Symantec 2014 Annual Report Download - page 91

Effective succession planning is also important to our long-term success. Failure to ensure effective transfer of
knowledge and smooth transitions involving key employees could hinder our strategic planning and execution.
From time to time, key personnel leave our company and the incidence of this increased in recent periods
following the transition within the office of the chief executive officer (“CEO”) in 2013. In addition, we could
experience similar departures following our recent chief executive officer transition. While we strive to reduce
the negative impact of such changes, the loss of any key employee could result in significant disruptions to our
operations, including adversely affecting the timeliness of product releases, the successful implementation and
completion of company initiatives, the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal
control over financial reporting, and the results of our operations. In addition, hiring, training, and successfully
integrating replacement sales and other personnel could be time consuming, may cause additional disruptions to
our operations, and may be unsuccessful, which could negatively impact future revenues. These risks may be
exacerbated by the uncertainty associated with the successive transitions in the office of the chief executive
officer.
Fluctuations in demand for our products and services are driven by many factors, and a decrease in demand
for our products could adversely affect our financial results.
We are subject to fluctuations in demand for our products and services due to a variety of factors, including
general economic conditions, competition, product obsolescence, technological change, shifts in buying patterns,
financial difficulties and budget constraints of our current and potential customers, levels of broadband usage,
awareness of security threats to IT systems, and other factors. While such factors may, in some periods, increase
product sales, fluctuations in demand can also negatively impact our product sales. If demand for our products
and solutions declines, whether due to general economic conditions or a shift in buying patterns, our revenues
and margins would likely be adversely affected.
If we are unable to develop new and enhanced products and services that achieve widespread market
acceptance, or if we are unable to continually improve the performance, features, and reliability of our
existing products and services or adapt our business model to keep pace with industry trends, our business and
operating results could be adversely affected.
Our future success depends on our ability to respond to the rapidly changing needs of our customers by
developing or introducing new products, product upgrades, and services on a timely basis. We have in the past
incurred, and will continue to incur, significant research and development expenses as we strive to remain
competitive. New product development and introduction involves a significant commitment of time and
resources and is subject to a number of risks and challenges including:
• Managing the length of the development cycle for new products and product enhancements, which has
frequently been longer than we originally expected
• Adapting to emerging and evolving industry standards and to technological developments by our
competitors and customers
• Extending the operation of our products and services to new and evolving platforms, operating systems
and hardware products, such as mobile devices
• Entering into new or unproven markets with which we have limited experience
• Managing new product and service strategies, including integrating our various security and storage
technologies, management solutions, customer service, and support into unified enterprise security and
storage solutions
• Addressing trade compliance issues affecting our ability to ship our products
• Developing or expanding efficient sales channels
• Obtaining sufficient licenses to technology and technical access from operating system software vendors
on reasonable terms to enable the development and deployment of interoperable products, including
source code licenses for certain products with deep technical integration into operating systems
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