   134,068   66,814,194 
December 1 - December 31  99,973   33.07   99,973   96,211,625   198,208   58.58   198,208   55,203,027 
Total  3,099,859   34.69   3,099,859       1,134,515   60.26   1,134,515     

On February 15, 2011,5, 2014, we announced that our boardBoard of directorsDirectors authorized a program to repurchase up to $100 million of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares and ADRs. Repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions and will be in accordance with applicable securities laws and regulations. The timing and amount of the repurchase transactions will be determined by management and may depend on a variety of factors, including market conditions, alternative investment opportunities and other considerations.  The program does not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of ordinary shares and ADRs and the program may be modified or discontinued at any time without prior notice.
 
On November 3, 2011,May 7, 2015, we announced that our boardBoard of directorsDirectors authorized a new program to repurchase up to $100 million of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares and ADRs. Repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions and will be in accordance with applicable securities laws and regulations. The timing and amount of the repurchase transactions will be determined by management and may depend on a variety of factors, including market conditions, alternative investment opportunities and other considerations.  The program does not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of ordinary shares and ADRs and the program may be modified or discontinued at any time without prior notice.
 
 
136135

 
On February 14, 2012, our board of directors authorized the cancellation of our ordinary shares and ADRs repurchased during 2011 within the framework of the repurchase program.  On February 13, 2013, our board of directors cancelled its prior authorization. None of the ordinary shares and ADRs repurchased were cancelled.
On October 31, 2012, we announced that our board of directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $100 million of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares and ADRs. Repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions and will be in accordance with applicable securities laws and regulations. The timing and amount of the repurchase transactions will be determined by management and may depend on a variety of factors, including market conditions, alternative investment opportunities and other considerations.  The program does not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of ordinary shares and ADRs and the program may be modified or discontinued at any time without prior notice.
Item 16F.       Change in Registrant’sRegistrant’s Certifying Accountant.
 
None.
 
Item 16G.      Corporate Governance.
 
We follow the Israeli Companies Law, the relevant provisions of which are summarized in this annual report, rather than comply with the NASDAQ requirements relating to: (i) the quorum for shareholder meetings (see Item 10,“Additional “Additional Information – Memorandum and Articles of Association – Meetings of Shareholders” in this annual report); (ii) shareholder approval with respect to issuance of securities under equity based compensation plans (see Item 10,“Additional “Additional Information – Memorandum and Articles of Association – Approval of Certain Transactions” and “Approval of Office Holder Compensation” in this annual report); and (iii) sending annual reports to shareholders (see Item 10,“Additional “Additional Information – Documents on Display” in this annual report).
 
Item 16H.      Mine Safety Disclosure.
Not Applicable.
136

PART III

SafetyItem Disclosure17.         Financial Statements.
 
Not Applicable.
 
PART III
Not Applicable.
Item 18.         Financial Statements.
 
See pages F-1 through F-61F-51 of this annual report attached hereto.
 
 
137

 
ExhibitsExhibits.
 
Exhibit No.
Description
1.1Amended and Restated Memorandum of Association, as approved on December 21, 2006 (English translation) (filed as Exhibit 1.1 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on June 13, 2007, and incorporated herein by reference).
1.2Amended and Restated Articles of Association, as amended on September 19, 2011 (filed as Exhibit 4.2 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-177510) filed with the SEC on October 26, 2011, and incorporated herein by reference).July 9, 2015.
2.1Form of Share Certificate (filed as Exhibit 4.1 to Amendment No. 1 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-99640) filed with the SEC on December 29, 1995, and incorporated herein by reference).
2.2Form of Deposit Agreement including Form of ADR Certificate (filed as Exhibit 1 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form F-6 (Registration No. 333-157371)333-203623) filed with the SEC on February 17, 2011,April 24, 2015, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.1Share Purchase Agreement, dated as of March 4, 2011, among NICE-Systems Ltd., IEX Corporation B.V. and CyberTechBeheer B.V. and StichtingAdministratiekantoorCybertech (filed as Exhibit 4.5 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 31, 2011, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.2
Share Purchase Agreement dated as of September 18, 2011, by and among NICE-Systems Ltd. and shareholders of Fizzback Group (Holdings) Ltd.. (filed as Exhibit 4.5 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 29, 2012, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.3
Agreement and Plan of Merger dated as of December 1, 2011, by and among NICE-Systems, Inc., Moneyball Acquisition Corporation, Merced Systems, Inc. and shareholders of Merced Systems, Inc. (filed as Exhibit 4.6 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 29, 2012, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.4NICE Systems Ltd. 2003 Stock Option Plan, as amended (filed as Exhibit 4.4 to NICE-System Ltd.’s Annual Report on Form 20-F (File No. 000-27466) filed with the SEC on April 6, 2009, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.54.2
NICE Systems Ltd. Amended and Restated 1999 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (filed as Exhibit 4 to NICE-System Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-111113) filed with the SEC on May 22, 2006, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.6Actimize Ltd. 2003 Omnibus Stock Option and Restricted Stock Incentive Plan (filed as Exhibit 4.4 to NICE-System Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-145981) filed with the SEC on September 11, 2007, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.74.3NICE Systems Ltd. 2016 Share Incentive Plan.
4.4NICE Systems Ltd. 2008 Share Incentive Plan, as amended (filed as Exhibit 4.499.1 to NICE-System Ltd.’s Registration StatementNICE’s Immediate Report on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-171165)6-K filed with the SEC on December 15, 2010,May 28, 2015, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.84.5Orsus Solutions Limited 2007 Incentive Option Plan, as amended (filed as Exhibit 4.10 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 31, 2010, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.9e-Glue Software Technologies, Inc. 2004 Stock Option Plan, as amended (filed as Exhibit 4.4 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-168100) filed with the SEC on July 14, 2010, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.104.6Fizzback Group (Holdings) Limited Employee Share Option Scheme (filed as Exhibit 4.4 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-177510) filed with the SEC on October 26, 2011, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.114.7Merced Systems, Inc. 2001 Stock Plan (filed as Exhibit 4.4 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-179408) filed with the SEC on February 7, 2012, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.124.8Merced Systems, Inc. 2011 Stock Plan (filed as Exhibit 4.5 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-179408) filed with the SEC on February 7, 2012, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.9The Causata Inc. Executive Share Option Scheme (filed as Exhibit 4.4 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-191176) filed with the SEC on September 16, 2013, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.10Causata Inc. 2010 Stock Plan (filed as Exhibit 4.5 to NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-191176) filed with the SEC on September 16, 2013, and incorporated herein by reference).
4.11NICE System Ltd.’s Executives & Directors Compensation Policy (filed as Annex A in Exhibit 99.1 of NICE’s Immediate Report on Form 6-K filed with the SEC on June 1, 2015 and incorporated herein by reference).
138

8.1List of significant subsidiaries.
12.1Certification by the Chief Executive Officer of NICE-Systems Ltd., pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002.
12.2Certification by the Chief Financial Officer of NICE-Systems Ltd., pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
13.1Certification by the Chief Executive Officer of NICE-Systems Ltd., pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
13.2Certification by the Chief Financial Officer of NICE-Systems Ltd., pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
15.1Consent of Kost, Forer, Gabbay & Kasierer, a member of Ernst & Young Global.
101The following financial information from NICE-Systems Ltd.’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2012,2015, formatted in XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language): (i) Consolidated Balance Sheets at December 31, 20122015 and 2011;2014; (ii) Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended December 31, 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 2010;2013; (iii) Statements of Changes in Shareholders’ Equity and Comprehensive Income for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011,2015, 2014, and 2010;2013; (iv) Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011,2015, 2014, and 2010;2013; and (v) Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
 
 
138139

 
 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD.LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 20122015

IN U.S. DOLLARS
INDEX

INDEX

 
Page
  
F-2 - F-4
  
F-5 - F-6
  
F-7
  
F-8
  
F-9 - F-11F-10
  
F-12F-11 - F-13F-12
  
F-14F-13 - F-56F-51

 
 

 


Kost Forer Gabbay & Kasierer
3 Aminadav St.
Tel-Aviv 6706703, Israel
Tel: +972-3-6232525
Fax: +972-3-5622555
ey.com
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of

NICE SYSTEMS LTD.

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of NICE Systems Ltd. ("the Company") and its subsidiaries as of December 31, 20122015 and 2011,2014, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in shareholders' equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2012.2015. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.
 
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
 
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of the Company and its subsidiaries as of December 31, 20122015 and 2011,2014, and the consolidated results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2012,2015, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
 
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2012,2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control–IntegratedControl-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), and our report dated March 25, 201323, 2016 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
 
Tel-Aviv, IsraelKOST FORER GABBAY & KASIERER
March 25, 2013
23, 2016
A Member of Ernst & Young Global
 
 
F - 2 -

 

Kost Forer Gabbay & Kasierer
3 Aminadav St.
Tel-Aviv 6706703, Israel
Tel: +972-3-6232525
Fax: +972-3-5622555
ey.com
 



REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of

NICE SYSTEMS LTD.
 
We have audited NICE Systems Ltd.'s ("the Company") internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2012,2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control–Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) ("the COSO criteria"). The Company's management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management's Annual Report on internal control over financial reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.
 
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
 
A company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

 
F - 3 -

 
 
.
Kost Forer Gabbay & Kasierer
3 Aminadav St.
Tel-Aviv 6706703, Israel
Tel: +972-3-6232525
Fax: +972-3-5622555
ey.com

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2012,2015, based on the COSO criteria.
 
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company and its subsidiaries as of December 31, 20122015 and 2011,2014, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in shareholders' equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 20122015 and our report dated March 25, 2013April 3, 2015 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
 
Tel-Aviv, IsraelKOST FORER GABBAY & KASIERER
March 25, 2013
23, 2016
A Member of Ernst & Young Global

 
F - 4 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

U.S. dollars in thousands

  December 31, 
  2015  2014 
ASSETS      
       
CURRENT ASSETS:      
Cash and cash equivalents $325,931  $187,497 
Short-term investments  99,195   65,744 
Trade receivables (net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $ 5,315 and $ 4,900 at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively)  177,323   155,628 
Prepaid expenses and other current assets  43,561   40,257 
Current assets of discontinued operations  9,142   36,351 
         
Total current assets
  655,152   485,477 
         
LONG-TERM ASSETS:        
Long-term investments  403,249   246,721 
Other long-term assets  17,175   18,921 
Property and equipment, net  39,213   40,170 
Deferred tax assets  14,130   18,853 
Other intangible assets, net  69,582   109,799 
Goodwill  651,112   659,657 
Long-term assets of discontinued operations  -   53,354 
         
Total long-term assets
  1,194,461   1,147,475 
         
Total assets
 $1,849,613  $1,632,952 
 
  December 31, 
  2012  2011 
ASSETS      
       
CURRENT ASSETS:      
Cash and cash equivalents $98,596  $204,437 
Short-term investments  199,955   144,003 
Trade receivables (net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $ 6,374 and $ 4,671 at December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively)  155,426   126,981 
Other receivables and prepaid expenses  37,626   43,941 
Inventories  13,897   13,404 
Deferred tax assets  15,564   10,405 
         
Total current assets
  521,064   543,171 
         
LONG-TERM ASSETS:        
Long-term investments  146,154   214,136 
Other long-term assets  28,676   28,890 
Property and equipment, net  41,278   28,299 
Other intangible assets, net  228,746   158,153 
Goodwill  695,027   609,187 
         
Total long-term assets
  1,139,881   1,038,665 
         
Total assets
 $1,660,945  $1,581,836 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
 
 
F - 5 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES
 
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

 
U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

  December 31, 
  2015  2014 
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY      
       
CURRENT LIABILITIES:      
Trade payables $11,719  $9,088 
Deferred revenues and advances from customers  151,345   122,528 
Accrued expenses and other liabilities  223,255   192,414 
Current liabilities of discontinued operations  12,744   54,357 
         
Total current liabilities
  399,063   378,387 
         
LONG-TERM LIABILITIES:        
Accrued severance pay  17,952   18,830 
Deferred tax liabilities  15,040   14,176 
Long-term liabilities of discontinued operations  2,409   8,103 
         
Total long-term liabilities
  35,401   41,109 
         
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES        
         
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY:        
Share capital-        
Ordinary shares of NIS 1 par value:        
Authorized: 125,000,000 shares at December 31, 2015 and 2014; Issued: 71,158,401 and 69,749,722 shares at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively; Outstanding: 59,526,506 and 59,252,342 shares at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively  17,977   17,615 
Additional paid-in capital  1,234,206   1,171,424 
Treasury shares at cost - 11,633,783 and 10,499,268 Ordinary shares at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively  (445,021)  (376,637)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss  (24,205)  (10,546)
Retained earnings  632,192   411,600 
         
Total shareholders' equity
  1,415,149   1,213,456 
         
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity
 $1,849,613  $1,632,952 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
F - 6

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

 
  December 31, 
  2012  2011 
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY      
       
CURRENT LIABILITIES:      
Trade payables $20,553  $19,014 
Deferred revenues and advances from customers  150,424   160,242 
Accrued expenses and other liabilities  212,452   190,372 
         
Total current liabilities
  383,429   369,628 
         
LONG-TERM LIABILITIES:        
Accrued severance pay  24,327   23,728 
Deferred tax liabilities  58,341   27,766 
Other long-term liabilities  3,760   2,070 
         
Total long-term liabilities
  86,428   53,564 
         
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES        
         
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY:        
Share capital-        
Ordinary shares of NIS 1 par value:        
Authorized: 125,000,000 shares at December 31, 2012 and 2011; Issued: 66,346,119 and 64,804,730 shares
at December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively; Outstanding: 60,248,699 and 61,807,169 shares at
December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively
  16,666   16,273 
Additional paid-in capital  1,045,733   988,076 
Treasury shares at cost – 6,097,420 and 2,997,561 Ordinary shares at December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively  (203,907)  (96,318)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)  12,194   (1,895)
Retained earnings  320,402   252,508 
         
Total shareholders' equity
  1,191,088   1,158,644 
         
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity
 $1,660,945  $1,581,836 
U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2015  2014  2013 
Revenues:         
Products $317,900  $289,560  $280,140 
Services  608,967   582,435   541,375 
             
Total revenues
  926,867   871,995   821,515 
             
Cost of revenues:            
Products  66,363   63,919   69,335 
Services  237,219   239,592   230,279 
             
Total cost of revenues
  303,582   303,511   299,614 
             
Gross profit  623,285   568,484   521,901 
             
Operating expenses:            
Research and development, net  128,485   123,141   115,431 
Selling and marketing  225,817   231,097   214,579 
General and administrative  90,349   83,360   86,467 
Amortization of acquired intangibles  12,528   19,157   29,438 
Restructuring expenses  -   5,435   527 
             
Total operating expenses
  457,179   462,190   446,442 
             
Operating income  166,106   106,294   75,459 
Financial income and other, net  5,304   3,765   3,927 
             
Income before taxes on income  171,410   110,059   79,386 
Taxes on income  (30,832)  (9,909)  (26,915)
             
Net income from continuing operations $140,578  $100,150  $52,471 
Discontinued operations:            
Gain on disposal and income (loss) from operations  152,459   4,965   4,294 
Taxes on income  (34,206)  (2,040)  (1,490)
             
Net income on discontinued operations  118,253   2,925   2,804 
             
Net income $258,831  $103,075  $55,275 
             
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations $2.36  $1.69  $0.87 
Basic earnings per share from discontinued operations $1.99  $0.05  $0.05 
Basic earnings per share $4.35  $1.74  $0.92 
             
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations $2.29  $1.64  $0.85 
Diluted earnings per share from discontinued operations $1.93  $0.05  $0.04 
Diluted earnings per share $4.22  $1.69  $0.89 
             
Weighted average number of shares used in computing:            
Basic earnings per share  59,552   59,362   60,388 
             
Diluted earnings per share  61,281   60,895   61,830 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
F - 6 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

U.S. dollars in thousands (except per share data)
  Year ended December 31, 
  2012  2011  2010 
Revenues:         
Products $369,381  $355,760  $325,429 
Services  509,631   438,071   364,022 
             
Total revenues
  879,012   793,831   689,451 
             
Cost of revenues:            
Products  122,917   116,256   107,190 
Services  228,306   191,049   161,885 
             
Total cost of revenues
  351,223   307,305   269,075 
             
Gross profit  527,789   486,526   420,376 
             
Operating expenses:            
Research and development, net  121,387   109,127   97,083 
Selling and marketing  230,162   199,044   178,407 
General and administrative  96,134   95,650   76,345 
Amortization of acquired intangibles  32,590   23,677   19,489 
Restructuring expenses  1,884   -   - 
             
Total operating expenses
  482,157   427,498   371,324 
             
Operating income  45,632   59,028   49,052 
Financial income and other, net  8,268   10,621   9,185 
             
Income before taxes on income  53,900   69,649   58,237 
Tax benefit (Taxes on income)  13,994   (12,386)  (9,530)
             
Net income $67,894  $57,263  $48,707 
             
Net earnings per share:            
Basic $1.11  $0.91  $0.78 
             
Diluted $1.09  $0.89  $0.76 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
 
 
F - 7 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES
 
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

  Year ended December 31, 
  2012  2011  2010 
          
Net Income $67,894  $57,263  $48,707 
Other comprehensive income:            
Change in foreign currency translation adjustment  7,175   (6,944)  135 
             
Available- for- sale investments:            
Change in net unrealized gains  2,553   759   81 
Less: reclassification adjustment for net gains included in net income  (1,600)  (791)  (1,197)
             
Net change (net of tax effect of $94,$137,$158)  953   (32)  (1,116)
             
Cash flow hedges:            
Change in unrealized gains  13,845   (13,466)  4,087 
             
Less: reclassification adjustment for net gains included in net income  (7,884)  7,971   (1,115)
             
 Net change  5,961   (5,495)  2,972 
             
Other comprehensive income  14,089   (12,471)  1,991 
             
Comprehensive income $81,983  $44,792  $50,698 

As of December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) was comprised of foreign currency translation adjustments of $ 5,962, $ (1,213) and $ 5,731, unrealized gains on marketable securities, net of tax, of $3,443, $ 2,490 and $ 2,522 and unrealized gains (losses) on derivative instruments, net of tax, of $ 2,789, $ (3,172) and $ 2,323, respectively.
  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2015  2014  2013 
          
Net income $258,831  $103,075  $55,275 
             
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax:            
             
Change in foreign currency translation adjustment  (14,602)  (17,972)  4,906 
             
Available- for- sale investments:            
Change in net unrealized gains (losses)  (2,081)  259   (3,503)
Less - reclassification adjustment for net gains realized and  included in net income  (32)  (16)  - 
             
Net change (net of tax effect of ($338), $117, and ($ 519))  (2,113)  243   (3,503)
             
Cash flow hedges:            
Change in unrealized gains  (954)  (6,770)  985 
Less - reclassification adjustment for net gains realized and  included in net income  4,010   1,552   (2,181)
             
Net change  3,056   (5,218)  (1,196)
             
Total other comprehensive income (loss)  (13,659)  (22,947)  207 
             
Comprehensive income $245,172  $80,128  $55,482 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
 
 
F - 8 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS'SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

U.S. dollars in thousands

  
Share
capital
  
Additional
paid-in
capital
  Treasury shares  Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)  Retained earnings  
Total
shareholders'
equity
 
                   
Balance as of January 1, 2012 $16,273  $988,076  $(96,318) $(1,895) $252,508  $1,158,644 
Assumption of restricted share units and options upon acquisition  -   3,763   -   -   -   3,763 
Issuance of shares of ESPP  5   594   -   -   -   599 
Exercise of share options  388   29,584   -   -   -   29,972 
Stock-based compensation  -   23,612   -   -   -   23,612 
Excess tax benefit from share-based payment arrangements  -   104   -   -   -   104 
Treasury shares purchased  -   -   (107,589)  -   -   (107,589)
Other comprehensive income  -   -   -   14,089   -   14,089 
Net income  -   -   -   -   67,894   67,894 
                         
Total comprehensive income                        
Balance as of December 31, 2012 $16,666  $1,045,733  $(203,907) $12,194  $320,402  $1,191,088 
  
Share
capital
  
Additional
paid-in
capital
  Treasury shares  Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)  Retained earnings  
Total
shareholders'
equity
 
                   
Balance as of January 1, 2015 $17,615  $1,171,424  $(376,637) $(10,546) $411,600  $1,213,456 
                         
Exercise of share options  362   26,736   -   -   -   27,098 
Stock-based compensation  -   28,451   -   -   -   28,451 
Excess tax benefit from share-based payment
arrangements
  -   7,595   -   -   -   7,595 
Treasury shares purchased  -   -   (68,384)  -   -   (68,384)
Other comprehensive loss  -   -   -   (13,659)  -   (13,659)
Dividends paid ($ 0.64 per share)  -   -   -   -   (38,239)  (38,239)
Net income  -   -   -   -   258,831   258,831 
                         
Balance as of December 31, 2015 $17,977  $1,234,206  $(445,021) $(24,205) $632,192  $1,415,149 

  
Share
capital
  
Additional
paid-in
capital
  Treasury shares  Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)  Retained earnings  
Total
shareholders'
equity
 
                   
Balance as of January 1, 2014 $17,212  $1,112,367  $(283,851) $12,401  $346,667  $1,204,796 
                         
Issuance of shares of ESPP  3   433   -   -   -   436 
Exercise of share options  400   27,605   -   -   -   28,005 
Stock-based compensation  -   29,814   -   -   -   29,814 
Excess tax benefit from share-based payment
arrangements
  -   1,205   -   -   -   1,205 
Treasury shares purchased  -   -   (92,786)  -   -   (92,786)
Other comprehensive loss  -   -   -   (22,947)  -   (22,947)
Dividends paid ($ 0.64 per share)  -   -   -   -   (38,142)  (38,142)
Net income  -   -   -   -   103,075   103,075 
                         
Balance as of December 31, 2014 $17,615  $1,171,424  $(376,637) $(10,546) $411,600  $1,213,456 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
 
 
F - 9 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES
 
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

U.S. dollars in thousands

  
Share
capital
  
Additional
paid-in
capital
  Treasury shares  Accumulated other comprehensive income  Retained earnings  
Total
shareholders'
equity
 
                   
Balance as of January 1, 2013 $16,666  $1,045,733  $(203,907) $12,194  $320,402  $1,191,088 
                         
Issuance of shares of ESPP  6   777   -   -   -   783 
Exercise of share options  523   38,395   -   -   -   38,918 
Restricted shares vesting in respect of Merced
acquisition
  17   (17)  -   -   -   - 
Stock-based compensation  -   26,307   -   -   -   26,307 
Excess tax benefit from share-based payment
arrangements
  -   1,172   -   -   -   1,172 
Treasury shares purchased  -   -   (79,944)  -   -   (79,944)
Other comprehensive income  -   -   -   207   -   207 
Dividends paid ($ 0.48 per share)  -   -   -   -   (29,010)  (29,010)
Net income  -   -   -   -   55,275   55,275 
                         
Balance as of December 31, 2013 $17,212  $1,112,367  $(283,851) $12,401  $346,667  $1,204,796 
 
  
Share
capital
  
Additional
paid-in
capital
  Treasury shares  Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)  Retained earnings  
Total
shareholders'
equity
 
                   
Balance as of January 1, 2011 $15,875  $939,064  $-  $10,576  $195,245  $1,160,760 
Assumption of restricted share units and options upon acquisition  -   1,230   -   -   -   1,230 
Issuance of shares of ESPP  5   557   -   -   -   562 
Exercise of share options  391   25,683   -   -   -   26,074 
Stock-based compensation  -   21,159   -   -   -   21,159 
Excess tax benefit from share-based payment arrangements  -   372   -   -   -   372 
Restricted shares vesting in respect of Actimize acquisition  2   11   -   -   -   13 
Treasury shares purchased  -   -   (96,318)  -   -   (96,318)
Other comprehensive income  -   -   -   (12,471)  -   (12,471)
Net income  -   -   -   -   57,263   57,263 
                         
Total comprehensive income                        
Balance as of December 31, 2011 $16,273  $988,076  $(96,318) $(1,895) $252,508  $1,158,644 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

 
F - 10 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITYCASH FLOWS

U.S. dollars in thousands

  
Share
capital
  
Additional
paid-in
capital
  Treasury shares  Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)  Retained earnings  
Total
shareholders'
equity
 
                   
Balance as of January 1, 2010 $15,492  $892,139  $-  $8,585  $146,538  $1,062,754 
Issuance of shares of ESPP  4   432   -   -   -   436 
Exercise of share options  364   25,409   -   -   -   25,773 
Stock-based compensation  -   21,054   -   -   -   21,054 
Excess tax shortfall from share-based payment arrangements  -   (18)  -   -   -   (18)
Restricted shares vesting in respect of Actimize acquisition  15   48   -   -   -   63 
Other comprehensive income  -   -   -   1,991   -   1,991 
Net income  -   -   -   -   48,707   48,707 
                         
Total comprehensive income                        
Balance as of December 31, 2010 $15,875  $939,064  $-  $10,576  $195,245  $1,160,760 
  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2015  2014  2013 
          
Cash flows from operating activities:         
          
Net income $258,831  $103,075  $55,275 
Adjustments required to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:            
Depreciation and amortization  57,964   73,349   91,355 
Stock-based compensation  28,451   29,814   26,307 
Equity in losses of affiliated company  537   565   - 
Revaluation of earn out liability  -   (4,002)  - 
Excess tax benefit from share-based payment arrangements  (7,595)  (1,205)  (1,172)
Accrued severance pay, net  104   (207)  (43)
Amortization of premium and discount and accrued interest on marketable securities  2,799   2,071   4,234 
Deferred taxes, net  10,576   (27,785)  (17,275)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:            
Trade receivables, net  (56,363)  4,807   (34,569)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets  (1,482)  1,956   (1,612)
Trade payables  2,166   (13,781)  5,057 
Accrued expenses and other liabilities  40,896   10,319   1,782 
Deferred revenues  54,914   3,424   (4,551)
Gain on disposal of discontinued operations  (147,334)  -   - 
Other  269   (131)  (513)
             
Net cash provided by operating activities  244,733   182,269   124,275 
             
Cash flows from investing activities:            
             
Purchase of property and equipment  (16,596)  (16,722)  (20,226)
Investment in marketable securities  (247,593)  (74,188)  (145,885)
Proceeds from maturity of marketable securities  65,123   43,411   162,521 
Proceeds from sale and call of marketable securities  27,419   2,403   791 
Proceeds from short-term bank deposits  -   107,327   54,422 
Investment in short-term bank deposits  (40,000)  (69,500)  (60,500)
Payments for business acquisitions, net of cash acquired and investments in affiliates  (1,500)  (748)  (23,911)
Capitalization of software development costs  (1,380)  (908)  (1,038)
Proceeds upon the realization of investment in affiliate  -   -   683 
Proceeds from sale of discontinued operations  186,134   -   - 
             
Net cash used in investing activities  (28,393)  (8,925)  (33,143)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.
 
 
F - 11 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

U.S. dollars in thousands

  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2015  2014  2013 
          
Cash flows from financing activities:         
          
Proceeds from issuance of shares upon exercise of options and ESPP  27,532   29,526   38,381 
Purchase of treasury shares  (68,384)  (94,267)  (79,447)
Dividends paid  (38,239)  (38,142)  (29,010)
Excess tax benefit from share-based payment arrangements  7,595   1,205   1,172 
Earn out payments related to acquisitions  (297)  (158)  (280)
             
Net cash used in financing activities  (71,793)  (101,836)  (69,184)
             
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash  (6,113)  (3,556)  (999)
             
Increase in cash and cash equivalents  138,434   67,952   20,949 
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year  187,497   119,545   98,596 
             
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year $325,931  $187,497  $119,545 
             
Supplemental disclosure of cash flows activities:            
             
Cash paid during the year for:            
             
Income taxes $53,646  $32,854  $43,862 
             
Interest $107  $116  $336 
             
Non-cash activities:            
             
Net change in accrued liability with respect to treasury shares $-  $(1,481) $497 
             
Net change in other receivables with respect to exercise of share options $434  $1,085  $(1,320)
 
  Year ended December 31, 
  2012  2011  2010 
          
Cash flows from operating activities:         
          
Net income $67,894  $57,263  $48,707 
Adjustments required to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:            
Depreciation and amortization  95,477   66,958   57,110 
Stock-based compensation  23,612   21,159   21,054 
Excess tax shortfall (benefit) from share-based payment arrangements  (104)  (372)  18 
Accrued severance pay, net  (126)  533   (1,015)
Amortization of premium and accrued interest on marketable securities  1,178   3,238   328 
Gain on marketable securities, net  (1,600)  (791)  (1,197)
Realized gain on sale of intangible assets  (1,125)  -   - 
Deferred taxes, net  (24,168)  (8,775)  (4,862)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:            
Trade receivables, net  (11,863)  (20,621)  6,344 
Other receivables and prepaid expenses  3,815   5,812   (4,200)
Inventories  500   (2,048)  3,546 
Trade payables  295   (3,743)  (7,136)
Accrued expenses and other liabilities  (17,940)  35,634   25,913 
Other  (206)  127   410 
             
Net cash provided by operating activities  135,639   154,374   145,020 
             
Cash flows from investing activities:            
             
Purchase of property and equipment  (28,690)  (17,307)  (11,704)
Proceeds from sale of property and equipment  1,006   84   13 
Investment in marketable securities  (136,897)  (202,768)  (387,988)
Proceeds from maturity of marketable securities  151,750   229,482   66,635 
Proceeds from sale and call of marketable securities  43,997   147,480   69,933 
Proceeds from short-term bank deposits  8   -   40,029 
Investment in short-term bank deposits  (31,007)  -   - 
Payments for business acquisitions, net of cash acquired  (164,545)  (143,377)  (52,267)
Capitalization of software development costs  (1,110)  (1,150)  (1,311)
Proceeds from sale of intangible assets, net  1,125   -   - 
Purchase of intangible assets  -   (3,000)  - 
             
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities  (164,363)  9,444   (276,660)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

 
F - 12 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
  Year ended December 31, 
  2012  2011  2010 
          
Cash flows from financing activities:         
          
Proceeds from issuance of shares upon exercise of options and ESPP  30,380   26,751   25,984 
Purchase of treasury shares  (107,038)  (95,886)  - 
Excess tax benefit (shortfall) from share-based payment arrangements  104   372   (18)
             
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities  (76,554)  (68,763)  25,966 
             
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash  (563)  (144)  389 
             
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents  (105,841)  94,911   (105,285)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year  204,437   109,526   214,811 
             
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year $98,596  $204,437  $109,526 
             
Supplemental disclosure of cash flows activities:            
             
Cash paid during the year for:            
             
Income taxes $10,711  $17,560  $9,988 
             
Interest $63  $78  $28 
             
Non-cash activities:            
             
Accrued liability with respect to treasury shares $551  $432  $- 
             
Assumption of restricted share units and options upon the acquisition of Fizzback $-  $1,230  $- 
Assumption of restricted share units and options upon the acquisition of Merced $3,763  $-  $- 
NOTE 1:-GENERAL
a.General:

NICE is a leading global enterprise software provider that enables organizations to improve customer experience, drive business performance, ensure compliance and fight financial crime. The Company helps companies understand their customers and predict their needs, optimize their workforce to drive greater efficiency, and identify suspicious behaviour to prevent financial crime. The Company does this by capturing customer interactions and transactions across multiple channels and sources. The Company then applies best-in-class analytics to this data to provide real-time insight and uncover intent. The Company solutions allow organizations to operationalize this insight and embed it within their workflows and daily business processes.

The accompanying notesCompany operates in two areas: Customer Interactions Solutions and Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions.

b.Acquisitions in prior years:

On August 12, 2013, the Company completed the acquisition of Causata Inc. ("Causata"), a provider of real-time Big Data analytics. The Company acquired Causata for total consideration of $22,666 comprised of $21,352 in cash and $1,314 representing the fair value of a potential earn out based on performance milestones amounting to a maximum additional payment of $2,000. The Company recorded technology, customer relationship, goodwill and deferred tax asset related to carryforward losses in amounts of $10,474, $2,001, $8,598 and $6,765, respectively. Technology and customer relationship are amortized over a period of 5 years.

During 2014, the Company has revalued the fair value of liability for earn out related to certain prior years’ acquisitions. As a result, an integralincome of $4,002 was recorded within general and administrative expenses in the statement of income.

During 2015 and 2014, the Company didn’t record any acquisition related costs. During 2013 acquisition related costs amounted to $508, and were included mainly in general and administrative expenses.

c.Discontinued operations
During 2015, the Company divested its Physical Security as well as its Cyber and Intelligence operations, which were a major part of the consolidated financial statements.Security Solutions segment, to allow it to focus on its core markets as part of the execution of its long-term strategy.
 
On July 1, 2015 the Company completed the sale of the Cyber and Intelligence operation to Elbit Systems for a total consideration of $151,583, comprised of $111,583 in cash and $40,000 earn out based on future business performance.
The Cyber and Intelligence operation offers solutions which provide law enforcement agencies, intelligence organizations and signal intelligence agencies with tools for generating intelligence from communications.

 
F - 13 -

 

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 1:-GENERAL

a.             General:

NICE Systems Ltd. ("NICE") and subsidiaries (collectively - "the Company") isThe sale resulted in a leading providercapital gain of software solutions that enable organizations to take$101,847, which was presented as part of the next-best-action in order to improve customer experience and business results, ensure compliance, fight financial crime, and safeguard people and assets. The Company's end-to-end solutions enable organizations to capture either directly or indirectly, analyze, and operationalize, both off-line and in real time, mass quantities of structured and unstructured data (Big Data) from multiple customer interaction channels, including phone calls, web activity,  mobile apps, emails, chat, social media, video, radio transmission, physical sensors, and transactions. The Company operates in three business areas. The Customer Interactions business serves customer-centric organizations in Business-to-Consumer enterprises, such asnet income on discontinued operations in the financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare industries, and others. The Financial Crime & Compliance business serves financial institutions and regulatory agencies. The Security, Safety & Operations business addressesconsolidated statements of income for the needs of security sensitive organizations, such as banks, airports, mass transit, utilities, and public safety agencies. The Company offers its solutions primarily in an on-premise business model. To address growing market demand and customer need for greater operational flexibility with lower upfront costs and faster implementations, the Company also offers many solutions as Hosted or as Software as a Service (SaaS).year ended December 31, 2015.

b.            Acquisitions:

1.      Acquisition of Merced:

On February 7, 2012,September 18, 2015, the Company completed the acquisition of allsale of the outstanding sharesPhysical Security operation to Battery Ventures for a total consideration of  Merced Systems, Inc. ("Merced"), the leading provider$92,475, comprised of performance management solutions that drive$74,551 in cash, note receivable of $2,924 and up to $15,000 earn out based on future business execution in sales and service functions.  Merced's performance management solutions help drive sales effectiveness, superior customer experience and operating efficiency across a range of vertical industries. Merced's products serve Global 2000 customers, and include advanced analytics and reporting, incentive compensation management, coaching, and other performance execution applications.performance.

The Company acquired Merced for an aggregate considerationPhysical Security operation provides video surveillance technologies and capabilities to security-aware organizations.

The sale resulted in a gain of $ 185,868. The total purchase price of Merced$45,487, which was composedpresented as part of the following:net income on discontinued operations in the consolidated statements of income for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Cash $182,105 
Options and Restricted Share Units*)  3,763 
     
Total purchase price $185,868 
The carrying amount used in determining the gain on disposal of the operations included goodwill in the amount of $35,554. The amount of goodwill that was included in that carrying amount was based on the relative fair values of the disposed operations and the portion of the operation that was retained within the segment.
 
Following the sale, Physical Security's and Intelligence's results of operations and statement of financial position balances are disclosed as a discontinued operation, including the resulting gain from sales. All prior periods’ comparable results of operation, assets and liabilities have been retroactively included in discontinued operations.

The results of the discontinued operations including prior periods' comparable results, assets and liabilities which have been retroactively included in discontinued operations as separate line items in the statements of income and balance sheets are presented below:

  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  (* 2015  2014  2013 
          
Revenue $68,672  $139,644  $127,769 
Cost of sales  26,956   72,073   65,333 
Operating expenses  36,307   62,041   58,142 
             
Operating income  5,409   5,530   4,294 
Other expenses, net  284   565   - 
Gain on disposal of  the discontinued operations  147,334   -   - 
             
Income before taxes on income  152,459   4,965   4,294 
Taxes on income  34,206   2,040   1,490 
             
Total net income on discontinued operations $118,253  $2,925  $2,804 

*)       Represent the results of the discontinued operations until their disposal.
Depreciation expense totaled $724, $1,058 and $1,244 for the years 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Amortization expense totaled $4,362, $1,804 and $2,799 for the years 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

 
F - 14 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 1:-GENERAL (Cont.)

  *)Represents the fair value of the vested portion of 262,676 options and restricted shares of NICE granted upon consummation of the acquisition in exchange of partially vested options of Merced originally granted under the Merced Systems Inc. option plan. The fair value of these options was determined using a Black-Scholes-Merton valuation model with the following assumptions: expected life of 1-35 months, risk-free interest rate of 0.08%-0.35%, expected volatility of 30.7%-46.05% and no dividend yield.

Integrating Merced and the Company capabilities creates a closed-loop performance management solution. The value of goodwill is attributed to synergies between NICE portfolio and Merced's products and services and the strength of the Company's position in the market. The entire goodwill was assigned to the Customer Interactions Solutions reporting unit.

The acquisition was accounted for by the acquisition method and accordingly, the purchase price has been allocated according to the estimated fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed of Merced. The results of the Merced operations have been included in the consolidated financial statements since February 7, 2012.

The following table summarizes the estimated fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed:

Cash $23,509 
Trade receivables  14,116 
Other receivables and prepaid expenses  1,201 
Current deferred tax assets  1,120 
Inventories  85 
Long-term deposits  80 
Property and equipment  1,714 
Intercompany receivable  4,153 
Other intangible assets  139,583 
Goodwill  75,599 
     
Total assets acquired  261,160 
     
Trade payables  (858)
Current deferred tax liabilities  (2,046)
Accrued expenses and other liabilities  (24,061)
Long-term deferred tax liabilities  (48,327)
     
Total liabilities assumed  (75,292)
     
Net assets acquired $185,868 

F - 15 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 1:-GENERAL (Cont.(cont.)

In performing the purchase price allocation, management considered, among other factors, analyses of historical financial performance, highest and best use of the acquired assets and estimates of future performance of Merced's business. The fair value of intangible assets was based on market participant approach using an income approach.

Intangible assets that are subject to amortization are amortized over their estimated useful lives using the straight-line method at an annual weighted average rate of 17%. The following table sets forth the components of intangible assets associated with the acquisition and their annual rates of amortization:

  Fair value  % 
       
Core technology $91,874   17 
Customer relationships  32,310   13 
Covenant not to compete  8,009   40 
Backlog  7,390   50 
         
Total intangible assets $139,583     

          2.      Acquisition of RedKite:

On October 22, 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of RedKite Financial Markets Limited ("RedKite"), an emerging provider of real-time, cloud-based institutional trade surveillance solutions. The Company acquired RedKite for total consideration of $ 11,601 comprised of $ 9,017 in cash and $ 2,584 representing the fair value of a potential earn out based on performance milestones amounting to a maximum additional payment of $ 5,750. The Company's enterprise trading compliance platform, broad library of regulatory coverage modules, market leadership, and global tier-one client presence, are expected to benefit from the RedKite acquisition, with the addition of RedKite's innovative, front-office based approach to real-time trade surveillance to the Actimize trading compliance solutions suite. The acquisition was accounted for by the acquisition method and accordingly, the purchase price has been allocated according to the estimated fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed of RedKite. The results of the RedKite operations have been included in the consolidated financial statements since October 22, 2012. The Company recorded technology and goodwill in amounts of $ 4,785 and $ 6,803, respectively. Technology is amortized over a period of 3 years.

F - 16 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 1:-GENERAL (Cont.)

3.      Acquisitions in previous years:

In 2011, the Company completed the acquisitions of CyberTech Investments BV and Fizzback Group (Holdings) Ltd. and their subsidiaries. Total fair value of purchase consideration for the acquisitions was $ 140,341, which includes cash paid for Common stock and Options and Restricted Share Units. In connection with these acquisitions, the Company recorded intangibles and goodwill in the amounts of $ 68,785 and $ 85,994, respectively.

In 2010, the Company completed the acquisitions of Orsus Solutions Ltd., Lamda Communication Networks Ltd, and e-Glue Software Technologies Inc. and its subsidiaries. Total fair value of purchase consideration for the acquisitions was $ 59,766, which includes cash paid for Common stock and estimated fair value of earn-out payments. In connection with these acquisitions, the Company recorded intangibles and goodwill in the amounts of $ 30,423 and $ 32,401, respectively. In 2011, the Company paid an additional amount of $ 5,689 primarily with respect to earn out for the acquisition of e-Glue.

4.      Unaudited pro forma condensed results of operations:

The following represents the unaudited pro forma condensed results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, assuming that the acquisitions of Merced and Redkite occurred on January 1, 2011. The pro forma information is not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that would have actually occurred had the acquisitions been consummated on those dates, nor does it purport to represent the results of operations for future periods.

  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2012  2011 
  Unaudited  Unaudited 
       
Revenues $894,649  $830,754 
         
Net income $69,966  $14,924 
         
Basic net earnings per share $1.15  $0.24 
         
Diluted net earnings per share $1.12  $0.23 
5.      
Acquisition related costs for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 amounted to $ 2,902 and $ 2,925, respectively, and were included mainly in general and administrative expenses.
 
F - 17 -

The major classes of assets and liabilities that were classified as discontinued operations were:
 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2015  2014 
       
Trade receivables $5,224  $25,977 
Prepaid expenses and other current assets  3,893   7,159 
Long Term Investments  -   5,509 
Severance pay fund  -   4,997 
Deferred taxes  -   5,296 
Goodwill  -   35,122 
Other classes of assets  25   5,645 
         
Total assets of discontinued operations  9,142   89,705 
         
Trade payables  -   2,822 
Accrued expenses and other liabilities  12,698   28,813 
Deferred revenue  -   22,722 
Accrued severance pay  -   5,463 
Other classes of liabilities  2,455   2,640 
         
Total liabilities of discontinued operations $15,153  $62,460 
 
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("U.S. GAAP").

 a.Use of estimates:

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions. The Company's management believes that the estimates, judgments and assumptions used are reasonable based upon information available at the time they are made. These estimates, judgments and assumptions can affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

F - 15

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

 b.Financial statements in United States dollars:

The currency of the primary economic environment in which the operations of NICE and certain subsidiaries are conducted is the U.S. dollar ("dollar"); thus, the dollar is the functional currency of NICE and certain subsidiaries.

NICE and certain subsidiaries' transactions and balances denominated in dollars are presented at their original amounts. Non-dollar transactions and balances have been remeasured to dollars in accordance with ASC 830, "Foreign Currency Matters". All transaction gains and losses from remeasurement of monetary balance sheet items denominated in non-dollar currencies are reflected in the statements of income as financial income or expenses, as appropriate.

For those subsidiaries whose functional currency has been determined to be their locala non-dollar currency, assets and liabilities are translated at year-end exchange rates and statement of income items are translated at average exchange rates prevailing during the year. Such translation adjustments are recorded as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) in shareholders' equity.

 c.Principles of consolidation:

Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated upon consolidation.

 d.Cash equivalents:

Cash equivalents are short-term unrestricted highly liquid investments that are readily convertible into cash, with original maturities of three months or less at acquisition.

F - 18 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)
 e.
Marketable securities:

The Company accounts for investments in debt securities in accordance with ASC 320, "Investments - Debt and Equity Securities". Management determines the appropriate classification of its investments in debt securities at the time of purchase and re-evaluates such determinations at each balance sheet date.

Marketable securities classified as "available-for-sale" are carried at fair value, based on quoted market prices. Unrealized gains and losses are reported in a separate component of shareholders' equity in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). Gains and losses are recognized when realized, on a specific identification basis, in the Company's consolidated statements of income.

F - 16

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The Company's securities are reviewed for impairment in accordance with ASC 320-10-65. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment charge is recognized in earnings when a decline in the fair value of its investments below the cost basis is judged to be other-than-temporary. Factors considered in making such a determination include the duration and severity of the impairment, the reason for the decline in value, the potential recovery period and the Company's intent to sell, including whether it is more likely than not that the Company will be required to sell the investment before recovery of cost basis. For securities with an unrealized loss that the Company intends to sell, or it is more likely than not that the Company will be required to sell before recovery of their amortized cost basis, the entire difference between amortized cost and fair value is recognized in earnings. For securities that do not meet these criteria, the amount of impairment recognized in earnings is limited to the amount related to credit losses, while declines in fair value related to other factors are recognized in other comprehensive income (loss).

 f.Inventories:

Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market value. The cost of raw materials is determined by the "standard cost" method, and the cost of finished goods on the basis of costs charged by third party manufacturer. The cost of work-in-progress related to long-term contracts includes materials, subcontractors and other direct costs.

Inventory write-downs are provided to cover risks arising from slow-moving items, technological obsolescence, excess inventories, and discontinued products and for market prices lower than cost, if any. At the point of the loss recognition, a new lower cost basis for that inventory is established. In addition, the Company records a liability for firm non-cancelable and unconditional purchase commitments with contract manufacturers for quantities in excess of the Company's future demands forecast consistent with its valuation of excess and obsolete inventory. Inventory write-downs for 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 20102013 were $ 3,482, $ 1,395$1,896, $603 and $ 1,203,$1,767, respectively, and have been included in cost of revenues.

F - 19 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

 g.Property and equipment, net:

Property and equipment are stated at cost, net of accumulated depreciation.

Depreciation is calculated using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets, at the following annual rates:

 %
  
Computers and peripheral equipment3320-33
Office furniture and equipment6 - 1520

Leasehold improvements are amortized by the straight-line method over the term of the lease or the estimated useful life of the improvements, whichever is shorter.

F - 17

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

 h.Other intangible assets, net:

Intangible assets are amortized over their estimated useful lives using the straight-line method, at the following weighted average annual rates:

 %
  
Core technology18
Customer relationships and distribution network1813
Capitalized software development costs (see lm below)33
Trademarks30
Covenant not to compete49

Acquired IPR&D is capitalized and assessed for impairment at least annually until the completion of development and afterwards is amortized over its useful life. Impairment on acquired IPR&D of $ 0, $ 1,425 and $ 0 was recorded for the years 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

 i.Impairment of long-lived assets:

The Company's long-lived assets and identifiable intangibles that are subject to amortization are reviewed for impairment in accordance with ASC 360, "Property, Plant, and Equipment", whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. RecoverabilityImpairment indicators include any significant changes in the manner of the Company's use of the assets toand significant negative industry or economic trends.

Upon determination that the carrying value of a long-lived asset may not be held and used is measured byrecoverable based upon a comparison of aggregate undiscounted projected future cash flows to the carrying amount of the assets toasset, an impairment charge is recorded for the future undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by the assets. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the assets. Assets to be disposed of are reported at the lowerexcess of the carrying amount orover fair value less costs to sell.value. In 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 2010,2013, no impairment indicators have been identified.
F - 20 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)
charge was recognized.

 j.Goodwill:

Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price in a business combination over the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired. Under ASC 350, "Intangible - Goodwill and Other," ("ASC 350") goodwill is not amortized, but rather is subject to an annual impairment test.

ASC 350 requires goodwill to be tested for impairment at the reporting unit level at least annually or between annual tests in certain circumstances, and written down when impaired. Goodwill is tested for impairment by comparing the fair value of the reporting unit with its carrying value. The Company operates in three operation-based segments: Customer Interactions Solutions, Security Solutions and Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions, and these segments comprise its reporting units.

In September 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB issued ASU 2011-08, Testing Goodwill for Impairment, codified in ASC 350 "Intangibles – Goodwill and Other". The revised accounting standard update intended to simplify how an entity tests goodwill for impairment. The amendment allows an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test. An entity is no longer required to calculateIf the fair value of a reporting unit unless the entity determines, based on a qualitative assessment that it isdoes not result in a more likely than not that its fair valueindication of impairment, no further impairment testing is less than its carrying amount. The Company adopted the new guidance commencing January 1, 2012.
Following the adoption of the new guidance the Company performedrequired. If it does result in a qualitative assessment and concluded that for the Customer Interactions Solutions and the Security Solutions, it is not more likely than not thatindication of impairment, the fair valuetwo-step impairment test is performed. Alternatively, ASC 350 permits an entity to bypass the qualitative assessment for any reporting unit and proceed directly to performing the first step of the reporting units is less than their carrying amounts and accordingly it is unnecessary to perform the two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test.

However, for the Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions segment it was concluded that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount and accordingly a quantitative goodwill impairment test was necessary and performed as in prior years by comparing the fair value of the reporting unit with its carrying value.

Fair value is determined using discounted cash flows. Significant estimates used in the fair value methodologies include estimates of future cash flows, future growth rates and the weighted average cost of capital of the reporting units. The Company performed the annual impairment tests during the fourth quarter of 2012, 2011 and 2010 and did not identify any impairment losses.

 
F - 21 -18

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The Company operates in operation-based segments, which also comprise its reporting units: Customer Interactions Solutions and Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions. During the fourth quarter of 2015 and 2014 the Company performed a qualitative assessment for its reporting units and concluded that the qualitative assessment did not result in a more likely than not indication of impairment, and therefore no further impairment testing was required.

During the fourth quarter of 2013 the Company performed qualitative assessment for the Customer Interactions Solutions reporting unit and concluded that the qualitative assessment did not result in a more likely than not indication of impairment. For the Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions reporting unit, the Company elected to bypass the qualitative assessment and proceeded directly to performing the first step of the goodwill impairment test.  The Company performed the first step of the quantitative goodwill impairment test and concluded that the fair value of the reporting unit exceeded its carrying value.

During the years 2015, 2014 and 2013, no impairment charge was recognized.

 k.Revenue recognition:

The Company generates revenues from sales of software products, services, which include support and maintenance, installation,implementation, configuration, project management, customization, consulting, training, hosting and hosting,SaaS, as well as hardware sales. Professional services include mainly installation, project management, customization, consulting and training. The Company sells its products directly through its sales force and indirectly through a global network of distributors, system integrators and strategic partners, all of whom are considered end-users.

The basis for the Company's software revenue recognition is substantially governed by the accounting guidance contained in ASC 985-605, "Software-Revenue Recognition." Revenues from sales of product and software licensingproducts are recognized when persuasive evidence of an agreement exists, delivery of the product has occurred, the fee is fixed or determinable and collectability is probable.

In transactions where a customer's contractual terms include a provision for customer acceptance, revenues are recognized either when such acceptance has been obtained or as the acceptance provision has lapsed.

For multiple element arrangements within the scope of software revenue recognition guidance, revenues are allocated to the different elements in the arrangement under the "residual method" when Vendor Specific Objective Evidence ("VSOE") of fair value exists for all undelivered elements and no VSOE exists for the delivered elements. Under the residual method, at the outset of the arrangement with the customer, the Company defers revenue for the fair value of its undelivered elements (maintenance and professional services) and recognizes revenue for the remainder of the arrangement fee attributable to the elements initially delivered in the arrangement (software licenses) when the basic criteria in ASC 985-605 have been met. Any discount in the arrangement is allocated to the delivered element.

Starting January 1, 2011, Revenues from maintenance and professional services are recognized ratably over the Company adopted the guidance of ASU 2009-13, Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements, (amendments to FASB ASC Topic 605, Revenue Recognition) ("ASU 2009-13")contractual period and ASU 2009-14, Certain Arrangements That Include Software Elements, (amendments to FASB ASC Topic 985, Software) ("ASU 2009-14"). ASU 2009-13 requires entities to allocate revenue in an arrangement using estimated selling prices of the delivered goods andas services based on a selling price hierarchy. The amendment eliminates the residual method of revenue allocation and requires revenue to be allocated using the relative selling price method. ASU 2009-14 removes tangible products from the scope of software revenue guidance and provides guidance in determining whether software deliverables in an arrangement that includes a tangible product are covered by the scope of the software revenue guidance. As such, the Company prospectively applied these provisions to all revenue arrangements entered into or materially modified after January 1, 2011.  This guidance did not generally change the units of accounting for the Company's revenue transactions. Most products and services qualify as separate units of accounting and the revenue is recognized when the applicable revenue recognition criteria are met.performed, respectively.

 
F - 22 -19

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The Company'sFor arrangements generally do not include any provisions for cancellation, termination, or refunds that would significantly impact recognized revenue. While certain of the Company's products with embedded software are now accounted for following ASC 605, other software deliverables which are occasionally sold together with tangible products are not essential for the performance of the tangible products and thus continued to be within the scope of ASC 985-605. As a result, the impact of the adoption of these standards was immaterial.

The Company's revenue recognition policies provide that, when a sales arrangement contains multiple elements, such ascontain both software and non-software components that function together to deliver the products' essential functionality, the Company allocates revenue to each element based on its relative selling price. In such circumstances, the accounting principles establish a hierarchy to determine the selling price hierarchy.to be used for allocating revenue to deliverables. The selling price for a deliverable is based on its VSOE, if available, third party evidence ("TPE"), if VSOE is not available, or best estimated selling price ("ESP"BESP"), if neither VSOE nor TPE isare available. The Company establishes VSOE of selling pricefair value using the price charged for a deliverable when sold separately and, in rare instances, using the price established by management having the relevant authority.separately. When VSOE cannot be established, the Company attempts to establish selling pricefair value of each element based on TPE. TPE is determined based on competitor prices for similar deliverables when sold separately. Generally, the Company's go-to-market strategy typically differs from that of its peers and itsthe Company's offerings contain a significant level of differentiation such that the comparable pricing of products with similar functionality cannot be obtained. Furthermore, the Company is unable to reliably determine what similar competitor products' selling prices are on a standalone basis. Therefore, the Company is typically not able to determine TPE. The best estimate of sellingBESP price is established considering several external and internal factors including, but not limited to, historical sales, pricing practices and geographies in which the Company offers its products. The determination of ESPthe BESP is judgmental.

In multiple element arrangements where more-than-incidental software deliverables are included, revenue is allocatedsubject to each separate unit of accounting for each of the non-software deliverables and to the software deliverables as a group using the relative selling prices of each of the deliverables in the arrangement based on the aforementioned selling price hierarchy. If the arrangement contains more than one software deliverable, the arrangement consideration allocated to the software deliverables as a group is then allocated to each software deliverable using the guidance for recognizing software revenue, as amended.

For all periods presented, amounts billed to customers related to shipping and handling are classified as revenue, and the Company's respective shipping and handling costs are included in cost of sales.discretion.

The Company's policy for establishing VSOE of fair value of maintenance services is based on the price charged when the maintenance is renewed separately. Establishment of VSOE of fair value of professional services is based on the price charged when these services are sold separately.
F - 23 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

Revenues from maintenance and professional services are recognized ratably over the contractual period and as services are performed, respectively.

Revenues from fixed price contracts that require significant customization, integration and installation are recognized based on ASC 605-35, "Construction-Type and Production-Type Contracts", using the percentage-of-completion method of accounting based on the ratio of costs related to contract performance incurred to date to the total estimated amount of such costs. The amount of revenue recognized is based on the total fees under the arrangement and the percentage of completion achieved. Provisions for estimated losses on uncompleted contracts are made in the period in which such losses are first determined, in the amount of the estimated loss on the entire contact.

The Company maintains a provision for product returns in accordance with ASC 605, "Revenue Recognition". The provision is estimated based on the Company's past experience and is deducted from revenues. As of December 31, 2012 and 2011, the provision for product returns amounted to $ 2,167 and $ 2,237, respectively.

The Company also generates sales from SaaS offerings which providesprovide its customers access to certain of its software within a cloud-based IT environment that the Company manages and offers to customers on a subscription basis. Revenues for the Company's software SaaS subscription offerings are recognized ratably over the contract term commencing with the date its service is made available to customers and all other revenue recognition criteria have been satisfied.

To assess the probability of collection for revenue recognition, the Company has a credit policy that determines the credit limit that reflects an amount that is deemed probably collectible for each customer.  These credit limits are reviewed and revised periodically on the basis of new customer financial statements information, credit insurance data and payment performance.

F - 20

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The Company maintains a provision for product returns which is estimated based on the Company's past experience and is deducted from revenues. As of December 31, 2015 and 2014, the provision for product returns amounted to $3,281 and $1,990, respectively.

Deferred revenues and advances from customers include advances and payments received from customers, for which revenue has not yet been recognized.

 l.Research and development and software development costs:

Research and development costs (net of grants) incurred in the process of software production before establishment of technological feasibility are charged to expenses as incurred. Certain software development costs are capitalized under ASC 985-20, Costs of Software to be Sold, Leased or Marketed, and under ASC350-40, Internal-Use Software.

Costs incurred to develop software to be sold are capitalized after technological feasibility is established in accordance with ASC 985-20, "Software - Costs of Software to be Sold, Leased, or Marketed".established. Based on the Company's product development process, technological feasibility is established upon completion of a detailed program design. During the years ended on December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 the Company capitalized costs incurred to develop software to be sold in the amounts of $0, $356 and $445, respectively.

Costs incurred byFor SaaS offerings within a cloud-based IT environment, the Company between completioncapitalizes costs incurred during the application development stage. Costs related to preliminary project activities and post implementation activities are expensed as incurred. During the years ended on December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 the Company capitalized costs related to SaaS offerings in the amounts of the detailed program design$1,380, $0 and the point at which the product is ready for general release, have been capitalized.

Capitalized software development costs are amortized commencing with general product release by the straight-line method over the estimated useful life of the software product.

F - 24 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)
$0 respectively.

 m.Income taxes:

The Company accounts for income taxes in accordance with ASC 740, "Income Taxes". This topic prescribes the use of the liability method whereby deferred tax asset and liability account balances are determined based on differences between financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities and are measured using the enacted tax rates and laws that will be in effect when the differences are expected to reverse. The Company provides a valuation allowance, if necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount that is more likely than not to be realized.

The Company implements a two-step approach to recognize and measure uncertain tax positions. The first step is to evaluate the tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that, on an evaluation of the technical merits, the tax position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% (cumulative basis) likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement.

The Company classifies interest and penalties on income taxes (which includes uncertain tax positions) as taxes on income. See note 2(y) on changes

F - 21

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in Accounting Principle.thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

 n.GovernmentNon-royalty grants:

Non-royalty bearing grants from the Government of Israel and the European Union for funding research and development projects are recognized at the time the Company is entitled to such grants on the basis of the related costs incurred and recorded as a deduction from research and development costs.expenses.

 o.Concentrations of credit risk:

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist principally of cash and cash equivalents, trade receivables, marketable securities and foreign currency derivative contracts.

The Company's cash and cash equivalents are invested in deposits mainly in dollars with major international banks. Deposits in the U.S. may be in excess of insured limits and are not insured in other jurisdictions. Generally, these deposits may be redeemed upon demand and therefore bear minimal risk.

The Company's trade receivables are derived from sales to customers located primarily in North America, EMEA and APAC. The Company performs ongoing credit evaluations of its customers and obtains letters of credit and bank guarantees for certain receivables. Additionally, the Company insures certain of its receivables with a credit insurance company. A general allowance for doubtful accounts is provided, based on the length of time the receivables are past due.

F - 25 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The Company's marketable securities include investment in corporate debentures, U.S. Treasuries U.S.and U.S government agency debentures and Israeli Treasury Bills.agencies. The Company's investment policy limits the amount that the Company may invest in any one type of investment or issuer, thereby reducing credit risk concentrations.

The Company entered into forward contracts, and option contracts intended to protect cash flows resulting from payroll and facilities related expenses against the increasevolatility in value of forecasted non-dollar currency cash flows resulting from investments in Israeli Treasury Bills and payroll expenses and entered into option contracts to hedge future anticipated payments relating to a leasehold improvement.currency. The derivative instruments hedge a portion of the Company's non-dollar currency exposure. See v below and Note 11.10.

 p.Severance pay:

The Company's liability for severance pay for its Israeli employees is calculated pursuant to Israel's Severance Pay Law based on the most recent monthly salary of the employees multiplied by the number of years of employment as of the balance sheet date. Employees are entitled to one month's salary for each year of employment, or a portion thereof. The Company's liability is fully provided by monthly deposits with insurance policies and severance pay funds and by an accrual.

The deposited funds include profits (losses) accumulated up to the balance sheet date. The deposited funds may be withdrawn only upon the fulfillment of the obligation pursuant to Israel's Severance Pay Law or labor agreements. The value of the deposited funds is based on the cash surrendered value of these policies.

F - 22

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The Company's agreements with employees in Israel, joiningwho joined the Company since May 1, 2009, are in accordance with Section 14 of the Severance Pay Law, 1963, whereas, the Company's contributions for severance pay shall be instead of its severance liability. Upon contribution of the full amount of the employee's monthly salary, and release of the policy to the employee, no additional calculations shall be conducted between the parties regarding the matter of severance pay and no additional payments shall be made by the Company to the employee. Further, the related obligation and amounts deposited on behalf of such obligation are not stated on the balance sheet, as they are legally released from obligation to employees once the deposit amounts have been paid.

The Company also has other liabilities for severance pay in other jurisdictions.

Severance pay expense for 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 20102013 amounted to $11,176, $ 12,090$8,936, $11,229 and $ 8,978,$9,131, respectively.
F - 26 -

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The Company has a 401(K) defined contribution plan covering certain employees in the U.S. All eligible employees may elect to contribute up to 6% of their eligible compensation, but generally not greater than $ 16.5 per year,annual payment of $18 in 2015, $17.5 in 2014 and 2013 (for certain employees over 50 years of age the maximum annual contribution is $ 22$24 in 2015, and $23 per year)year in 2014 and 2013) of their total annual compensation to the plan through salary deferrals, subject to IRS limits. The Company matches 50% of employee contributions to the plan up to a limit of 6% of their eligible compensation. In the years 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 2010,2013, the Company recorded an expense for matching contributions in the amount of $ 3,989, $ 3,129$4,310, $3,922 and $ 2,723,$3,791, respectively.

 q.Basic and diluted net earnings per share:

Basic net earnings per share are computed based on the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during each year. Diluted net earnings per share are computed based on the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during each year plus dilutive potential equivalent ordinary shares considered outstanding during the year, in accordance with ASC 260, "Earnings per Share".

The weighted average number of shares related to outstanding anti-dilutive options and restricted shares excluded from the calculations of diluted net earnings per share was 785,821, 1,096,069561,621, 743,100 and 2,086,379586,367 for the years 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 2010,2013, respectively.

 r.Accounting for stock-based compensation:

The Company accounts for stock-based compensation in accordance with ASC 718, "Compensation - Stock Compensation" ("ASC 718"), which requires the measurement and recognition of compensation expense based on estimated fair values for all share-based payment awards made to employees and directors. ASC 718 requires companies to estimate the fair value of equity-based payment awards on the date of grant using an option-pricing model. The value of the portion of the award that is ultimately expected to vest is recognized as an expense over the requisite service periods in the Company's consolidated statement of income.

F - 23

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The Company recognizes compensation expenses for the value of its awards, which have graded vesting, based on the accelerated attribution method over the requisite service period of each of the awards, net of estimated forfeitures. Estimated forfeitures are based on actual historical pre-vesting forfeitures.

The Company estimates the fair value of stock options granted using the Black-Scholes-Merton option-pricing model, which requires a number of assumptions. Expectedassumptions: the expected volatility was calculatedis based upon actual historical stock price movements. Themovements; the expected term of options granted is based upon historical experience and represents the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding. Theoutstanding; the risk-free interest rate is based on the yield from U.S. Federal Reserve zero-coupon bonds with an equivalent term. The Company has historically not paid dividends.term; and the expected dividend rate (an annualized dividend yield) is based on the per share dividend declared by the Company's Board of Directors. For information on the Company's future plans to pay dividendsdividend payments, see notes 14d and 14e.

F - 27 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)
Note 13e.

The Company valuesmeasures the fair value of restricted stock based on the market value of the underlying shares at the date of grantgrant.

 s.Fair value of financial instruments:

The Company applies ASC 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures" ("ASC 820"). Under this standard, fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (i.e., the "exit price") in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.

In determining fair value, the Company uses various valuation approaches. ASC 820 establishes a hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value that maximizes the use of observable inputs and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs by requiring that the most observable inputs be used when available. Observable inputs are inputs that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the Company. Unobservable inputs are inputs that reflect the Company's assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on the best information available in the circumstances.

The hierarchy is broken down into three levels based on the inputs as follows:

·Level 1 - Valuations based on quoted prices in active markets for identical assets that the Company has the ability to access. Valuation adjustments and block discounts are not applied to Level 1 instruments. Since valuations are based on quoted prices that are readily and regularly available in an active market, valuation of these products does not entail a significant degree of judgment.

·Level 2 - Valuations based on one or more quoted prices in markets that are not active or for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly.

·Level 3 - Valuations based on inputs that are unobservable and significant to the overall fair value measurement.

F - 24

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The availability of observable inputs can vary from investment to investment and is affected by a wide variety of factors, including, for example, the type of investment, the liquidity of markets and other characteristics particular to the transaction. To the extent that valuation is based on models or inputs that are less observable or unobservable in the market, the determination of fair value requires more judgment and the investments are categorized as Level 3.

The Company's marketable securities trade in markets that are not considered to be active, but are valued based on quoted market prices, broker or dealer quotations, or alternative pricing sources with reasonable levels of price transparency and accordingly are categorized as Level 2.
F - 28 -


NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

Foreignforeign currency derivative contracts are classified within Level 2 as the valuation inputs are based on quoted prices(see Notes 3 and market observable data of similar instruments.

The following tables present assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis at December 31, 2012 and 2011:

  2012 
  Fair value measurements using input type 
  Level 1  Level 2  Level 3  Total 
Marketable securities:            
Corporate debentures $-  $194,553  $-  $194,553 
U.S. Treasuries  -   13,443   -   13,443 
U.S. Government agency debentures  -   375   -   375 
Israeli Treasury Bills  -   106,574   -   106,574 
                 
Total marketable securities $-  $314,945  $-  $314,945 
                 
Derivative assets $-  $2,795  $-  $2,795 
                 
Derivative liabilities $-  $(4,107) $-  $(4,107)

  2011 
  Fair value measurements using input type 
  Level 1  Level 2  Level 3  Total 
Marketable securities:            
Corporate debentures $-  $202,834  $-  $202,834 
U.S. Treasuries  -   19,482   -   19,482 
U.S. Government agency debentures  -   10,748   -   10,748 
Israeli Treasury Bills  -   125,067   -   125,067 
                 
Total marketable securities $-  $358,131  $-  $358,131 
                 
Derivative assets $-  $9,587  $-  $9,587 
                 
Derivative liabilities $-  $(2,948) $-  $(2,948)
10).

The carrying amounts of financial instruments carried at cost, including cash and cash equivalents, short-term bank deposits, trade receivables and trade payables, approximate their fair value due to the short-term maturities of such instruments.

F - 29 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

 t.Legal contingencies:

The Company is currently involved in various claims and legal proceedings. The Company reviews the status of each matter and assesses its potential financial exposure. If the potential loss from any claim or legal proceeding is considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated, the Company accrues a liability for the estimated loss.

 u.Advertising expenses:

Advertising expenses are charged to expense as incurred. Advertising expenses for the years 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 20102013 were $ 10,214, $ 7,887$7,986 $7,827 and $ 6,969,$8,778, respectively.

 v.Derivatives and hedging activities:

The Company carries out transactions involving foreign currency exchange derivative financial instruments. The transactions are designed to hedge the Company's exposure in currencies other than the dollar. The Company recognizes derivative instruments as either assets or liabilities and measures those instruments at fair value. If a derivative meets the definition of a cash flow hedge and is so designated, changes in the fair value of the derivative are recognized in other comprehensive income (loss) until the hedged item is recognized in earnings. The ineffective portion of a derivative qualified and designated as a hedge is recognized in earnings. If a derivative does not meet the definition of a hedge, the changes in the fair value are included in earnings.

w.Treasury shares:
 

The Company repurchases its ordinary shares from time to time on the open market or in other transactions and holds such shares as treasury shares. The Company presents the cost to repurchase treasury stock as a reduction of shareholders' equity.

 x.w.Comprehensive Income:income:

In June 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-05 Presentation of Comprehensive Income, codifiedThe Company accounts for comprehensive income in accordance with ASC No. 220, "Comprehensive Income". Comprehensive income generally represents all changes in shareholders' equity during the period except those resulting from investments by, or distributions to, shareholders. The guidance requires an entity to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the componentsCompany determined that its items of other comprehensive income eitherrelate to gains and losses on hedging derivative instruments and unrealized gains and losses on available for sale marketable securities and changes in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. The guidance also eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of equity. The Company adopted the new guidance commencing January 1, 2012.  The Company chose to present the Comprehensive Income in two separate but consecutive statements.foreign currency translation adjustments.

 
F - 30 -25

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

The following tables show the components of accumulated other comprehensive income, net of taxes, as of December 31, 2015 and 2014:

  Year ended December 31, 2015 
  Unrealized gains (losses) on marketable securities  Unrealized gains (losses) on cash flow hedges  Foreign currency translation adjustment  Total 
             
Beginning balance $183  $(3,625) $(7,104) $(10,546)
                 
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications  (2,081)  (954)  (14,602)  (17,637)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income  (32)  4,010   -   3,978 
                 
Net current-period other comprehensive income (loss)  (2,113)  3,056   (14,602)  (13,659)
                 
Ending balance $( 1,930) $(569) $(21,706) $(24,205)

  Year ended December 31, 2014 
  Unrealized gains (losses) on marketable securities  Unrealized gains (losses) on cash flow hedges  Foreign currency translation adjustment  Total 
             
Beginning balance $(60) $1,593  $10,868  $12,401 
                 
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications  259   (6,770)  (17,972)  (24,483)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income  (16)  1,552   -   1,536 
                 
Net current-period other comprehensive income (loss)  243   (5,218)  (17,972)  (22,947)
                 
Ending balance $183  $(3,625) $(7,104) $(10,546)

F - 26

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

 y.x.Change inRecently issued accounting policystandards:

Beginning 2012,In April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU 2014-08, Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity. ASU 2014-08 states that only disposals representing strategic shifts in operations that have, or will have, a major effect on an entity's operations should be reported as discontinued operations when any of the following occurs: the component of an entity or group of components of an entity is classified as held for sale, the component of an entity or group of components of an entity is disposed of by sale, or the component of an entity or group of components of an entity is disposed of other than by sale. A strategic shift could include a disposal of (i) a separate major line of business, (ii) a separate major geographic area of operations, (iii) a major equity method investment, or (iv) other major parts of an entity. ASU 2014-08 is effective for annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2014, which is effective for the Company revised its accounting policyfor the year ended December 31, 2015.  The Company has considered the sale of Cyber and now classifies interestIntelligence and penalties related to income taxes (which includes uncertain tax positions)Physical Security operations as a componentstrategic shift and accordingly implemented this guidance on its consolidated financial position and results of the provision for income taxes in the taxes on income (tax benefit) line of the consolidated statements of income. The Company believes that the classification of interest and penalties in the provision for income taxes is preferable because it believes these interest and penalties are costs of managing taxes payable (as opposed to, for example, interest being the cost of a debt). It is also more consistent with the way in which the Company manages the settlement of uncertain tax positions as one overall amount inclusive of interest and penalties and will provide more meaningful information to investors by including only interest income related to the Company's financial assets within financial income, net.operations.

The change in accounting method for presentation of interest and penalties for income taxes was accounted for in accordance with ASC 250, "Accounting Changes and Error Corrections."  Accordingly, the change in accounting principle has been applied retrospectively by adjusting the financial statement amounts for the prior periods presented. The change to current or historical periods presented herein due to the change in accounting principle was limited to income statement classification, with no effect on net income.

Interest and penalties expenses for 2012 related to income taxes amounted to $ 1,880. The Company reclassified interest and penalties expenses in the amounts of $ 765 and $204 related to uncertain tax positions included in financial expenses, during 2011 and 2010, respectively, to conform to current year's presentation.

z.Recently issued accounting standards

In February 2013May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2013-02 Presentation2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Topic 606 (ASU 2014-09), to supersede nearly all existing revenue recognition guidance under U.S. GAAP. The core principle of Comprehensive Income, codifiedASU 2014-09 is to recognize revenues when promised goods or services are transferred to customers in ASC 220 "Comprehensive Income". The amendments require an entityamount that reflects the consideration that is expected to provide information aboutbe received for those goods or services. ASU 2014-09 defines a five step process to achieve this core principle and, in doing so, more judgment and estimates may be required within the amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component. In addition, an entity isrevenue recognition process than are required to present, either on the face of the statement where net income is presented orunder existing U.S. GAAP, including identifying performance obligations in the notes, significant amounts reclassified outcontract, estimating the amount of accumulated other comprehensive incomevariable consideration to include in the transaction price and allocating the transaction price to each separate performance obligation. ASU 2014-09 allows the Company to use either of two methods: (i) retrospective application of ASU 2014-09 to each prior reporting period presented with the option to elect certain practical expedients as defined within ASU 2014-09; or (ii) retrospective application of ASU 2014-09 with the cumulative effect of initially applying ASU 2014-09 recognized at the date of initial application and providing certain additional disclosures as defined per ASU 2014-09. In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-14, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606),” which defers the effective date of ASU 2014-09 by the respective line items of net income. The amendments are effective prospectively for reporting periodsone year to fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2012. 2017 (our fiscal year 2018), including interim periods within that reporting period.  The Company does not expectis currently in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of this new guidance to have a material impactthe update on its consolidated financial statements.statements, implementing accounting system changes related to the adoption and considering additional disclosures requirements.

 
F - 31 -27

 

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 2:-SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Cont.)

In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-17, Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes, related to balance sheet classification of deferred taxes. The ASU requires that deferred tax assets and liabilities be classified as noncurrent in the statement of financial position, thereby simplifying the current guidance that requires an entity to separate deferred assets and liabilities into current and noncurrent amounts. The ASU will be effective beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, though early adoption is permitted. The Company has early-adopted the ASU as of December 31, 2015 and its statement of financial position as of this date reflects the revised classification of current deferred tax assets and liabilities as noncurrent. There is no other impact on the Company’s financial statements of early-adopting the ASU. As a result of the adoption of ASU 2015-17, the Company made the following adjustments to the 2014 balance sheet: a $20,958 decrease to current deferred tax assets, a $11,819 increase to noncurrent deferred tax asset, a $33 decrease to current deferred tax liability, and a decrease of $9,106 million to noncurrent deferred tax liability.
 
NOTE 3:-SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS

Short-term and long-term investments include marketable securities in the amount of $ 314,945$462,298 and $ 358,131$312,465 as of December 31, 20122015 and 2011,2014, respectively and short-term bank deposits in the amounts of $ 31,164$40,146 and $ 8$0 as of December 31, 20122015 and 2011,2014, respectively.

The following table summarizes amortized costs, gross unrealized gains and losses and estimated fair values of available-for-sale marketable securities as of December 31, 20122015 and 2011:2014:

 Amortized cost  Gross unrealized gains  Gross unrealized losses  Estimated fair value  Amortized cost  Gross unrealized gains  Gross unrealized losses  Estimated fair value 
 December 31,  December 31,  December 31,  December 31,  December 31,  December 31,  December 31,  December 31, 
 2012  2011  2012  2011  2012  2011  2012  2011  2015  2014  2015  2014  2015  2014  2015  2014 
                        
Level 2:                        
Corporate debentures $190,826  $201,301  $3,787  $3,089  $60  $1,556  $194,553  $202,834  $452,556  $305,046  $267  $1,326  $2,338  $711  $450,485  $305,661 
U.S. Agencies  4,999   -   3   -   2   -   5,000   - 
U.S. Treasuries  13,227   18,302   276   1,180   60   -   13,443   19,482   7,010   7,011   -   -   197   207   6,813   6,804 
U.S. Government agency debentures  375   10,709   -   40   -   1   375   10,748 
Israeli Treasury Bills  106,330   124,679   244   388   -   -   106,574   125,067 
                                                                
 $310,758  $354,991  $4,307  $4,697  $120  $1,557  $314,945  $358,131  $464,565  $312,057  $270  $1,326  $2,537  $918  $462,298  $312,465 

The scheduled maturities of available-for-sale marketable securities as of December 31, 20122015 were as follows:

  Amortized  Estimated 
  cost  fair value 
       
Due within one year $168,409  $168,791 
Due after one year through five years  142,349   146,154 
         
  $310,758  $314,945 

NOTE 4:-OTHER RECEIVABLES AND PREPAID EXPENSES

  December 31, 
  2012  2011 
       
Government authorities $20,184  $17,495 
Interest receivable  4,019   11,513 
Prepaid expenses  8,575   9,929 
Other  4,848   5,004 
         
  $37,626  $43,941 
  Amortized  Estimated 
  cost  fair value 
       
Due within one year  58,998   59,049 
Due after one year through five years  398,557   396,436 
Due after six years through ten years  7,010   6,813 
         
   464,565   462,298 

 
F - 32 -28

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 3:-SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS (Cont.)

Investments with continuous unrealized losses for less than 12 months and 12 months or greater and their related fair values as of December 31, 2015 and 2014 were as indicated in the following tables:

  December 31, 2015 
  
Investments with continuous unrealized
losses for less than 12 months
  
Investments with continuous unrealized
losses for 12 months or greater
  Total Investments with continuous unrealized losses 
  
Fair
value
  Unrealized losses  
Fair
value
  Unrealized losses  
Fair
value
  Unrealized losses 
                   
Corporate debentures $242,545  $(1,750) $113,581  $(588) $356,126  $(2,338)
U.S. Agencies  1,997   (3)  -   -   1,997   (3)
U.S. treasuries  -   -   6,813   (196)  6,813   (196)
                         
  $244,542  $(1,753) $120,394  $(784) $364,936  $(2,537)
  December 31, 2014 
  
Investments with continuous unrealized
losses for less than 12 months
  
Investments with continuous unrealized
losses for 12 months or greater
  Total Investments with continuous unrealized losses 
  
Fair
value
  Unrealized losses  
Fair
value
  Unrealized losses  
Fair
value
  Unrealized losses 
                   
Corporate debentures $47,575  $(189)  86,950  $(522) $134,525  $(711)
U.S. treasuries  -   -   6,804   (207)  6,804   (207)
                         
  $47,575  $(189) $93,754  $(729) $141,329  $(918)

NOTE 4:-PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS

  December 31, 
  2015  2014 
       
Government authorities $21,821  $18,082 
Interest receivable  2,597   1,782 
Prepaid expenses  10,385   11,084 
Inventories  6,198   6,969 
Other  2,560   2,340 
         
  $43,561  $40,257 

F - 29

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 5:-INVENTORIES

  December 31, 
  2012  2011 
       
Raw materials $3,330  $2,120 
Work-in-progress  3,838   2,768 
Finished goods  6,729   8,516 
         
  $13,897  $13,404 

NOTE 6:-OTHER LONG-TERM ASSETS

 December 31,  December 31, 
 2012  2011  2015  2014 
            
Investment in affiliate $-  $236 
Severance pay fund  22,147   21,405  $15,857  $17,246 
Long-term deposits  1,914   2,183   1,318   1,675 
Deferred tax assets  4,615   5,066 
                
 $28,676  $28,890  $17,175  $18,921 
 
NOTE 7:6:-PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT, NET

 December 31,  December 31, 
 2012  2011  2015  2014 
Cost:            
Computers and peripheral equipment $104,883  $87,119  $118,326  $109,266 
Office furniture and equipment  16,149   15,741   8,537   11,355 
Leasehold improvements  23,261   13,848   29,106   28,809 
                
  144,293   116,708   155,969   149,430 
Accumulated depreciation:                
Computers and peripheral equipment  80,179   68,062   95,056   86,794 
Office furniture and equipment  12,823   12,256   6,372   8,684 
Leasehold improvements  10,013   8,091   15,328   13,782 
                
  103,015   88,409   116,756   109,260 
                
Depreciated cost $41,278  $28,299  $39,213  $40,170 

Depreciation expense totaled $ 16,280, $ 12,959$15,575, $17,688 and $ 11,757$16,619 for the years 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 2010,2013, respectively.

The Company recorded a reduction of $9,615 and $2,211 to the cost and accumulated depreciation of fully depreciated equipment and leasehold improvements no longer in use for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

 
F - 33 -30

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 7:-OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS, NET

a.Definite-lived other intangible assets:

  December 31, 
  2015  2014 
Original amounts:      
Core technology $257,434  $262,065 
Customer relationships and distribution network  182,768   185,488 
Capitalized software development costs  7,829   6,516 
Trademarks  12,252   12,542 
Covenant not to compete  9,981   10,119 
         
   470,264   476,730 
Accumulated amortization:        
Core technology  210,627   186,726 
Customer relationships and distribution network  161,863   151,948 
Capitalized software development costs  5,959   5,596 
Trademarks  12,252   12,542 
Covenant not to compete  9,981   10,119 
         
   400,682   366,931 
         
Other intangible assets, net $69,582  $109,799 

b.Amortization expense amounted to $40,055, $50,738 and $67,566 for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

c.The Company recorded a reduction of $0 and $3,270 to the original amounts and accumulated amortization of fully amortized other intangible assets for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

d.Estimated amortization expense:

For the year ended December 31,   
    
2016  31,494 
2017  26,059 
2018  7,309 
2019  4,384 
2020  336 
     
   69,582 

F - 31

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 8:-OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS, NET

a.             Definite-lived other intangible assets:

  December 31, 
  2012  2011 
Original amounts:      
Core technology $290,217  $189,446 
Customer relationships and distribution network  193,868   150,162 
Capitalized software development costs  12,518   11,217 
Trademarks  14,487   15,469 
Covenant not to compete  10,582   3,076 
         
   521,672   369,370 
Accumulated amortization:        
Core technology  152,331   110,194 
Customer relationships and distribution network  114,384   81,709 
Capitalized software development costs  10,016   8,622 
Trademarks  11,111   9,535 
Covenant not to compete  5,084   1,157 
         
   292,926   211,217 
         
Other intangible assets, net $228,746  $158,153 

b.Amortization expense amounted to $ 79,196, $ 52,574 and $ 45,353 for the years 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

c.Estimated amortization expense (excluding amortization of capitalized software development costs):

For the year ended December 31,   
    
2013 $72,269 
2014  50,549 
2015  39,987 
2016  30,092 
2017  23,651 
2018 and thereafter  9,696 
     
  $226,244 

F - 34 -


NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 9:-GOODWILL

TheFollowing the disposal of certain Security Solutions segment operations, as described on Note 1c, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill allocated to reportable segments, for the years ended December 31, 20122015 and 20112014 are as follows:

  Year ended December 31, 2012 
  Customer Interactions Solutions  Security Solutions  Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions  Total 
             
As of January 1, 2012 $290,590  $57,978  $260,619  $609,187 
                 
Acquisitions  75,599   -   6,803   82,402 
Functional currency translation adjustments  2,114   476   848   3,438 
                 
As of December 31, 2012 $368,303  $58,454  $268,270  $695,027 
  Year ended
December 31, 2015
 
  Customer Interactions Solutions  Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions  Total 
          
As of January 1, 2015 $392,228  $267,429  $659,657 
             
Functional currency translation adjustments  (7,420)  (1,125)  (8,545)
             
As of December 31, 2015 $384,808  $266,304  $651,112 

  Year ended December 31, 2011 
  Customer Interactions Solutions  Security Solutions  Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions  Total 
             
As of January 1, 2011 $214,805  $52,129  $260,680  $527,614 
                 
Acquisitions  79,719   6,275   -   85,994 
Functional currency translation adjustments  (3,934)  (426)  (61)  (4,421)
                 
As of December 31, 2011 $290,590  $57,978  $260,619  $609,187 
  Year ended
December 31, 2014
 
  Customer Interactions Solutions  Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions  Total 
          
As of January 1, 2014 $401,345  $268,821  $670,166 
Functional currency translation adjustments  (9,117)  (1,392)  (10,509)
             
As of December 31, 2014 $392,228  $267,429  $659,657 


NOTE 10:9:-ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER LIABILITIES

 December 31,  December 31, 
 2012  2011  2015  2014 
            
Employees and payroll accruals $66,732  $59,713  $109,995  $82,113 
Accrued expenses  83,637   71,040   61,958   46,872 
Government authorities  59,077   57,683   50,001   57,849 
Other  3,006   1,936   1,301   5,580 
                
 $212,452  $190,372  $223,255  $192,414 

 
F - 35 -32

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 11:10:-DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS

The Company's risk management strategy includes the use of derivative financial instruments to reduce the volatility of earnings and cash flows associated with changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

ASC 815, "Derivatives and Hedging" ("ASC 815"), requires the Company to recognize all of its derivative instruments as either assets or liabilities on the balance sheet at fair value. The accounting for changes in the fair value (i.e., gains or losses) of a derivative instrument depends on whether it has been designated and qualifies as part of a hedging relationship and further, on the type of hedging relationship. For those derivative instruments that are designated and qualify as hedging instruments, a company must designate the hedging instrument, based upon the exposure being hedged, as a fair value hedge, cash flow hedge or a hedge of a net investment in a foreign operation.

The Company entered into derivative instrument arrangements to hedge a portion of anticipated New Israeli Shekel ("NIS") payroll payments and to hedge future anticipated payments relating to leasehold improvements. These derivative instruments are designated as cash flow hedges, as defined by ASC 815. The transactions to hedge salary payments and payments relating to leasehold improvements are made on denominated amounts that are no greater than forecasted cash flows for salaries and benefits and leasehold improvements according to the Company's budget and on the dates that the cash flows are expected to be paid or received. These transactions are effective and as a result, are recorded as payroll expenses or rent expenses, respectively, at the time that the hedged income/expense is recorded. For derivative instruments that are designated and qualify as a cash flow hedge (i.e., hedging the exposure to variability in expected future cash flows that is attributable to a particular risk), the effective portion of the gain or loss on the derivative instrument is reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and reclassified into earnings in the line item associated with the hedged transaction in the period or periods during which the hedged transaction affects earnings. The remaining gain or loss on the derivative instrument in excess of the cumulative change in the present value of future cash flows of the hedged item representing the ineffective portion of the derivative, if any, is recognized in financial income (expense) in the period of change.

The Company also entered into forwardoption contracts to hedge a portion of anticipated New Israeli Treasury Bills denominated in NIS against changes in U.S. dollar/NIS exchange rate fluctuations.Shekel ("NIS") payroll and benefit payments as well as facilities related payments. These derivative instruments are also designated as cash flow hedges, as defined by ASC 815 and accordingly are measured in fair value. The Company records theThese transactions are effective portion of anyand, as a result, gain or loss inon the derivative instruments are reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and then reclassifies amounts from other comprehensive income to financial income (expense) to offsetreclassified as payroll expenses or finance expenses, respectively, at the foreign exchange earnings impact oftime that the hedged available-for-sale securities.income/expense is recorded.

F - 36 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 11:-DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS (Cont.)

  Notional amount  Fair value 
  December 31,  December 31, 
  2012  2011  2012  2011 
             
Option contracts to hedge payroll expenses $88,050  $73,400  $2,795  $(2,920)
Option contracts to hedge future anticipated payments relating to leasehold improvements  -   3,000   -   (28)
Forward contracts to hedge Israeli Treasury Bills  107,408   123,501   (4,107)  9,587 
                 
  $195,458  $199,901  $(1,312) $6,639 
  Notional amount  Fair value 
  December 31,  December 31, 
  2015  2014  2015  2014 
Level 2:            
Option contracts to hedge payroll expenses $110,000  $102,450  $(566) $(4,133)
Option contracts to hedge facilities expenses  5,018   5,837   1   19 
                 
  $115,018  $108,287  $(565) $(4,114)

The Company currently hedges its exposure to the variability in future cash flows for a maximum period of one year. AtAs of December 31, 2012,2015, the Company expects to reclassify all of the net gain on derivative instruments in the amount of $ 2,789its unrealized gains and losses from accumulated other comprehensive income to earnings during the next twelve months.

The fair value of the Company's outstanding derivative instruments at December 31, 2012 and 2011 is summarized below:

   Fair value of derivative instruments 
   December 31, 
 Balance sheet location 2012  2011 
Derivative assets:       
Foreign exchange forward contracts  $-  $9,587 
Foreign exchange option contracts  $2,795  $- 
          
Derivative liabilities:         
Foreign exchange option contracts  $-  $(2,948)
Foreign exchange forward contracts  $(4,107) $- 
          
Derivative assetsOther receivables and prepaid expenses $2,795  $9,587 
Derivative liabilitiesAccrued expenses and other liabilities $(4,107) $(2,948)
 
F - 37 -33

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 11:10:-DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS (Cont.)

The fair value of the Company's outstanding derivative instruments at December 31, 2015 and 2014 is summarized below:

   Fair value of derivative instruments 
   December 31, 
 Balance sheet line item 2015  2014 
Derivative assets:       
Foreign exchange option contractsOther receivables and prepaid expenses $1  $19 
          
Derivative liabilities:         
Foreign exchange option contractsAccrued expenses and other liabilities $(566) $(4,133)

The effect of derivative instruments in cash flow hedging relationship on income and other comprehensive income for the years ended December 31, 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 20102013 is summarized below:

 
Amount of gain (loss) recognized in OCI
on derivative (effective portion)
  
Amount of gain (loss) recognized in OCI
on derivative (effective portion)
 
 Year ended December 31,  Year ended December 31, 
 2012  2011  2010  2015  2014  2013 
Derivatives in cash flow hedging relationship:                  
Foreign exchange option contracts $(2,773) $2,929  $(3,193) $954  $6,770  $(5,296)
Foreign exchange forward contracts  (11,072)  10,537   (894)  -   -   4,311 
                        
 $(13,845) $13,466  $(4,087) $954  $6,770  $(985)

Derivative in foreign exchange cash flow hedging relationship:
 Statements Amount of gain (loss) reclassified from OCI into income (expenses) (effective portion) 
 of income Year ended December 31, 
 line item 2012  2011  2010 
Derivative in cash flow hedging relationship:          
Foreign exchange option contractsCost of revenues and operating expenses $2,667  $(1,930) $(1,127)
Foreign exchange forward contractsCost of revenues and operating expenses  -   -   51 
Foreign exchange forward contractsFinancial income  (10,551)  9,901   (39)
              
   $(7,884) $7,971  $(1,115)
   Amount of gain (loss) reclassified from OCI into income (expenses) (effective portion) 
   Year ended December 31, 
 
Statements of income line item
 2015  2014  2013 
Option contractsCost of revenues, operating expenses and discontinued operations $4,010  $1,552  $(6,491)
Forward contractsFinancial income  -   -   4,310 
              
   $4,010  $1,552  $(2,181)

The ineffective portion of the gain (loss) resulting from the change in fair value of a cash flow hedge for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010 amounted to $ 0, $ 0 and $ 38, respectively.

 
F - 38 -34

 

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 12:11:-COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

 a.Lease commitments:

The Company leases office space, office equipment and various motor vehicles under operating leases.

 1.
The Company's office space and office equipment are rented under several operating leases.
Future minimum lease commitments under non-cancelable operating leases for the years ended December 31, were as follows:

Future minimum lease commitments under non-cancelable operating leases for the years ended December 31, were as follows:

2013 $15,832 
2014  14,912 
2015  14,329 
2016  12,352 
2017  11,373 
2018 and thereafter  43,807 
     
  $112,605 
2016 $14,883 
2017  12,438 
2018  11,420 
2019  9,034 
2020  8,569 
2021 and thereafter  11,201 
     
  $67,545 

Rent expenses for the years 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 20102013 were approximately $ 17,373,15,880, $ 18,60718,594 and $ 16,202,18,218, respectively.

 2.
The Company leases its motor vehicles under cancelable operating lease agreements.
The minimum payment under these operating leases, upon cancellation of these lease agreements was $ 1,322 as of December 31, 2012.

Lease expenses for motor vehicles for the years 2012, 2011 and 2010 were $ 4,798 $ 5,707 and $ 5,507, respectively.

The minimum payment under these operating leases, upon cancellation of these lease agreements was $ 1,035 as of December 31, 2015.

Lease expenses for motor vehicles for the years 2015, 2014 and 2013 were $ 5,103, $ 3,774 and $ 3,959, respectively.

 b.Other commitments:

The Company is obligated under certain agreements with its suppliers to purchase goods and, under an agreement with its manufacturing subcontractor, to purchase projected inventory and excess inventory. Non cancelableNon-cancelable obligations, net of provisions, as of December 31, 2012,2015, were $ 2,402.$555. These obligations are expected to be fulfilled during 2013.2015.

The Company is also obligated under certain agreements with its suppliers to purchase licenses and hosting services. Non cancelableThese non-cancelable obligations as of December 31, 2012,2015, were $ 11,190.$18,148.

 
F - 39 -35

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 12:11:-COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES (Cont.)

 c.
Legal proceedings:
proceedings:

 1.
In December 2006, Calyon CorporateFollowing the divestiture of one of the Company business units, the buyer of such business unit made certain demands and Investment Bank ("Calyon") filedallegations, claiming indemnification pursuant to the sale agreement between the Company and such buyer. The parties corresponded regarding these claims, and the Company has denied all demands and allegations made by the buyer. If the parties fail to reach a suitnegotiated resolution, the buyer may initiate legal proceedings against the Company to enforce its indemnification claims. If such buyer is successful in the District Court of Tel Aviv, demanding repayment of $ 648 plus accrued interest, forsuch proceedings, it will result in a total amount of $ 740. The Company deducted this amount in January 2004 from a payment transferred in connection with the acquisition of Thales Contact Solutions ("TCS"). The Company had notified TCS in 2004 that it had set off such amount with respect to an overdue payment by TCS to the Company. The dispute was submitted to mediation, however the mediation process failed and the proceedings were returned to the District Court of Tel Aviv. Trial was held on September 11, 2011, and on May 6, 2012 the Court ruled in favorreduction of the Company, dismissing all claims filed by Calyon and ordering it to payconsideration under the Company legal expenses. On June 26, 2012, Calyon filed an appeal tosale agreement within the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ordered Calyon to submit its written summary by June 18, 2013, and the Company to submit its written summary by August 15, 2013. A hearing is scheduled for November 20, 2013. The Company is currently unable to evaluate the probability of a favorable or unfavorable outcome.

2.On September 16, 2009, Fair Isaac Corporation ("FICO") filed a claim in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against Actimize Inc. and the Company, claiming that Actimize and the Company are infringing two U.S. patents. These patents cover various aspects of fraud detection. FICO requested damages and an injunction. On January 18, 2012, the parties agreed to the terms of settlement proposed by the court. The parties resolved the case and filed a Stipulation of Dismissal on June 29, 2012, and the court ordered the dismissal on July 2, 2012.

3.On March 10, 2010, Nuvation Research Corporation ("Nuvation") filed a lawsuit against the Company with the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The lawsuit alleges, among others, that the Company breached a contract with Nuvation and defrauded Nuvation.  Nuvation was claiming damages in a total amount of $8 million.  On September 19, 2011, the parties reached an agreement in principle to settle the dispute through binding arbitration/mediation and also agreed that the mediation outcome will be subject to a minimum payment by NICE to Nuvation of $100,000. The parties had a one-day arbitration/mediation meeting on March 14, 2012, and an Award, dated April 25, 2012, was issued and the Judge dismissed all of Nuvation’s claims with prejudice. NICE paid such amount to Nuvation, and the parties also exchanged general releases and executed and filed a Stipulation of Dismissal, with prejudice. The case has been resolved.
F - 40 -


NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 12:-COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES (Cont.)

4.
On July 15, 2010, Tal-Yam Engineering Projects Management and Initiation ("Tal-Yam") filed a suit against the Company in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court. The suit alleges a breach of contract due to failure to pay for services rendered to the Company. Tal-Yam is seeking damages in the amount of approximately NIS 1.0 million (approximately $ 262) and disclosure of certain invoices and related documentation. The Company submitted its statement of defense on October 24, 2010. The parties participated in mediation proceedings under Israeli Law that were not successful. Trial hearings took place during January 2013, and summation has yet to be scheduled by the court.discontinued operation. At this preliminary stage of the proceedings, the Company is unable to evaluate the probability of a favorable or unfavorable outcome.

5.
Labor disputes:
On November 7, 2012, a former employee of Actimize Inc. filed a suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York claiming discrimination on the basis of disability. The suit includes a claim for reinstatement as well as compensatory damages and other relief. The parties are scheduled to hold mediation on May 16, 2013, and the estimated demand for settlement by the plaintiff is about $310,000 plus attorney fees. The Company is unable to evaluatecannot estimate the probability of a favorable or unfavorable outcome in this dispute.

 6.2.TheFrom time to time the Company isor its subsidiaries may be involved in various other legal proceedings and/or litigation arising in the normalordinary course of its business. Based uponWhile the adviceoutcome of counsel,these matters cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company does not believe that the ultimate resolution of these mattersit will have a material adverse effect on the Company'sits consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

7.The Company accrued a liability for all legal proceedings where the loss is considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated. The amount accrued at December 31, 2012 was immaterial.


F - 41 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 13:12:-TAXES ON INCOME

 a.Israeli taxation:

 1.
Corporate tax rates in Israel:
Taxable income of Israeli companies is subject to tax at the rate of 25% in 2010, 24% in 2011 and 25% in 2012 and onwards.
tax:

2.
Tax benefits under the Israel Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959 ("the Law"):
Various industrial projects of NICE and its Israeli subsidiary have been granted "Approved Enterprise" and "Privileged Enterprise" status, which provides certain benefits, including tax exemptions and reduced tax rates. Income not eligible for Approved Enterprise and Privileged Enterprise benefits is taxed at a regular rate.

In the event of distribution of dividends from the said tax-exempt income, the amount distributed will be subject to corporate tax at the rate ordinarily applicable to the Approved Enterprise's income. The tax-exempt income attributable to the "Approved Enterprise" programs mentioned above can be distributed to shareholders without subjecting the Company to taxes only upon the complete liquidation of NICE or its Israeli subsidiary. Tax-exempt income generated under the Company's Privileged Enterprise program will be subject to taxes upon dividend distribution (which includes the repurchase of the Company's shares) or complete liquidation.

The entitlement to the above benefits is conditional upon the Company's fulfilling the conditions stipulated by the Law and regulations published thereunder. Should the Company fail to meet such requirements in the future, income attributable to its Approved Enterprise and Privileged Enterprise programs could be subject to the statutory Israeli corporate tax rate and the Company could be required to refund a portion of the tax benefits already received, with respect to such programs. As of December 31, 2012, management believes that the Company is in compliance with all the conditions required by the Law.

The Company does not intend to distribute any amounts of its undistributed tax exempt income as dividends as it intends to reinvest its tax-exempt income within the Company. Accordingly, no deferred income taxes have been provided on income attributable to the Company's Approved or Privileged Enterprise programs as the undistributed tax exempt income is essentially permanent in duration.

As of December 31, 2012, approximately $ 310,000 is tax-exempt attributable to its various Approved and Privileged Enterprise programs. If such tax exempt income is distributed (other than in respect of the Approved Enterprise programs upon the complete liquidation of the Company), it would be taxed at the reduced corporate tax rate applicable to such profits (between 10%-25%) and an income tax liability of approximately $ 56,000 would be incurred as of December 31, 2012.
Commencing 2012, NICE and its Israeli subsidiary elected the Preferred Enterprise regime to apply under the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investment (the “Investment Law”). The Company's entire preferred income is subject to the tax rates as follows: 2013 – 12.5%, 2014 and thereafter - 16%. The election is irrevocable.

Income not eligible for Preferred Enterprise benefits is taxed at a regular rate, which was 26.5% in 2015 and 2014 and 25% for 2013. In January 2016, the Amendment of the Income Tax Ordinance (No. 216), 2016, was published and set the reduction of the corporate tax, starting in 2016 and onward, from 26.5% to 25%.

Prior to 2012, most of the Company’s and its Israeli subsidiary's income was exempt from tax or subject to reduced tax rates under the Investment Law. Upon distribution of exempt income, the distributing company was subject to corporate reduced tax rates ordinarily applicable to such income under the Investment Law. Reduced income under the Investment Law including the Preferred Enterprise Regime will be freely distributable as dividends, subject to a 15%-20% withholding tax (or lower, under an applicable tax treaty). However, upon the distribution of a dividend from Preferred Income to an Israeli company, no withholding tax will be remitted.

 
F - 42 -36

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 13:12:-TAXES ON INCOME (Cont.)

During December 2010,Pursuant to a temporary tax relief initiated by the Law for Economic Policy for 2011 and 2012 (Amended Legislation) was passed, and among other things, amendedIsraeli government, a company that elected by November 11, 2013 to pay a reduced corporate tax rate as set forth in the Law, ("the Amendment") effective January 1, 2011. Accordingtemporary tax relief with respect to the Amendment, the benefit tracks inundistributed exempt income generated under the Investment Law were modified andaccumulated by the company until December 31, 2011 is entitled to distribute a flatdividend from such income without being required to pay additional corporate tax rate applieswith respect to the Company's entire preferred income (as part of its "Preferred Enterprise"). The Companysuch dividend. A company that has generallyso elected for the Preferred Enterprise regimemust make certain qualified investments in Israel over five-year period. A company that has elected to apply (the waiver is non-recourse)the temporary tax relief cannot withdraw from January 1, 2012 and from then, assuming validly made, it will be subject to the amended tax rates as follows: 2012 - 15%, 2013 and 2014 - 12.5% and in 2015 and thereafter - 12%

In November 2012, as a temporary fiscal raising measure, an order was passed in Israel intended to encourage companies to voluntarily elect for an immediate payment of corporate tax on previously tax-exempted earnings which were earned pursuant to Approved and Privileged Enterprises ("the Order").its election. The Order doeselection did not require the actual distribution of these previously tax-exempted earnings. The Order provides, for those companies which so elect before November

In September 2013, partialthe Company made the election and duly released all of NICE and its Israeli tax relief calculated onsubsidiary’s tax-exempted income through 2011 related to their various pre 2012 programs under the Investment Law.  As a linear basis: the greater the releaseresult of the previouslyelection and the related settlement of a routine multi-year tax audit, the Company recorded an expense of $19,200 and paid an amount of approximately $32,000. The Company has also committed to make certain investments in "industrial projects" (as defined in the Law) no later than December 31, 2017. The Company believes that this commitment has already been fulfilled during 2013 as part of its existing investment plans. Further to the election, NICE no longer has a tax liability upon future distributions of its tax-exempted earnings, while the higherIsraeli subsidiary has a tax liability upon future distributions only with respect to its 2012 tax-exempted earnings.

2.Foreign Exchange Regulations:

Under the relief from corporateForeign Exchange Regulations, NICE and its Israeli subsidiary calculate their tax which otherwise would have applied upon an actual distribution. Accordingliability in U.S. Dollars according to certain orders. The tax liability, as calculated in U.S. Dollars is translated into New Israeli Shekels according to the statutory linear formula provided in the Order, the corporate income tax to be paid, would vary from a 6% to a 17.5% effective tax rate. The Company is currently assessing the impactexchange rate as of the Order.December 31st of each year.

 3.Tax benefits under the Israeli Law for the Encouragement of Industry (Taxation), 1969:

NICE is an "Industrial Company" as defined by the above law and, as such, is entitled to certain tax benefits including accelerated depreciation, deduction of public offering expenses in three equal annual installments and amortization of cost of purchased know-how and patents for tax purposes over 8 years.

F - 37

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 12:-TAXES ON INCOME (Cont.)

 b.Income taxes on non-Israeli subsidiaries:

Non-Israeli subsidiaries are taxed according to the tax laws in their respective country of residence. The Company’s consolidated tax rate depends on the geographical mix of where its profits are earned. Primarily, the Company’s U.S. subsidiaries are subject to federal and state income taxes of approximately 37% and its subsidiaries in the U.K. are subject to corporation tax at a rate of approximately 20%. Neither Israeli income taxes, foreign withholding taxes nor deferred income taxes were provided in relation to undistributed earnings of the Company's foreign subsidiaries. This is because the Company has the intent and ability to reinvest these earnings indefinitely in the foreign subsidiaries and therefore those earnings are continually redeployed in those jurisdictions. As atof December 31, 2012,2015, the amount of undistributed earnings of non-Israeli subsidiaries, which is considered indefinitely reinvested, was $ 209,000$247,301 with a corresponding unrecognized deferred tax liability of $ 42,700.$51,709. If these earnings were distributed to Israel in the form of dividends or otherwise, the Company would be subject to additional Israeli income taxes (subject to an adjustment for foreign tax credits) and foreign withholding taxes.
F - 43 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 13:-TAXES ON INCOME (Cont.)

 c.Net operating loss carryforward:

As of December 31, 2012,2015, certain subsidiaries had tax loss carry-forwards totaling approximately $ 126,000$86,600 which can be carried forward and offset against taxable income with expiration dates ranging from 20132016 and onwards. Approximately $ 92,000$67,300 of these carry-forward tax losses have no expiration date. The balance expires between 20132016 and 2029.2032.

Utilization of U.S. net operating losses may be subject to substantial annual limitation due to the "change in ownership" provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and similar state provisions. The annual limitation may result in the expiration of net operating losses increasing taxes before utilization.

d.
Deferred tax assets and liabilities:
Deferred taxes reflect the net tax effect of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts recorded for tax purposes. Significant components of the Company's deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:
  December 31, 
  2012  2011 
Deferred tax assets:      
Net operating losses carryforward *) $27,606  $30,164 
Acquired intangibles  275   1,573 
Share based payments  7,655   7,037 
Reserves, allowances and other  9,727   8,400 
         
Deferred tax assets before valuation allowance  45,263   47,174 
Valuation allowance  (14,667)  (19,987)
         
Deferred tax assets  30,596   27,187 
         
Deferred tax liabilities:        
Acquired intangibles  (68,795)  (39,742)
         
Deferred tax liabilities, net $(38,199) $(12,555)

*)Including deferred taxes on losses for US income tax purposes as of December 31, 2012 and 2011, derived from the exercise of employee stock options in the amount of $ 9,600 and $ 9,300, respectively. The benefit derived from the exercise of employee stock options was not recorded through additional paid in capital as required under ASC 718 since a full valuation allowance was provided in this respect. As a result, there is no impact on the Company's shareholders' equity and on the deferred taxes for each of the years presented.
 
F - 44 -38

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 13:12:-TAXES ON INCOME (Cont.)

  December 31, 
  2012  2011 
       
Current deferred tax assets $15,564  $10,405 
Long-term deferred tax assets  4,615   5,066 
Current deferred tax liabilities  (37)  (260)
Long-term deferred tax liabilities  (58,341)  (27,766)
         
Deferred tax liabilities, net $(38,199) $(12,555)
d.Deferred tax assets and liabilities:

Long-term
Deferred taxes reflect the net tax effect of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts recorded for tax purposes. Significant components of the Company's deferred tax assets are included within other long-term assets in the balance sheets. Current deferred taxand liabilities are included within accrued expenses and other liabilities in the balance sheets.as follows:

  December 31, 
  2015  2014 
Deferred tax assets:      
  Net operating losses carryforward and tax credits $16,809  $19,351 
  Share based payments  8,958   8,808 
  Research and development costs  3,562   11,939 
  Reserves, allowances and other  5,272   10,013 
         
Deferred tax assets before valuation allowance  34,601   50,111 
Valuation allowance  (7,347)  (7,981)
         
Deferred tax assets  27,254   42,130 
         
Deferred tax liabilities:        
  Acquired intangibles  (28,164)  (37,453)
         
Deferred tax assets (liabilities), net $(910) $4,677 
  December 31, 
  2015  2014 
       
Long-term deferred tax assets $14,130  $18,853 
Long-term deferred tax liabilities  (15,040)  (14,176)
         
Deferred tax assets (liabilities), net $(910) $4,677 

F - 39

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 12:-TAXES ON INCOME (Cont.)

The Company has provided valuation allowances in respect of certain deferred tax assets resulting from tax loss carry forwards and other reserves and allowances due to uncertainty concerning realization of these deferred tax assets.

 e.A reconciliation of the Company's effective tax rate to the statutory tax rate in Israel is as follows:

 Year ended December 31,  Year ended December 31, 
 2012  2011  2010  2015  2014  2013 
                  
Income before taxes on income, as reported in the consolidated statements of income $53,900  $69,649  $58,237  $171,410  $110,059  $79,386 
                        
Statutory tax rate in Israel  25%  24%  25%  26.5%  26.5%  25%
Approved and Privileged Enterprise benefits *)  (11.6)%  (12.8)%  (7.7)%
Approved, Privileged and Preferred Enterprise benefits *)  (6.1)%  (4.1)%  11.8%
Changes in valuation allowance  (7.0)%  (0.5)%  (2.5)%  (0.4)%  (2.2)%  (1.0)%
Earnings taxed under foreign law  (17.4)%  (0.4)%  (5.7)%  (4.0)%  (4.8)%  (13.8)%
Tax Settlements and other adjustments of prior year provisions  (17.3)%  7.1%  4.3%
Tax Settlements and other adjustments  1.1%  (7.0)%  10.4%
Other  2.3%  0.4%  3.0%  0.9%  0.6%  1.5%
                        
Effective tax rate  (26.0)%  17.8%  16.4%  18.0%  9.0%  33.9%
            
*) Net earnings per ordinary share - amounts of the benefit resulting from the "Approved and Privileged Enterprise" status            
Basic $0.10  $0.10  $0.09 
            
Diluted $0.10  $0.10  $0.09 

*)The effect of the benefit resulting from the "Approved, Privileged and Preferred Enterprise" status (including the expense related to the election to release previously tax-exempted earnings under the Order described in Note 12(a)(1) above) on net earnings per ordinary share is as follows:

  Year ended December 31, 
  2015  2014  2013 
          
Basic $0.18  $0.08  $(0.16)
             
Diluted $0.17  $0.07  $(0.15)

 
F - 45 -40

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 13:12:-TAXES ON INCOME (Cont.)

 f.Income before taxes on income is comprised as follows:

 Year ended December 31,  
Year ended
December 31,
 
 2012  2011  2010  2015  2014  2013 
                  
Domestic $67,559  $46,858  $38,608  $122,952  $67,192  $53,270 
Foreign  (13,659)  22,791   19,629   48,458   42,867   26,116 
                        
 $53,900  $69,649  $58,237  $171,410  $110,059  $79,386 

 g.Taxes on income are comprised as follows:

 Year ended December 31,  
Year ended
December 31,
 
 2012  2011  2010  2015  2014  2013 
                  
Current $10,250  $21,136  $14,443  $23,978  $37,694  $44,200 
Deferred  (24,244)  (8,750)  (4,913)  6,854   (27,785)  (17,285)
                        
 $(13,994) $12,386  $9,530  $30,832  $9,909  $26,915 
                        
Domestic $16,856  $5,764  $4,384  $24,812  $2,337  $29,410 
Foreign  (30,850)  6,622   5,146   6,020   7,572   (2,495)
                        
 $(13,994) $12,386  $9,530  $30,832  $9,909  $26,915 

Of which:
Of which:

 Year ended December 31,  
Year ended
December 31,
 
 2012  2011  2010  2015  2014  2013 
                  
Domestic Taxes         
Domestic taxes:         
Current $17,933  $8,097  $4,872  $14,860  $16,351  $30,530 
Deferred  (1,077)  (2,333)  (488)  9,952   (14,014)  (1,120)
                        
 $16,856  $5,764  $4,384  $24,812  $2,337  $29,410 
Foreign Taxes            
Foreign taxes:            
Current $(7,749) $13,039  $9,571  $9,118  $21,343  $13,670 
Deferred  (23,101)  (6,417)  (4,425)  (3,098)  (13,771)  (16,165)
                        
 $(30,850) $6,622  $5,146  $6,020  $7,572  $(2,495)
                        
Taxes on income $(13,994) $12,386  $9,530  $30,832  $9,909  $26,915 

 
F - 46 -41

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 13:12:-TAXES ON INCOME (Cont.)

 h.Uncertain tax positions:

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances of the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits is as follows:

 December 31,  December 31, 
 2012  2011  2015  2014 
            
Uncertain tax positions, beginning of year $43,435  $36,029  $18,561  $33,158 
Increases in tax positions for prior years  -   936   110   2,521 
Decreases in tax positions for prior years  (3,147)  - 
Increases in tax positions for current year  6,046   7,448   5,085   5,277 
Settlements  (8,369)  (978)  (2,173)  (20,887)
Expiry of the statute of limitations  (3,347)  (1,508)
                
Uncertain tax positions, end of year $37,965  $43,435  $18,236  $18,561 

UnrecognizedAll the Company's unrecognized tax benefits included $ 37,804 of tax benefits, whichwould, if recognized, would reduce the Company's annual effective tax rate. The Company has further accrued $ 4,107$239 due to interest related to uncertain tax positions as of December 31, 2012.2015.

During 2012,2015, prior tax years in Israel, the U.S.US and the United Kingdom were closed by way of the expiration of the statute of limitations and settlements reached with those tax authorities through routine tax audits.  The CompanyIsraeli subsidiary is currently in the process of routine Israeli income tax audits for the tax years 20062012 through 2011.2013. As of December 31, 2012,2015, the Company is still subject to further Israeli income tax audits for the tax yearyears of 2012,2013 through 2015, to U.S. federal income tax audits for the tax years of 20102012 through 20122015 and to other income tax audits for the tax years of 20072010 through 2012.2015.
 
NOTE 14:13:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

 a.The ordinary shares of the Company are traded on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange and its American Depositary Shares ("ADS's") are traded on NASDAQ.

 b.Share option plans:

In 2003, the Company adopted the 2003 Stock Option Plan ("the 2003 Option Plan"). Under the 2003 Option Plan, employees and officers of the Company may be granted options to acquire ordinary shares. The options to acquire ordinary shares are granted at an exercise price of not less than the fair market value of the ordinary shares on the grant date, subject to certain exceptions, which may be determined by the Company's Board of Directors. Generally, under the terms of the 2003 Option Plan, 25% of the stock options granted become exercisable on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 6.25% become exercisable once every quarter during the subsequent three years. Stock options expire six years after the date of grant.

F - 47 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 14:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Pursuant to the terms of the acquisitions of Actimize Ltd., Orsus Solutions Ltd, e-Glue Software Technologies Inc., Fizzback and Merced the Company assumed or replaced unvested options, Restricted Stock Awards ("RSA's") and Restricted Stock Units ("RSU's") and converted them into NICE options, RSA's and RSU's, based on the agreed exchange ratio. Each assumed option, RSA and RSU is subject to the same terms and conditions, including vesting and timing of exercisability, as applied to any such option, RSA and RSU immediately prior to the acquisition.

In June 2008, the Company adopted the 2008 Share Incentive Plan ("the 2008 Plan"), to provide incentives to employees, directors, consultants and/or contractors by rewarding performance and encouraging behavior that will improve the Company's profitability. Under the 2008 Plan, the Company's employees, directors, consultants and/or contractors may be granted any equity-related award, including any type of an option to acquire the Company's ordinary shares and/or share appreciation right and/or share and/or restricted share and/or restricted share unit and/or other share unit and/or other share-based award and/or other right or benefit under the 2008 Plan (each an "Award"). The options to acquire ordinary shares are granted at an exercise price of not less than the fair market value of the ordinary shares on the date of the grant, subject to certain exceptions which may be determined by the Company's Board of Directors, including

F - 42

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in some cases options granted with an exercise price at par value. Further, in case the Company distributes cash dividends the exercise price for each option outstanding prior to the distribution shall be reduced by an amount equal to the gross amount of the dividendthousands (except share and per share distributed.data)
NOTE 13:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Cont.)

Generally, under the terms of the 2008 Plan, 25% of an Award granted becomebecomes exercisable on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 6.25% becomebecomes exercisable once every quarter during the subsequent three years. Specifically with respect to restricted share units and options granted with an exercise price equal to the nominal value of an ordinary share ("par value options,options"), unless determined otherwise by the Board of Directors, 25% of the restricted share units granted and par value options granted become vested on each of the four consecutive annual anniversaries following the date of grant. Awards with a vesting period expire six years after the date of grant. Pursuant to a resolution of the Company's Board of Directors dated February 4, 2014, options that are performance-based and are granted during calendar year 2014 and thereafter, shall expire seven years following the date of grant. The 2008 Plan provides that the maximum number of shares that may be subject to Awards granted under the 2008 Plan shall be an amount per calendar year, equal to 3.5% of the Company's issued and outstanding share capital as of December 31 of the preceding calendar year. Such amount is reset for each calendar year.

In December 2010, the Company amended the 2008 Plan, such that: (i)that options are granted at an exercise price equal to the average of the closing prices of one ordinary share, as quoted on the NASDAQ market, during the 30 consecutive calendar days preceding the date of grant, unless determined otherwise by the administrator of the 2008 Plan (including in some cases par value options). Prior to the amendment of the 2008 Plan that occurred in 2010, the options to acquire ordinary shares were granted withat an exercise price of not less than the fair market value of the ordinary shares on the date of the grant, subject to certain exceptions which could be determined by the Company's Board of Directors, including in some cases par value options. Further, when the Company distributes cash dividends, the exercise price for each option outstanding, for certain employees, prior to the distribution is reduced by an amount equal to the gross amount of the dividend per share distributed, provided that the exercise price shall not be reduced below the nominal value of anthe ordinary share), and (ii) options granted with an exercise price equal toshares of the nominal value of an ordinary share shall have a vesting schedule identical to that of restricted share units, as indicated above.
F - 48 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIESCompany.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTSPursuant to the terms of the acquisitions of Actimize Ltd., e-Glue Software Technologies Inc., Fizzback, Merced and Causata, the Company assumed or replaced unvested options, Restricted Stock Awards ("RSAs") and Restricted Stock Units ("RSUs") and converted them or replaced them with NICE options, RSAs and RSUs, as applicable, based on an agreed exchange ratio. Each assumed or replaced option, RSA and RSU is subject to the same terms and conditions, including vesting, exercisability and expiration, as originally applied to any such option, RSA and RSU immediately prior to the acquisition.


U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 14:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Cont.)
The fair value of the Company's stock options granted to employees and directors for the years ended December 31, 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 20102013 was estimated using the following assumptions:

 2012  2011  2010  2015 2014 2013
               
Expected volatility  27.8%-34.8%  34.3%-43.8%  42.8%-48.4% 23.02%-27.55% 27.47%-28.08% 27.5%-30.0%
Weighted average volatility  29.4%  43.02%  43.7% 25.17% 27.72% 28.8%
Risk free interest rate  0.4%-0.5%  0.2%-1.3%  0.8%-1.8% 0.76%-1.18% 0.8%-1.2% 0.4%-0.9%
Expected dividend  0%  0%  0% 0%-1.29% 0%-1.61% 0%-1.7%
Expected term (in years)  3.3   2.5-3.7   2.5-3.7  3.5-3.5 3.4 3.3-3.4

F - 43

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 13:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Cont.)

A summary of the Company's stock options activity and related information for the year ended December 31, 2012,2015, is as follows:

 Number of options  Weighted-average exercise price  Weighted- average remaining contractual term (in years)  Aggregate intrinsic value  Number of options  Weighted-average exercise price  Weighted- average remaining contractual term (in years)  
Aggregate intrinsic
value
 
                        
Outstanding at January 1, 2012  4,983,541  $22.01   4.09  $62,049 
Outstanding at January 1, 2015  3,580,793   23.54   4.39   97,061 
Granted  1,243,501               865,801   28.47         
Assumed  201,488             
Exercised  (1,333,909)              (1,108,649)  24.38         
Forfeited  (512,658)              (575,224)  23.19         
Cancelled  (43,950)              (11,137)  15.47         
                                
Outstanding at December 31, 2012  4,538,013   21.53   4.31   54,231 
Outstanding at December 31, 2015  2,751,584   24.59   4.19   90,058 
                                
Exercisable at December 31, 2012  1,802,460   24.82   3.18   15,612 
Exercisable at December 31, 2015  849,528   25.50   3.25   27,030 

The weighted-average grant-date fair value of options granted during the years 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 20102013 was $ 16.09, $ 17.99$32.58, $19.69 and $ 14.58,$18.24, respectively.

The total intrinsic value of options exercised during the years 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 20102013 was $40,519, $ 18,072, $ 19,29535,028 and $ 15,294,$24,949, respectively.
F - 49 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 14:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Cont.)

The options outstanding under the Company's stock option plans as of December 31, 20122015 have been separated into ranges of exercise price as follows:

              Weighted                Weighted 
  Options  Weighted     Options  average    Options  Weighted     Options  average 
  outstanding  average  Weighted  exercisable  exercise    outstanding  average  Weighted  exercisable  exercise 
  as of  remaining  average  as of  price of    as of  remaining  average  as of  price of 
Ranges ofRanges of  December 31,  contractual  exercise  December 31,  options Ranges of  December 31,  contractual  exercise  December 31,  options 
exercise priceexercise price  2012  term  price  2012  exercisable exercise price  2015  term  price  2015  exercisable 
     (Years)  $     $       (Years)  $     $ 
                                  
$0.02   828   0.66   0.02   828   0.02 0.26   1,080,208   4.42   0.26   237,165   0.26 
$0.27   1,161,448   5.12   0.27   210,795   0.27 0.69   6,361   3.69   0.69   6,361   0.69 
$0.69   33,490   7.45   0.69   11,453   0.69 4.24-6.00   3,381   0.48   5.16   3,381   5.16 
$2.89   5,132   2.13   2.89   5,132   2.89 6.87-9.64   736   2.57   9.08   736   9.08 
$6.00-6.87   19,964   3.56   6.57   19,964   6.57 10.69-15.96   14,422   2.98   16.61   14,422   13.61 
$11.4-14.60   66,046   5.83   12.88   48,551   13.20 17.72-26.09   9,552   2.53   20.88   9,552   20.88 
$17.72-25.01   350,472   3.54   21.37   230,246   22.05 28.21-40.32   1,188,524   3.63   36.72   562,911   35.88 
$26.85-35.31   2,900,633   4.02   30.64   1,275,491   30.42 49.08-65.41   448,400   5.26   52.00   15,000   65.41 
                                            
    4,538,013   4.31   21.53   1,802,460   24.82     2,751,584   4.19   24.59   849,528   25.50 

F - 44

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 13:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Cont.)

A summary of the Company's Restricted Stock Awards ("RSA") and the Company's Restricted Stock Units ("RSU") activities and related information for the year ended December 31, 2012,2015, is as follows:

  Number of RSU & RSA  
Weighted average exercise
price *)
 
       
Outstanding at January 1, 2012  525,500  NIS    1 
Issued  372,725  NIS    1 
Assumed  61,188  NIS    1 
Vested  (189,727) NIS    1 
Forfeited  (68,708) NIS    1 
         
Outstanding at December 31, 2012  700,978  NIS    1 
Number of RSU & RSA*
Outstanding at January 1, 2015771,565
Issued376,367
Vested(300,030)
Forfeited(94,697)
Outstanding at December 31, 2015753,205

 *)Weighted average exercise price is NIS 1 (par value)par value which represents approximately $ 0.27.$0.26

As of December 31, 2012,2015, there was approximately $ 41,086$50,227 of unrecognized compensation expense related to non-vested stock options and restricted stock awards, expected to be recognized up to four years.
F - 50 -

 NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 14:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Cont.)

The total equity-based compensation expense related to all of the Company's equity-based awards, recognized for the years ended December 31, 2012, 20112015, 2014 and 2010,2013, was comprised as follows:

 Year ended December 31,  
Year ended
December 31,
 
 2012  2011  2010  2015  2014  2013 
                  
Cost of revenues $4,156  $2,922  $2,634  $3,712  $4,472  $4,421 
Research and development, net  2,840   2,966   3,650   2,161   2,483   2,795 
Selling and marketing  7,981   7,490   5,920   11,266   12,361   9,383 
General and administrative  8,635   7,781   8,850   10,521   9,224   8,449 
                        
Total stock-based compensation expenses $23,612  $21,159  $21,054  $27,660  $28,540  $25,048 

 c.Employee Stock Purchase Plan:

Eligible employees underUnder the Employee Stock Purchase Plan ("ESPP") can haveEligible employee were entitled to between 2% to 10% of their earnings being withheld under(under certain limitations, to be used to purchaselimitations) for the purposes of purchasing ordinary shares.  TheUnder the ESPP, the price of ordinary shares purchased under the ESPP iswas equal to 95% of the fair market value of the ordinary shares.

Pursuant to a resolution of the Company's Board of Directors, the Company's Employee Stock Purchase Plan has been terminated, and is no longer in effect as of January 1, 2014.

During 2012, 20112014 and 2010,2013, employees purchased 17,753, 16,58211,196 and 16,53723,478 shares at average prices of $ 33.73, $ 33.88$0, $38.91 and $ 26.38$33.36 per share, respectively.

F - 45

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 13:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Cont.)
 d.Treasury shares:

On February 15, 2011, November 2, 2011, and on October 31, 2012 and February 4, 2014 the boardCompany's Board of directors of the CompanyDirectors authorized a program to repurchase up to $ 100,000$100,000 at each time (total of $ 300,000)up to $400,000) of the Company's issued and outstanding ordinary shares and ADRs.  Repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions and will be in accordance with applicable securities laws and regulations. The timing and amount of the repurchase transactions will be determined by management and may depend on a variety of factors, including market conditions, alternative investment opportunities and other considerations. The program doesprograms do not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of ordinary shares and ADRs and the program may be modified or discontinued at any time without prior notice.

 e.Dividends:

Dividends, if any, will be paid in NIS. Dividends paid to shareholders outside Israel may be converted to dollars on the basis of the exchange rate prevailing at the date of the conversion.

F - 51 -

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 14:-SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (Cont.)

On February 13, 2013, the Company announced that the boardBoard of directors hasDirectors had approved a dividend policy under which the Company intendsintended to pay quarterly cash dividends to holders of its ordinary shares and ADRs subject to declaration by the board.Board. Under Israeli law, dividends may be paid only out of total accumulated retained profits and other surplus (as defined in the law) as of the most recent financial statements or as accrued over a period of the last two years, whichever is higher, provided that there is no reasonable concern that the dividend distribution will prevent the Company from meeting its existing and foreseeable obligations as they come due. Historically,Dividends are generally declared and paid in U.S. dollars, although the Company has not declared or paid cashmay pay such dividends on its ordinary shares.
in Israeli currency.

The total amount of annual dividend declared and paid in 2015 and 2014 was $0.64 per share. Subsequent to the balance sheet date, the Company declared and paid an additional dividend of $0.16 per share in respect of the fourth quarter of 2015.

F - 46

NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 15:14:-REPORTABLE SEGMENTS AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

 a.Reportable segments:

ASC 280, Segment Reporting, establishes standards for reporting information about operating segments. Operating segments are defined as components of an enterprise about which separate financial information is available that is evaluated regularly by the chief operating decision maker in deciding how to allocate resources and in assessing performance. The Company’s chief operating decision maker is its Chief Executive Officer.
During 2015, the Company divested its Physical Security as well as its Cyber and Intelligence operations, which were a major part of the Security Solutions segment, to allow it to focus on its core markets as part of the execution of its long-term strategy. Following this divestiture, the Company operates in threethe following operation-based segments: Customer Interactions Solutions Security Solutionsprovide data driven insights that enable businesses to deliver consistent and personalized experience to customers, and Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions provide real time and these three segments comprise its reporting units.cross-channel fraud prevention, anti-money laundering, brokerage compliance and enterprise-wide case management.

Each of the operational segments is overseen by their respective segment managers. The segment managers report directly to the Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM") with respect to their operating results.
  Year ended December 31, 2015 
  Customer Interactions Solutions (1)  Financial Crime and Compliance solutions  
Not
 allocated
  Total 
             
Revenues $688,060  $238,807  $-  $926,867 
                 
Operating income $206,994  $73,131  $(114,019) $166,106 

The Company's segments are engaged in business activities for which they earn revenues and incur expenses, their results are reviewed by the CODM and discrete financial information is available. Certain comparative figures related to the amortization of intangible assets have been reclassified to conform to current year presentation.
The following tables present the financial information of the Company's reportable segments.
  Year ended December 31, 2014 
  Customer Interactions Solutions (1)  Financial Crime and Compliance solutions  
Not
 allocated
  Total 
             
Revenues $674,797  $197,198  $-  $871,995 
                 
Operating income $151,051  $46,878  $(91,635) $106,294 

 Year ended December 31, 2012  Year ended December 31, 2013 
 Customer Interactions Solutions  Security Solutions  Financial Crime and Compliance solutions  Not allocated  Total  Customer Interactions Solutions (1)  Financial Crime and Compliance solutions  
Not
 allocated
  Total 
                           
Revenues $565,993  $185,916  $127,103  $-  $879,012  $658,467  $163,048  $-  $821,515 
                                    
Operating income (loss) $112,027  $27,645  $3,200  $(97,240) $45,632 
Operating income $135,465  $29,449  $(89,455) $75,459 

(1)Includes the results of a certain operation which was formerly part of the Security Solutions segment which was retained following the above mentioned divestiture and integrated within the Customer Interactions Solutions.

 
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NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 15:14:-REPORTABLE SEGMENTS AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Cont.)

  Year ended December 31, 2011 
  Customer Interactions Solutions  Security Solutions  Financial Crime and Compliance solutions  Not allocated  Total 
                
Revenues $477,572  $191,852  $124,407  $-  $793,831 
                     
Operating income (loss) $123,237  $27,164  $(6,662) $(84,711) $59,028 

  Year ended December 31, 2010 
  Customer Interactions Solutions  Security Solutions  Financial Crime and Compliance solutions  Not allocated  Total 
                
Revenues $403,940  $165,998  $119,513  $-  $689,451 
                     
Operating income (loss) $111,771  $8,535  $71  $(71,325) $49,052 

The following presents long-lived assets of December 31, 20122015 and 2011,2014, based on operational segments:

  December 31, 
  2012  2011 
       
Customer Interactions Solutions $24,247  $14,535 
Security Solutions  5,941   4,533 
Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions  7,157   7,319 
Non-allocated  3,933   1,912 
         
  $41,278  $28,299 

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 NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 15:-REPORTABLE SEGMENTS AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Cont.)
  December 31, 
  2015  2014 
       
Customer Interactions Solutions $23,327  $24,183 
Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions  11,013   10,572 
Non-allocated  4,873   5,415 
         
  $39,213  $40,170 

 b.Geographical information:

Total revenues from external customers on the basis of the Company's geographical areas are as follows:

 Year ended December 31,  Year ended December 31, 
 2012  2011  2010  2015  2014  2013 
                  
Americas $549,575  $499,162  $429,889 
Americas, principally the US $630,096  $591,147  $540,449 
EMEA *)  200,624   187,650   175,489  192,640  184,092  183,187 
Israel  9,784   8,990   7,316  4,231  5,092  5,089 
Asia Pacific  119,029   98,029   76,757   99,900   91,664   92,790 
                        
 $879,012  $793,831  $689,451  $926,867  $871,995  $821,515 

The following presents long-lived assets of December 31, 20122015 and 2011,2014, based on geographical segments:areas:

 December 31,  December 31, 
 2012  2011  2015  2014 
            
Americas $8,583  $7,735 
Americas, principally the US $10,385  $11,072 
EMEA *)  5,042   4,334   4,458   4,101 
Israel  25,942   14,685   20,813   23,137 
Asia Pacific
  1,711   1,545   3,557   1,860 
                
 $41,278  $28,299  $39,213  $40,170 

 *)Includes Europe, the Middle East (excluding Israel) and Africa.

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NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 16:15:-SELECTED STATEMENTS OF INCOME DATA

 a.Research and development costs,expenses, net:

 Year ended December 31,  
Year ended
December 31,
 
 2012  2011  2010  2015  2014  2013 
                  
Total costs $126,584  $113,671  $102,208  $132,039  $125,952  $117,939 
Less - grants and participations  (4,087)  (3,394)  (3,814)  (2,174)  (2,455)  (2,063)
Less - capitalization of software development costs  (1,110)  (1,150)  (1,311)  (1,380)  (356)  (445)
                        
 $121,387  $109,127  $97,083  $128,485  $123,141  $115,431 

b.Restructuring expense:

During 2013 and 2014, the Company initiated restructuring plans to reduce its operating costs and improve profitability. The plan included restructuring of the Company’s workforce in certain geographies and consolidation of facilities which resulted in restructuring charges in the amount of $527 and $5,435 in the years ended December 2013 and 2014, respectively.

c.Financial income and other, net:

  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2015  2014  2013 
Financial income:         
Interest and amortization/accretion of premium/discount on marketable securities $6,844  $5,268  $4,802 
Realized gain on marketable securities  32   16   - 
Interest  430   349   1,505 
             
   7,306   5,633   6,307 
Financial expenses:            
Interest  (66)  (73)  (182)
Foreign currency translation  (731)  (685)  (822)
Other  (780)  (1,107)  (1,266)
             
   (1,577)  (1,865)  (2,270)
             
Other expenses, net  (425)  (3)  (110)
             
  $5,304  $3,765  $3,927 

 
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NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
 
NOTE 16:-SELECTED STATEMENTS OF INCOME DATA (Cont.)

b.
Restructuring expense:
In the third quarter of 2012, the Company initiated a restructuring program for the consolidation of facilities in order to reduce its operating costs. The Company discontinued the use of approximately 14,783 square meters of research and development and sales facilities. The Company accrued $0.9 million for the fair value of its future contractual obligations under these operating leases as of the date it ceased to use the leased properties. In connection with this restructuring program, the Company recorded restructuring charges in the third quarter of 2012 totaling $1.9 million.
c.Financial income and other, net:

  Year ended December 31, 
  2012  2011  2010 
Financial income:         
Interest and amortization/accretion of premium/discount on marketable securities $4,230  $8,357  $8,889 
Gain on forward contracts  -   9,902   - 
Realized gain on marketable securities  2,095   1,124   1,435 
Interest  2,616   3,154   1,787 
Foreign currency translation  1,717   1,725   927 
             
   10,658   24,262   13,038 
Financial expenses:            
Realized loss on marketable securities  (495)  (333)  (238)
Interest  (103)  (165)  (46)
Foreign currency translation  (2,368)  (11,872)  (2,109)
Other  (954)  (1,109)  (1,306)
             
   (3,920)  (13,479)  (3,699)
             
Other income (expenses), net  1,530   (162)  (154)
             
  $8,268  $10,621  $9,185 

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 NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)
NOTE 16:15:-SELECTED STATEMENTS OF INCOME DATA (Cont.)

 d.Net earnings per share:

The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted net earnings per share:

 1.Numerator:

  Year ended December 31, 
  2012  2011  2010 
          
Net income available to ordinary shareholders $67,894  $57,263  $48,707 
  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2015  2014  2013 
          
Net income from continuing operations available to ordinary shareholders $140,578  $100,150  $52,471 
Net income from discontinued operations available to ordinary shareholders  118,253   2,925   2,804 
             
Net income to ordinary shareholders $258,831  $103,075  $55,275 

 2.Denominator (in thousands):

  
Year ended
December 31,
 
  2015  2014  2013 
          
Denominator for basic net earnings per share -         
Weighted average number of shares  59,552   59,362   60,388 
Effect of dilutive securities:            
Add - employee stock options and RSU  1,729   1,533   1,442 
             
Denominator for diluted net earnings per share - adjusted weighted average shares  61,281   60,895   61,830 
  Year ended December 31, 
  2012  2011  2010 
          
Denominator for basic net earnings per share -         
Weighted average number of shares  60,905   62,924   62,652 
Effect of dilutive securities:            
Add - employee stock options and RSU  1,356   1,317   1,480 
             
Denominator for diluted net earnings per share - adjusted weighted average shares  62,261   64,241   64,132 
NOTE 17:-SUBSEQUENT EVENT
On February 13, 2013, the Company announced that the board of directors has approved a dividend policy under which the Company intends to pay quarterly cash dividends to holders of its ordinary shares and ADRs subject to declaration by the board. See Note 14e for further information related to the dividend distribution.

 
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50

 
NICE SYSTEMS LTD. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

U.S. dollars in thousands (except share and per share data)

NOTE 16:-SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
On March 22, 2016, the Company completed the acquisition of Nexidia Inc., a leading provider of advanced customer analytics. The Company acquired Nexidia for total consideration of approximately $135.0 million in cash. The acquisition will allow the Company to offer a combined offering, featuring analytics capabilities with accuracy, scalability and performance, enabling organizations to expand their analytics usage in critical business use cases.
On March 11, 2016, NICE completed the acquisition of Voiceprint International, Inc., a provider of workforce optimization software and services for enterprises, contact centers, first responders and trading floors.
In accordance with the adoption of a dividend policy announced on February 13, 2013, as described on Note 13e, the Company announced on February 24, 2016 a declaration of a cash dividend of $0.16 per share for the fourth quarter of 2015 that was paid on March 9, 2016.

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SIGNATURES

The registrant hereby certifies that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form 20-F and that it has duly caused and authorized the undersigned to sign this annual report on its behalf.

 
NICE-SYSTEMS LTD.
 
    
 By:/s/ Zeev BregmanBarak Eilam 
  Zeev BregmanBarak Eilam 
  President and Chief Executive Officer 
Date:  March 25, 201323, 2016
 
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