EPLUS INC 10-K

ITEM 1. BUSINESS OUR BUSINESS e Plus inc., sometimes referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as “we,” “our,” “us,” “ourselves,” or “ e Plus.”, has been delivering solutions for our customers since 1990. We conduct our operations through two businesses. Our technology business, consisting of our product, professional services, and managed services segments, provides technology solutions. Our technology solutions leverage third-party hardware, software, and maintenance and other services with our own advanced professional and managed services. Our financing business segment primarily provides financing of IT equipment, software, and related services. Across both businesses, we sell to commercial entities, state and local governments, government contractors, and educational institutions. OUR SOLUTIONS We are a leading provider of technology solutions across the spectrum spanning security, cloud, data center, networking, collaboration, AI, service provider and critical infrastructure, and emerging solutions, to domestic and foreign organizations across all industry segments. Our solutions are comprised of world class leading technologies from partners such as Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), Arista Networks, Check Point, Cisco Systems, Citrix, Commvault, Crowdstrike, Deepwatch, Dell EMC, F5 Networks, Foresite, Fortinet, Gigamon, HPE, Juniper Networks, Lenovo, Microsoft, NetApp, Nutanix, NVIDIA, Oracle, Palo Alto Networks, Proficio, Pure Storage, Rubrik, Splunk, Varonis, and VMware by Broadcom, among many others. Our solutions leverage a broad range of professional, consultative, and managed services, across the technology spectrum. We possess top-level engineering certifications with a broad range of leading IT technologies that enable us to offer multi-vendor IT solutions that are optimized for each of our customers’ specific requirements. Underpinning the broader areas of cloud, security, AI, networking, data center and collaboration are specific skills in orchestration and automation, application modernization, DevSecOps, zero-trust architectures, data management, data visualization, analytics, network modernization, edge computing, consumption licensing models, and other advanced and emerging technologies. Our scale and financial resources have enabled us to continue investing in engineering and technology resources to stay at the forefront of technology trends. Our cloud/hosted, proprietary software solutions are focused on giving our customers more control over their IT supply chain, by automating and optimizing the procurement and management of their owned, leased, and consumption-based assets. These solutions have expanded to include private marketplace experiences to our customers to support platforms such as those on AWS marketplace. We also offer a wide portfolio of technology and other capital asset financing solutions to customers across commercial and government enterprises, designing programs that are tailored to fit their unique processes, structures, and requirements. Our expertise in core and emerging technologies, buttressed by our robust portfolio of professional, services and managed services, has enabled e Plus to remain a trusted advisor for our customers. OUR CUSTOMERS We focus primarily on diverse end-markets for middle market to large enterprises. We serve customers in markets including telecom, media and entertainment, technology, state and local government and educational institutions (“SLED”), healthcare, and financial services. For the year ended March 31, 2024, the percentage of revenue by customer end market within our technology business includes 25% for the telecommunications, media and entertainment industry, 17% for the technology industry, 15% for SLED, 13% for healthcare, and 11% for financial services. Sales to Verizon Communications Inc. represented 19%, 22%, and 24% of our net sales for the years ended March 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively. 3 Table of Contents We sell to customers in the United States (“US”), which accounts for most of our sales, and to customers in select international markets including the United Kingdom (“UK”), the European Union (“EU”), India, Singapore, and Israel. Our technology business segments accounted for 98% of our net sales—85% from the product segment, 7% from the professional services segment, and 6% from the managed services segment—and 84% of our operating income. Our financing business segment accounted for 2% of our net sales, and 16% of our operating income for the year ended March 31, 2024. OUR INDUSTRY BACKGROUND AND MARKET OPPORTUNITY We have identified and focused on several specific trends that we believe will create higher growth in the overall US IT market such as: MULTI-CLOUD STRATEGY Cloud-enabled frameworks have become a core foundation of modern IT. Our strategy consists of assisting customers in aligning cloud strategy with business objectives, creating an enterprise cloud foundation, enabling multi-cloud capabilities, accelerating cloud migrations, modernizing the datacenter, and optimizing cloud deployments for cost and security. By understanding our customers’ environment, applications, and business requirements, we deploy solutions that leverage the most appropriate technology on the most appropriate platform with the most appropriate consumption model. For example, we may build a private cloud solution to host mission critical applications, while utilizing a public cloud solution for development, collaboration, or disaster recovery. As the market matures, we will continue to build and acquire skills that align with DevOps, application refactoring, and analytics. INCREASING SOPHISTICATION AND INCIDENCES OF IT SECURITY BREACHES AND CYBERATTACKS Cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated, numerous, and invasive. Organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to effectively safeguard their information assets and business operations from a constant stream of advanced threats. Cyber threats have shifted from uncoordinated individual efforts to highly coordinated and well-funded attacks by criminal organizations and nation-state actors. Additional concerns include data privacy of both user data and machine data as companies continue to pursue digital transformation via data science, AI and analytics. We believe our customers are focused on maturing all aspects of cybersecurity, including information and physical security, data protection, threat management and compliance requirements related to industry and government regulations. We believe it is necessary to select and implement security controls and technology solutions that leverage integrated products and services to help monitor, mitigate, and remediate security threats and attacks while ensuring a data-centric security model that is scalable to meet today’s digital demands on premise, at the edge and in the cloud. Our ability to provide value-added and expert services to our customers in these areas helps us to create greater value for the customer via a security posture that extends across all digital technologies within an organization. The complex nature of security controls and their consumption opens opportunities for e Plus to engage in recurring subscription models with our customers that include both technology and the operational services designed and executed to help mitigate risk and mature an organization’s cybersecurity posture. DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES ARE CREATING COMPLEXITY AND CHALLENGES FOR CUSTOMERS AND VENDORS The rapid evolution of disruptive technologies such as AI, and the speed by which they impact organizations’ IT platforms, has made it difficult for customers to effectively design, procure, implement, and manage their own IT systems. Disruption also increases the likelihood of security gaps leaving organizations vulnerable to attacks both internally and externally. Moreover, increased budget pressures, fewer internal resources, a fragmented vendor landscape and faster time-to-value expectations make it challenging for customers to design, implement and manage secure, efficient, and cost-effective IT environments. Customers are increasingly turning to IT solutions providers such as e Plus to implement complex IT offerings, including managed services, security architecture, software-defined infrastructure, cloud platforms, converged and hyper-converged infrastructures, big data analytics, and data protection. 4 Table of Contents LACK OF SUFFICIENT INTERNAL IT RESOURCES AT MID-SIZED AND LARGE ENTERPRISES, AND SCARCITY OF IT PERSONNEL IN CERTAIN HIGH-DEMAND DISCIPLINES We believe that IT departments at mid-sized and large enterprises are facing pressure to deliver business outcomes that rely on emerging technologies but lack the professionally trained staff and the ability to hire personnel with high in-demand disciplines such as security, solution architecture and data analytics. At the same time the prevalence of security threats, increased use of cloud platforms, AI, software-defined networking, new architectures, rapid software development frameworks, the proliferation of mobile devices, dispersed workforces, employees working from anywhere, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, and complexity of multi-vendor solutions have made it difficult for IT departments to implement high-quality IT solutions. REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF IT SOLUTIONS PROVIDERS We believe that customers are seeking to reduce the number of solutions providers they do business with to improve supply chain and internal efficiencies, enhance accountability, improve supplier management practices, and reduce costs. As a result, customers are selecting IT solutions providers that can deliver complex multi-vendor IT solutions. Vendor and tooling consolidation is also trending whereby solutions providers can bundle and enhance the value of offerings while simplifying technology footprints. INCREASING NEED FOR THIRD-PARTY SERVICES We believe that customers are relying on third-party service providers, such as e Plus, to manage significant aspects of their IT environment, from design, implementation, pre- and post-sales support, to maintenance, engineering, cloud management, security operations, and other services. OUR COMPETITION The market for IT solutions is highly competitive, subject to macro-economic cycles, and the entry of new competitors. Additionally, the market is subject to disruption from consolidation of existing market participants that will create larger competitors, by the introduction of disruptive technologies, and by other activities of industry participants. We expect to continue to compete in all areas of our business against local, regional, national, and international firms, including vendors, consulting firms, international, national, and regional resellers, and service providers. Some of our competitors are direct marketers with little value-add and sell products as commodities, which can place downward pressure on product pricing. In addition, many IT vendors may sell or lease directly to our customers, and our continued ability to compete effectively may be affected by the strategies and business practices of such vendors. Some Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are building and launching their own adoption and managed services to better ensure customer satisfaction and retainment. We face indirect competition from potential customers’ reluctance to move away from legacy systems, processes, and solutions providers. As IT consumption shifts from IT personnel and legacy infrastructure to line-of-business based outcomes using off-premise, on-demand, and cloud solutions, the legacy resale model has continued to shift from an upfront sale to a recurring revenue model. The leasing and financing markets are also competitive and subject to changing economic conditions and market activities of leading industry participants. We expect to continue to compete against local, regional, national, and international firms, including banks, specialty finance companies, private-equity asset managers, vendors’ captive finance companies, and third-party leasing companies. Banks and other large financial services companies sell directly to business customers, particularly larger enterprise customers, and may provide other financial or ancillary services that we do not provide. Vendor captive leasing companies may use internal transfer pricing to effectively lower lease rates and/or bundle equipment sales and leasing to provide highly competitive packages to customers. Third-party leasing companies may have deep customer relationships with contracts in place that are difficult to displace; however, these competitors typically do not provide the breadth of product, service, and software offerings that we provide to our customers. These competitors may have access to more capital to fund more originations than we do and may be better able to adapt to a rapidly changing interest rate environment. In all our markets, some of our competitors have longer operating histories and greater financial, technical, marketing, and other resources than we do. In addition, some of these competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new or changing opportunities, technologies, and customer requirements. Many current and potential competitors also have greater name recognition and engage in more extensive promotional marketing and advertising activities, offer more attractive terms to customers, and adopt more aggressive pricing policies than we do. 5 Table of Contents OUR OFFERINGS TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS SEGMENTS We provide a range of IT products and advanced professional and managed services to help our customers improve productivity, profitability, and revenue growth while reducing operating costs. We believe that our customers view technology purchases as integrated solutions, rather than discrete product and service categories, and most of our sales are derived from integrated solutions involving our customers’ data center, cloud, network, security, and collaboration infrastructure. We hold various technical and sales-related certifications from leading manufacturers and software publishers, which authorizes us to market their products and enables us to provide advanced professional and managed services. We actively engage with emerging vendors to offer their technologies to our customers. Our flexible platform and customizable catalogs facilitate the addition of new vendors’ products with minimal incremental effort. Our technology business segments provide the following products and services within their respective segments: Product segment: • IT sales provides hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and outsourced services. Managed services segment: • Managed services for infrastructure and cloud proactively monitor and manage a broad range of technologies on-premises and in the cloud with services such as Managed Services for Azure, Managed WebEx Calling, Managed WebEx Call Center, network and firewall management and Managed Power Protection to ensure support of a broad cross-section of technologies spanning multiple Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) solutions. These solutions are built in a flexible subscription model to monitor, manage, and maximize business critical technologies—including cloud, security, data center, mobility, and collaboration based on an ITIL Framework backed with SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 attestations. We also provide e Plus® Automated Virtual Assistant (AVA) for Collaboration Spaces. e Plus AVA TM uses robotic process automation accompanied by e Plus Managed Services to present an exceptional experience for users in video-enabled conference rooms and workspaces. • Enhanced Maintenance Support (EMS) or e Plus Lifecycle-Services Support (ELSS) simplifies our customers support experience with single-call support for multi-vendor environments. We provide 24x7x365 level 1, 2, and 3 support from dedicated engineers and a certified bench of experts. Our services are certified by our leading manufacturer partners. Various OEM solutions are e-Bonded or Smart-Bonded, providing bi-directional ticket synchronization to facilitate expedient resolution and a custom executive dashboard provides related lifecycle data to the customer for all contracted assets. • Service desk provides outsourced functions including, but not limited to, server and desktop and account management support to respond to our customers’ business demands while minimizing overhead. • Storage-as-a-Service is a solution powered by Pure Storage Evergreen//One that provides customers with on-premises storage in a consumption-based model with on-demand burst capacity, backed by Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and e Plus expert Enhanced Maintenance Support (EMS). This allows customers to consume storage in a cloud-like model in their data center addressing planned and/or unforeseen capacity needs resulting from ongoing cloud migrations and other parallel IT projects. • Cloud Hosted Services provide cloud-hosted offerings including Cloud Managed Backup and Cloud Disaster Recovery. These data protection offerings, delivered under SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA attestations, are focused on delivering confidence to our customers in their ability to rapidly recover when incidents such as ransomware occur. • Cloud Managed Services are focused on helping our customers consume public cloud in a way that reduces time-to-market for new applications, lowers their ongoing cloud costs, and increases security. By taking day-to-day cloud management off their hands, our clients can focus on the applications that drive their business. • Managed Security Services help customers strengthen their information security profile with industry-leading tools, technology, and expertise - often at a fraction of the cost of in-house security resources. Services include Security Operations Center (SOC), Vulnerability Management, Managed Detection and Response (MDR), and Incident Response (IR). 6 Table of Contents Professional services segment: • Professional services focus on cloud infrastructure, unified communications, collaboration, networking, storage, hyper-converged infrastructure, and virtual desktop infrastructure, supported by security and managed services solutions. • Staff augmentation services provide customers with flexible headcount options, which may range from service desk to infrastructure to software developer skills. Staff augmentation allows customers to access talent, fill specific technology skill gaps, or provide short-term or long-term IT professional help, which also includes services, such as Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) and Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO), used to complement existing personnel and build three-to-five-year IT roadmaps. • Project management services enhance productivity and collaboration management and enable successful implementations and adoption of solutions for our customers. • Cloud Consulting Services is a global team of architects and consultants focused on assessing customer workloads for cloud, assisting with the selection of the appropriate cloud solution, design and build of cloud platforms, application modernization and migration, automation, and ongoing management and optimization of cloud platforms. • Consulting Services helps customers strategize ways to ensure their business has maximum agility. By leveraging our extensive portfolio of Consulting Services, customers will gain technology-driven insight and guidance to make smarter decisions, to improve efficiencies, maximize return on technology investments, and provide actionable intelligence. • Security solutions help safeguard our customers’ business and information assets, including: o Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) services help ensure customers are meeting governance and compliance requirements by leveraging regulatory frameworks, industry best practices, and supporting controls, thereby allowing customers to effectively identify, assess, and mitigate risk. o Technology Introduction and Deployment services help customers rapidly adopt and integrate key security controls and embrace efficiencies across technology types like network, endpoint, data, and cloud. FINANCING BUSINESS SEGMENT We specialize in financing arrangements, including sales-type and operating leases, loans, and consumption-based financing arrangements, as well as underwriting and management and disposal of IT equipment and assets. Our financing operations include sales, pricing, credit, contracts, accounting, risk management, and asset management. We primarily finance IT equipment, communication-related equipment, and medical equipment. We may also finance industrial machinery and equipment, office furniture and general office equipment, transportation equipment, and other general business equipment. We offer our solutions both directly and through vendors. We offer enhanced financing solutions, and our business process services approach automates a significant portion of the IT procurement process and reduces our customers’ cost of doing business. The solution incorporates value-added services at every step in the process, including: • Front-end processing, such as procurement, order aggregation, order automation, vendor performance measurement, ordering, reconciliation, and payment. • Lifecycle and asset ownership services, including asset management, change management, and property tax filing. • End-of-life services such as equipment audit, removal, and disposal. 7 Table of Contents OUR COMPETITIVE STRENGTHS BROAD SKILL SETS THAT CAN SCALE TO SUPPORT LARGE ADDRESSABLE MARKET We sell IT solutions focusing on the data center, cloud, network, security, virtualization, and mobility segments of the industry, facilitated by our professional and managed service solutions. We primarily target our sales efforts toward middle-market and large commercial entities, state and local governments, education, and healthcare customers throughout the US and in certain markets in Europe and Asia. We believe IT departments in these organizations are facing pressure to deliver higher service levels with fewer resources, increasing their reliance on third parties who can provide complex, multi-vendor technology solutions, such as our company. BROAD AND DIVERSE CUSTOMER BASE ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF END MARKETS We have a broad and diverse customer base of 4,600 customers across a wide range of end-markets, including education, financial services, healthcare, media and entertainment, state and local government, technology, and telecommunications. DIFFERENTIATED BUSINESS MODEL SERVING ENTIRE IT LIFECYCLE – PROCUREMENT, SOLUTIONS, SERVICES, SOFTWARE, FINANCING We believe we are a trusted IT advisor to our customers, delivering differentiated products and services to enable our customers to meet increasingly complex IT requirements. We can provide complete, turn-key solutions aligned to the entire IT lifecycle – procurement, products, services, software, and financing. We provide upfront assessments, design and configuration capabilities, installation and implementation, and ongoing services to support our customers’ solutions. DEEP EXPERTISE IN ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY TO ADDRESS CLOUD, SECURITY, SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKING, WIFI/5G, AND OTHER EMERGING IT TRENDS We believe our customers choose us for their complex IT infrastructure needs based on our track record of delivering best-of-breed solutions, value-added services, and close relationships with both established and emerging vendors. We focus on obtaining and maintaining top-level engineering certifications and professional services expertise in advanced technologies of strategic vendors that we leverage to help our customers achieve positive business outcomes. Throughout our company, we have more than 850 employees that collectively hold over 7,000 certifications, including over 3,800 technical certifications. Our highly skilled, experienced personnel include account executives, pre-sales and inside-sales staff trained on our broad solutions capabilities and category-focused subject-matter experts. We have over 1,950 unique certification titles, with a heavy concentration in our top vendor partners. STRATEGIC ABILITY TO DESIGN AND INTEGRATE CLOUD SOLUTIONS ACROSS MULTIPLE VENDORS We believe our expertise across both data center and cloud architectures allows us to provide differentiated offerings in assisting our customers with their journey to the cloud. Combined with our established practices in networking and security, we are uniquely poised to help customers adopt a multi-cloud strategy utilizing our cloud cost management and FinOps framework to help overcome the inherent challenges. We leverage our strategic partnerships with leading vendors such as Amazon Web Services, Cisco Systems, Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Microsoft, NetApp, Rubrik, and VMware in conjunction with our professional, managed and lifecycle services to help our customers achieve their desired business outcomes. 8 Table of Contents STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS IN EXPERIENCED CYBERSECURITY PRACTITIONERS TO GUIDE CUSTOMERS RISK MITIGATION STRATEGIES We believe our organizational structure and resources in both security advisory services and technology teams best enable our consulting teams to deliver clear business outcomes for our customers looking to identify and mitigate risk to their organizations. While developing threats, new regulations and cyber liability insurance premiums continue to increase, putting pressure on stakeholders and stockholders, we continue to invest in our service delivery capabilities and align with industry leading cybersecurity OEMs to help ensure our customers are accelerating their security programs and leveraging the latest capabilities to harden defenses and ensure preparedness against threats to their business. PROVEN TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESSFULLY INTEGRATING ACQUISITIONS AND ACCELERATING GROWTH We view acquisitions as a crucial factor in our strategic growth plan. Since 1997, we have successfully integrated nearly 30 acquisitions. Most recently, we have been active in tuck-in acquisitions to broaden our product offerings, sector reach, and geographic footprint. We generally integrate acquired firms into the e Plus platform immediately, which allows us to maintain customer and vendor relationships, retain key employees from acquired firms, and accelerate growth. We continue to review new acquisition opportunities to expand our global footprint and expand our offerings. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZED BY GROWTH AND PROFITABILITY We have focused on achieving top-line revenue growth while maintaining industry-leading gross margins – with a compound annual growth rate of 8.8% on net sales and 8.9% for consolidated gross profit, respectively, from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2024. Through our organic expansion and acquisitions, we have increased our employee count by 20.3% from March 31, 2020, to March 31, 2024. The increase in our employee base has largely been in customer facing roles, which represented 82.2% of the total increase in headcount over the same period, as we continue to build our sales and services team while leveraging our operational infrastructure. OUR GROWTH STRATEGY Our goal is to continue to grow as a leading provider of technology solutions. The key elements of our strategy include the following: BE OUR CUSTOMERS’ PARTNER OF CHOICE FOR COMPREHENSIVE IT AND LIFECYCLE SOLUTIONS, INCLUDING CONSULTING, MANAGED AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, AND FINANCING We seek to become the primary provider of IT solutions and flexible financing solutions for each of our customers, whether on-premise, cloud, hybrid or as a service provider. We strive to provide excellent customer service, pricing, availability, and advanced professional and managed services in an efficient manner. We believe the increasing complexity of the IT ecosystem and the emergence of new technologies, vendors, licensing, and service options are factors that will lead to a growing demand from existing customers. We have many experienced pre-sales engineers who engage with customers about the most advanced technologies. Our account executives are trained on our broad solutions capabilities with access to many category-focused subject-matter experts, which allow them to sell in a consultative business outcome-based manner that increases the likelihood of cross-selling our solutions. Our account executives are supported by experienced and professional inside sales representatives. Our Customer Experience (CX) lifecycle organization helps customers maximize the benefit of their purchases and to cultivate trusting long-term relationships that yield greater agility, better outcomes, faster ROI, and stronger resiliency. We believe that our bundled offerings are an important differentiating factor from our competitors. We focus on gaining top-level engineering certifications and professional services expertise in advanced technologies of strategic vendors. This expertise helps our customers develop their cloud capabilities including private, public, and hybrid deployments. We provide virtual desktop infrastructure, unified communications, collaboration, networking, security, storage, big data, mobility, converged and hyper-converged infrastructures, and managed services segment offerings, all of which remain in high demand. We believe our ability to deliver advanced professional services provides benefits in two ways. First, we gain recognition and mindshare of our strategic vendor partners and become the “go-to” partner in selected regional markets as well as the national market. This significantly increases direct and referral sales opportunities for our products and services and allows us to offer competitive pricing levels. Second, within our existing and potential customer base, our advanced professional services are a key differentiator against competitors who cannot provide services or advanced services for these key technologies or across multiple vendor product lines. 9 Table of Contents Our managed services segment portfolio includes AWS, Microsoft Azure, Automated Virtual Assistant (AVA) for collaboration, Managed SDWAN, Service Desk, Carrier Expense Management, Cloud Cost Optimization, Vulnerability Management as a Service (VMaaS), Managed Unified Communication Manager (UCM), Hyperflex, Nutanix, WebEx Calling, WebEx Contact Center, Managed Power Protection, Storage as a Service and numerous other managed infrastructure offerings. We continue to increase our breadth and depth of engineering expertise through the integration of recent acquisitions, supplementing our Cisco service offerings, expanding our Palo Alto Enhanced Maintenance Support (EMS) portfolio, and adding support for additional market leading security solutions. Our managed services segment portfolio continues to evolve so that e Plus annuity-based service solutions are represented within a single service management platform, leveraging the latest technologies to enhance customer experience. BUILD OUR GEOGRAPHIC FOOTPRINT We intend to increase our direct sales and go-to-market capabilities in each of our geographic areas. We actively seek to acquire new account relationships through personal relationships, electronic commerce, leveraging our partnerships with vendors, and targeted demand-generation activities to increase awareness of our solutions. We also seek to broaden our customer base, expand our geographic reach, and improve our technology and professional services delivery capabilities. During the last fiscal year, we continued to expand our sales and delivery capabilities across multiple international markets as we see more demand for solutions within this market. RECRUIT, RETAIN, AND DEVELOP EMPLOYEES Based on our prior experience, capital structure, and business systems and processes, we believe we are well positioned to hire experienced sales representatives and engineers, make strategic acquisitions that expand our customer facing talent, broaden our customer base, expand our geographic reach, scale our existing operating structure, and/or enhance our product and service offerings. Part of our growth strategy is to hire purposefully and enhance our technical skill base through strategic acquisitions. Once recruited, we believe that our culture, competitive performance-based compensation, policies, and labor practices contribute to strong relations with our employees. We offer a range of affordable and flexible benefits options to assist with health and well-being. As our employees are an important resource to us, we invest in their ongoing professional development. Our education program provides financial support for employees who want to participate in undergraduate and graduate studies, continuing education, skill building including technical certifications, and other professional enrichment related to their position with e Plus. We offer employees an employee stock purchase program (ESPP) pursuant to which our employees may purchase our common stock at a discount. IMPROVE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES We continue to invest in our internal technology infrastructure and software platforms to scale our infrastructure for growth, while optimizing our operations and engaging in process re-engineering efforts to become more streamlined and cost effective. OUR SALES AND MARKETING We focus our sales and marketing efforts on becoming the primary provider of IT solutions for each of our customers. We actively seek to acquire new account relationships through personal relationships, electronic commerce, leveraging our partnerships with vendors, and targeted demand-generation activities to increase awareness of our solutions. We target middle-market and large commercial entities and SLED institutions. We undertake direct marketing and leverage digital marketing and social media campaigns to target certain markets in conjunction with our primary vendor partners, who may provide financial reimbursement, outsourced services, and personnel to assist us in these efforts. Our sales representatives are compensated by a combination of salary and commission, with commission becoming the primary component of compensation as the sales representatives gain experience. To date, we acquired most of our customers through the efforts of our direct sales force and acquisitions. We market to different areas within a customer’s organization, including business units as well as the IT department, lines of business, or finance department, depending on the solutions. 10 Table of Contents As of March 31, 2024, our sales force consisted of 719 sales, marketing and sales support personnel organized regionally across the US, UK, India, and Singapore. OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS Our success depends in part upon proprietary business methodologies and technologies that we have licensed and modified. Although we believe the protection afforded by our patents, copyrights, trademarks, contractual rights and trade secrets has value, the rapidly changing technology in the IT industry and uncertainties in the domestic and international legal process is inherently unpredictable and there is no assurance that we will prevail in challenges to our intellectual property. We own certain software programs or have entered into software licensing agreements to provide services to our customers. We rely on a combination of copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secret protection, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, licensing arrangements and other contractual provisions to establish and protect our intellectual property rights. We seek to protect our documentation and other written materials and confidential corporate information under contract, trade secret and copyright laws, which afford only limited protection. We currently have patents in the US. We cannot provide assurance that any patents, as issued, will prevent the development of competitive products or that our patents will not be successfully challenged by others or invalidated through the administrative process or litigation. Additionally, we have registered and common-law trademarks. In the US, our registered trademarks include e +®, e Plus®, OneSource®, Where Technology Means More® and GRIT: Girls Re-Imagining Tomorrow®. We have registered IGXGlobal®, and IGXGlobal an e Plus Technology, inc. Company® and certain variations thereon in the UK and the EU. We intend to use and protect these and our other marks, including common-law marks, as we deem necessary. We also have over 20 registered copyrights, in addition to unregistered copyrights in our website content, software, marketing and other written materials. We do not maintain a traditional research and development group, but we work closely with computer product manufacturers and other technology developers to stay abreast of the latest developments in computer technology, with respect to the products we both sell and use. For example, we recognize AI as a potentially transformational force and anticipate that AI will significantly impact our product offerings and the business operations of our clientele in the long run. OUR FINANCIAL AND RISK MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES Inventory Management : We do not purchase inventory as stock. We purchase inventory at our customers’ request to order products usually from a purchase order from our customer. In addition, we have drop-shipment arrangements with many of our vendors and distributors, which permit us to offer products to our customers without taking physical delivery of the equipment. Using the distribution systems available, we frequently sell products that are shipped from the vendors or distributors directly to our customers’ locations, which assists us in reducing inventory and minimizing shipping costs. For the year ended March 31, 2024, our three largest distributors, Ingram Micro, Arrow Electronics, and TD SYNNEX, collectively accounted for over 25% of our purchases related to our product segment net sales. Risk Management and Process Controls : We use and maintain conservative underwriting policies and disciplined credit approval processes in our technology business segments and our financing business segment. We have an executive management review process and other internal controls in place to evaluate transactions’ potential risk. In our technology business segments, we manage our risk by using conservative credit quality analysis and periodic monitoring of customer financial results or third-party risk evaluation tools; monitoring customer accounts receivable balances and payment history; proactively pursuing delinquent accounts; ensuring we have appropriate contractual terms and conditions; perfecting security interests when practicable; requiring prepayment or deposits if indicated; performing fraud checks for new accounts; and evaluating general economic as well as industry specific trends. Our systems automatically decrease trade credit lines based on assigned risk ratings. 11 Table of Contents In our financing business segment, we manage our risk in assets we finance by assigning the contractual payments due under the financing arrangement to third-parties and the continued monitoring of our customers’ credit profile. We also use agency purchase orders to procure equipment for lease to our customers and otherwise take measures to minimize our inventory of financed assets. When our technology business segments are the supplier of the assets being financed, we retain certain procurement risks. Our financing arrangements with our customers are generally fixed rate. OUR HUMAN CAPITAL Our employees are an important resource for us, and their collective dedication and talent enable us to be a trusted advisor to our customers. As of March 31, 2024, we employed a total of 1,900 employees, including 1,847 in the US, 27 in India, 25 in the UK, and 1 in Singapore. We believe we have a good relationship with our employees, with twenty percent of our employee base having a tenure of ten or more years. None of our employees are represented by a labor union. OUR CULTURE We are an equal opportunity employer, dedicated to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture that represents diversity, enables inclusion, and makes our employees feel comfortable bringing their full, unique selves to work. This includes providing an inclusive, safe, and supportive workplace, free of unlawful harassment or discrimination. Through our policies, our training, and the everyday actions of our leadership, we expect our employees to treat each other, our customers, and all our business partners with respect and equality for all persons consistent with our “Be Safe, Be Smart, and Be Kind” motto. Corporate social responsibility is also an important part of our culture, and we focus efforts around supporting the communities in which we live and work. These efforts include participating in One Tree Planted, Habitat for Humanity, Tech in Pink (which raises money to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation) and the National Marrow Donor Program. Since 2017, we have sponsored GRIT: Girls Re-Imagining Tomorrow® in partnership with Cisco Systems, Inc. GRIT introduces diverse groups of middle school girls to technology-focused career possibilities, with an emphasis on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Students have opportunities to learn about the many possibilities in technology-focused companies and participate in hands-on technology-focused learning with top industry representatives and community mentors. In 2023, GRIT kicked off a new program year at eight schools across the country, with more than 90 students participating. Since its inception, GRIT has graduated over 300 participants and continues to grow each year. FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF OUR EMPLOYEE BASE The functional areas of our employees are as follows: As of March 31, 2024 2023 Change Sales and marketing 719 644 75 Professional services 816 750 66 Administration 359 354 5 Executive management 6 6 - Total 1,900 1,754 146 ATTRACTING TALENT While we operate in a competitive labor environment, we believe that that our culture, policies and labor practices, and our competitive performance-based compensation contribute to strong relations with our employees. We offer a range of affordable and flexible benefits options to assist with health and well-being, and at the request of our employees, in 2022 we adopted an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. We have a flexible work from home strategy. As a highly technical company with mature collaboration tools, our hybrid model helps us recruit and maintain talent while meeting our customer commitments. 12 Table of Contents TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT As our employees are a crucial resource to us, we invest in their ongoing professional development. Our education program provides financial support for employees who want to participate in undergraduate and graduate studies, continuing education, skill building including technical certifications, and other professional enrichment related to their position with e Plus. All employees are supported in, and expected to, remain current in the knowledge areas relevant to their position. We recognize our employee successes in many ways. We award top performers in our sales and services departments with awards and gifts, including a “President’s Club” trip. We also promote employee engagement and recognition through our e Plus Recognition platform where employees can announce and/or thank other employees for their efforts and receive awards. In addition, we recognize support staff with our annual Executive Choice Awards, and we recognize employees who perform an exceptional act of community service with our CEO Degrees of Excellence award. In addition, we have developed career paths for most functional areas to illustrate the many career paths within e Plus. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (“SEC”) REPORTS Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports, filed with or furnished to the SEC, are available free of charge through our Internet website, www.eplus.com , as soon as reasonably practical after we have electronically filed such material with, or furnished it to, the SEC. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov . The contents on or accessible through these websites are not incorporated into this filing. Further, our references to the URLs for these websites are intended to be inactive textual references only. ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS Many factors could adversely affect our business, results of operations and cash flows, some of which are beyond our control. The following is a description of some important factors that may cause our business prospects, results of operations and cash flows in future periods to differ materially from those currently expected or desired. Factors not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial may also materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and cash flows. RISKS SPECIFIC TO OUR BUSINESS If one or more of our large volume customers significantly reduces purchasing from us, our results of operations may be affected. The contracts for the provision of products and services from us to our customers are generally non-exclusive agreements without volume purchase commitments and are terminable by either party upon 30 days’ notice. A material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows could result from one or more such customers’ failure to pay amounts due to us, reducing amounts purchased from us, or ceasing to purchase from us. As of March 31, 2024, and 2023, our accounts receivable-trade balance included approximately 17% and 13%, respectively, concentration of invoices due from Verizon Communications Inc. We may fail to innovate, develop, or sell new solutions which align with changing market and customer demand, and we may fail to provide our services to a professional standard, and we face substantial competition from other companies, including certain larger, well-established companies. As a provider of a comprehensive set of technology solutions, which involves the offering of bundled solutions consisting of direct IT sales, advanced professional and managed services, our propriety software, and financing, we expect to encounter some of the challenges, risks, and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies providing bundled solutions in rapidly evolving markets. Some of these challenges include our ability to increase the total number of users of our services, adapt to meet changes in our markets and competitive developments, or continue to update our technology to enhance the features and functionality of our suite of products. Our personnel must continually stay current with vendor and marketplace technology advancements, develop solutions which may integrate evolving and multiple vendor products and services, as well as services and solutions we provide, to meet changing marketplace and customer demand. Further, we may provide customized solutions and services that are solely reliant on our own marketing, design, and fulfillment services, and we may lack the skills or personnel to execute. Our failure to innovate and provide bespoke value to our customers may erode our competitive position, market share and lead to reduced revenue and financial performance. 13 Table of Contents We provide consulting services, project related services, service desk and managed services, and staffing to our customers. We may fail to design or execute a service in accordance with our contract which results in an error or omission, or in accordance with professional standards which may bring harm to our customers. Such harm could include technological or human failure that results in a cyber-related data breach, privacy incident, or other event that adversely impacts our customers’ IT systems and/or business processes. In all our markets, some of our competitors have longer operating histories and greater financial, technical, marketing, and other resources than we do. In addition, some of these competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new or changing opportunities, technologies, and customer requirements such as generative artificial intelligence. Many current competitors may have, and potential competitors may have, greater name recognition, greater financial, technical, research and development or other resources, engage in more extensive promotional marketing and advertising activities, offer more attractive terms to customers, broader distribution and established relationships with vendors and end customers, the ability to leverage their sales efforts across a broader portfolio of products, and adopt more aggressive pricing and credit policies than we do. In addition, large competitors may have more extensive relationships with and within existing and potential customers that provide them with an advantage in competing for business with those customers. Our ability to compete will depend upon our ability to provide a better solution than our competitors at a more competitive price. We may be required to make substantial additional investments in research, development, marketing and sales in order to respond to competition, and we cannot assure you that these investments will achieve any returns for us or that we will be able to compete successfully in the future. In our technology business segments, we compete in all areas of our business against local, regional, national, and international firms, including other direct marketers; national and regional resellers; online marketplace competitors; and regional, national, and international service providers. In addition, we face competition from vendors, which may choose to market their products directly to end-users, rather than through channel partners such as our company, and this could adversely affect our future sales. Many competitors compete principally based on price and may have lower costs or accept lower selling prices than we do and, therefore, our gross margins may not be maintainable. Online marketplace competitors are continually improving their pricing and offerings to customers as well as ease of use of their online marketplaces. Our competitors may offer better or different products and services than we offer. In addition, we do not have guaranteed purchasing volume commitments from our customers and, therefore, our sales volume may be volatile. In our financing business segment, we face competition from many sources including much larger companies with greater financial resources. Our competition may originate from vendors of the products we finance or financial partners who choose to market directly to customers through the vendors’ captive leasing organization or large or regional financial institutions such as banks with substantially lower cost of funds. Our competition may lower lease rates to increase market share. Historically, our financing business segment is very transaction-based and has had volatility in its results of operations primarily due to large transaction gains derived from significant transactions with system integrators where the federal government is the end user, and customer-driven events such as early buyouts or terminations. These transactions are unpredictable and often outsized. There is no guarantee that we will continue to originate large transaction gains or that customers will drive large post contract earnings in the future. 14 Table of Contents We rely on a small number of key vendors in our supply chain, and do not have long-term supply or guaranteed price agreements or assurance of inventory availability with our vendors. A substantial portion of our revenue within our technology business segments depend on a small number of key vendors. Products manufactured by Cisco Systems represented approximately 44%, 40%, and 39% of net sales of our combined technology business segments for the years ended March 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively. Products manufactured by NetApp, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP Inc., Juniper Networks, Dell/EMC, and Arista Networks, collectively represented approximately 23% - 25% of net sales of our combined technology business segments for the last three years. We may also be adversely affected by consolidation among our vendors, such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed acquisition of Juniper Networks. Manufacturing interruptions or delays, including as a result of the financial instability or bankruptcy of manufacturers, changes to or the addition of trade laws, duties or tariffs, currency fluctuations, significant labor disputes such as strikes, natural disasters, political or social unrest, international conflicts, pandemics, other public health crises, or other adverse events affecting any aspect of our vendors’ business, could disrupt our supply chain. We may experience product constraints due to the unavailability of raw materials or components, delays in shipping, failure of vendors to accurately forecast customer demand or to manufacture or otherwise obtain sufficient quantities of product or component parts to meet customer demand, among other reasons. If we experience significant supply chain disruptions, we may not be able to develop alternate sourcing quickly on favorable terms, if at all, which could result in increased costs, loss of sales and a loss of customers, and adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we are experiencing price increases from our suppliers as a result of an inflationary environment. Our intention is to pass along the price increases to our customers but that may not be possible for all cost increases. Some manufacturers and suppliers have instituted policies to disallow order cancellations. We may be at risk if a customer cancels an order with us, and we cannot cancel our corresponding order with the supplier. As we do not stock inventory that is not related to an order we have received from our customers, we depend upon the supply of products available from our vendors to fulfill orders from our customers on a timely basis. The loss of a key vendor or changes in its policies could adversely impact our financial results. Alleged or actual violations of a contract that results in either the termination of our ability to sell the product or a decrease in our certification level with the vendor could adversely impact our financial results. In addition, a reduction in the trade credit lines or the favorable terms granted to us by our vendors and financial partners could increase our need for, and the cost of, working capital and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Breaches of data security and the failure to protect our information technology systems and confidential information from cybersecurity threats, our inability to maintain compliance with data privacy laws and regulations, or misuse of our customers’ or employees’ information could adversely impact our business. Our business involves the storage and/or transmission of proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data, including personal information of our employees, customers, and others. In addition, we rely on our vendors that provide goods and services to us to maintain appropriate security measures to protect our operations. Also, we operate data centers for our customers that host their technology infrastructure and may store and transmit both business-critical data and confidential information. In connection with our services business, some of our employees also may have access to our customers’ confidential data and other information. We have privacy and data security policies in place that are designed to prevent security breaches; however, as newer technologies emerge, and the portfolio of the service providers with whom we share sensitive information grows, we could be exposed to increased risk of breaches in data security and other illegal or fraudulent acts, including ransomware attacks and other types of cyberattacks. The evolving nature of such threats, considering new and sophisticated methods used by criminals and cyberterrorists, including computer viruses, malware, phishing, social engineering, and forgery, are making it increasingly challenging to anticipate and adequately mitigate these risks. As a high percentage of our employees work from home more often than in our offices, we are highly reliant on the availability and functionality of our information systems to enable our operations. Working from home may increase risk of data loss, including privacy-related events. If our information systems are not operational for reasons which may include cybersecurity attacks, data center failures, failures by telecom providers to provide services to our business and to our employees’ homes, as well as the home offices of our vendors’ and customers’ employees, power failures, or failures of cloud application software such as SaaS based software, our business and financial results may be adversely impacted. 15 Table of Contents If third-parties or our employees are able to maliciously penetrate our network security or otherwise misappropriate our customers’ information or employees’ personal information, or other information for which our customers may be responsible and for which we agree to be responsible in connection with service contracts into which we may enter, or if we give third-parties or our employees improper access to certain information, we could be subject to liability. This liability could include claims for unauthorized access to devices on our network; unauthorized access to our customers’ or suppliers’ networks, hardware, applications, data, devices, or software; unauthorized purchases with credit card information; and identity theft or other similar fraud-related claims. This liability could also include claims for other misuses of or inappropriate access to personal information. Other liability could include claims alleging misrepresentation of our privacy and data security practices. Any such liability for misappropriation of this information could decrease our profitability. We could incur additional expenses when new laws or regulations regarding the use, safeguarding, or privacy of information are enacted, or interpreted if governmental agencies require us to substantially modify our privacy or security practices. We could fail to comply with international and domestic data privacy laws, the violation of which may result in audits, fines, penalties, litigation, or administrative enforcement actions with associated costs. Third parties, such as hackers, could circumvent or sabotage the security practices and products used in our product and service offerings, and/or the security practices or products used in our internal IT systems, which could result in disclosure of sensitive or personal information, unauthorized procurement, or other business interruptions that could damage our reputation and disrupt our business, as well as that of our customers. Attacks may range from random attempts to coordinated and targeted attacks, including sophisticated computer crime and advanced persistent threats. Advances in technology, new discoveries in the field of cryptography, quantum computing, or artificial intelligence, other events or developments may result in a compromise or breach of the security practices we use to protect sensitive customer transaction information and employee information. A party that can circumvent our security measures could misappropriate proprietary information or cause interruptions in our operations. Further, third parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or customers into disclosing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, or other information or otherwise compromise the security of our internal networks and/or our customers’ information. Since techniques used to obtain unauthorized access change frequently and the impact and severity of security breaches are increasing, we may be unable to implement adequate preventative measures or timely identify or stop security breaches while they are occurring. We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect against security breaches or to remediate the subsequent risks and issues caused by such breaches. Our security measures are designed to protect against security breaches, but our failure to prevent such security breaches could cause us to incur significant expense to investigate and respond to a security breach and remediate any problems caused by any breach, subject us to liability, damage our reputation, and diminish the value of our brand. There can be no assurance that the limitations of liability in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any such liabilities or damages with respect to any claim. We also cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage for errors and omissions or security breaches will continue to be available on acceptable terms or in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims, or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or changes in our insurance policies, including additional exclusions, premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We depend on having creditworthy customers to avoid an adverse impact on our operating results and financial condition. Our financing business segment and our technology business segments require sufficient amounts of debt or equity capital to fund our equipment purchases. If the credit quality of our customer base materially decreases, or if we experience a material increase in our credit losses, including by the federal government’s actual or attempted termination for convenience or other contract termination, we may find it difficult to continue to obtain the required capital for our business, and our results from operations may be affected. In addition to the impact on our ability to acquire capital, a material increase in our delinquency and default experience would itself have a material adverse effect on our business, and results from operations. Many of our customers may be susceptible to changes in their industries, challenges to their business models, economic slowdowns or recessions, or other adverse events and may be unable to pay for their purchases or repay the leases or notes receivable or multi-year agreements such as maintenance or software subscription agreements to us or repayment may be extended by our customers or us. Therefore, our non-performing assets may increase, and the value of our portfolio may decrease during these periods as we are required to record our investments at their current fair value. Adverse economic conditions also may decrease the value of collateral securing some of our loans and the value of our equity investments. Economic slowdowns or recessions could lead to financial losses in our portfolio and a decrease in revenues, net earnings, and assets in our financing segment. Unfavorable economic conditions including inflation and/or an increase in interest rates also could increase our financing segment’s funding costs, limit our access to capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. These events could prevent us from increasing our financing portfolio and harm our operating results. 16 Table of Contents We may not be able to hire and/or retain personnel that we need. To increase market awareness and sales of our offerings, we may need to expand our marketing efforts and sales operations in the future. Our products and services require a sophisticated sales effort and significant technical engineering talent. For example, our sales and engineering candidates must possess a high degree of technical acumen, including hardware and software knowledge, to create customized solutions for our customers’ business processes. Competition for qualified sales, marketing and engineering personnel fluctuates depending on market conditions. We are currently experiencing a competitive labor market not only for our sales, marketing, and engineering roles, but for all our roles including support and administrative positions, and as such are experiencing wage increases. New laws requiring public posting of compensation information may also contribute to wage increases. If we are unable to pass these increases to our customers, our financial results may be adversely affected. We provide certain professional and managed services under fixed price contracts. If we fail to accurately estimate our costs, including due to wage or other inflation, the profitability of our contracts may be adversely affected. Wage inflation may adversely impact our ability to hire and retain personnel, which may impact our ability to acquire, retain and serve our customers. Additionally, the loss of senior leaders or the failure to successfully implement a succession plan could adversely affect our ability to execute strategies and manage operations. In addition, changes to immigration laws may impact our ability to hire or retain talent. Hiring and retention is difficult to manage, particularly in light of continually evolving laws relating to noncompete and non-solicitation agreements, including the Federal Trade Commission’s rule banning most noncompete agreements, which is currently being challenged by several business entities. In some cases, our competitors have required their employees to agree to non-compete and/or non-solicitation agreements as part of their employment, and in some cases, we may not be able to enforce similar restrictions. Both scenarios present challenges and potential costs. Additionally, in some cases our relationship with a customer may be impacted by turnover in our sales or engineering teams. We depend on third-party companies to perform certain of our obligations to our customers, which if not performed adequately could cause significant disruption to our business. We rely on arrangements with third parties to perform certain professional services, staffing services, managed services, maintenance, warranties, configuration services, and other services for our customers. If these third-parties do not perform these services in accordance with the terms of our agreement and to a professional standard customary for the services, including if their services include an error or omission, or if they cause disruption of, or security weaknesses within, our customers’ businesses, results to our organization could include legal claims and associated costs, monetary damages paid to our customers, and an adverse effect on our customer and other business partner relationships, our brand, our reputation, and our results of operations or cash flows could be affected. In addition, the acquisition by our competitors of third-party companies that we are relying upon to perform certain of our customer obligations may impact our revenue. We rely on independent shipping companies to deliver products from us and our vendors to our customers. The failure or inability of these shipping companies to deliver products, or the lack of availability of their shipping services, even temporarily, could have an adverse effect on our business. We may also be adversely affected by an increase in freight surcharges that may result from economic, supply-chain, geopolitical, or other disruptions. 17 Table of Contents We may experience a reduction in incentives offered to us and earned by us from our vendors that would affect our earnings. We receive payments and credits from vendors, including consideration pursuant to volume incentive programs, shared marketing expense programs, and early pay discounts. These programs are usually of finite terms and may not be renewed or may be changed in a way that adversely affects us. Vendor funding is used to offset inventory costs, costs of goods sold, marketing costs and other operating expenses. Certain of these funds are based on our volume of purchases, growth rate of purchases, and marketing programs. If we do not grow our sales over prior periods, or if we do not comply with the terms of these programs, or do not sell certain products or sufficient quantity of products that earn the incentive, there could be a material negative effect on the number of incentives offered or amounts paid to us by vendors. Supply chain constraints and staffing challenges may affect our ability to meet these volume requirements and may affect our and our vendors’ ability to engage in marketing programs. We may not continue to receive such incentives or may not be able to collect outstanding amounts relating to these incentives in a timely manner, or at all. Any sizeable reduction in, the discontinuance of, a significant delay in receiving, or the inability to collect such incentives, particularly related to incentive programs with our largest vendors, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If we are unable to react timely to any fundamental changes in the programs of vendors, including the elimination of funding for some of the activities for which we have been compensated in the past, such changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. We may not have adequately designed or maintained our IT platforms for internal use or solutions we offer to our customers or have adequate or competent IT personnel to support our business, or we may have inadequate training and technology safeguards to prevent a cyber event. We depend heavily upon the accuracy and reliability of our information technology, telecommunication, cybersecurity, and other platforms which are used for customer management, sales, distribution, marketing, purchasing, inventory management, order processing and fulfillment, customer service and general accounting functions. We must continually maintain, secure, and improve our systems. We may not properly select or implement software which may result in the lack of data integrity within or between systems, increase our costs or impair our control environment or may lead to other negative impacts on our business or results. We may need to implement new software, or update existing software and processes, to be compliant with rapidly evolving data privacy laws, which may incur costs and impact data integrity. The protections we have in place address a variety of threats to our information technology systems, both internal and external, including human error. Inadequate security practices or design of our IT systems, or IT systems from third parties which we utilize, or third-party service providers’ failure to provide adequate services could result in the disclosure of sensitive or confidential information or personal information or cause other business interruptions that could damage our reputation and disrupt our business. Inadequate design or interruption of our information systems, telecommunications systems or power failures could have a material adverse effect on our business, our reputation, financial condition, cash flows, or results of operations. Our managed services segment requires us to monitor our customers’ devices on their networks across varying levels of service. If we have not designed our IT systems to provide this service accurately or if there is a security breach in our IT system or the customers’ systems, we may be liable for claims. In addition, we rely on our managed services personnel to perform this monitoring service. Illness or insufficient staffing, or improper training, performance, or supervision may negatively affect the services we provide our customers resulting in decreased revenue and the potential for litigation. Products as complex as those used to provide our solutions and services, including our cloud automation solutions, can contain unknown and undetected errors, performance problems, or use open-source code. We may identify serious defects following the introduction of new products or enhancements to existing products. Undetected errors or performance problems may be discovered in the future and certain errors we consider to be minor may be serious to our customers. Our products and our automation solutions may be inadvertently harmed, such as during a product integration or upgrade, or may be circumvented or sabotaged by third parties such as hackers, which could result in the disclosure of sensitive information or personal information, unauthorized procurement, or cause other business interruptions that could damage our reputation and disrupt our business. Attacks may range from random attempts to coordinated and targeted attacks, including sophisticated computer crime and advanced persistent threats. In addition, our customers may experience a loss in connectivity to our proprietary solutions because of a power loss at our data center, interruption in internet availability, or defects in our solutions. This could result in lost revenues, business interruption, delays in customer acceptance, security breaches, and unforeseen liabilities that could be detrimental to our reputation and to our business. 18 Table of Contents We rely on the competency of our internal IT personnel. Our failure to hire, develop, retain, and supervise competent IT personnel to secure our data, as well as design and maintain a resilient technology ecosystem including our data and voice networks, infrastructure, and applications, could significantly interrupt our business causing a negative impact on our results. Additionally, along with our technological safeguards, we rely on our employees’ vigilance and security awareness to protect against cyber-based attacks. Our failure to sufficiently train and supervise our employees to guard against such attacks could result in a significant interruption in our business, and negative impact on our results. The terms of our Credit Facility or lines of credit with our vendors or loss thereof may restrict our current and future operations, which could adversely affect our ability to respond to changes in our business and to manage our operations. Our technology business, primarily through our subsidiary e Plus Technology, inc., finances its operations with funds generated from operations, and with a credit facility with Wells Fargo Commercial Distribution Finance, LLC, and its agents or (“WFCDF”). This facility provides short-term capital for certain of our technology business entities. There are two components of the WFCDF credit facility (collectively, the “WFCDF Credit Facility”): (1) a floor plan facility and (2) a revolving credit facility. As of March 31, 2024, the facility agreement had an aggregate limit of the two components of $500 million, together with a sublimit for a revolving credit facility for up to $200 million. The loss of the WFCDF Credit Facility could have a material adverse effect on our future results as we rely on this facility and its components for daily working capital and the operational function of our accounts payable process. Our credit agreement contains various covenants that must be met each quarter and either party may terminate the agreement for any reason with 90 days’ notice. There can be no assurance that we will continue to meet those covenants and failure to do so may limit availability of, or cause us to lose, such financing. There can be no assurance that such financing will continue to be available to us in the future on acceptable terms. An economic downturn or recession may negatively impact WFCDF’s or its agents’ willingness to extend credit to us at the current credit limit or an increase in credit limit thus restricting our working capital. We also have lines of credit with our vendors for the purchase of goods and services for resale or internal use. The loss or decrease of our working capital facility or lines of credit with our vendors may have a material adverse effect on our business, and results from operations. Our earnings may fluctuate, which could adversely affect the price of our common stock. Our earnings are susceptible to fluctuations for several reasons, including, but not limited to, variability in the timing of large transactions in our technology business segments and financing business segment, product constraints, inflation, and the risk factors discussed herein. In addition, our cost structure is based, in part, on expected sales and gross profit. Therefore, if we experience any unexpected sales or gross profit shortfall for any reason, we may not be able to adjust our cost structure rapidly which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or cash flows. In the event our sales or net earnings are less than the level expected by the market in general, such shortfall could have an immediate and significant adverse impact on the market price of our common stock. Issues relating to the use or capabilities of artificial intelligence, including legal, social, and ethical issues, in hardware, software and services offerings may result in reputational harm and liability and increased costs. Social and ethical issues relating to the use of new and evolving technologies such as AI in our hardware, software, and service offerings, as well as in our internal platforms, may result in reputational harm and legal liability. The hardware, software, and services we offer increasingly utilize AI, and, as with many innovations, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, and therefore our business. If we use, enable, or offer solutions that draw controversy due to their perceived or actual impact on individuals, entities, or society, we may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm, or legal liability. Increased focus and potential government regulation in the space of AI ethics and efficacy may also increase the burden and cost of research and development in this area, subjecting us to brand or reputational harm, competitive harm, or legal liability. Failure by us or others in our industry to address AI ethical and legal issues could undermine public confidence in AI and slow adoption of AI in our products and services. Additionally, the development, adoption and use of AI is still in its early stages, and ineffective or inadequate AI development or deployment practices by us or our vendor partners could result in unintended consequences. AI technologies are complex and rapidly evolving, and we face significant competition in the market and from other companies regarding such technologies. 19 Table of Contents If we are unable to identify acquisition candidates, or perform sufficient due diligence prior to completing an acquisition, or fail to successfully integrate a completed acquisition, or identify an opportunity for or successfully complete an asset disposition, our earnings may be affected. Mergers and acquisitions are significant factors in our growth strategy. If we fail to identify businesses available for purchase or at an acceptable valuation, our growth strategy may be negatively affected and, as such, may negatively affect our results of operations. Additionally, if we fail to identify an opportunity or fail to successfully complete an intended asset disposition, our operations or earnings may be negatively affected. Our ability to successfully integrate the operations we acquire, reduce costs, or leverage these operations to generate revenue and earnings growth, could significantly impact future revenue and earnings. Integrating acquired operations is a significant challenge, and integration may divert management’s attention from other business concerns, and there is no assurance that we will be able to complete the integrations successfully. Failure to successfully integrate acquired operations may adversely affect our cost structure thereby reducing our earnings and return on investment. In addition, we may fail to perform adequate due diligence and acquire entities with unknown liabilities, fraud, cultural, data security, or business environment issues, or that may not have adequate internal controls. If we acquire a company that does not fit culturally, strategically, or in some other fashion, the acquisition may not produce the expected results or may negatively affect our reputation, which may negatively affect our business, results of operations, or cash flows. The unpredictability of the economy, order backlogs, and inflation will also make it difficult to properly value or anticipate the future success of acquisition targets and impact our overall growth strategy. Supply chain issues, including a shortage of IT products, may increase our costs or cause a delay in fulfilling customer orders, delivering and completing professional services, or purchasing IT products or services needed to support our internal infrastructure or operations, resulting in an adverse impact on our financial results. We depend upon the supply of products available from our vendors to fulfill orders from our customers on a timely basis. We may experience supply constraints that could affect lead times and the predictability of lead times for delivery of products, the cost and availability of products, and our ability to meet customer demands. As a result of longer lead times, sales to customers may be delayed and we may carry more inventory which may result in higher warehouse and interest expenses. Delays in product shipments may delay the completion of related services as well. As a result, we may be at risk for customers’ cancelling orders due to delays and we may not be able to cancel our corresponding order with the supplier. If we are unable to mitigate these disruptions, our financial results may be adversely impacted. Supply chain issues, including a shortage of IT products and available services, may increase our costs or cause a delay in purchasing IT products needed to support our internal infrastructure or operations, resulting in an impact on our technology operations and availability of our IT systems, which could result in an adverse effect on our operations and financial results. A natural disaster or other adverse event at one of our primary configuration centers, warehouses, data center, or a third-party provider location could negatively impact our business. We have configuration centers, warehouses, and data centers in the US and third-party providers in the UK and Netherlands. The configuration centers and warehouses contain inventory owned by us and our customers and serve as distribution centers for orders we do not drop ship directly to the customer. We perform services in these facilities such as product configuration services, and warehouse and logistics services. If the configuration centers or surrounding infrastructure were to be seriously damaged or disrupted by a natural disaster or other adverse event, including disruption related to political or social unrest, we could utilize another distribution center or third-party distributors to ship products to our customers. However, this may not be sufficient to avoid interruptions in our service or the loss of inventory at that location, may prevent us from meeting all the needs of our customers and may cause us to incur incremental operating costs. In addition, we operate in facilities which may contain both business-critical data and confidential information of our customers and third parties, such as data center colocation and hosted solution partners. A natural disaster or other adverse event at locations such as these or third-party provider locations could negatively impact our business, results of operations or cash flows. 20 Table of Contents We may not be able to realize our entire investment in the equipment we lease. The realization of the residual value of the equipment we lease, predominantly at the end of the term of a lease, as well as during the life of the lease, is an important element in our financing business segment. At the inception of certain leases, we record a residual value for the leased equipment based on our estimate of the value of the equipment at the expected disposition date. A decrease in the market value of leased equipment at a rate greater than the rate we projected, whether due to rapid technological or economic obsolescence, excessive or unusual wear and tear on the equipment, or other factors, would adversely affect the recoverability of the estimated residual values of such equipment. Further, certain equipment residual values are dependent on the vendor’s warranties, reputation, rules regarding relicensing of software to operate the equipment, and other factors, including market liquidity. In addition, we may not realize the full market value of equipment if we need to sell it to meet liquidity needs or for other reasons outside of the ordinary course of business. Consequently, there can be no assurance that we will realize our estimated residual values for equipment. The degree of residual realization risk varies by transaction type. Sales-type leases bear less risk because contractual payments typically cover 90% or more of the equipment’s lease cost at inception. Operating leases have a higher degree of risk because a smaller percentage of the equipment’s value is covered by contractual cash flows at lease inception. We may be required to take impairment charges for goodwill or other intangible assets related to acquisitions. We have acquired certain portions of our business and assets through acquisitions. Further, as part of our long-term business strategy, we may continue to pursue acquisitions of other companies or assets. In connection with prior acquisitions, we have accounted for the portion of the purchase price paid in excess of the book value of the assets acquired as goodwill or intangible assets, and we may be required to account for similar premiums paid on future acquisitions in the same manner. Under the applicable accounting principles, goodwill is not amortized and is carried on our books at its original value, subject to annual review and evaluation for impairment, whereas intangible assets are amortized over the life of the asset. Changes in the business itself, the economic environment (including business valuation levels and trends), or the legislative or regulatory environment may trigger a review and evaluation of our goodwill and intangible assets for potential impairment outside of the normal review periods. These changes may adversely affect either the fair value of the business or our individual reporting units and we may be required to take an impairment charge. If market and economic conditions deteriorate, this could increase the likelihood that we will need to record impairment charges to the extent the carrying value of our goodwill exceeds the fair value of our overall business. Such impairment charges could materially adversely affect our net earnings during the period in which the impairment is realized. As of March 31, 2024, we had a carrying value of goodwill and other intangible assets of $161.5 million and $44.1 million, respectively. Our results of operations are subject to fluctuations in foreign currency. We have several foreign subsidiaries and conduct business in various countries and currencies. As result of these foreign operations, we have exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency rates resulting primarily from the translation exposure associated with the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. While our consolidated financial statements are reported in US dollars, the financial statements of our subsidiaries outside the US are prepared using the local currency as the functional currency and translated into US dollars. As a result, fluctuations in the exchange rate of the US dollar relative to the functional currencies of our subsidiaries could cause fluctuations in our results of operations. However, our operations in foreign countries are insignificant. We also have foreign currency exposure to the extent net sales and purchases are not denominated in a subsidiary’s functional currency, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or cash flows. 21 Table of Contents Actual or anticipated epidemics, pandemics, outbreaks, or other public health crises may adversely affect our customers’ and suppliers’ financial condition and the operations of our business. Our business could be materially and adversely affected by the impact of any epidemic, pandemic, outbreak, or other public health crisis. The risk of any epidemic, pandemic, outbreak, or other public health crisis could cause customers to delay or cancel orders and could cause temporary or long-term disruptions in our supply chains and/or delays in the delivery of our products and services to our customers. Quarantines or other cancellations of public events as well as governmental containment actions could also adversely affect our customers’ financial condition, resulting in reduced spending for the products and services we sell or uncollectible accounts receivable, leases or notes receivable or our customers’ ability to receive goods we ship to their locations. Moreover, any epidemic, pandemic, outbreak, or other public health crisis could adversely affect our ability to adequately staff and manage our businesses. Risks or regulations related to an epidemic, pandemic, or other health crisis may continue to lead to the complete or partial closure of one or more of our offices, configuration centers, or warehouse, or the operations of our customers or our sourcing partners. Office closures of our customers may reduce our ability to provide onsite professional services and staffing. RISKS RELATED TO THE ECONOMY AND OUR INDUSTRY General economic weakness may harm our operating results and financial condition. Our results of operations are largely dependent upon the state of the economy. Global economic weakness, inflation, rising cost and interest rates, and other economic uncertainties may result in decreased sales, gross margin, earnings and/or growth rates from our US based customers and from customers outside the US. Actions taken by central banks to counter inflation or weakness in the global banking industry, sustained uncertainty about global political conditions, periods of intense diplomatic or armed conflict, government spending cuts and the impact of new government policies (including the introduction of new or increased taxes, the imposition of minimum taxes or new or increased limitations on deductions, credits or other tax benefits), or a tightening of credit markets, or rising interest rates, could cause our customers and potential customers to postpone or reduce spending on technology products or services which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or cash flows. We depend on continued innovations in hardware, software, and service offerings by our vendors, as well as the competitiveness of their offerings and our ability to partner with new and emerging technology providers. The technology industry is characterized by rapid innovation and the frequent introduction of new and enhanced hardware, software, and service offerings, such as generative artificial intelligence, and cloud-based solutions, including IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS. We depend on innovations in hardware, software, and service offerings by our vendors, as well as the acceptance of those innovations by our customers for the offerings we sell. A decrease in the rate of innovation by our vendors, or the lack of acceptance of innovations by our customers, or a shift by customers to technology platforms that we do not sell could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, if we are unable to keep up with changes in technology and new hardware, software, and service offerings––for example by not providing the appropriate training to our account managers, sales technology specialists and engineers to enable them to effectively sell and deliver such new offerings to customers––our business, results of operations or cash flows could be adversely affected. We also depend upon our vendors for the development and marketing of hardware, software, and services to compete effectively with hardware, software, and services of vendors whose products and services we do not currently offer or are not authorized to offer in one or more customer channels. In addition, our success depends on our ability to develop relationships with and sell hardware, software, and services from emerging vendors, as well as vendors that we have not historically represented in the marketplace. To the extent that a vendor’s offering that is highly in demand is not available to us for resale in one or more customer channels, and there is not a competitive offering from another vendor that we are authorized to sell in such customer channels, or we are unable to develop relationships with new technology providers or companies that we have not historically represented, or we partner with a vendor that is not in demand or the demand for whose products significantly decreases, our business, results of operations, or cash flows could be adversely impacted. 22 Table of Contents Changes in the IT industry, customers’ usage or procurement of IT, and/or rapid changes in product standards may result in reduced demand for the IT hardware and software solutions and services we sell as well as financing. Our results of operations are influenced by a variety of factors, including the condition of the IT industry, shifts in demand for, or availability of, IT hardware, software, peripherals and services, and industry introductions of new products, upgrades, methods of distribution, and the nature of how IT is consumed and procured. The IT industry is characterized by rapid technological change and the frequent introduction of new products, product enhancements and new distribution methods or channels, each of which can decrease demand for current products or render them obsolete. In addition, the proliferation of cloud technology, IaaS, SaaS, PaaS, software defined networking, or other emerging technologies may reduce the demand for products and services we sell to our customers. Cloud offerings may influence our customers to move workloads to cloud providers, which may reduce the procurement of products and services from us. Changes in the IT industry may also affect the demand for our advanced professional and managed services. These ‘as a service’ offerings in many cases are recorded on a net basis which results in a reduction of net sales and an increase in gross margin, or on a ratable basis. Over the past several years, we have seen a significant increase in gross billings recorded on a net basis and a ratable basis due to the industry shift to ‘as a service’ offerings. In addition, these ‘as a service’ offerings that are billed over time decrease the demand for financing these types of transactions and do not provide post contract revenue opportunities due to the intangible nature of the offering as well as similar other software offerings. We have invested a significant amount of capital in our strategy to provide certain products and services, and this strategy may adversely impact our financial position due to competition or changes in the industry or improper focus or selection of the products and services we decide to offer. If we fail to react in a timely manner to such changes, such as generative artificial intelligence, our results of operations may be adversely affected. Our sales can be dependent on demand for specific product categories, and any change in demand for, or supply of, such products could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. Changes in interest rates or the loss of key lenders or the constricting of credit markets may affect our future profitability and our ability to monetize our financing receivables and investments in operating leases. We finance transactions with our customers utilizing fix-rate borrowing. If we fund such transactions at inception with a third-party lender, we can lock an interest rate spread on the transaction between the customer rate and third-party rate. However, we may delay funding the transaction, and if interest rates increase in the interim, the interest rate spread will decrease, which will adversely impact our profitability, or we may not choose to fund the transaction due to higher interest rates, thus inhibiting our ability to monetize our portfolio to generate cash and increasing our credit loss exposure. We rely on lenders to fund financing transactions we originate with our customers. Loss of any lender or group of lenders may significantly impact our ability to originate financing transactions, which may negatively impact our financial condition. In addition, our lenders may no longer be willing to provide funding under our current terms and conditions and may demand updated terms and conditions that negatively impact our ability to consummate a financing transaction with our customers. The current banking environment, particularly in the technology sector, is under regulatory and consumer scrutiny, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain required capital and on desirable terms. We are also subject to changes, if any, in our lenders’ willingness to provide financing for different, particularly lower, credit quality lessees, or lessees in certain market segments that may experience headwinds. Changes in interest rates, the federal government’s early termination of contracts, or other factors may make it more difficult or impossible for us to find or maintain lenders needed for us to profitably finance leasing solutions where the government is the end-user, which may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or cash flows. RISKS RELATED TO LAWS AND REGULATIONS Failure to comply with new laws or changes to existing laws may adversely impact our business. Our operations are subject to numerous US and foreign laws and regulations in several areas including, but not limited to, areas of labor and employment, immigration, advertising, e-commerce, patent and copyright, tax, import and export requirements, financing, anti-corruption, data privacy requirements, anti-competition, and environmental, health, and safety. We are also subject to a vast number of evolving laws, such as state at the local, state and federal levels, including employment and data privacy laws, and securities laws such as the SEC’s rules on climate-related disclosures and amended rules on cybersecurity risk management. Compliance with these laws, regulations, and similar requirements may be onerous and expensive. The laws and regulations may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and may be repeatedly and unpredictably modified or rescinded by legislative bodies, regulatory agencies, and/or courts, further increasing the cost of compliance and doing business, and the risk of noncompliance. We have implemented policies and procedures designed to help comply with applicable laws and regulations, but there can be no certainty that our employees, contractors, or agents will fully comply with laws and regulations or our policies and procedures. Additionally, as our customers and vendors implement policies and processes for their own compliance with current, anticipated, and pending laws and regulations, they may impose requirements on us, which we may not be able to timely and cost-effectively fulfill. 23 Table of Contents We may not adequately protect ourselves through our contract vehicles, or our insurance policies may not be adequate to address potential losses or claims. Our contracts may not protect us against the risks inherent in our business including, but not limited to, warranties, limitations of liability, indemnification obligations, human resources and subcontractor-related claims, patent and product liability, regulatory and compliance obligations, data security and privacy, and financing activities. Also, we face pressure from our customers for competitive pricing and contract terms. In addition, order cancellations by our customers may result from product constraints, or other economic concerns. While we may mitigate risk through our contracts, if orders are cancelled by our customers, we may have an increased risk of dispute resulting in non-payment. Such disputes may be complicated by novel legal arguments relating to contract enforceability, such as the application of force majeure, impossibility or impracticability of performance, and frustration of purpose. Despite the non-recourse nature of the loans financing certain of our activities, non-recourse lenders may file suit if the underlying transaction turns out poorly for the lenders. We are subject to such claims and the cost of defending such claims due to the nature of our business. We also are subject to audits by various vendor partners and customers, including government agencies, relating to purchases, sales, data privacy and compliance under various contracts. In addition, we are subject to indemnification claims under various contracts. Failure to comply with our public-sector contracts or applicable laws and regulations could result in, among other things, termination, fines or other liabilities, and changes in procurement regulations could adversely impact our business. Revenues in our public sector are derived from sales to SLED customers, through various contracts and open market sales of products and services. Sales to SLED customers are highly regulated and SLED customer purchases are subject to availability of funds from taxation, grants, or other sources. Noncompliance with contract provisions, government procurement regulations, or other applicable laws or regulations could result in civil, criminal, and administrative liability, including substantial monetary fines or damages, termination of SLED sector customer contracts, and suspension, debarment, or ineligibility from doing business with the government and other customers in the SLED sector. Contracts in the SLED sector are generally terminable at any time for convenience of the contracting agency or upon default and are subject to audits. In addition, most contracts require successfully bidding and award of the contract. These bid processes can be complex and require extensive review of terms and conditions and data compilation. Multiple bidders may win a product category, which creates aggressive competition even after contract award. The effect of any of these possible actions could adversely affect our business, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, the adoption of new or modified procurement regulations and other requirements may increase our compliance costs and reduce our gross margins, which could have a negative effect on our business, results of operations, or cash flows. We face risks of claims from third parties for intellectual property infringement, including counterfeit products, which could harm our business. We may be subject to claims that our products and services, or products that we resell, infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties and/or are counterfeit products. In addition, decreased product accessibility may foster more counterfeit product availability, including components within products that we purchase, and we may be subject to claims by our customers, vendors, or suppliers for unknowingly selling these types of products. The vendor of certain products or services we resell may not provide us with indemnification for infringement or indemnification; however, our customers may seek indemnification from us. We could incur substantial costs in defending infringement claims against ourselves and our customers. In the event of such claims, we and our customers may be required to obtain one or more licenses from third parties. We may not be able to obtain such licenses from third parties at a reasonable cost or at all. Defense of any lawsuit or failure to obtain any such required license could significantly increase our expenses and/or adversely affect our ability to offer one or more of our services. 24 Table of Contents We may be unable to protect our intellectual property and costs to protect our intellectual property may affect our earnings. The success of our business strategy depends, in part, upon proprietary technology and other intellectual property rights. To date, we have relied primarily on a combination of copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws, and contractual provisions with our customers, subcontractors, and employees to protect our proprietary technology. It may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy certain portions of our products or reverse engineer or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Some of our agreements with our customers and technology licensors contain residual clauses regarding confidentiality and the rights of third parties to obtain the source code for our products. These provisions may limit our ability to protect our intellectual property rights in the future that could seriously harm our business and operating results. Our means of protecting our intellectual property rights may not be adequate. The legal and associated costs to protect our intellectual property in the US and foreign jurisdictions may significantly increase our expenses and have a material adverse effect on our operating results. We may deem it necessary to protect our intellectual property rights and significant expenses could be incurred with no certainty of the results of these potential actions. Costs relative to lawsuits are usually expensed in the periods incurred and there is no certainty in recouping any of the amounts expended regardless of the outcome of any action. RISKS RELATED TO OWNERSHIP OF OUR STOCK Our common stock price may be volatile and may decline regardless of our operating performance, and holders of our common stock could lose a significant portion of their investment. The market price for our common stock may be volatile. Our stockholders may not be able to resell their shares of common stock at or above the price at which they purchased such shares, due to fluctuations in the market price of our common stock, which may be caused by several factors, many of which we cannot control, including the risk factors described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the following: • changes in financial estimates by any securities analysts who follow our common stock, and our failure to meet these estimates or failure of securities; • our failure to obtain our financial guidance estimates; • significant variations in our quarterly results of operations; • analysts to maintain coverage of our common stock; • downgrades by any securities analysts who follow our common stock; • future sales of our common stock by our officers, directors, and significant stockholders; • market conditions or trends in our industry or the economy as a whole including market expectations of changes in interest rates; • investors’ perceptions of our prospects; • announcements by us or our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, joint ventures, or capital commitments; and • changes in key personnel. In addition, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies, including companies in our industry. In the past, securities class action litigation has followed periods of market volatility. If we were involved in securities litigation, we could incur substantial costs, and our resources and the attention of management could be diverted from our business. In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The number of shares of our common stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of our common stock and depress our stock price. There can be no assurance that we will continue to repurchase any of our common stock under our share repurchase program. Any determination to repurchase, shares of our common stock in the future will depend upon our results of operations, financial condition, business prospects, capital requirements, contractual restrictions (including in current or future agreements governing our indebtedness), restrictions imposed by applicable law, market conditions, tax considerations and other factors our Board of Directors deems relevant. There can be no assurance that we will continue to repurchase shares of our common stock and, therefore, the future realization of a gain on your investment will depend entirely on the appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may never occur. 25 Table of Contents Future offerings of debt or equity securities, which would rank senior to our common stock, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. If, in the future, we decide to issue debt or equity securities that rank senior to our common stock, it is likely that such securities will be governed by an indenture or other instrument containing covenants restricting our operating flexibility. Additionally, any convertible or exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have rights, preferences, and privileges more favorable than those of our common stock and may result in dilution to owners of our common stock. We and, indirectly, our stockholders, will bear the cost of issuing and servicing such securities. Because our decision to issue debt or equity securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of our future offerings, if any. Thus, holders of our common stock will bear the risk of our future offerings reducing the market price of our common stock and diluting the value of their holdings in our common stock.