Vistaprint 2009 Annual Report Download - page 32

reduced order fulfillment performance or interfere with customer service operations could result in lost
revenue, negative publicity, damage our reputation and brand and cause our business and results of
operations to suffer. We may experience temporary interruptions in our operations for a variety of
reasons in the future, including human error, software errors, power loss, telecommunication failures,
fire, flood, extreme weather, political instability, acts of terrorism, war, break-ins and security breaches,
contract disputes, and other similar events. In particular, both Bermuda, where substantially all of the
computer hardware necessary to operate our websites is located in a single facility, and Jamaica, the
location of most of our customer service and design service operations, are subject to a high degree of
hurricane risk and extreme weather conditions that could have a devastating impact on our facilities
and operations.
Our technology, infrastructure and processes may contain undetected errors or design faults.
These errors or design faults may cause our websites to fail and result in loss of, or delay in, market
acceptance of our products and services. In the past, we have experienced delays in website releases
and customer dissatisfaction during the period required to correct errors and design faults in our
websites that caused us to lose revenue. In the future, we may encounter additional issues, such as
scalability limitations, in current or future technology releases. A delay in the commercial release of any
future version of our technology or implementing improvements in our infrastructure and processes
could seriously harm our business. In addition, our systems could suffer computer viruses and similar
disruptions, which could lead to loss of critical data or the unauthorized disclosure of confidential
customer data.
Our business requires that we have adequate capacity in our computer systems to cope with the
high volume of visits to our websites, particularly during promotional campaign periods and in the
seasonal peak in demand that we experience in our second fiscal quarter. As our operations grow in
size and scope, we will need to improve and upgrade our computer systems and network infrastructure
to offer customers enhanced and new products, services, capacity, features and functionality. The
expansion of our systems and infrastructure may require us to commit substantial financial, operational
and technical resources before the volume of our business increases, with no assurance that our
revenues will increase.
Any failure of our equipment may prevent the production of orders and interfere with our ability to
fulfill orders. Substantially all of our production operations are performed in two facilities: our Dutch
production facility serving European and Asia-Pacific markets and our Windsor, Ontario production
facility serving North American markets.
We do not presently have redundant systems operational in multiple locations. In addition, we are
dependent in part on third parties for the implementation and maintenance of certain aspects of our
communications and printing systems, and because many of the causes of system interruptions or
interruptions of the production process may be outside of our control, we may not be able to remedy
such interruptions in a timely manner, or at all. We do carry business interruption insurance to
compensate us for losses that may occur in the event operations at facilities are interrupted, but these
policies do not address all potential causes of business interruptions we may experience and any
proceeds we may receive may not fully compensate us for all of the revenue we may lose.
The occurrence of any of the foregoing could substantially harm our business and results of
operations.
If we are unable to retain security authentication certificates, which are supplied by third party
providers over which we exercise little or no control, our business could be harmed.
We are dependent on a limited number of third party providers of website security authentication
certificates that may be necessary for some of our customers’ web browsers to properly access our
websites and upon which many of our customers otherwise rely in deciding whether to purchase
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