The costs of compliance with and other burdens imposed by laws, regulations and standards may limit the use and adoption of our service and reduce overall demand for it, or lead to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for any noncompliance.
Furthermore, concerns regarding data privacy may cause our customers’ customers to resist providing the data necessary to allow our customers to use our service effectively. Even the perception that the privacy of personal information is not satisfactorily protected or does not meet regulatory requirements could inhibit sales of our products or services, and could limit adoption of our subscription solution. Moreover, as our customers face increased scrutiny for data privacy breaches, they may elect to transfer the risk to us through contractual provisions which may subject us to increasing levels of contractual liability for data privacy breaches.
Anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and similar laws, and failure to comply with these laws, could subject us to criminal penalties or significant fines and harm our business and reputation.
We are subject to anti-corruption and anti-bribery and similar laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or the FCPA, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, and other anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and anti-money laundering laws in countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees and agents from promising, authorizing, making or offering improper payments, or other benefits to government officials and others in the private sector. As we increase our international sales and business, our risks under these laws may increase. Noncompliance with these laws could subject us to investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, adverse media coverage, and other consequences. Any investigations, actions, or sanctions could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Industry-specific regulation is evolving and unfavorable industry-specific laws, regulations or interpretive positions could limit our ability to provide services and harm our business.
Our customers and potential customers conduct business in a variety of industries, including financial services, the public sector, healthcare and telecommunications. Regulators in certain industries have adopted and may in the future adopt regulations or interpretive positions regarding the use of cloud computing and other outsourced services. The costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, industry-specific laws, regulations and interpretive positions may limit customers’ use and adoption of our services and reduce overall demand for our services. For example, some financial services regulators have imposed guidelines for use of cloud computing services that mandate specific controls or require financial services enterprises to obtain regulatory approval prior to outsourcing certain functions. If we are unable to comply with these guidelines or controls, or if our customers are unable to obtain regulatory approval to use our service where required, our business may be harmed. In addition, an inability to satisfy the standards of certain voluntary third-party certification bodies that our customers may expect, such as an attestation of compliance with the PCI Data Security Standards, may have an adverse impact on our business. If we are unable to achieve or maintain these industry-specific certifications or other requirements or standards relevant to our customers, it could adversely affect our ability to provide our services to certain customers and harm our business.
In some cases, industry-specific laws, regulations or interpretive positions may also apply directly to us as a service provider. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with such requirements could have an adverse impact on our business.
We face risks related to health epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant worldwide uncertainty, volatility and economic disruption. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows is dependent on future developments, including the duration of the pandemic, the severity of the disease and outbreak, the impact of new strains of the virus, effectiveness and availability of a vaccine, future and ongoing actions that may be taken by governmental authorities, the ended lockdown orders in China that began in April 2022, the impact on the businesses of our customers and partners, and the length of its impact on the global economy, which are uncertain and are difficult to predict at this time.