UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

OR

Commission File Number: 001-36061

Benefitfocus, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

100 Benefitfocus Way

Charleston, South Carolina 29492

(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)

(843) 849-7476

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:   None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒     No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒     No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.:

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.     ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

The aggregate market value of the registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2020 (based on the closing sale price of $10.76 on that date), was approximately $211,206,803. Common stock held by each officer and director and by each person known to the registrant who owned 10% or more of the outstanding common stock have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of March 2, 2021 was 32,504,073.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for its 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III hereof.

Benefitfocus, Inc.

Form 10-K

For Year Ended December 31, 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART I

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”). Such forward-looking statements include any expectation of earnings, revenue or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; risks associated with acquisitions; factors that may affect our operating results; statements about our ability to establish and maintain intellectual property rights; statements about our ability to retain and hire necessary associates and appropriately staff our operations; statements related to future capital expenditures; statements related to future economic conditions or performance; statements as to industry trends; and other matters that do not relate strictly to historical facts or statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of words such as, but not limited to, “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “plan,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “would,” and similar expressions or variations intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management based on information currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results and the timing of certain events to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included in Item 1A of Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and the risks discussed in our other SEC filings. Furthermore, such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

As used in this report, the terms “Benefitfocus, Inc.,” “Benefitfocus,” “Company,” “company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” mean Benefitfocus, Inc. and its subsidiaries unless the context indicates otherwise.

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RISK FACTOR SUMMARY

Our business is subject to significant risks and uncertainties that make an investment in us speculative and risky. Below we summarize what we believe are the principal risk factors, but these risks are not the only ones we face, and you should carefully review and consider the full discussion of our risk factors in the section titled “Risk Factors”, together with the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If any of the following risks actually occurs (or if any of those listed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K occur), our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, revenue, and future prospects could be seriously harmed. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to Our Business

Risks Related to Our Products and Services Offerings

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Risks Related to Regulation

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

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Item 1. Business.

Overview

Benefitfocus provides industry-leading, cloud-based benefits management technology solutions for employers and health plans. The Benefitfocus enrollment platform simplifies how organizations procure benefits and connect to the necessary benefits products and services that improve the lives of their employees and the American workforce. Our core technology solutions facilitate employee benefits administration and enrollment; our solutions enable working Americans and their families to select and engage in the right benefits products and services for themselves; and our data advantage delivers insights to employers, health, plans and their advisors to help control healthcare spending and reduce unnecessary expenses.

The Benefitfocus Platform has a multi-tenant architecture and has a user-friendly interface designed for employees to access all of their benefits in one place. Our comprehensive solutions support medical benefit plans and non-medical benefits, such as, dental, life, disability insurance, income protection, digital health and financial wellness. Our platform includes functionality designed to help consumers identify and evaluate benefit options available to them. As the number of employer benefits plans has increased, with each plan subject to many different business rules and requirements, demand for the Benefitfocus Platform is growing.

Employers use our solutions to streamline benefits processes and control costs, keep up with challenging and ever-changing regulatory requirements, and offer a greater variety of benefit options to attract, retain and motivate employees. The Benefitfocus Platform enables our employer customers to simplify the management of complex benefits processes, from sales and enrollment to implementation and ongoing administration. It provides their employees with an engaging, highly intuitive and personalized user interface for selecting and managing all of their benefits via mobile or desktop device.

Health Plans, also known as health insurers, health insurance carriers or medical insurance carriers, use our solutions to more effectively market offerings to benefits-eligible employees, simplify billing, and improve the enrollment process. We also provide a large network of benefit provider data exchange connections, which facilitates the otherwise highly fragmented interaction among employees, employers, brokers and health plans.

Brokers use our platform to manage employer portfolios. This includes delivering strategic insights that improve their employer clients’ benefit experience and demonstrating greater value through access to a larger set of relevant products for employers, which should bring higher broker commissions and profits.

Since our initial public offering, we have described our target market as comprising two separate but related market segments – employers and health plans. Within the employer market segment, we sell our technology solutions on an annually recurring or multi-year subscription basis to large employers, which we define as those with more than 1,000 employees. Similarly, in our other market segment, we sell our solutions on a subscription basis to health plans, enabling us to expand our overall footprint in the benefits marketplace by aggregating many key constituents, including consumers, employers, and brokers. We believe our presence in both the employer and health plan market segments gives us a strong position at the center of the benefits ecosystem.

In 2018, we expanded our economic model to include a transaction-oriented solution, known as Benefit Catalog (formerly BenefitsPlace), designed to align brokers, health plans, carriers and suppliers around the needs of employers and employees. In this model, Benefit Catalog sellers, who are carriers and suppliers, offer their voluntary and specialty benefit products in a “marketplace” alongside the benefits enrollment platform. This marketplace is designed to increase the economic value of the employee and consumer lives on our platform by aligning the Benefit Catalog products to employee and consumer needs. In exchange for Benefitfocus delivering employee/consumer access, data-driven analysis and operational efficiencies, seller partners pay us a percentage of the purchases completed on our platform. Carrier agreements have terms of two to four years and are typically cancellable upon breach of contract or

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insolvency.  Supplier contracts have terms of one year or less and are generally cancellable upon breach of contract, failure to cure, bankruptcy and termination for convenience.

Our hybrid software-as-a-service, or SaaS, and repeatable transaction-based model provides us significant visibility into our future operating results, which enhances our ability to manage our business. Our company was founded in 2000, and we currently employ approximately 1,200 associates, or employees.

Industry Background

The administration and distribution of benefits to employees is a mainstay of the U.S. economy. Providing these benefits is costly and complex and requires the exchange of data and information, application of rules, and transfer of funds among a wide variety of constituents, including consumers, employers, insurance carriers, suppliers, brokers, benefits outsourcers, payroll processors, and financial institutions. The size of the HR benefits administration market and the value of benefits transacted are large. According to IBISWorld calculations, the market for HR benefits administration in the United States was $61.9 billion in 2019. Eastbridge Consulting Group estimates the U.S. in-force premiums were $47.1 billion in 2019 for employee-paid life, health and disability products sold at the worksite with premiums paid through payroll.

The variety and complexity of medical and non-medical benefits plans continues to grow. The Benefitfocus annual market research report, The State of Employee Benefits 2018, our most recent edition, indicates that a higher proportion of benefits offerings are shifting to high-deductible health plans coupled with health savings accounts. This added complexity places greater potential cost burden on employees and consumers and creates a greater need for employers to educate their workforces on becoming more informed health-care consumers. To help employees cover added cost burdens, employers are increasingly offering a wider range of non-medical benefits plans, such as critical illness, supplemental income, and financial wellness programs, as well as traditional insurance offerings like dental, life and disability. Current point and legacy systems are inadequate to efficiently manage the complexity, regulation, and involvement of multiple parties. They are also incapable or inadequate in enabling the purchase of non-medical benefits. These factors are driving the need for an enterprise benefits management system and a consumer-focused platform to improve operational efficiency along the entire benefits value chain.

Employer Market

A significant and growing portion of employers’ costs is non-salary benefits, such as health insurance, that they provide to their employees. With healthcare and other premiums increasing, senior executives are prioritizing benefits administration in their organizations and searching for ways to contain costs without sacrificing benefits. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare and other employee benefits accounted for 29.8% of all employee labor costs in September 2020. In addition, the expense burden continues to shift to employees. Employees’ contributions to premiums for health insurance have grown from approximately $318 per employee in 1999 to approximately $1,221 per employee in 2020. Employers recognize the importance of offering a greater variety of non-medical benefits as a means to attract, motivate, and retain employees. They must maintain relationships with multiple insurance carriers and many other benefits providers, placing a substantial administrative burden on their organizations.

Employers’ distribution, management, and administration of employee benefits has historically consisted of error-prone, paper-based processes, and a patchwork of customized software tools, which are costly to maintain, often lack necessary functionality, and fail to address the increasing complexity of the benefits marketplace. As benefits offerings become more complex and employees bear more of the cost of those benefits, HR software solutions that streamline information, simplify choices, and engage employees are increasingly in demand. Employees desire tailored, dynamic, and interactive communication of critical benefits information, with easy access to purchase benefits, as they become

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accustomed to receiving personalized content through various consumer applications on a range of devices.

Legacy HR systems were generally designed as extensions of enterprise resource planning, or ERP, systems, built for back-office responsibilities like finance and accounting. As a result, these systems lack functionality and ease-of-use for employees. Many legacy HR systems were not designed to integrate with the broader benefits ecosystem, including brokers, carriers, and wellness providers, or have the ability to transact non-medical benefits. This results in expensive, error-prone, and incomplete experiences for employers and employees. Benefits outsourcers have attempted to compensate for the shortcomings of legacy HR systems, but they have generally lacked adequate technology solutions necessary to keep up with the rapidly evolving benefits landscape. As a result, employees are often not provided with the appropriate functionality and information required to select and manage their benefits effectively.

Modern technology, changing communication patterns, and a constantly evolving benefits ecosystem have impacted the employee-employer relationship. HR executives continue to search for effective strategies to increase efficiency and contain costs, while increasing employee engagement and being an employer of choice. Employers are increasingly interested in SaaS solutions that can help capture and analyze benefits data and provide more choice for their employees to improve productivity and satisfaction. In order to manage the distribution and administration of benefits effectively, employers need an integrated platform, capable of handling all benefits in one place and providing a highly personalized experience for employees.

Health Plan Market

The employee benefits market consists of myriad medical insurance carriers and products. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the single largest benefit provided to employees in the United States is healthcare insurance, often encompassing more than 90% of all insurance benefits spending by employers.

Large, national health insurance carriers also offer numerous individual health plans of different types, including health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, point-of-service plans, and high deductible health plans, across the 50 states, as well as life and ancillary benefits plans. Each carrier offers a complex variety of medical insurance and non-medical benefits, encompassing life and ancillary plans, with each plan requiring multiple decisions to address the specific needs of employers and their individual employees. Despite widespread carrier consolidation, numerous disparate systems remain in place, with many large health plans operating on multiple IT systems. Health plans often rely on manual processes and siloed software applications to bridge gaps in legacy administration systems. Even as they attempt to modernize and keep up with evolving industry practices and a changing regulatory landscape, health plans have difficulty connecting with the broader healthcare system.  

The effective delivery and management of employee benefits depends on the timely, continuous exchange of accurate data among health insurance carriers, their employer customers, broker partners and individual members. Legacy benefits management systems often lack important functionality such as web and mobile self-service capabilities and real-time data exchange. Critical health plan processes, including member enrollment, billing and payments, communications, and retail marketing often have been under-optimized or neglected by legacy systems, and health plans have devoted significant internal resources to cover technology gaps. In addition, healthcare reform mandates and the rise of exchanges have increased focus on carriers’ retail distribution capabilities, which require additional investment.

Governmental oversight, punctuated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, has led to an increasingly dynamic regulatory framework under which health benefits are delivered, accessed and maintained. Despite efforts to repeal and/or reform part or all of PPACA, we expect digital transformation of healthcare benefits to continue in the form of public and private exchanges – online marketplaces that allow insurance carriers to compete directly for new members. We

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expect private exchanges will be less rigid, promoting both health and non-health benefits, with substantially fewer rules around the types of benefits offered. As medical insurance carriers continue to bolster their retail distribution capabilities, we believe they will require consolidation of technology solutions to improve operational efficiency and attract additional members through private exchanges.

The Benefitfocus Solutions

We provide a multi-tenant cloud-based benefits enrollment and management platform for employees, employers, health plans, suppliers, and brokers. The Benefitfocus Platform simplifies how organizations and individuals transact benefits.

We believe our solutions help employers and clients of brokers in the following important ways:

Simplify benefits enrollment.    Our solutions are designed to reduce the complexity of benefits enrollment by integrating all plan information in one place and presenting it to employees in an organized and easy-to-understand manner. Employees shop and enroll using a highly intuitive and engaging consumer-oriented interface.

Reduce cost and increase ROI.    Our solutions automate the benefits management process and reduce the cost associated with clerical errors and covering ineligible employees and dependents. Our solutions also include advanced analytics and insights that enable employers and employees to quickly gather, report, and forecast benefit costs.

Attract, retain, and motivate employees.    Our solutions help employers attract, retain, and motivate top talent by delivering benefits information through a highly intuitive and engaging user interface. We believe that when employees understand the value of their benefits and have easy access to benefits, they are more likely to be satisfied with and engaged in their jobs.

Streamline HR processes.    Our solutions eliminate the time-consuming and labor-intensive, often paper-based, processes associated with managing employee benefits plans, making HR professionals more efficient. Employers and HR professionals can efficiently enroll users or update information, and communicate or make changes to plans in real-time.

Integrate seamlessly with related systems.    Our solutions can be easily and securely integrated with a variety of related systems, including health plan membership and billing, payroll and HR, banking, and other third-party administration. We provide a network of benefit provider data exchange connections through industry standard interfaces that are configurable to accommodate a variety of needs. Our open architecture further extends our functionality by allowing third parties to develop and offer products and services on our platform. Our human capital management application programming interface, or API, replaces traditional file-based systems with an automated, real-time interface.

Purchase non-medical benefits.    Our platform includes a holistic, multidimensional marketplace whereby carriers and suppliers sell non-medical, voluntary and specialty products to employees.  

We believe our solutions help insurance health plans and suppliers in the following important ways:

Bolster retail distribution capabilities through marketplaces.    Our solutions help health insurance carriers and suppliers respond to an evolving marketplace in which retail distribution capabilities are increasingly important to attracting and retaining new members. Our platform offers health plans a lower cost direct sales channel to employer groups and individuals. We offer the ability to sell both healthcare and non-healthcare benefit products in an online shopping environment that serves as an alternative to government-sponsored public exchanges.

Attract and maintain membership.    Our solutions allow carriers to maximize sales capacity and efficiency by communicating directly with their employer customers and individual members.

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Reduce administrative costs.    The Benefitfocus Platform allows health plans to consolidate IT systems, automate and simplify various aspects of the benefits administration process, such as enrollment, plan changes, eligibility updates, and billing and payments, from one centralized location.

Facilitate real-time data exchange.    Our solutions simplify interactions and data exchange, and foster collaboration among carriers, suppliers, brokers, employers, employees and consumers. This allows health plans to rapidly tailor and offer new benefits packages.

Our Growth Strategy

We intend to strengthen our position as a leading cloud-based benefits enrollment and management platform for employers and health plans, working closely with brokers as partners in the ecosystem. Key elements of our growth strategy include the following:

Expand our customer base.    We believe that our current customer base represents a small fraction of targeted users that could benefit from our subscription solutions. In order to reach new customers in our existing markets, we are aggressively investing in our sales and marketing resources and our channel marketing strategy, including in ways intended to expand existing relationships and foster organic growth opportunities through brokers.

Further develop our partner ecosystem.    We believe we have a large opportunity to efficiently grow our customer base through our partners. To increase the number of consumers on our platform, we have established strong relationships with key participants in the benefits market, including, among others, SAP and SuccessFactors. We have also eliminated previous friction and improved our outreach to key constituents within the benefits industry, like brokers.

Deepen our relationships with our existing customer base.    We are deepening our employer relationships by continuing to provide a unified platform with a growing list of additional solutions to manage increasingly complex benefits processes and simplify the distribution and administration of employee benefits. We are expanding our carrier relationships through both the upsell of additional software products, increased adoption across our carriers’ member populations and providing access to our multidimensional marketplace.

Extend our suite of applications and continue our technology leadership.    We are extending the number, range, and functionality of our benefits solutions. We have also extended the functionality of our products through mobile solutions. We intend to continue our collaboration with customers and partners so we can respond quickly to evolving market needs with innovative capabilities that support our leadership position.

Facilitate the purchase of non-medical benefits.    We believe we have a significant opportunity to drive higher employer placement of Benefit Catalog products and increase consumer engagement in purchasing Benefit Catalog products throughout an entire calendar year.  We also believe that our current Benefit Catalog portfolio of products will grow in number as we continue to advance our multidimensional marketplace.

Target new markets.    We believe substantial demand for our solutions exists in markets and geographies beyond our current focus. We intend to leverage opportunities we believe will arise from the complexities of changing government regulation and increased enrollment impacting both Medicare and Medicaid.

Selectively pursue strategic acquisitions and investments.    We might pursue acquisitions of, or investments in, complementary businesses and technologies that align with our overall growth strategy. We believe that a selective acquisition and investment strategy could enable us to gain new customers, accelerate our expansion into new markets, and enhance our product capabilities.

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The Benefitfocus Portfolio of Products

Our portfolio of products and services serve the entire benefits ecosystem; employers, health plans and brokers rely on Benefitfocus to simplify everything about benefits.

Products for Employers

Benefitplace (formerly Benefitfocus MarketPlace) is our solution for employers that helps them optimize the design of benefits plans, reduce healthcare costs, lessen administrative complexity and empower their employees to make better, more confident benefits decisions.

Additional capabilities and services for employers that complement the core functionality of Benefitplace, include:

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Benefit Catalog (formerly BeneftsPlace) is our transaction-oriented, marketplace solution, that allows employers to offer robust portfolio of vetted health, wealth, property and lifestyle benefits integrated into our consumer enrollment experience.

Benefit Catalog partners provide products that fit into four distinct categories:

Benefit Catalog adds value to all participants that participate on the platform.

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Products for Health Plans

Benefitplace (formerly Benefitfocus MarketPlace for Carriers) is our single, integrated end-to-end (Quote to Pay) solution for medical carriers that enables them to automate administration and deliver a seamless benefits experience.

Benefit Catalog is available to health plans to use to grow their business by offering a catalog of industry-leading products integrated into our consumer enrollment experience.

Products for Brokers

Brokers use the Benefitfocus Platform to manage the portfolios of their employer clients. This includes delivering strategic insights that improve their employer clients’ benefit experience and demonstrating greater value through access to a larger set of relevant products for employers. Brokers use our products to enable their clients to deliver a world-class employee benefits experience with personalized decision support tools and targeted, multi-channel communication that helps employees get the most value from their benefits.

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Professional Services and Customer Support

Customers

Our customers include employers of all sizes across a variety of industries and some of the nation’s largest insurance carriers and aggregators. The following is a list of some of our significant employer and health plan customers:

Our Benefit Catalog partners include some the nation’s leading insurance carriers and suppliers to help protect consumers health, wealth, and lifestyle. The following is a list of some of our significant carrier and supplier sellers:

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No customer accounted for more than 10% of our total revenue during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2018, one customer accounted for 13% of total revenue.  

Sales and Marketing

We sell our software solutions through our direct sales organization. Our direct sales team comprises employer-focused and health plan-focused field sales professionals who are organized primarily by geography and account size.

We generate customer leads, accelerate sales opportunities and build brand awareness through our marketing programs and strategic relationships. Our marketing programs target HR, benefits, and finance executives, technology professionals, key brokers, and senior business leaders. Our principal marketing programs include:

We also sell our software solutions through strategic partners such as SAP SE and Equifax.

Technology Infrastructure and Operations

As an enterprise cloud software vendor, we have always deployed our solutions using a SaaS model. Our customers access our software via application integrations, web browsers, and/or mobile devices, rather than by installing software on their premises. Through our multi-tenant architecture, our customers access a single software instance with multiple possible configurations enabled by our metadata-driven framework. The multi-tenant approach provides significant operating economies through aligned, shared computational services and processes as it helps us to reduce our fixed cost base and minimize unused capacity on our hardware. In addition, our software architecture gives us an advantage over legacy system vendors, who may be using a less flexible architecture that would require significant time and labor expense to address varied capability needs.

We host our applications and serve our customers from multiple, co-located, private cloud data centers in separate locations. We rely on third-party vendors to operate these data centers, which are designed to host mission-critical computer systems and have industry-standard measures in place to minimize service interruptions. Our technical operations staff manages the technology stacks supporting the Benefitfocus Platform and uses automated monitoring tools throughout our system to detect unusual events or malfunctions that could interfere with our customers’ or partners’ use of the Benefitfocus Platform. We monitor application health by verifying that all applications, interfaces and supporting middleware are operational. If our monitoring detects anomalous situations, our dedicated network operations staff respond immediately to diagnose the situation, communicate status, and resolve the matter. We take the security of our data, systems and operations very seriously, and minimize risk at every level of technology selection through software architecture, systems administration, and operational controls and procedures.

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Compliance and Certifications

We obtain third-party examinations of our controls relating to security. Certain examinations are conducted under Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements, or SSAE, No. 18 (Reporting on Controls at a Service Organization). In particular, we obtain Service Organization Controls, or SOC, reports known as SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II audits that test the design and operating effectiveness of controls over a period of time. An independent auditor conducts these examinations annually and addresses, among other areas, our physical and environmental safeguards for production data centers, data availability, confidentiality, privacy, change management, and logical security. On an annual basis, a data security and HIPAA compliance risk assessment are also performed.

On an annual basis, we complete an independent assessment by a qualified security assessor (QSA) of compliance against the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, or PCI-DSS, applicable to Level 1 service providers. These standards focus on application and network security controls for companies that transmit and store credit card data on behalf of clients. Benefitfocus meets PCI compliance requirements as a Level 1 service provider and submits its Report on Compliance and Attestation of Compliance documenting this assessment to the three major credit card brands annually.

Competition

While we do not believe any single competitor offers similarly expansive benefits administration solutions, we face competition from various sources, many of which have greater resources than us. We have historically described our competition in our two market segments, employer and health plan. We believe that sources of competition encompass:

We believe that competition for benefits administration solutions is based primarily on the following factors:

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We believe that we compete effectively based upon all of these criteria, and that we are likely to continue to retain a high percentage of our customers from year to year. Nonetheless, we believe that the increasing acceptance of automated solutions in the healthcare marketplace and the adoption of more sophisticated technology and continuing legislative reform will result in increased competition, including potentially from large software companies with greater resources than ours. Other companies might develop superior or more economical service offerings that our customers could find more attractive than our offerings. Moreover, the regulatory landscape might shift in a direction that is more strategically advantageous to competitors.

Research and Development

Our ability to compete depends, in large part, on our continuous commitment to rapidly introduce new applications, technologies, features, and functionality. We deliver multiple software releases per year, updating the Benefitfocus Platform to leverage advances in cloud computing, mobile applications, and data management. Our research and development team is responsible for the design and development of our applications. We follow state-of-the-art practices in software development using modern programming languages, data storage systems, and other tools. We use both commercial and open source products, following a “best tool for the job” philosophy in product selection. Our software has a multi-tiered architecture that ensures flexibility to add or modify features quickly in response to changing market dynamics, customer needs, or regulatory requirements.

Our research and development expenses were $46.2 million, $54.7 million and $47.9 million for the years December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark laws, license agreements, confidentiality procedures, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, and technical measures to protect the intellectual property used in our business. We generally enter into confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements with our associates, consultants, vendors, and customers. We also seek to control access to and distribution of our software, documentation, and other proprietary information.

We use numerous trademarks for our products and services, and “Benefitfocus”, “Benefitfocus BenefitPlace”, “One Place”, “Benefitfocus For Life”, “ BenefitPlace”, “All Your Benefits. One Place.”, and “All Your Benefits. In Your Pocket.” are registered marks of Benefitfocus in the United States. Through claimed common law trademark protection, we also protect other Benefitfocus marks which identify our services, and we have reserved numerous domain names, including “benefitfocus.com”. We also have registered trademarks and pending trademark applications in foreign jurisdictions such as Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

We have been granted seven U.S. patents and all our patents are for utility patents. Our patents provide protections up to 2034. We also have three Chinese, two Australian, two Japanese, two Taiwanese R.O.C., five Hong Kong, and one Canadian patents.

We also rely on certain intellectual property rights that we license from third parties. Although we believe that alternative technologies are generally available to replace such licenses, these third-party technologies may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms.

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Although we rely on intellectual property rights, including trade secrets, patents, copyrights, and trademarks, as well as contractual protections to establish and protect our proprietary rights, we believe that factors such as the technological and creative skills of our personnel, creation of new modules, features and functionality, and frequent enhancements to our applications are more essential to establishing and maintaining our technology leadership position.

The steps we have taken to protect our copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property may not be adequate, and the potential exists that third parties could infringe, misappropriate, or misuse our intellectual property. If this were to occur, it could harm our reputation and adversely affect our competitive position or operations. In addition, laws of other jurisdictions may not protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights from unauthorized use or disclosure in the same manner as the United States. The risk of unauthorized use of our proprietary and intellectual property rights may increase as our company expands outside of the United States.

Government Regulation

Introduction

The employee benefits industry is required to comply with extensive and complex U.S. laws and regulations at the federal and state levels. Although many regulatory and governmental requirements do not directly apply to our business, our customers are required to comply with a variety of U.S. laws, and we may be impacted by these laws as a result of our contractual obligations. For many of these laws, there is little history of regulatory or judicial interpretation upon which to rely.

Changes in Healthcare Regulation and Markets

Our business could be affected by changes in healthcare spending. PPACA and subsequent laws and regulations regarding the market for healthcare services have changed how healthcare services are covered, delivered, and reimbursed. PPACA, as enacted, expanded coverage of uninsured individuals by requiring states to expand Medicaid coverage significantly and to establish health insurance exchanges to facilitate the purchase of health insurance policies by individuals and small employers. The law also provided subsidies to states to create non-Medicaid plans for certain low-income residents. The requirement for states to expand Medicaid was subsequently repealed, and insurers have experienced mixed results providing services through the exchanges, leading many to exit this market. Increased volatility following the repeal of the individual mandate has led to additional uncertainty in the insurance market.

A significant goal of PPACA and subsequent reform efforts has been to move away from fee for service payments and toward capitated payments to make providers more accountable for the cost and quality of care provided.  While many of the provisions of PPACA will not be directly applicable to us, PPACA, as currently implemented, might affect the business of many of our customers. Carriers and large employers might experience changes in the numbers of individuals they insure as a result of Medicaid expansion and the creation of state and national exchanges, though it is unclear how many states will decline to implement the Medicaid expansion or adopt state-specific exchanges.

Following the creation of the Medicare Shared Savings Program, Medicare and many commercial third party payors began implementing accountable care models in which groups of providers known as Accountable Care Organizations ("ACO") assume some amount of risk for the cost of care provided to groups of individuals. Also, CMS continues to test demonstration programs to bundle acute care and post–acute care reimbursement to hold providers accountable for costs across a broader continuum of care. These reimbursement methodologies and similar programs are likely to continue and expand, both in public and commercial health plans, and will likely impact the business of our customers.

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As has been the case since 2010, the long-term viability of PPACA remains in doubt, and we expect that the current Congress and White House will continue to seek ways to modify, repeal, or otherwise invalidate all, or certain provisions of PPACA.  For instance, on January 20, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order stating that the U.S. federal government’s policy is to seek the prompt repeal of PPACA, and directing the heads of all executive departments and agencies to minimize the economic and regulatory burdens of PPACA to the maximum extent permitted by law.  Also, the December 2017 revisions to the tax code eliminated PPACA’s individual mandate, which could serve as a basis for continued challenges to the constitutionality of the law and cause further disruption to the insurance markets.  Should Congress or the courts modify, repeal, or otherwise invalidate PPACA or any parts of its provisions, the business of our customers could be substantially affected.

Requirements Regarding the Confidentiality, Privacy and Security of Personal Information

HIPAA and Other Privacy and Security Requirements. Numerous U.S. federal and state laws and regulations apply to the privacy and security of personal health information. In particular, regulations promulgated pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, establish privacy and security standards that limit the use and disclosure of protected health information and require the implementation of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy of protected health information. Health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and most healthcare providers are considered "Covered Entities" subject to HIPAA.

With respect to our operations as a healthcare clearinghouse, we are directly subject to the Privacy Rule, the Security Rule and the Breach Notification Rule. In addition, our carrier customers, or payors, are considered to be Covered Entities and are required to enter into written agreements with us, known as Business Associate Agreements, under which we are considered to be a Business Associate and that require us to safeguard protected health information and restrict how we may use and disclose such information. The Privacy Rule extensively regulates the use and disclosure of protected health information by Covered Entities and their Business Associates. For example, the Privacy Rule permits Covered Entities and their Business Associates to use and disclose protected health information for treatment and to process claims for payment, but other uses and disclosures, such as marketing communications, require written authorization from the individual or must meet an exception specified under the Privacy Rule. The Privacy Rule also provides patients with rights related to understanding and controlling how their health information is used and disclosed. To the extent permitted by the Privacy Rule and our contracts with our customers, we may use and disclose protected health information to perform our services and for other limited purposes, such as creating de-identified information. Determining whether data has been sufficiently de-identified to comply with the Privacy Rule and our contractual obligations may require complex factual and statistical analyses and may be subject to interpretation. The Security Rule requires Covered Entities and their Business Associates to implement and maintain administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect the security of protected health information that is electronically transmitted or electronically stored.

If we are unable to properly protect the privacy and security of health information entrusted to us, we could be found to have breached our contracts with our customers. Further, if we fail to comply with the Privacy Rule, Security Rule, or Breach Notification Rule while acting as a Covered Entity or Business Associate, we could face civil penalties of up to $59,522 per violation and a maximum civil penalty of $1,785,651 in a calendar year for violations of the same requirement, in addition to criminal penalties. Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, which enforces HIPAA, appears to have increased its enforcement activities. Additionally, state attorneys general may bring civil actions seeking either injunctions or damages in response to violations of HIPAA that threaten the privacy of state residents.

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There are additional privacy and data security legal regimes at the federal and state level. For example, the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, regularly brings privacy and data enforcement actions under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, alleging that certain activities constitute unfair or deceptive trade practices. The states have similar laws that prohibit unfair or deceptive trade practices. There are also state data security laws and state laws that regulate the use and disclosure of health information, among others. Further, by regulation, the FTC’s Red Flags Rule requires some financial institutions and creditors, which may include some of our customers, to implement identity theft prevention programs to detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft in connection with customer accounts. We may be required to apply additional resources to our existing processes to assist our affected customers in complying with this rule.

We have implemented and maintain physical, technical and administrative safeguards, including written policies and procedures, intended to protect all personal data, including protected health information, and have processes in place to assist us in complying with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the protection of this data and properly responding to any data breaches or incidents.

Data Breach Notification Laws. There are numerous federal and state laws that generally require notice to affected individuals, regulators, and sometimes the media or credit reporting agencies in the event of a data breach impacting personal information. For example, at the federal level, the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule mandates notification of breaches affecting protected health information to affected individuals and regulators under conditions set forth in the Rule. Covered Entities must report breaches of unsecured protected health information to affected individuals without unreasonable delay, but not to exceed 60 days of discovery of the breach by a Covered Entity or its agents. Notification must also be made to HHS and, in certain circumstances involving large breaches, to the media. Business Associates must report breaches of unsecured protected health information to Covered Entities within 60 days of discovery of the breach by the Business Associate or its agents. All states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have enacted data breach notification laws. While some of these breach notification laws contain an exception for entities subject to HIPAA, other laws do not, and may impose notification obligations in addition to, or inconsistent with, the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule when a data breach implicates protected health information.     

HIPAA Administrative Simplification

HIPAA also mandated a package of interlocking administrative simplification rules to establish standards and requirements for the electronic transmission of certain healthcare claims and payment transactions. These regulations are intended to encourage electronic commerce in the healthcare industry and apply directly to Covered Entities. Some of our businesses, including our healthcare clearinghouse operations, are considered Covered Entities under HIPAA and its implementing regulations.

Transaction Standards.    The standard transaction regulations established under HIPAA, or Transaction Standards, mandate certain format and data content standards for the most common electronic healthcare transactions, using technical standards promulgated by recognized standards publishing organizations. These transactions include healthcare claims, enrollment, payment and eligibility. The Transaction Standards are applicable to that portion of our business involving the processing of healthcare transactions among payors, providers, patients and other healthcare industry constituents. Failure to comply with the Transaction Standards may subject us to civil and potentially criminal penalties and breach of contract claims. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, is responsible for enforcing the Transaction Standards.

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Payors who are unable to exchange data in the required standard formats can achieve Transaction Standards compliance by contracting with a clearinghouse to translate between standard and non-standard formats. As a result, use of a clearinghouse has allowed numerous payors to establish compliance with the Transaction Standards independently and at different times, reducing transition costs and risks. In addition, the standardization of formats and data standards envisioned by the Transaction Standards has only partially occurred. However, PPACA requires HHS to establish operating rules to promote uniformity in the implementation of each standardized electronic transaction. We cannot provide assurance regarding how the CMS will enforce the Transaction Standards. We have modified our systems and processes to implement the Transaction Standards and we continue to work with payors, healthcare information system vendors and other healthcare constituents to maintain our implementation of the Transaction Standards.

Health Plan and Other Entity Identifiers.    HHS has promulgated regulations implementing the establishment of a unique health plan identifier, or HPID. Similar to a provider’s national provider identifier, the HPID provides an identification system for health plans to use for electronic transactions. HHS has also promulgated regulations implementing another entity identifier, or OEID, that serves as an identifier for entities that are not health plans, healthcare providers or individuals. These other entities, which include third-party administrators, transaction vendors, and clearinghouses, are not required to obtain an OEID, but they could obtain and use one if they needed to be identified in standardized transactions. The implementation of the enforcement of the HPID and OEID process has been indefinitely delayed by HHS, and if implemented its impact on our business is unclear at this time.

Financial Services Related Laws and Rules

Financial services and electronic payment processing services are subject to numerous laws, regulations and industry standards, some of which might impact our operations and subject us, our vendors and our customers to liability as a result of the payment distribution and processing solutions we offer. Although we do not act as a bank, we offer solutions that involve banks, or vendors who contract with banks and other regulated providers of financial services. As a result, we might be impacted by banking and financial services industry laws, regulations and industry standards, such as licensing requirements, solvency standards, requirements to maintain the privacy and security of nonpublic personal financial information and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation deposit insurance limits. In addition, our patient billing and payment distribution and processing solutions might be impacted by payment card association operating rules, certification requirements and rules governing electronic funds transfers. If we fail to comply with applicable payment processing rules or requirements, we might be subject to fines and changes in transaction fees and may lose our ability to process credit and debit card transactions or facilitate other types of billing and payment solutions. Moreover, payment transactions processed using the Automated Clearing House Network, or ACH, are subject to network operating rules promulgated by the National Automated Clearing House Association and to various federal laws regarding such operations, including laws pertaining to electronic funds transfers, and these rules and laws might impact our billing and payment solutions. Further, our solutions might impact the ability of our payor customers to comply with state prompt payment laws. These laws require payors to pay healthcare claims meeting the statutory or regulatory definition of a “clean claim” within a specified time frame.

Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2020, we employed approximately 1,200 employees, who we refer to as associates. None of our associates are represented by a labor union or are covered by collective bargaining agreements. We are not involved in any material disputes with any of our associates, and we consider our current relations with our associates to be good. All of our associates are located in the United States.  

We believe our associates are our greatest asset. We are committed to designing a culture and environment that empowers our associates to thrive in their professional and personal lives. We believe our corporate culture provides an advantage in recruiting new employees and retaining our best talent, as well as driving behaviors across our entire organization that help us succeed.

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Our mission is to improve lives with benefits. Our mission starts with our associates. We support the total wellbeing of our associates through targeted programs, products and community initiatives. Our associates have access to an innovative total rewards package, to help them to flourish, thrive and prosper.

We offer a package of benefits to our associates so they can engage with benefits designed to protect and improve their total wellbeing, such as:

Associates can develop resiliency and find support that fosters work-life balance through programs, adaptive skill-building and positive experiences, including:

Company-sponsored emotional health programs with caregiving support, employee assistance program and health advocacy services;

Associates can build future financial security while being equipped for growth and success, including through our 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with Company match, an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), and grants of equity awards to every full-time associate.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on our workforce. Most of our associates have worked remotely since March 2020. We responded by establishing a team charged with considering and implementing strategies and policies to support our associates in this new environment. We also communicate frequently with associates to share and reinforce governmental recommendations and guidelines for safely navigating the pandemic.

We have a number of resources to support associates to thrive both professionally and personally including training and development programs, leadership programs, performance management, and regular engagement surveys that encourage open-ended feedback.

Benefitfocus is committed to providing a diverse and inclusive workplace in which equality, representation and respect create a culture of belonging. We believe our collective experiences make us stronger. We strive to be a place where everyone respects one another, regardless of national origin, race, color, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or disability. As part of this commitment, we have established a Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Council with a charter and executive sponsorship. We are committed to our mission to improve lives with benefits, and we are equally committed to embrace the diversity and uniqueness of everyone to move this mission forward.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated in June 2000 as Benefitfocus.com, Inc., a South Carolina corporation. In September 2013, we reincorporated in Delaware as Benefitfocus, Inc. Our principal executive offices are located at 100 Benefitfocus Way, Charleston, South Carolina 29492, and our phone number is (843) 849-7476. Our website address is www.benefitfocus.com. The information on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of this report.

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Available Information

Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, are available free of charge on our website at www.benefitfocus.com as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing or furnishing such material to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Securities and Exchange Commission maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that includes our reports, proxy statements and other information.

Executive Officers

The following table sets forth information concerning our executive officers as of March 9, 2021:

Stephen M. Swad—President and Chief Executive Officer

Stephen Swad has been our President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors since August 2020.  Prior to that Mr. Swad served as our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer from July 2019 until his recent appointment. He has also previously served on our board of directors from December 2013 until July 2019. From January 2016 until July 2019, Mr. Swad served as Chief Financial Officer of Vox Media, LLC. From February 2012 until April 2015, Mr. Swad served as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of Rosetta Stone Inc., a previously publicly held language-learning software company until its merger with Cambium Holding Corp. He was previously its Chief Financial Officer beginning in November 2010. Prior to joining Rosetta Stone, Mr. Swad served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Comverse Technology, Inc., beginning in May 2009. Prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) (OTCQB) from May 2007 until August 2008. He has also held various senior financial management positions with then-public companies, including AOL Inc. (now a part of Oath Inc., renamed Verizon Media) and Time Warner Inc. now known as Warner Media LLC and its subsidiaries. Mr. Swad, a former partner of KPMG LLP, has also served as a Deputy Chief Accountant at the SEC. He served on the board of Eloqua, Inc. from August 2011 until February 2013, including between August 2012 and February 2013, during which time it was a publicly held company. Mr. Swad holds a B.A. in business administration from the University of Michigan.

Mason R. Holland, Jr.—Executive Chairman of the Board

Mason Holland, one of our founders, has been our Executive Chairman and a member of the board of directors since our founding in June 2000. Mr. Holland is responsible for the coordination of strategic partnerships with industry leaders and client relations. Mr. Holland founded American Pensions, Inc. in 1988, serving as its Chairman and President from 1988 to 2003. Mr. Holland also has established and operated a number of other business entities throughout his 35 plus year career, including a real estate development firm established in 1989 and still operational and a jet aircraft manufacturer for which he served as lead investor, chief executive officer and board chairman from 2009 to 2014. Mr. Holland has served on the board of the private company AmplifiedAg, Inc. since September 2018 and on the boards of the following non-profit organizations, American Red Cross, Lowcountry Chapter, South Carolina Region; South Carolina Aquarium; and The Charleston Gaillard Management Corporation. Mr. Holland attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

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Alpana Wegner – Chief Financial Officer

Alpana Wegner has been our Chief Financial Officer since August 2020.  Prior to that Ms. Wegner has served as our Vice President, Corporate Controller since December 2017, having first joined the Company in April 2017 in the carrier business unit as general manager. Previously, Ms. Wegner worked for Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB) beginning in October 2008. She served first as director of SEC reporting, then interim Corporate Controller, followed by Vice President roles as the Chief Financial Officer of the enterprise customer business unit, and in sales operations. From May 2001 to August 2004, Ms. Wegner served as the director of external reporting and compliance at Allied Waste Industries, Inc. (which was later purchased by Republic Services, Inc.). She also served in the assurance and business advisory segment of Arthur Andersen LLP. Ms. Wegner has previously served on the board of the non-profit Louie’s Kids, Inc. Ms. Wegner holds the CPA designation and received a B.S. in Accountancy from Arizona State University.

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Item 1A. RISK FACTORS.

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the consolidated financial statements and the related notes, before deciding to invest in shares of our common stock. If any of the following risks were to materialize, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and future growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline and you could lose part or all of your investment in our common stock.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have had a history of losses, and we might not be able to achieve or sustain profitability.

We have had a history of net losses, including of $24.3 million, $45.5 million, and $52.6 million, for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively. We cannot predict if we will achieve sustained profitability in the near future or at all. We expect to make significant future expenditures to develop and expand our business. In addition, as a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting, and other expenses that we would not incur as a private company. These expenditures make it harder for us to achieve and maintain future profitability. We might not achieve sufficient revenue to achieve or maintain profitability. We could incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, including the other risks described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications and delays and other unknown events. Accordingly, we might not be able to achieve or maintain profitability and we may incur significant losses for the foreseeable future.

Our quarterly operating results have fluctuated in the past and might continue to fluctuate, causing the value of our common stock to decline substantially.

Our quarterly operating results might fluctuate due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis might not be meaningful. You should not rely on our past results as indicative of our future performance. Moreover, our stock price might be based on expectations of future performance that are unrealistic or that we might not meet and, if our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. For example, on August 4, 2017, the first trading day after we publicly announced our operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017, our stock price dropped $7.10 per share, or approximately 20.5%, to $27.50. Additionally, our stock traded at a multi-year low in March 2020 of $6.09 per share.

Our operating results have varied in the past. In addition to other risk factors listed in this section, some of the important factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly operating results include:

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In addition, a significant portion of our operating expense is relatively fixed in nature, and planned expenditures are based in part on expectations regarding future revenue. Accordingly, unexpected revenue shortfalls might decrease our gross margins and could cause significant changes in our operating results from quarter to quarter. If this occurs, the trading price of our common stock could fall substantially, either suddenly or over time.

Because we recognize revenue and expense relating to monthly subscriptions and professional services over varying periods, downturns or upturns in sales are not immediately reflected in full in our operating results.

As a SaaS company, under ASC 606, we recognize our subscription revenue monthly for the term of our contracts and therefore a shortfall in demand for our software solutions and professional services or a decline in new or renewed contracts in any one quarter might not significantly reduce our revenue for that quarter, but could negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in new or renewed sales of our products and services might not be reflected in full in our results of operations until future periods.

Our revenue recognition model also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through additional sales in any period, because revenue from new customers has to be recognized over the applicable term of the contracts.

The COVID-19 pandemic could have an adverse impact on our business and the duration and extent to which the pandemic will impact our future financial performance remains uncertain.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic, which resulted in authorities implementing numerous measures to contain the virus, including travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders, and business limitations and shutdowns. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly spread across the globe, and more importantly for our business across the United States, resulting in significant financial volatility, uncertainty, and economic disruption.

The COVID-19 pandemic could have a continued adverse impact on our business and future financial performance. In response, in 2020, we took several measures to contain costs and preserve our liquidity profile, including, among other things, implementing our previously reported restructuring plan and executive compensation and Board of Director compensation reductions. We also took precautionary measures to help ensure the safety and well-being of our employees and customers, including implementing a mandatory work-from-home policy, and establishing a COVID-19 Resource Center for our customers and funds to help support our own at-risk employees and their families. We expect our workforce to continue to remotely for a significant portion of 2021.

The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and financial results remains uncertain and depends on future developments, including, among other things, the duration and spread of the outbreak, its severity, the actions taken by governments and authorities to contain the virus or treat its impact, how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume, the impact of the pandemic on our employees, including key personnel, the impact of business disruptions on our customers and the resulting impact on their demand for our products and services, layoffs by our employer customers, our customers’ ability to pay for our products and services, and our ability to provide services to individuals. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided, we may continue to experience

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materially adverse impacts to our business as a result of its global economic impact, including as a result of any recession that might occur. If we are unable to successfully respond to and manage the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting responses to it, our business, financial condition, and results of operation could continue to be adversely impacted.

Our business could be negatively affected as a result of the actions of activist stockholders.

Proxy contests and other actions by activist stockholders have been waged against many companies in our industry over the last several years. Activist stockholders might agitate, either publicly or privately, for changes to a company’s board of directors, management, structure, spend or strategic direction, among other things. Such actions might cause significant disruption to a company’s operations and cause a company to expend a significant amount of time and resources in responding to their requests.

Recently, we have engaged in extensive dialogue with an activist stockholder. These discussions resulted in the expenditure of significant time and energy by management and our Board of Directors and required dedication by the Company of significant resources. We have undertaken, and will continue to implement, several initiatives in order to enhance our corporate governance, improve our financial flexibility, bolster our balance sheet and strengthen our leadership team, but there is no assurance that we will achieve these goals, or that doing so will decrease the likelihood of activist stockholder engagement in the future.

If faced with a proxy contest or other activist stockholder request or action in the future, we might not be able or willing to respond successfully to the contest, action, or request, which could be significantly disruptive to our business. Even if we are successful, our business could be adversely affected by any proxy contest or activist stockholder request or action involving us because:

Any such activist stockholder contests, actions or requests, or the mere public presence of activist stockholders among our stockholder base, could cause the market price for our ordinary shares to experience periods of significant volatility.

We depend on our senior management team, and the loss of one or more key associates or an inability to attract and retain highly skilled associates could adversely affect our business.

Our success depends largely upon the continued services of our key executive officers and other associates. We also rely on our leadership team in the areas of research and development, marketing, services, finance, and general and administrative functions, and on mission-critical individual contributors in sales and research and development. From time to time, there may be changes in our executive management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives, which could disrupt our business. For example: in 2020,  Ray August stepped down as president and chief executive officer and was replaced by Stephen Swad, our then-current chief financial officer, and Alpana Wegner, our then-current vice president, corporate controller, was appointed as our chief financial officer. Additionally in 2020, our former Chief Technology Officer resigned for personal reasons. In 2021, the Company announced that Mason Holland would step down from his position as Executive Chairman and a member of the Board, to

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be effective at the Company’s 2021 annual stockholders meeting. The loss of one or more of our executive officers or key associates could have a serious adverse effect on our business.    

To continue to execute our growth strategy, we also must attract and retain highly skilled personnel. Competition is intense for salespeople and for engineers with high levels of experience in designing and developing software and Internet-related services. We might not be successful in maintaining our unique culture and continuing to attract and retain qualified personnel. We have from time to time in the past experienced, and we expect to continue to experience in the future, difficulty in hiring and retaining highly skilled personnel with appropriate qualifications. The pool of qualified personnel with SaaS experience and/or experience working with the benefits market is limited overall and specifically in Charleston, South Carolina, where our principal office is located. In addition, many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have and are located in geographic areas, like Silicon Valley, that may attract more qualified technology workers.

In addition, in making employment decisions, particularly in the Internet and high-technology industries, job candidates often consider the value of the equity awards they are to receive in connection with their employment. Volatility in the price of our stock might, therefore, adversely affect our ability to attract or retain highly skilled personnel. Furthermore, the requirement to expense certain stock awards might discourage us from granting the size or type of stock awards that job candidates require to join our company. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business and future growth prospects could be severely harmed.

We operate in a highly competitive industry, and if we are not able to compete effectively, our business and operating results will be harmed.

The benefits management software market is highly competitive and is likely to attract increased competition, which could make it hard for us to succeed. Small, specialized providers continue to become more sophisticated and effective. In addition, large, well-financed, and technologically sophisticated software companies might focus more on our market. The size and financial strength of these entities is increasing as a result of continued consolidation in both the IT and healthcare industries. We expect large integrated software companies to become more active in our market, both through acquisitions and internal investment. In addition, insurance carriers may seek to bring certain of their benefits software solutions in-house, whether through acquisitions or internal investment. For example, Aetna, a customer of ours, owns bswift, a provider of insurance exchange technology solutions and benefits administration technology solutions and services. If Aetna were to decide to use bswift’s solution in place of any portion of the solutions we currently provide to them, then our business and operating results could be materially and adversely affected. As costs fall and technology improves, increased market saturation might change the competitive landscape in favor of our competitors.

Some of our current large competitors have greater name recognition, longer operating histories, and significantly greater resources than we do. As a result, our competitors might be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, or customer requirements. In addition, current and potential competitors have established, and might in the future establish, cooperative relationships with vendors of complementary products, technologies, or services to increase the availability of their products in the marketplace. Accordingly, new competitors or alliances might emerge that have greater market share, a larger customer base, more widely adopted proprietary technologies, greater marketing expertise, greater financial resources, and larger sales forces than we have, which could put us at a competitive disadvantage. Further, in light of these advantages, even if our products and services are more effective than those of our competitors, current or potential customers might accept competitive offerings in lieu of purchasing our offerings. Increased competition is likely to result in pricing pressures, which could negatively impact our sales, profitability, or market share. In addition to new niche vendors, who offer standalone products and services, we face competition from existing enterprise vendors, including those currently focused on software solutions that have information systems in place with potential customers in our target market. These existing enterprise vendors might promise products or services that offer ease of integration with existing systems and which leverage

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existing vendor relationships. In addition, large insurance carriers often have internal technology staffs and proprietary software for benefits management, making them less likely to buy our solutions.

The market for our products and services is immature and volatile, and if it does not develop or if it develops more slowly than we expect, the growth of our business will be harmed.

The cloud-based benefits management software market is relatively new and unproven, and it is uncertain whether it will achieve and sustain high levels of demand and market acceptance. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on the willingness of employers, carriers, consumers and brokers to increase their use of benefits management software. Many employers and carriers have invested substantial personnel and financial resources to integrate internally developed solutions or traditional enterprise software into their businesses for benefits management, and therefore might be reluctant or unwilling to migrate to our cloud-based solutions, including Benefit Catalog (formerly BenefitsPlace). Furthermore, some businesses might be reluctant to use cloud-based solutions because they have concerns about the security of their data and the reliability of the technology delivery model associated with these solutions. If employers, carriers, consumers and brokers do not perceive the benefits of our solutions, then our market might not develop at all, or it might develop more slowly than we expect, either of which could significantly adversely affect our operating results. In addition, we might make errors in predicting and reacting to relevant business trends, which could harm our business. If any of these risks occur, it could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

The SaaS pricing model is evolving and our failure to manage its evolution and demand could lead to lower than expected revenue and profit.

We derive most of our revenue growth from subscription offerings and, specifically, SaaS offerings. This business model depends heavily on achieving economies of scale because the initial upfront investment is costly and the associated revenue is recognized on a ratable basis. If we fail to achieve appropriate economies of scale or if we fail to manage or anticipate the evolution and demand of the SaaS pricing model, then our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

If we do not continue to innovate and provide products and services that are useful to consumers, employers, insurance carriers, and brokers and provide high quality support services, we might not remain competitive, and our revenue and operating results could suffer.

Our success depends in part on providing products and services that consumers, employers, insurance carriers, and brokers will use to manage benefits. We have refocused on customer-driven innovation and must continue to invest significant resources in research and development in order to enhance our existing products and services and introduce new high-quality products and services that customers will want. If we are unable to predict user preferences or industry changes, or if we are unable to modify our products and services on a timely basis, we might lose customers. Our operating results would also suffer if our innovations are not responsive to the needs of our customers, are not appropriately timed with market opportunity, or are not effectively brought to market. As technology continues to develop, our competitors might be able to offer results that are, or that are perceived to be, substantially similar to or better than those generated by us. This would force us to compete on additional product and service attributes and to expend significant resources in order to remain competitive.

In addition, we may experience difficulties with software development, industry standards, design, or marketing that could delay or prevent our development, introduction, or implementation of new solutions and enhancements. The introduction of new solutions by competitors, the emergence of new industry standards, or the development of entirely new technologies to replace existing offerings could render our existing or future solutions obsolete.

Our success also depends on providing high quality support services to resolve any issues related to our products and services. High quality education and customer support is important for the successful marketing and sale of our products and services and for the renewal of existing customers. If we do not

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help our customers quickly resolve issues and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to sell additional products and services to existing customers would suffer and our reputation with existing or potential customers would be harmed.

If we are unable to retain our existing customers, our revenue and results of operations would be adversely affected.

We sell our products and services pursuant to agreements that are generally one to three years for employers and three to five years for carriers. While our employer contracts generally automatically renew, our carrier customers have no obligation to renew their contracts after their contract period expires, and these contracts might not be renewed on the same or on more profitable terms if at all. Additionally, some of our carrier customers are able to terminate their respective contracts without cause or for convenience, although generally our carrier contracts are only cancellable by the carrier in an instance of our uncured breach. As a result, our ability to grow depends in part on the continuance and renewal of our carrier contracts. We have experienced increased customer non-renewal over the past year or so. We cannot accurately predict future trends in customer renewals, and our customers’ renewal rates may decline or fluctuate because of several factors, including their level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our services, the cost of our services, the cost of services offered by our competitors, consolidations or reductions in our customers’ spending levels. If our carrier customers terminate or do not renew their contracts for our services, renew on less favorable terms, or do not purchase additional functionality or products, our revenue may grow more slowly than expected or decline, and our profitability and gross margins may be harmed.

A significant amount of our revenue is derived from our largest customers, and any reduction in revenue from any of these customers would reduce our revenue and net income.

Our ten largest customers by revenue accounted for approximately 34%, 37% and 42% of our consolidated revenue in each of 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. No customer accounted for more than 10% of our revenue in 2019 or 2020. One customer accounted for approximately 13% of our revenue in 2018. If any of our large customers or strategic partners decides not to renew its contracts with us, or to renew on less favorable terms, our business, revenue, reputation, and our ability to obtain new customers could be materially and adversely affected.

Economic or geopolitical uncertainties or downturns in the general economy or the industries in which our customers operate could disproportionately affect the demand for our solutions and negatively impact our results of operations.

General worldwide economic and geopolitical conditions have experienced significant downturns in the past, and market volatility and uncertainty remain widespread, including as a result of the coronavirus and the 2020 presidential election.  All of this makes it extremely difficult for our customers and us to accurately forecast and plan future business activities. In addition, these conditions could cause our customers or prospective customers to decrease headcount, benefits, or HR budgets, which could decrease corporate spending on our products and services, resulting in delayed and lengthened sales cycles, a decrease in new customer acquisition, and/or loss of customers. Furthermore, during challenging economic times, our customers may have difficulty gaining timely access to sufficient credit or obtaining credit on reasonable terms, which could impair their ability to make timely payments to us and adversely affect our revenue. If that were to occur, our financial results could be harmed. Further, challenging economic conditions might impair the ability of our customers to pay for the products and services they already have purchased from us and, as a result, our write-offs of accounts receivable could increase. For example, during 2020 we experienced an increase in early termination and credit requests from our customers. We cannot predict the timing, strength, or duration of any economic slowdown or recovery. If the condition of the general economy or markets in which we operate worsens, our business could be harmed.

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Failure to adequately and effectively expand our direct sales force will impede our growth.

We believe that our future growth will in part depend on the development of our direct sales force and its ability to obtain new customers and to expand and further develop our existing customer base. Identifying and recruiting qualified personnel and training them in the use of our software requires significant time, expense, and attention. It can take six months or longer before a new sales representative is fully trained and productive. Our business may be adversely affected if our efforts to expand, train and retrain our direct sales force do not generate a corresponding increase in revenue. For example, reductions of our salesforce in 2016, 2018 and 2020, among other factors, negatively impacted sales, and as a result, revenue going forward. In particular, if we are unable to hire, develop and retrain sufficient numbers of productive direct sales personnel or if new direct sales personnel are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time, sales of our products and services will suffer and our growth will be impeded.

Our growth depends in part on the success of our strategic relationships with third parties, including brokers.

In order to grow our business, we anticipate that we will continue to depend on our relationships with third parties including resellers such as SAP SE, and other referral sources such as brokers, consultants, specialty benefits providers, insurance carriers, technology and content providers, administrative service providers and third-party system integrators. Identifying partners, negotiating and documenting relationships with them, and developing referral sources requires significant time and resources. In the first quarter of 2019, Mercer sold all of its Benefitfocus stock and we amended our commercial relationship with Mercer to better align with our strategic priorities and current trends in the marketplace. Our revised commercial agreement with them led to a reduction in our revenue from the relationship in 2019 and 2020, and we believe this trend will continue in 2021. Our competitors might be effective in providing incentives to third parties to favor their products or services or to prevent or reduce subscriptions to our products and services. Acquisitions of our partners by our competitors could result in a decrease in the number of our current and potential customers, as our partners may no longer facilitate the adoption of our applications by potential customers. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with third parties, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenue could be impaired and our operating results may suffer. Even if we are successful, we cannot assure you that these relationships will result in increased customer use of our applications or increased revenue.

If the number of individuals covered by our employer and carrier customers decreases or the number of products or services to which our employer and carrier customers subscribe or their employees purchase decreases, our revenue will decrease.

Under most of our customer contracts, we base our fees on the number of individuals to whom our customers provide benefits and the number of products or services subscribed to by our customers or purchased by their employees. Many factors may lead to a decrease in the number of individuals covered by our customers and the number of products or services subscribed to by our customers, including:

If the number of individuals covered by our customers or the number of products or services subscribed to by our customers decreases for any reason, our revenue will likely decrease and could affect the contractual minimums for renewals in future periods. For example, during 2020, we

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experienced an increase in early termination and credit requests. Additionally, in 2020 revenue from some health plan customers was protected from decreases in the number of covered employees because it was based on contractual minimums, which might be renewed at lower levels in future periods.

Failure to manage our continued growth effectively could increase our expenses, decrease our revenue, and prevent us from implementing our business strategy.

We have experienced growth in the past and anticipate future growth, which could put a strain on our business. To manage our anticipated future growth effectively, we must continue to maintain and enhance our IT infrastructure, financial and accounting systems, and controls. We also must attract, train, and retain a significant number of qualified sales and marketing personnel, customer support personnel, professional services personnel, software engineers, technical personnel, and management personnel. Failure to effectively manage our anticipated future growth could lead us to over-invest or under-invest in development and operations, result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, systems, or controls, give rise to operational mistakes, losses, loss of productivity or business opportunities, and result in loss of employees and reduced productivity of remaining employees. Our anticipated future growth could require significant capital expenditures and might divert financial resources from other projects such as the development of new products and services. If our management is unable to effectively manage our anticipated future growth, our expenses might increase more than expected, our revenue could decline or might grow more slowly than expected, and we might be unable to implement our business strategy. The quality of our products and services might suffer, which could negatively affect our reputation and harm our ability to retain and attract customers.

If we fail to maintain awareness of our brand cost-effectively, our business might suffer.

We believe that maintaining awareness of our brand in a cost-effective manner is critical to continuing the widespread acceptance of our existing solutions and is an important element in attracting new customers. Furthermore, we believe that the importance of brand recognition will increase as competition in our market increases. Successful promotion of our brand will depend largely on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and on our ability to provide reliable and useful services at competitive prices. Our efforts to build, maintain and market changes to our brand nationally have involved significant expenses. Brand promotion activities may not yield increased revenue, and even if they do, any increased revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in maintaining our brand. If we fail to successfully maintain our brand, or incur substantial expenses in an unsuccessful attempt to maintain our brand, we may fail to attract enough new customers or retain our existing customers to the extent necessary to realize a sufficient return on our brand-building efforts, and our business could suffer.

We might not be able to utilize a significant portion of our net operating loss or other tax credit carryforwards, which could adversely affect our profitability.

As of December 31, 2020, we had federal and state net operating loss carryforwards due to prior period losses, which began expiring unutilized in 2020 and will continue expiring through 2039 if not utilized. We also have South Carolina jobs tax credit and headquarters tax credit carryforwards, some of which have expired unutilized. The tax credit carryforwards that expire unused are unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities, which could adversely affect our profitability.

In addition, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, our ability to utilize net operating loss carryforwards or other tax attributes in any taxable year may be limited if we experience an “ownership change”. A Section 382 “ownership change” generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who own at least 5% of our stock increase their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. Similar rules might apply under state tax laws. Future issuances of our stock could cause an “ownership change”. It is possible that an ownership change, or any future ownership change, could have a material effect on the use of our net operating loss carryforwards or other tax attributes, which could adversely affect our profitability.

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We might be unable to adequately protect, and we might incur significant costs in enforcing, our intellectual property and other proprietary rights.

Our success depends in part on our ability to enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We rely on a combination of trademark, trade secret, copyright, patent, and unfair competition laws, as well as license and access agreements and other contractual provisions, to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. In addition, we attempt to protect our intellectual property and proprietary information by requiring employees and consultants to enter into confidentiality, noncompetition, and assignment of inventions agreements. Our attempts to protect our intellectual property might be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. While we have a number of patents granted in the United States and other jurisdictions including China, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Canada, we might not be able to obtain meaningful patent protection for our software. In addition, if any patents are issued in the future, they might not provide us with any competitive advantages, or might be successfully challenged by third parties. Agreement terms that address non-competition are difficult to enforce in many jurisdictions and might not be enforceable in certain cases. To the extent that our intellectual property and other proprietary rights are not adequately protected, third parties might gain access to our proprietary information, develop and market products or services similar to ours, or use trademarks similar to ours, each of which could materially harm our business. Existing U.S. federal and state intellectual property laws offer only limited protection. Moreover, the laws of other countries in which we might in the future conduct operations or contract for services might afford little or no effective protection of our intellectual property. The failure to adequately protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights could materially harm our business.

In addition, if we resort to legal proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights or to determine the validity and scope of the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of others, the proceedings could be burdensome and expensive, even if we were to prevail. Any litigation that is necessary in the future could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.

We might be sued by third parties for alleged infringement of their proprietary rights.

The software and Internet industries are characterized by the existence of a large number of patents, trademarks, and copyrights and by frequent litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. We have received in the past, and might receive in the future, communications from third parties claiming that we have infringed the intellectual property rights of others. Our technologies might not be able to withstand any third-party claims or rights against their use. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be time-consuming and expensive to resolve, divert management attention from executing our business plan, and require us to pay monetary damages or enter into royalty or licensing agreements. In addition, many of our contracts contain warranties with respect to intellectual property rights, and most require us to indemnify our clients for third-party intellectual property infringement claims, which would increase the cost to us of an adverse ruling on such a claim.

Moreover, any settlement or adverse judgment resulting from such a claim could require us to pay substantial amounts of money or obtain a license to continue to use the software or information that is the subject of the claim, or otherwise restrict or prohibit our use of it. We might not be able to obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, from third parties asserting an infringement claim; we might not be able to develop alternative technology on a timely basis, if at all; and we might not be able to obtain a license to use a suitable alternative technology to permit us to continue offering, and our clients to continue using, our affected services. Accordingly, an adverse determination could prevent us from offering our services to others.

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Any future litigation against us could be costly and time-consuming to defend.

We may become subject, from time to time, to legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business such as claims brought by our clients in connection with commercial disputes, employment claims made by our current or former associates, or purported securities class actions. Litigation might result in substantial costs and may divert management’s attention and resources, which might seriously harm our business, overall financial condition, and operating results. Insurance might not cover such claims, might not provide sufficient payments to cover all the costs to resolve one or more such claims, and might not continue to be available on terms acceptable to us. A claim brought against us that is uninsured or underinsured could result in unanticipated costs, thereby reducing our operating results and leading analysts or potential investors to reduce their expectations of our performance, which could reduce the trading price of our stock.

Acquisitions could prove difficult to integrate, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value, and adversely affect our operating results and the value of our common stock.

As part of our business strategy, we might acquire, enter into joint ventures with, or make investments in complementary companies, services, and technologies in the future. For example, in February 2019, we acquired certain assets of Connecture, Inc. We spent considerable time, effort, and money pursuing this acquisition, our first in years, and need now to continue to successfully integrate it into our business. Acquisitions and investments involve numerous risks, including:

If we fail to properly evaluate acquisitions or investments, we might not achieve the anticipated benefits of any such acquisitions, we might incur costs in excess of what we anticipate, and management resources and attention might be diverted from other necessary or valuable activities.

Future sales to customers outside the United States or with international operations might expose us to risks inherent in international sales which, if realized, could adversely affect our business.

An element of our growth strategy is to expand internationally. Operating in international markets requires significant resources and management attention and will subject us to regulatory, economic, and political risks that are different from those in the United States. Because of our limited experience with international operations, our international expansion efforts might not be successful in creating demand for our products and services outside of the United States or in effectively selling our solutions in the international markets we enter. In addition, we will face risks in doing business internationally that could adversely affect our business, including:

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If we denominate our international contracts in local currencies, fluctuations in the value of the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies might impact our operating results when translated into U.S. dollars.

Changes in and interpretations of accounting principles and their implementation could have an adverse impact on our reported financial results.

We prepare our financial statements in accordance with GAAP. These rules are subject to interpretation by the SEC and various bodies formed to interpret and create appropriate accounting principles. Changes in these rules or their interpretation could have a negative impact on our reported financial results and may retroactively affect previously reported transactions. For example, we incurred considerable cost and effort to implement the new revenue and lease standards in 2018 and 2019.

Implementation of these new standards, and any future accounting pronouncements, implementation guidelines, or interpretations, could have an adverse impact on our reported financial results, require that we make significant changes to our systems, processes and controls, or the way we conduct our business. In addition, we have expended and might in the future expend considerable effort and resources implementing accounting updates, which in and of itself could have negative impact on our results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Products and Services Offerings

The breach or failure of our security measures, unauthorized access to or disclosure of customers’ or consumers’ data, or disruption of our products or services caused by security breaches or other incidents may result in our products and services being perceived as unsecure, cause customers and consumers to curtail or stop using our products and services, and cause us to incur significant liabilities.

Our products and services involve the storage and transmission of customers’ and consumers’ confidential information, which may include sensitive individually identifiable information that is subject to stringent legal, regulatory, or contractual obligations. Because of the sensitivity of this information, our privacy and security measures related to our products and service offerings, including the security features of our software, are very important. Although we have privacy and security measures in place designed to protect customers’ and consumers’ data and our systems, techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems and data change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target. It is also possible that, due to the surreptitious nature of certain data breaches and other incidents, they may remain undetected for an extended period, which may exacerbate harm to the company. We cannot ensure that our measures will not be breached or otherwise

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fail to protect confidential information or prevent disruption of our products and services, including as a result of inadvertent disclosures through technological or human error (including employee or service provider error), malfeasance, hacking, ransomware, social engineering (including phishing schemes), computer viruses, malware, or otherwise. Unauthorized individuals may acquire or obtain unauthorized access to our customers’ or consumers’ confidential information (including medical, financial or other personal information). Data breaches, failures of our privacy or security measures, inadvertent disclosures, disruptions of our products and services, and other incidents could result in serious harm to our reputation, our business could suffer, and we could incur serious liability and other expenses related to litigation (including damages associated with breach-of-contract claims and consumer litigation), penalties for violation of applicable laws or regulations, costly litigation or government investigations, and remediation efforts to prevent future occurrences.

We rely on various parties (including as users of our products, services, and systems), such as employers’ HR departments, carriers, service providers, and consumers themselves for key services and activities that impact the security of our products, services, and systems and the privacy and security of data and information accessible within them, such as data hosting and administration of enrollment, consumer status changes, claims, and billing. These individuals and organizations may, for example, experience data breaches or cause unauthorized access to or disclosure of information. Our customers may authorize or enable third parties to access their information and data that is stored on our systems. Because we do not determine such access, we cannot ensure the complete security, confidentiality, integrity, or availability of such data in our systems.

Privacy and security incidents are not uncommon in our industry due to the nature of our industry’s services, the high volume of sensitive information involved, and the desirability of that information to bad actors. Incidents involving phishing, hacking, and misdirected communications containing sensitive information can and do occur. Customers and end-users of our industry’s products and services are also the source of privacy and security incidents, sometimes due to failures to adhere to appropriate privacy and data security practices. For example, employers sometimes fail to terminate the account credentials of former employees or permit current employees to share account credentials.

Like others in our industry, we experience cyber-attacks and other attempts to disrupt or gain unauthorized access to our systems on a regular basis. When we become aware of privacy or security incidents, we work diligently to address them, including by working to terminate unauthorized or inappropriate access and implementing additional measures, training, and providing guidance to customers and end users in order to avoid the reoccurrence and future incidents. Although to date privacy and security incidents have not been material, they could expose us to significant expense, legal liability, and harm to our reputation, which might result in loss of business.

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Our failure or failure by our customers to obtain proper permissions and waivers might result in claims against us or may limit or prevent our use of data, which could harm our business.

We require our customers to provide necessary notices and to obtain necessary permissions and waivers for use and disclosure of information on the Benefitfocus Platform, and we require contractual assurances from them that they have done so and will do so. If, however, despite these requirements and contractual obligations, our customers or consumers do not obtain necessary permissions and waivers, then our use and disclosure of information that we receive from them or on their behalf might be limited or prohibited by state or federal privacy laws or other laws. This could impair our functions, processes and databases that reflect, contain, or are based upon such data and might prevent use of such data. In addition, this could interfere with, or prevent creation or use of, rules, analyses, or other data-driven activities that benefit us and our business. Moreover, we might be subject to claims or liability for use or disclosure of information by reason of lack of valid notices, agreements, permissions or waivers. These claims or liabilities could subject us to unexpected costs and adversely affect our operating results.

Our proprietary software might not operate properly, which could damage our reputation, give rise to claims against us, or divert application of our resources from other purposes, any of which could harm our business and operating results.

Proprietary software development is time-consuming, expensive, and complex. Unforeseen difficulties can arise. We might encounter technical obstacles, and it is possible that we discover problems that prevent our proprietary applications from operating properly. If they do not function reliably or fail to achieve customer expectations in terms of performance, customers could assert liability claims against us and/or attempt to cancel their contracts with us. This could damage our reputation and impair our ability to attract or maintain customers.

Moreover, benefits management software as complex as ours has in the past contained, and may in the future contain, or develop, undetected defects or errors. Material performance problems or defects in our products and services might arise in the future. Errors might result from the interface of our services with legacy systems and data, which we did not develop and the function of which is outside of our control. Defects or errors might arise in our existing or new software or service processes. Because changes in employer, carrier, and legal requirements and practices relating to benefits are frequent, we are continuously discovering defects and errors in our software and service processes compared against these requirements and practices. Undiscovered vulnerabilities could expose our software to unscrupulous third parties who develop and deploy software programs that could attack our software or result in unauthorized access to, acquisition of, or disclosure of customer data. Defects and errors and any failure by us to identify and address them could result in loss of revenue or market share, liability to customers or others, failure to achieve market acceptance or expansion, diversion of development and other resources, injury to our reputation, and increased service and maintenance costs. Defects or errors in our product or service processes might discourage existing or potential customers from purchasing services from us. Correction of defects or errors could prove to be impossible or impracticable. The costs incurred in correcting any defects or errors or in responding to resulting claims or liability might be substantial and could adversely affect our operating results.

In addition, customers that rely on our products and services to collect, manage, and report benefits data might have a greater sensitivity to service errors and security vulnerabilities than customers of software products in general. We market and sell services that, among other things, provide information to assist care providers in tracking and treating ill patients. Any operational delay in or failure of our software service processes might result in the disruption of patient care and could cause harm to our business and operating results.

Our customers might assert claims against us in the future alleging that they suffered damages due to a defect, error, or other failure of our product or service processes. A product liability claim or errors or omissions claim could subject us to significant legal defense costs and adverse publicity regardless of the merits or eventual outcome of such a claim.

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Various events could interrupt customers’ access to the Benefitfocus Platform, exposing us to significant costs.

The ability to access the Benefitfocus Platform is critical to our customers. Our operations and facilities are vulnerable to interruption and/or damage from a number of sources, many of which are beyond our control, including, without limitation: (i) power loss and telecommunications failures, (ii) fire, flood, hurricane, and other natural disasters, (iii) software and hardware errors, failures or crashes in our own systems or in other systems, (iv) computer viruses, denial-of-service attacks, hacking and similar disruptive problems in our own systems and in other systems, and (v) civil unrest, war, and/or terrorism. We have implemented various measures to protect against interruptions of customers’ access to our platform. If customers’ access is interrupted because of problems in the operation of our facilities, we could be exposed to significant claims by customers, particularly if the access interruption is associated with problems in the timely delivery of funds due to customers or medical information relevant to patient care. Our plans for disaster recovery and business continuity rely on third-party providers of related services. If those vendors fail us at a time when our systems are not operating correctly, we could incur a loss of revenue and liability for failure to fulfill our obligations. Any significant instances of system downtime could negatively affect our reputation and ability to retain customers and sell our services, which would adversely impact our revenue.

In addition, retention and availability of patient care and physician reimbursement data are subject to federal and state laws governing record retention, accuracy, and access. Some laws impose obligations on our customers and on us to produce information for third parties and to amend or expunge data at their direction. Our failure to meet these obligations might result in liability, which could increase our costs and reduce our operating results.

We rely on data center providers, Internet infrastructure, bandwidth providers, third-party computer hardware and software, other third parties, and our own systems for providing services to our customers, and any failure or interruption in the services provided by these third parties or our own systems could expose us to litigation and negatively impact our relationships with customers, adversely affecting our brand and our business.

We serve our customers primarily from three data centers, located in Raleigh, North Carolina,  Charlotte, North Carolina, and Ashburn, Virginia. While we control and have access to our servers, we do not control the operation of these facilities. The owners of our data center facilities have no obligation to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we are unable to renew these agreements on commercially reasonable terms, or if one of our data center operators is acquired, we may be required to transfer our servers and other infrastructure to new data center facilities, and we may incur significant costs and possible service interruption in connection with doing so. Problems faced by our third-party data center locations, with the telecommunications network providers with whom we or they contract, or with the systems by which our telecommunications providers allocate capacity among their customers, including us, could adversely affect the experience of our customers. Our third-party data centers operators could decide to close their facilities without adequate notice. In addition, any financial difficulties, such as bankruptcy faced by our third-party data centers operators or any of the service providers with whom we or they contract may have negative effects on our business, the nature and extent of which are difficult to predict.

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In addition, our ability to deliver our web-based services depends on the development and maintenance of the infrastructure of the Internet by third parties. This includes maintenance of a reliable network backbone with the necessary speed, data capacity, bandwidth capacity, and security. Our services are designed to operate without interruption in accordance with our service level commitments. However, we have experienced and expect that we will experience future interruptions and delays in services and availability from time to time. In the event of a catastrophic event with respect to one or more of our systems, we may experience an extended period of system unavailability, which could negatively impact our relationship with customers. To operate without interruption, both we and our service providers must guard against:

We also rely on computer hardware purchased or leased and software licensed from third parties in order to offer our services, including software from Oracle Corporation and Microsoft Corporation, and routers and network equipment from Cisco, Dell and Hewlett-Packard Company. This hardware and software is generally commercially available on varying terms. However, it is possible that this hardware and software might not continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Any loss of the right to use any of this hardware or software could result in delays in the provisioning of our services until equivalent technology is either developed by us, or, if available, is identified, obtained and integrated.

We exercise limited control over third-party vendors, which increases our vulnerability to problems with technology and information services they provide. Interruptions in our network access and services might in connection with third-party technology and information services reduce our revenue, cause us to issue refunds to customers for prepaid and unused subscription services, subject us to potential liability, or adversely affect our renewal rates. Although we maintain insurance for our business, the coverage under our policies might not be adequate to compensate us for all losses that may occur. In addition, we might not be able to continue to obtain adequate insurance coverage at an acceptable cost, if at all.

The use of open source software in our products and solutions may expose us to additional risks and harm our intellectual property rights.

Some of our products and solutions use or incorporate software that is subject to one or more open source licenses. Open source software is typically freely accessible, usable, and modifiable. Certain open source software licenses require a user who intends to distribute the open source software as a component of the user’s software to disclose publicly part or all of the source code to the user’s software. In addition, certain open source software licenses require the user of such software to make any derivative works of the open source code available to others on potentially unfavorable terms or at no cost.

The terms of many open source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts. Accordingly, there is a risk that those licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our solutions. In that event, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our products or solutions, to re-develop our products or solutions, to discontinue sales of our products or solutions, or to release our proprietary software code under the terms of an open source license, any of which could harm our business. Further, given the nature of open source software, it may be more likely that third parties might assert copyright and other intellectual property infringement claims against us based on our use of these open source software programs.

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While we monitor the use of all open source software in our products, solutions, processes, and technology and try to ensure that no open source software is used in such a way as to require us to disclose the source code to the related product or solution when we do not wish to do so, it is possible that such use may have inadvertently occurred in deploying our proprietary solutions. In addition, if a third-party software provider has incorporated certain types of open source software into software we license from such third party for our products and solutions without our knowledge, we could, under certain circumstances, be required to disclose the source code to our products and solutions. This could harm our intellectual property position and our business, results of operations, and financial condition.  

Risks Related to Regulation

Government regulation of the areas in which we operate creates risks and challenges with respect to our compliance efforts and our business strategies.

The healthcare and wellness industries are highly-regulated and subject to changing political, legislative, regulatory, and other influences. Changes in the laws and regulations may impact the operating environment and healthcare market and, by extension, the employee benefits industry. Among other impacts, existing and new laws and regulations affecting the employee benefits industry could create legal liabilities for us, cause us to incur additional costs and/or restrict our operations. These laws and regulations are complex and their application to specific services and relationships are not always clear. In particular, many existing laws and regulations affecting employee benefits, when enacted, did not anticipate the services that we provide, and these laws and regulations might be applied to our services in ways that we do not anticipate. Our failure to accurately anticipate the application of these laws and regulations, or our failure to comply, could create liability for us, result in adverse publicity, and negatively affect our business. Some of the risks we face from the regulation of employee benefits are as follows:

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The False Claims Act prohibits intentionally submitting, conspiring to submit, or causing to be submitted, false or otherwise improper claims, records or statements to the federal government, or intentionally failing to return overpayments, in connection with reimbursement by federal government programs. In addition, violations of the Stark law and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute can also lead to liability under the federal False Claims Act. Most states have enacted false claims laws analogous to the federal False Claims Act. In addition, the federal False Claims Act and some state false claims laws permit private individuals to file whistleblower lawsuits known as “qui tam” actions on behalf of the federal or state government. Many states have passed laws similar to the federal False Claims Act that pertain to all payors, not just items or services paid for by the federal government.

Although our business operations are not generally directly subject to these laws and regulations, any contract we have with a government entity requires us to comply with these laws and regulations. Further, our customers and clients are often subject to these complex laws, and any failure by us or our clients to comply with these laws and regulations could result in substantial liability, including but not limited to criminal liability, could adversely affect demand for our or our client’s services, and could force us to expend significant capital and other resources to address the failure. Any determination by a court or regulatory agency that our services with government clients violate these laws and regulations could subject us to civil or criminal penalties, invalidate all or portions of some of our government client contracts, require us to change or terminate some portions of our business, require us to refund portions of our services fees, cause us to be disqualified from serving not only government clients but also all clients doing business with government payers, and have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, failure to accurately anticipate the application of these laws and regulations to our or our client’s business or any other failure to comply with regulatory requirements could create liability and negatively affect our business. These risks are exacerbated by the fact that many of these laws have not been fully interpreted by regulatory authorities or the courts, and their provisions are sometimes complex and open to a variety of interpretations.

Violations of HIPAA could result in civil fines of up to $59,522 per violation and a maximum civil penalty of $1,785,651 in a calendar year for violations of the same requirement, as well as criminal penalties. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), which enforces HIPAA, continues to increase its enforcement activities. OCR also operates a formal HIPAA audit program. The audits are intended to assess compliance with HIPAA by both Covered Entities and Business Associates and are conducted by OCR with assistance from third-party vendors. Issues identified during the audits may result in agency-

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imposed corrective action plans or civil monetary penalties. Additionally, state attorneys general may bring civil actions seeking either injunctions or damages in response to violations of HIPAA that threaten the privacy of state residents.

We may not be able to adequately address the business risks created by HIPAA implementation and enforcement. Furthermore, we are unable to predict what changes to HIPAA or other laws or regulations might be made in the future or how those changes could affect our business or the costs associated with compliance. Noncompliance may result in litigation, civil penalties, fines and/or settlements.

Some payors and clearinghouses interpret HIPAA transaction requirements differently than we do. Where payors or clearinghouses require conformity with their interpretations as a condition of a successful transaction, we seek to comply with their interpretations.

In addition to the Privacy Rule and Security Rule, most states have enacted patient confidentiality laws that protect against the disclosure of confidential medical and/or health information, and many states have adopted or are considering further legislation in this area, including privacy safeguards, security standards, and data security breach notification requirements. Such state laws, if more stringent than HIPAA requirements, are not preempted by the federal requirements, and we are required to comply with them. Failure by us to comply with any state standards regarding patient privacy may subject us to penalties, including civil monetary penalties and, in some circumstances, criminal penalties. Such failure may injure our reputation and adversely affect our ability to retain customers and attract new customers.

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Potential regulatory requirements placed on our software, services, and content could impose increased costs on us, delay or prevent our introduction of new service types, and impair the function or value of our existing service types.

Our products and services are and are likely to continue to be subject to increasing regulatory requirements in a number of ways. As these requirements proliferate, we must change or adapt our products and services to comply. Changing regulatory requirements might render our services obsolete or might block us from accomplishing our work or from developing new services. This might in turn impose additional costs upon us to comply or to further develop our products and services. It might also make introduction of new product or service types more costly or more time-consuming than we currently anticipate. It might even prevent introduction by us of new products or services or cause the continuation of our existing products or services to become unprofitable or impossible.

Potential government subsidy of services similar to ours, or creation of a single payor system, might reduce customer demand.

Recently, entities including brokers and U.S. federal and state governments have offered to subsidize adoption of online benefits platforms or clearinghouses. In addition, federal regulations have been changed to permit such subsidy from additional sources subject to certain limitations. To the extent that we do not qualify or participate in such subsidy programs, demand for our services might be reduced, which may decrease our revenue. In addition, prior proposals regarding healthcare reform have included the concept of creation of a single payor for healthcare insurance. This kind of consolidation of critical benefits activity could negatively impact the demand for our services.

Our services present the potential for embezzlement, identity theft, or other similar illegal behavior by our associates with respect to third parties.

Among other things, certain services offered by us involve collecting payment information from individuals, and this frequently includes check and credit card information. Even though we do not handle direct payments, our services also involve the use and disclosure of personal and business information that could be used to impersonate third parties, commit identity theft, or otherwise gain access to their data or funds. If any of our associates take, convert, or misuse such funds, documents, or data, we could be liable for damages, and our business reputation could be damaged or destroyed. Moreover, if we fail to adequately prevent third parties from accessing personal and/or business information and using that information to commit identity theft, we might face legal liabilities and other losses than can have a negative impact on our business.

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Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

We have incurred substantial indebtedness that may decrease our business flexibility, access to capital and/or increase our borrowing costs, and we may still incur substantially more debt, which may adversely affect our operations and financial results.

In December 2018, we issued $240.0 million aggregate principal of 1.25% convertible senior notes (the “Notes”) due December 15, 2023, unless earlier repurchased by us or converted by the holder pursuant to their terms. The Notes may limit our ability to borrow additional funds for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other general business purposes; limit our ability to use our cash flow or obtain additional financing for future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other general business purposes; require us to use a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to make debt service payments; limit our flexibility to plan for or react to, changes in our business and industry; place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our less leveraged competitors; and increase our vulnerability to the impact of adverse economic and industry conditions. Further, the indenture governing the Notes does not restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness and we and our subsidiaries may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, subject to the restrictions contained in any future debt instruments existing at the time, some of which may be secured indebtedness.

Servicing our debt and preferred dividends requires a significant amount of cash, and we might not have or be able to obtain sufficient cash to pay our substantial debt or required dividends.

As of December 31, 2020, we had $221 million aggregate principal of Notes outstanding. We also had the ability to borrow an aggregate of $50 million under our current credit facility, all of which would be secured debt. Further, holders of our redeemable preferred stock are entitled to dividends of 8% per year, payable quarterly, which is approximately $6.4 million per year as of December 31, 2020, if paid in cash rather than in kind. Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business might not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt timely. In addition, our ability to repurchase or to pay cash upon conversion of the Notes may be limited by law, regulatory authority or agreements governing our future indebtedness. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash to service our debt, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. In addition, our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We might not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default and acceleration of our debt obligations.

The conditional conversion feature of the Notes, if triggered, and any required repurchase of the Notes may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

In the event any conditional conversion feature of the Notes is triggered, holders of the Notes will be entitled to convert the Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. In addition, holders of the Notes have the right to require us to repurchase their Notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change. If one or more holders elect to convert their Notes (and unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our common stock, other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), or if we are required to repurchase the Notes due to a fundamental change, we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash or repurchase the Notes with cash, both of which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Notes upon a conditional conversion feature being triggered, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.

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The Notes are effectively subordinated to our secured debt and any liabilities of our subsidiaries.

The Notes rank senior in right of payment to any of our indebtedness that is expressly subordinated in right of payment to the Notes; equal in right of payment to any of our liabilities that are not so subordinated; effectively junior in right of payment to any of our senior, secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; and structurally junior to all indebtedness and other liabilities (including trade payables) of our subsidiaries. In the event of our bankruptcy, liquidation, reorganization or other winding up, our assets that secure debt ranking senior or equal in right of payment to the Notes will be available to pay obligations on the Notes only after the senior, secured debt has been repaid in full from these assets. There might not be sufficient assets remaining to pay amounts due on any or all of the Notes then outstanding. The indenture governing the Notes does not prohibit us from incurring additional senior debt or secured debt, nor does it prohibit any of our subsidiaries from incurring additional liabilities. All our indebtedness, including the Notes, must be repaid before our stockholders would receive anything in a liquidation.

If we fail to meet our current credit facility’s financial covenants, our business and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our current credit facility contains financial covenants. If at any point we fail to comply with the financial covenants, the lenders can demand immediate repayment of our outstanding balance and deny future borrowings under the credit facility. This could have a negative impact on our liquidity, thereby reducing the availability of cash flow for other purposes and adversely affecting our business.

We may still incur substantially more debt or take other actions that would diminish our ability to make payments on the Notes when due.

We and our subsidiaries may incur substantial additional debt in the future, some of which may be secured debt. We are not restricted under the terms of the indenture governing the Notes from incurring additional debt, securing existing or future debt, recapitalizing our debt or taking a number of other actions that could have the effect of diminishing our ability to make payments on the Notes when due. Furthermore, the indenture prohibits us from engaging in certain mergers or acquisitions unless, among other things, the surviving entity assumes our obligations under the Notes and the indenture. These and other provisions in the indenture could deter or prevent a third party from acquiring us even when the acquisition may be favorable to holders of the Notes.

The conversion of the Notes will dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders, including holders who had previously converted their Notes, or may otherwise depress the price of our common stock.

The conversion of some or all of the Notes will dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders to the extent we deliver shares of our common stock upon conversion of the Notes. The Notes may in the future become convertible at the option of the holders of the Notes prior to December 15, 2023 under certain circumstances as provided in the indenture governing the Notes. Any sales in the public market of the common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the Notes may encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion of the Notes could be used to satisfy short positions, or anticipated conversion of the Notes into shares of our common stock could depress the price of our common stock.

The capped call transactions we entered into in connection with the issuance of the Notes might not turn out to be effective in reducing dilution, and might adversely affect the value of our common stock.

In connection with the Notes, we paid approximately $33.0 million to enter into capped call transactions with certain purchasers or their affiliates (the “Option Counterparties”). The capped call

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transactions are expected generally to reduce the potential dilution upon conversion of the Notes and/or offset any cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount of converted Notes, as the case may be, with such reduction and/or offset subject to a cap.  If our stock price is less than $53.17 upon conversion of the Notes, the capped calls will have no effect and we will get no benefit from the cash we paid to enter into the capped calls. Furthermore, if our stock is above $89.98 per share upon conversion of the Notes, the capped calls will not completely eliminate the dilution from Note conversion.

In connection with establishing their initial hedges of the capped call transactions, the Option Counterparties entered into various derivative transactions with respect to our common stock. This activity could have increased (or reduced the size of any decrease in) the market price of our common stock or the Notes at that time.

In addition, the Option Counterparties may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding derivatives with respect to our common stock and/or purchasing or selling our common stock or other securities of ours in secondary market transactions prior to the maturity of the Notes (and are likely to do so during any observation period related to a conversion of Notes or following any repurchase of Notes by us on any fundamental change repurchase date or otherwise). This activity could also cause or avoid an increase or decrease in the price of our common stock or the Notes.

The potential effect, if any, of these transactions and activities on the price of our common stock or the Notes will depend in part on the market conditions and cannot be ascertained at this time. Any of these activities could adversely affect the value of our common stock.

The accounting method for convertible debt securities that may be settled in cash, such as the Notes, could have a material effect on our reported financial results.

In May 2008, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Staff Position No. APB 14-1, Accounting for Convertible Debt Instruments That May Be Settled in Cash Upon Conversion (Including Partial Cash Settlement), which has subsequently been codified as ASC 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options. Under ASC 470-20, an entity must separately account for the liability and equity components of the convertible debt instruments (such as the Notes) that may be settled entirely or partially in cash upon conversion in a manner that reflects the issuer’s economic interest cost. The effect of ASC 470-20 on the accounting for the Notes is that the equity component is required to be included in the additional paid-in capital section of stockholders’ equity on our consolidated balance sheets, and the value of the equity component would be treated as original issue discount for purposes of accounting for the debt component of the Notes. As a result, we will be required to record a greater amount of non-cash interest expense in current periods presented as a result of the amortization of the discounted carrying value of the Notes to their face amount over the term of the Notes. We will report lower net income in our financial results because ASC 470-20 will require interest to include both the current period’s amortization of the debt discount and the instrument’s coupon interest, which could adversely affect our reported or future financial results, the trading price of our common stock and the trading price of the Notes.

In addition, under certain circumstances, convertible debt instruments (such as the Notes) that may be settled entirely or partly in cash are currently accounted for utilizing the treasury stock method, the effect of which is that the shares issuable upon conversion of the Notes are not included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share except to the extent that the conversion value of the Notes exceeds their principal amount. Under the treasury stock method, for diluted earnings per share purposes, the transaction is accounted for as if the number of shares of common stock that would be necessary to settle such excess, if we elected to settle such excess in shares, are issued. We cannot be sure that the accounting standards in the future will continue to permit the use of the treasury stock method. If we are unable to use the treasury stock method in accounting for the shares issuable upon conversion of the Notes, then our diluted earnings per share would be adversely affected.

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Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

Our stock price may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance, and you may not be able to resell your shares at or above the price at which you purchase it.

The stock market historically has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. As a result of this volatility, you might not be able to sell your common stock at or above the price at which you purchase it. From our IPO in September 2013 through March 8, 2021, the per share trading price of our common stock has been as high as $77.00 and as low as $6.09. It might continue to fluctuate significantly in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include:

In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for Internet-related companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Additionally, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the overall market and in the market price of a company’s securities. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs, divert our management’s attention and resources, and harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Our stock price could decline due to the large number of outstanding shares of our common stock and those underlying the Notes eligible for future sale.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the market perception that such sales and issuances may occur could reduce the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional common stock or equity-linked securities at a time and price that we deem appropriate.

As of December 31, 2020, we had an aggregate of 32,327,439 shares of common stock outstanding. As of December 31, 2020, there also were outstanding options and restricted stock units to purchase 2,712,805 shares of our common stock that, if exercised or vested, as applicable, will result in these additional shares becoming available for sale, subject in some cases to Rule 144. We have also registered an aggregate of 12,584,766 shares of our common stock that we may issue or sell under our stock plans. These shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, unless they are held by “affiliates”, as that term is defined in Rule 144 of the Securities Act. In addition, a substantial number of shares of our common stock is reserved for issuance upon conversion of the Notes. There are also shares of Series A Preferred Stock (the “Preferred Stock”) that are convertible into an aggregate of 5,333,334 shares of our common stock. If a large number of these shares are sold in the public market, the sales could reduce the trading price of our common stock.

We might require additional capital to support business growth.

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We intend to continue to make investments to support our business growth and might require additional funds to respond to business challenges or opportunities, including the need to develop new products and services or enhance our existing services, enhance our operating infrastructure, and acquire complementary businesses and technologies. Accordingly, we might need to engage in equity or additional debt financings to secure additional funds. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our common stock. Any additional debt financing secured by us could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital-raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which might make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. In addition, we might not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges could be significantly limited.

The issuance of shares of our common stock upon conversion of our Series A Preferred Stock may dilute the ownership interest of our existing common stockholders, adversely impact the market price of our common stock and make it more difficult for us to raise funds through future equity offerings.

As of December 31, 2020, the outstanding shares of our Preferred Stock were convertible into an aggregate of 5,333,334 shares of our common stock. Additional shares of our common stock may also be issued to the holders of our Preferred Stock in the event we make payment of the regular quarterly dividend on the Preferred Stock in kind, instead of in cash. The issuance of shares of common stock upon conversion of the Preferred Stock would dilute the percentage ownership interest of all holders of our common stock and any positive book value per share of our common stock, and would increase the number of publicly traded shares, which could depress the market price of our common stock. The fact that our stockholders can sell a substantial amount of our common stock in the public market, whether or not sales have occurred or are occurring, could make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds though the sale of equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate, or at all.

Our preferred stockholders have significant rights and preferences over the holders of our common stock that could limit us from taking certain corporate actions, and as a result affect our business, operating results, and the market price of our common stock.

Our preferred stockholders are entitled to a quarterly dividend equal to 8.0% per annum, payable in cash or in kind, before any dividends are paid on our common stock. Our preferred stockholders are also entitled to participate in and receive any dividends declared or paid on our common stock on an as-converted basis. No dividends may be paid on our common stock unless full participating dividends are concurrently paid to our preferred stockholders. Our preferred stockholders also have a claim against our assets senior to the claim of the holders of our common stock in the event of our liquidation, dissolution, or winding-up.

Our preferred stockholders are generally entitled to vote with our common stockholders on all matters submitted for a vote of the common stockholders (voting together with the common stockholders as one class) on an as-converted basis. In addition, the following matters require the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares of Preferred Stock, voting as a separate class: (1) the authorization, creation, or issuance of any securities of the Company having rights, preferences, or privileges senior to or on a parity with any of the rights, preferences, or privileges of the Preferred Stock; (2) effecting any alteration, repeal, change, or amendment of the rights, privileges, or preferences of the Preferred Stock; (3) amendments, modifications or repeal of any provision of the Company’s charter or bylaws in a manner adverse to the Preferred Stock; (4) changes in the authorized number of directors of the Company to a number greater than 10 individuals; (5) effecting any transaction between the Company and any of its

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affiliates (except for certain circumstances); (6) declaration or payment of any dividend or distribution with respect to any Company capital stock at any time the Company has any indebtedness outstanding; (7) incurring any indebtedness in excess of $500 million (including existing indebtedness and excluding lease obligations), or encumbering or granting a security interest in all or substantially all of the Company’s assets in connection with any such indebtedness (except existing security interests); or (8) agreeing or consenting to any of the foregoing actions.

As long as not less than 60% of the shares of the Series A Preferred Stock originally issued remain outstanding, the holders of a majority of the then-outstanding shares of the Preferred Stock, voting together as a single class, will have the right at any election of directors to elect (A) two directors if the board consists of nine or fewer directors; or (B) three directors if the board consists of 10 directors. At any time, such director may be removed with or without cause only by the affirmative vote or written consent of a majority of the holders of the Preferred Stock entitled to elect such director. In addition, while they have these rights to appoint directors, we may not expand the size of our board to greater than 10 directors without the consent of the holders of a majority of the then-outstanding shares of Preferred Stock.

The foregoing rights of our preferred stockholders could, while the Preferred Stock is outstanding, limit us from obtaining future financings or to otherwise conduct necessary corporate activities, and as a result may adversely affect our business, operating results, and the market price of our common stock.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders. These choice of forum provisions could limit the ability of stockholders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, our amended and restated bylaws provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or the Court of Chancery, will be, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to the Company or our stockholders; any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL, or our certificate of incorporation or bylaws; or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Since the choice of forum provisions are only applicable to “the fullest extent permitted by applicable law”, as provided in our bylaws, the provisions do not designate the Court of Chancery as the exclusive forum for any derivative action or other claim for which the applicable statute creates exclusive jurisdiction in another forum. As such, the choice of forum provisions do not apply to any actions arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended or the Exchange Act.

These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our common stock and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and do not currently intend to do so for the foreseeable future. We currently intend to invest our future earnings, if any, to fund

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our growth. Therefore, you are not likely to receive any dividends on your common stock for the foreseeable future, and the success of an investment in shares of our common stock will depend upon future appreciation in its value, if any. There is no guarantee that shares of our common stock will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which our stockholders purchased their shares.

Provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law might discourage, delay, or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.

Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law might discourage, delay, or prevent a merger, acquisition, or other change in control that stockholders consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares of our common stock. These provisions might also prevent or frustrate attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our management. These provisions include:

Our Board of Directors has the ability to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock without stockholder approval. In addition, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder, generally a person which together with its affiliates owns, or within the last three years has owned, 15% of our voting stock, for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner.

The existence of the foregoing provisions and anti-takeover measures could limit the price that investors are willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. They could also deter potential acquirers of our company, thereby reducing the likelihood that you could receive a premium for your common stock in an acquisition.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

As of December 31, 2020, we occupied approximately 289,000 square feet on the Daniel Island Executive Center campus in Charleston, South Carolina. This office space is leased under leases expiring in 2031.  As of December 31, 2020, we also leased facilities in Greenville, South Carolina; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Since March 2020, most of our associates have worked remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our facilities have remained accessible on a limited basis and have been underutilized since March 2020. Our associates have been successfully productive in a remote environment. In the long-term, we expect to utilize a hybrid approach to work with some combination of remote and in-office presence. As a result, we are assessing our space requirement for the future and have listed space for

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sublease on our headquarters campus in Charleston, South Carolina and in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On December 31, 2020, we sublet all of the space at our Brookfield, Wisconsin facility.

We believe that our current facilities are sufficient for our needs. We may add other facilities or geographic markets in the future, and we believe that suitable additional space will be available as needed to accommodate any such needs of our operations.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

From time to time, we might become involved in legal or regulatory proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. Other than as disclosed below, we are not currently a party to any material litigation or regulatory proceeding and we are not aware of any pending or threatened litigation or regulatory proceeding against us that could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition or cash flows.

On March 2, 2021, Benefitfocus, Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., GS Capital Partners VI Parallel, L.P., GS Capital Partners VI Offshore Fund, L.P., GS Capital Partners VI Fund, L.P., GS Capital Partners VI GMBH & Co. KG, Mercer LLC, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., Mercer Consulting Group, Inc., Mason R. Holland, Jr., Raymond A. August, Jonathon E. Dussault, Douglas A. Dennerline, Joseph P. DiSabato, A. Lanham Napier, Francis J. Pelzer V, Stephen M. Swad, Ana M. White, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Piper Jaffray & Co., Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Wedbush Securities, Inc., and First Analysis Securities Corporation were named as defendants in a purported class-action lawsuit filed by the City of Pittsburgh Comprehensive Municipal Pension Trust Fund in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. The complaint alleges violations of Sections 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933. The complaint asserts claims on behalf of a class of persons who acquired our common stock in or traceable to our secondary public offering commenced on or about March 1, 2019. The complaint alleges that defendants violated the federal securities laws by, among other things, making misrepresentations about our commercial relationships and failing to disclose certain material adverse facts, trends or uncertainties or significant risks that made the secondary public offering speculative and risky. The complaint seeks rescission or rescissory damages and compensatory damages, costs and fees incurred in the action. We do not believe the complaint has merit and plan to vigorously contest and defend against it.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market Information for Common Stock

Our common stock has been listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “BNFT” since September 18, 2013. Prior to that date, there was no public trading market for our common stock.

As of December 31, 2020, we had 38 holders of record of our common stock. The actual number of stockholders is greater than this number of record holders and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners, but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. This number of holders of record also does not include stockholders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities.  

Stock Performance Graph

The following shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or incorporated by reference into any of our other filings under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, except to the extent we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.

This chart compares the cumulative total return on our common stock with that of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 1500 Application Software Index. The chart assumes $100 was invested at the close of market on December 31, 2015, in the common stock of Benefitfocus, Inc., the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 1500 Application Software Index, and assumes the reinvestment of any dividends. The stock price performance on the following graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

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Purchases of Equity Securities by the Company

Set forth below is a summary of the shares repurchased by the Company during the three months ended December 31, 2020:

Equity Compensation Plans

The information required by Item 5 of Form 10-K regarding equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to Part III “Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters”.

Item 6. (Reserved)

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this report including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review the “Risk Factors” section of this report beginning on page 24 for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

Benefitfocus provides industry-leading, cloud-based benefits management technology solutions for employers and health plans. The Benefitfocus enrollment platform simplifies how organizations procure benefits and connect to the necessary benefits products and services that improve the lives of their employees and the American workforce. Our core technology solutions facilitate employee benefits administration and enrollment; our solutions enable working Americans and their families to select and engage in the right benefits products and services for themselves; and our data advantage deliver insights to employers, health plans and their advisors to help control healthcare spending and reduce unnecessary expenses.

The Benefitfocus Platform has a multi-tenant architecture and a user-friendly interface designed for employees to access all of their benefits in one place. Our comprehensive solutions support medical benefit plans and non-medical benefits, such as, dental, life, disability insurance, income protection, digital health and financial wellness. Our platform includes functionality designed to help consumers identify and evaluate benefit options available to them. As the number of employer benefits plans has increased, with each plan subject to many different business rules and requirements, demand for the Benefitfocus Platform is growing.

Our economic model includes a transaction-oriented solution, now known as our Benefit Catalog, that aligns brokers, carriers and suppliers around the needs of employers and employees. In this model, Benefit Catalog sellers, who are carriers and suppliers, offer their voluntary and specialty benefit products in a “marketplace” alongside the benefits enrollment platform. This marketplace is designed to increase the economic value of the employee and consumer lives on our platform by aligning Benefit Catalog products to consumer needs. In exchange for Benefitfocus delivering employee/consumer access, data-driven analysis and operational efficiencies, seller partners pay us a percentage of the purchases completed on our platform. Carrier agreements have terms of two to four years and are typically cancellable upon breach of contract or insolvency. Supplier contracts have terms of one year or less and are generally cancellable upon breach of contract, failure to cure, bankruptcy and termination for convenience.

We classify our revenue into three streams – subscription, platform, and professional services revenue. Subscription and platform revenue are combined and reported as software services revenue.  

Subscription revenue primarily consists of monthly subscription fees paid to us by our employer and insurance carrier customers for access to, and usage of, cloud-based benefits software solutions for a specified contract term. Subscription fees are generally charged based on the number of employees or subscribers with access to the solution. Subscription revenue accounted for approximately 67%, 66%, and 69% of our total revenue during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Platform revenue includes Benefit Catalog transactional revenue, which is generated from the value of the policies or products enrolled in through our marketplace. Benefit Catalog revenue from insured products is generally recognized over the policy period of the enrolled products. In arrangements where we sell policies to employees of our customers as the broker, we earn insurance broker commissions. Revenue from insurance broker commissions and Benefit Catalog supplier transactions is generally recognized at the time when open enrollment is complete and the orders for policies are transferred to the supplier. Platform revenue accounted for approximately 13%, 11%, and 9% of our total revenue during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

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Our professional services revenue stream is largely derived from the implementation of our customers onto our platform, which typically includes discovery, configuration and deployment, integration, testing, and training. We also provide customer support services and customized media content that supports our customers’ effort to educate and communicate with consumers. Professional services revenue accounted for approximately 20%, 23%, and 22% of our total revenue during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Expanding our customer base is a key element of our growth strategy. We believe that our continued innovation and new solutions, such as Benefit Catalog, which extend to the functionality of our mobile offerings, provide more robust data analytics capabilities and enhance our ability to quickly respond to evolving market needs, we believe these innovative capabilities will help us attract additional lives to our platform through new employer customers, partners and brokers and increase our revenue from existing customers and relationships.

We believe that there is a substantial market for our services, and we have been investing in growth over the past several years. In particular, we have continued to invest in technology and services to better serve our larger employer customers, which we believe are an important source of growth for our business. As we have invested in growth, we have had operating losses in each of the last ten years. Although our operating results have improved, we could incur operating losses in future periods. Due to the nature of our customer relationships, which have been stable in spite of some customer losses over the past years, and our hybrid subscription and transaction-based financial model, we believe that our current investment in growth should lead to increased revenue in the long-term, which may allow us to achieve profitability in the relatively near future. Of course, our ability to achieve profitability will continue to be subject to many factors beyond our control.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. We continue to actively monitor COVID-19 and its potential impact on our operations and financial results. In response to the pandemic, we implemented cost management actions in the second quarter of 2020 to maintain our financial health and liquidity through these economic uncertain times. These include actions to reduce our workforce by approximately 17%, renegotiating vendor service contracts and reducing discretionary expenditures such as travel and professional services. These actions also include investing in accelerating automation efforts to gain efficiencies.

During the initial peak of the COVID-19 pandemic during the second quarter of 2020, we experienced delays in completing selling as HR professionals shifted their focus away procuring technology solutions. We believe the financial impacts from COVID-19 are temporary in nature and do not significantly affect our business model and growth strategy. Therefore, we did not consider the COVID-19 pandemic to have been a triggering event to accelerate our annual impairments tests.

We evaluated our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets and determined there were no interim triggering events as it was not more likely than not that the fair value of our reporting units would be less than their respective carrying amounts. Additionally, we evaluated our long-lived assets, including our property, plant and equipment, lease right-of-use assets and other intangible assets, noting no indicators of impairment.

The impact that COVID-19 will have on our consolidated financial statements beyond 2020 remains uncertain and ultimately will be dictated by the length and severity of the pandemic, as well as the economic recovery and federal, state and local government actions taken in response. We will continue to evaluate the nature and extent of these potential impacts to our business and consolidated financial statements.

While the ultimate impact of the pandemic on our business and financial results remains uncertain, our business has been impacted by the following:

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As a result of the nature of our customer relationships, the stability of our subscription revenue, the cost restructuring actions taken in the second quarter of 2020 and our ongoing investments in automation, we believe we will be able to increase cash flows from operations and achieve profitability in the relatively near future. Of course, our ability to achieve profitability will continue to be subject to many risks and factors beyond our control, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Financial and Operating Performance Metrics

We regularly monitor a number of financial and operating metrics in order to measure our current performance and project our future performance. These metrics help us develop and refine our growth strategies and make strategic decisions. We discuss revenue, gross margin, and the components of operating loss in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Components of Operating Results”. In addition, we utilize other key metrics as described below.

Net Benefit Eligible Lives

Part of our growth strategy is to expand our customer base. This includes driving revenue growth from adding lives to our platform and driving incremental transaction revenue. We believe the number of net benefit eligible lives is a key indicator of our market penetration, growth and future revenue opportunity. We believe net benefit eligible lives is the foundation of our platform revenue opportunity. We define a net benefit eligible life as a person with access to a benefits enrollment subscription under standard contracting or a freelancer with access to benefits enrollment, plus their estimated dependents, as of the measurement date. This definition excludes lives from other subscription-related contracts.

We expect the number net benefit eligible lives will decrease during 2021. We expect that some health plan customers will renew their agreements in 2021 at lower minimum counts as the result of higher unemployment rates decreasing the number covered employees. Additionally, we expect the number of net benefit eligible lives to be negatively impacted by the termination of a contract with an entity with a substantial number of freelancers.

In February 2019, we acquired certain operating assets and liabilities, intellectual property and intangible assets of Connecture, Inc. This transaction added 2.0 million net benefit eligible lives to our platform. The details of this transaction are described in more detail in Note 3 of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Software Services Revenue Retention Rate

We believe that our ability to retain our customers and expand the revenue they generate for us over time is an important component of our growth strategy and reflects the long-term value of our customer relationships. We measure our performance on this basis using a metric we refer to as our software services revenue retention rate. We calculate this metric for a particular period by establishing the group of our customers that had active contracts for a given period. We then calculate our software services revenue retention rate by taking the amount of software services revenue we recognized for this group in the subsequent comparable period (for which we are reporting the rate) and dividing it by the software services revenue we recognized for the group in the prior period.

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Our software services revenue retention rate was greater than 90% for year ended December 31, 2020 compared to being greater than 95% for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018. The reduction in the rate was primarily the result of the impact on 2020 revenue from the renegotiation of a customer contract. Excluding this customer, our software revenue retention rate exceeded 95% for all periods. We expect our software revenue retention rate will continue to be negatively impacted for the remainder of 2021 by the effects of this customer contract negotiation along with the potential impacts of unemployment as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA represents our earnings before net interest and other expense, taxes, and depreciation and amortization expense, adjusted to eliminate stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, impairment of goodwill, intangible assets, and long-lived assets, gain or loss on extinguishment of debt, transaction and acquisition-related costs expensed, and costs not core to our business. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure calculated in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP.

During 2020, we revised our definition of adjusted EBITDA to also exclude restructuring costs, impairment of long-lived assets, and gain or loss of extinguishment of debt. The revisions to these definitions had no impact on our reported adjusted EBITDA for periods prior to 2020. Please note that other companies might define their non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do.

We have included adjusted EBITDA in this Annual Report on Form 10-K because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve our annual budget, and to develop short- and long-term operational plans. In particular, we believe that the exclusion of the expenses eliminated in calculating adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core business. Accordingly, we believe that adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results.

Our use of adjusted EBITDA as an analytical tool has limitations, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

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Because of these and other limitations, you should consider adjusted EBITDA alongside other GAAP-based financial performance measures, including various cash flow metrics, gross profit, net loss and our other GAAP financial results. The following table presents a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net loss for each of the periods indicated:

Components of Operating Results

Revenue

We derive the majority of our revenue from monthly subscription fees paid to us by our employer and health plan customers for access to, and usage of, our cloud-based benefits software solutions for a specified contract term. We derive platform revenue from both insurance broker commissions from the sale of voluntary and ancillary benefits policies to employees of our customers and from transaction revenue from life and ancillary insurance carriers and specialty providers. We also derive revenue from professional services fees, which primarily include fees related to the implementation of our customers onto our platform. Our professional services typically include discovery, configuration and deployment, integration, testing, and training.

The following table sets forth a breakdown of our revenue by stream for the periods indicated (in thousands):

We recognize revenue when control of these services is transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those services.  Taxes collected from customers relating to services and remitted to governmental authorities are excluded from revenues.

We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:

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Software Services Revenue

Software services revenue consists of subscription and platform revenue.

Subscription Revenue

Subscription revenue primarily consists of monthly subscription fees paid to us by our customers for access to, and usage of, cloud-based benefits software solutions for a specified contract term. Fees are generally charged based on the number of employees or subscribers with access to the solution.

Subscription revenue is generally recognized on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date the subscription services are made available to the customer. Our subscription service contracts are generally three years.

Subscription revenue also includes fees paid for other services, such as event sponsorships and certain data services.

Platform Revenue

Platform revenue is generated from the value of the policies or products enrolled in through our marketplace. Platform revenue from carriers is generally recognized over the policy period of the enrolled products. In arrangements where we sell policies to employees of our customers as the broker, we earn insurance broker commissions.  Revenue from insurance broker commissions and Benefit Catalog  supplier transactions is recognized at the point when the orders for the policies are received and transferred to the insurance carrier or supplier, and is reduced by constraints for variable consideration associated with collectability, policy cancellation and termination risks.

Professional Services Revenue

Professional services revenue primarily consists of fees related to the implementation of software products purchased by customers. Professional services typically include discovery, configuration and deployment, integration, testing, and training. Fees from consulting services, support services and training are also included in professional services revenue.

We determined that implementation services for certain of our insurance carrier customers significantly modify or customize the software solution and, as such, do not represent a distinct performance obligation. Accordingly, revenue from such implementation services with these insurance carrier customers are generally recognized over the contract term of the associated software services contract, including any extension periods representing a material right. We utilize estimates of hours as a measure of progress to determine revenue for certain types of arrangements.

Revenue from implementation services with employer customers is generally recognized as those services are performed.

Revenue from support and training fees is recognized over the service contract period.

Contracts with Multiple Performance Obligations

Certain of our contracts with customers contain multiple performance obligations. For these contracts, the individual performance obligations are accounted for separately if they are distinct. The transaction price is allocated to the separate performance obligations based on their relative standalone selling prices. We determine the standalone selling prices based on their overall pricing objectives, taking into consideration market conditions and other factors, including the value of their contracts, the software services sold, customer size and complexity, and the number and types of users within the contracts.

Overhead Allocation

Expenses associated with our facilities, security, information technology, and depreciation and amortization, are allocated between cost of revenue and operating expenses based on employee headcount determined by the nature of work performed.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue primarily consists of salaries and other personnel-related costs, including benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, for employees, whom we refer to as associates, providing

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services to our customers and supporting our SaaS platform infrastructure. Additional expenses in cost of revenue include co-location facility costs for our data centers, depreciation expense for computer equipment directly associated with generating revenue, infrastructure maintenance costs, professional fees, amortization expenses associated with acquired intangibles and capitalized software development costs, allocated overhead, and other direct costs.

We expense cost of revenue associated with fulfilling performance obligations as we incur the costs. Costs that relate directly to a customer contract that are not related to satisfying a performance obligation are capitalized and amortized to cost of revenue over the estimated period of benefit of the contract asset, which is generally five years.

Subscription and platform revenue are both generated from our platform and result from the same set of assets and activities. As such, we are not able to meaningfully separate and assign costs of revenue to subscription and platform revenue separately.

We expect cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue to decline and gross margins to increase as we realize the full impact of our restructuring activities and increased automation. However, this trend may vary on a quarterly basis.

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses consist of sales and marketing, research and development, and general and administrative expenses. Salaries and personnel-related costs are the most significant component of each of these expense categories. We expect to decrease our operating expenses, as a percentage of revenue, if and as we achieve economies of scale and as a result of restructuring actions taken in April 2020.

Sales and marketing expense.   Sales and marketing expense consists primarily of salaries and other personnel-related costs, including benefits, bonuses, stock-based compensation, and commissions for our sales and marketing associates. Costs to obtain a contract that are incremental, such as sales commissions, are capitalized and amortized to expense over the estimated period of benefit of the asset, which is generally four to five years. Additional expenses include advertising, lead generation, promotional event programs, corporate communications, travel, and allocated overhead. For instance, our most significant promotional event is One Place, which we hold annually. We expect our sales and marketing expense to remain flat, in absolute dollars, in the near term as we achieve the savings expected from the restructuring actions taken in April 2020.

Research and development expense.   Research and development expense consists primarily of salaries and other personnel-related costs, including benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation for our research and development associates. Additional expenses include costs related to the development, quality assurance, and testing of new technology, and enhancement of our existing platform technology, consulting, travel, and allocated overhead. We believe continuing to invest in research and development efforts is essential to maintaining our competitive position.

General and administrative expense.   General and administrative expense consists primarily of salaries and other personnel-related costs, including benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation for administrative, finance and accounting, information systems, legal, and human resource associates. Additional expenses include consulting and professional fees, insurance and other corporate expenses, and travel. We expect our general and administrative expenses to decrease in absolute terms as a result of the restructuring actions taken in April 2020, which included reducing headcount, renegotiating vendor service contracts, restricting travel, and reducing discretionary expenditures such as for consultants.

Restructuring costs.  Restructuring costs are comprised of one-time severance charges, continuation of health benefits and outplacement services. As discussed above in “Overview”, in the quarter ended June 30, 2020, we reduced our work force by approximately 17%.

Other Income and Expense

Other income and expense consists primarily of interest income and expense, gain on repurchase of senior convertible notes and gain (loss) on disposal of property and equipment. Interest income

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represents interest received on our cash and cash equivalents. Interest expense consists primarily of the interest incurred on outstanding convertible debt and borrowings under our lease arrangements and credit facility. During the third quarter of 2020, we repurchased outstanding senior convertible notes which resulted in a gain.

Income Tax Expense

Income tax expense consists of U.S. federal and state income taxes. We incurred minimal income tax expense for 2020, 2019, and 2018. Net operating loss carryforwards for federal income tax purposes were approximately $326.9 million at December 31, 2020. State net operating loss carryforwards were approximately $294.4 million at December 31, 2020. Federal and state net operating loss carryforwards will expire at various dates beginning in 2021, if not utilized. Valuation allowances are recorded to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount we believe is more likely than not to be realized.

On March 27, 2020, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act” was signed into law. The CARES Act, among other things, includes provisions relating to refundable payroll tax credits, deferment of employer side social security payments, net operating loss carryback periods, alternative minimum tax credit refunds, modifications to the net interest deduction limitations and technical corrections to tax depreciation methods for qualified improvement property.  Except for utilizing the deferment of employer social security payments, we do not expect the CARES Act to have a material impact on our financial results. We continue to examine the impacts the CARES Act may have on our business.

Adoption of Leases Accounting Standard

We adopted the new accounting standard for Leases, Topic 842, on January 1, 2019. We applied the modified transition method at the beginning of adoption. Accordingly, we did not adjust prior period financial statements, and recognized a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit in 2019.  

The adoption of Topic 842 requires lessees, among other things, to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet for those leases classified as operating leases under previous authoritative guidance. We describe the effects of adoption of Topic 842 in more detail in Note 2 of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Results of Operations

Consolidated Statements of Operations Data

The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data for each of the periods indicated (in thousands).