CPSI 2017 Annual Report

29 critical data causing an interruption in their operations. In such event our remote access clients and/or their patients could seek to hold us responsible for any losses. We would also potentially lose those clients, and our reputation could be harmed. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified client service and support personnel, our business and operating results will suffer. Our client service and support is a key component of our business. Most of our hospital clients have small information technology staffs, and they depend on us to service and support their systems. Future difficulty in attracting, training and retaining capable client service and support personnel could cause a decrease in the overall quality of our client service and support. That decrease would have a negative effect on client satisfaction which could cause us to lose existing clients and could have an adverse effect on our new client sales. The loss of clients due to inadequate client service and support would negatively impact our ability to continue to grow our business. We do not have employment or non-competition agreements with most of our key personnel, and their departure could harm our future success. Our future success depends to a significant extent on the leadership and performance of our chief executive officer and other executive officers. We do not have employment or non-competition agreements with most of our executive officers. Therefore, they may terminate their employment with us at any time and may compete against us. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we are unable to manage our growth in the new markets we may enter, our business and financial results could suffer. Our future financial results will depend in part on our ability to profitably manage our business in new markets that we may enter. We are engaging in the strategic identification of, and competition for, growth and expansion opportunities in new markets or offerings. In order to successfully execute on these future initiatives, we will need to, among other things, manage changing business conditions and develop expertise in areas outside of our business's traditional core competencies. Difficulties in managing future growth in new markets could have a significant negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Because we believe that proprietary rights are material to our success, misappropriation of these rights could limit our ability to compete effectively and adversely affect our financial condition. We are heavily dependent on the maintenance and protection of our intellectual property and we rely largely on a combination of confidentiality provisions in our client agreements, employee nondisclosure agreements, trademark and trade secret laws and other measures to protect our intellectual property. Additionally, our software is not patented or copyrighted. Although we attempt to control access to our intellectual property, unauthorized persons may attempt to copy or otherwise use our intellectual property. There can be no assurance that the legal protections and precautions we take will be adequate to prevent misappropriation of our technology or that competitors will not independently develop technologies equivalent or superior to ours. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult, and the steps we have taken may not prevent unauthorized use. If our competitors gain access to our intellectual property, our competitive position in the industry could be damaged. An inability to compete effectively could cause us to lose existing and potential clients and experience lower revenues, revenue growth and profit margins. Third parties could obtain patents that may require us to negotiate licenses to conduct our business, and the required licenses may not be available on reasonable terms or at all. We also rely on nondisclosure agreements with certain employees, and we cannot be certain that these agreements will not be breached or that we will have adequate remedies for any breach. If we are deemed to infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties, we could incur unanticipated expense and be prevented from providing our products and services if we cannot obtain licenses to these rights on commercially acceptable terms. We do not believe that our operations or products infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. However, there can be no assurance that others will not assert infringement or trade secret claims against us with respect to our current or future products. Many participants in the technology industry have an increasing number of patents and patent applications and have frequently demonstrated a readiness to take legal action based on allegations of patent and other intellectual property infringement. Further, as the number and functionality of our products increase, we believe we may become increasingly subject to the risk of infringement claims. If infringement claims are brought against us, these assertions could distract management. We may have to spend a significant amount of money and time to defend or settle those claims. In addition,