broadband media distribution platforms, technology suppliers, direct broadcast satellite television service companies and digital and traditional cable systems. Many of our present and likely future competitors have substantially greater financial, marketing, technological and other resources than we do. Some of these companies may even choose to offer services competitive with ours at no cost as a strategy to attract or retain customers of their other services. Technological and commercial developments may lead to the increasing commoditization of our products and services, including content delivery and storage, further increasing downward pressure on the prices we can charge. If we are unable to compete successfully with traditional and other emerging providers of competing services, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The effects of the
COVID-19
pandemic have materially affected how we and our customers are operating our businesses, and the duration and extent to which this will impact our future results of operations and overall financial performance remains uncertain.
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus disease, or
COVID-19,
as a pandemic. The
COVID-19
pandemic, which has continued to spread and develop new variants in the two years since, and the related adverse public health developments, including orders to
travel restrictions, and mandated business closures, have adversely affected workforces, organizations, customers, economies, and financial markets globally, leading to an economic downturn and increased market volatility. It has also disrupted the normal operations of many businesses, including ours.
In March 2020, we temporarily closed each of our global offices and required our employees to work remotely until the summer of 2021. We continued to operate with a remote workforce in 2021, while also carefully opening some of our offices to provide employees with the option of working from an office if they so chose. We continue to monitor and follow local requirements with respect to safety measures in each office location. We also suspended most of our company-related travel, shifted our annual customer conference, internal sales kickoff event, and partner events to virtual-only experiences, and have canceled our participation at other customer and industry events. We may deem it advisable to alter, postpone, or cancel our participation at customer, employee, or industry events in the future. These changes have disrupted, and may continue to disrupt, the way we operate our business.
Moreover, the conditions caused by the
COVID-19
pandemic and its aftermath can affect the rate of spending on software products and the demand for video to support virtual events. This could adversely affect our customers’ ability or willingness to purchase our offerings, delay prospective customers’ purchasing decisions, increase pressure for pricing discounts, lengthen payment terms, reduce the value or duration of their subscription contracts, increase customer attrition rates, or attend our events, all of which could adversely affect our future sales, operating results and overall financial performance.
Our operations have also been negatively affected by a range of external factors related to the
COVID-19
pandemic that are not within our control. For example, many cities, counties, states, and even countries have imposed or may impose a wide range of restrictions on the physical movement of our employees, partners and customers to limit the spread of
COVID-19,
including physical distancing, travel bans and restrictions, closure of
non-essential
business, quarantines, work-from-home directives and
orders. These measures have caused, and are continuing to cause, business slowdowns or shutdowns in affected areas, both regionally and worldwide. If the
COVID-19
pandemic has a substantial impact on the productivity of our employees and partners, or a continued substantial impact on the ability of our employees to execute responsibilities, or a continued and substantial impact on the ability of our customers to purchase our offerings, our results of operations and overall financial performance may be harmed.
The duration and extent of the impact from the
COVID-19
pandemic depends on future developments that cannot be accurately predicted at this time, such as the severity and transmission rate of the virus (including its variants), the extent and effectiveness of containment actions, the disruption caused by such actions, and the