PART I

ITEM 1.IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

Not applicable.

ITEM 2.OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not applicable.

ITEM 3.KEY INFORMATION

3.A.SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

You should read the U.S. GAAP selected consolidated financial information presented below together with “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” and FRONTEO’s consolidated financial statements together with the notes included in this annual report.

U.S. GAAP Selected Consolidated Financial Data

The following selected financial data have been derived from FRONTEO’s audited consolidated financial statements. These consolidated financial statements were prepared under U.S. GAAP.

There are restrictive covenants related to the syndicated loan of ¥1,300,000 thousand as of March 31, 2017, including requirements to maintain a minimum level of net assets and ordinary income in the stand-alone and consolidated financial statements of the Company, measured under Japanese GAAP. FRONTEO is required to maintain net assets at a level which is at least 75% of (a) net assets as of March 31, 2016; ¥5,187,455 thousand on a stand-alone basis and ¥4,657,450 thousand on a consolidated basis under Japanese GAAP or (b) net assets at the end of the previous year, whichever is higher. The ordinary income covenant states that FRONTEO and the Company shall not record ordinary losses in any two consecutive fiscal years. FRONTEO is in compliance with these restrictive covenants at March 31, 2017.

There are restrictive covenants related to the revolving credit facility of ¥1,000,000 thousand as of March 31, 2016,2017, including requirements to maintain a minimum level of net assets and ordinary income in the stand-alone and consolidated financial statements of the Company, measured under Japanese GAAP. FRONTEO is required to maintain net assets at a level which is at least 75% of (a) net assets as of March 31, 2012; ¥2,607,338 thousand on a stand-alone basis and ¥2,655,320 thousand on a consolidated basis under Japanese GAAP or (b) net assets at the end of the previous year, whichever is higher. The ordinary income covenant states that FRONTEO and the Company shall not record ordinary losses in any two consecutive fiscal years. As of March 31, 2017, FRONTEO is not in compliance with these restrictive covenants. Subsequent to the year end, one of Japanese banks determined not to execute the loans and the Company repaid in an aggregate principal amount of ¥200 million to the bank. The other Japanese banks executed the loans in June and July 2017 and the remaining principal amount of ¥800 million are classified as short-term bank borrowing and will become due on December 22, 2017, unless further extension of the maturity of the credit facility will be submitted and approved by the consortium.

As of March 31, 2017, the Company pledged the common stock of its subsidiary in the United States with carrying value of  ¥4,394,269 thousand as security for a borrowing from bank of ¥1,999,582 thousand.

Dividends

The Companies Act of Japan (Companies Act) permits companies to distribute dividends-in-kind (non-cash assets) to shareholders subject to certain limitations and additional requirements. Semiannual interim dividends may also be paid once a year upon resolution by the Board of Directors if the articles of incorporation so stipulate. The Companies Act provides certain limitations on the amounts available for dividends or the purchase of treasury stock. The limitation is defined as the amount available for distribution to the shareholders, but the amount of net assets after dividends must be maintained at no less than ¥ 3 million.

The amount of retained earnings available for dividends under the Companies Act is based on the amount of retained earnings recorded in the Company’s general books of account prepared using generally accepted Japanese accounting practices. The adjustments included in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for U.S.GAAP purposes but not recorded in the general books of account have no effect on the determination of retained earnings available for dividends under the Companies Act.

On June 22, 2012, our Board of Directors declared a year-end cash dividend of ¥50 per share of common stock to shareholders of record at as of June 25, 2012. On June 25, 2013, our Board of Directors declared a year-end cash dividend of ¥50 per share of common stock to shareholders of record as of June 26, 2013. The aforementioned per share cash dividends do not reflect a 2-for-1 share split effective on October 1, 2011 and April 1, 2012 and a 10-for-1 share split effective on April 1, 2014. We did not declare a cash dividend in 2014. On June 23, 2015, our Board of Directors declared a year-end cash dividend of ¥3 per share of common stock, payable to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2015. On June 29, 2016, our Board of Directors declared a year-end cash dividend of ¥3 per share of common stock, payable to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2016. The dividends declared in June 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 totaled ¥145.6 million, ¥159.7 million, ¥106.5 million and ¥107.3 million respectively. The declaration on June 29, 2016 isWe did not recorded on balance sheet as of March 31, 2016.declare a cash dividend in 2017.

In appropriate circumstances, our Board of Directors may determine in its discretion, within the limits of the Companies Act, to declare dividends in the future, but there can be no assurance that any such dividends will be declared or paid at any time.

Exchange Rates

The following table sets forth, for the periods and dates indicated, information concerning the noon buying rate for Japanese yen announced by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, expressed in Japanese yen per $1.00. The noon buying rate as of July 29, 2016June 30, 2017 was $1.00 = ¥102.32.¥112.40. The Company does not intend to imply that the Japanese yen or

Japanese yen or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in this annual report could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars or Japanese yen, as the case may be, at any particular rate, or at all.

Our acquisitions may not achieve expected benefits, and may increase our liabilities, disrupt our existing business and harm our operating results.

We completed the acquisition of TechLaw Solutions, Inc. (now “FRONTEO Government Services, Inc.”) and EvD, Inc. (now “FRONTEO USA”) and the business of Essential Discovery, Inc. (“EDI”) in order to efficiently develop sales channels in the U.S. and enhance our business competitiveness.

We incurred significant expenses to acquire and integrate business. The benefits we expect to receive from these and other acquisitions depend on our ability to successfully conduct due diligence, negotiate the terms of the acquisition and integrate the acquired business into our systems, procedures and organizational structure. Any inaccuracy in our acquisition assumptions or any failure to uncover liabilities or risks associated with the acquisition, make the acquisition on favorable terms, integrate the acquired business or assets as and when expected or retain key employees of the acquired company may reduce or eliminate the expected benefits of the acquisition to us, increase our costs, disrupt our operations, result in additional liabilities, investigations and litigation, and may also harm our strategy, our business and our operating results. The failure to achieve expected acquisition benefits may also result in impairment charges for goodwill and purchased intangible assets.

Our business may be adversely affected if our forensics or eDiscovery systems suffer interruptions, errors or delays.

Interruptions, errors or delays with respect to our forensics or eDiscovery systems may be caused by human errors or natural factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to, damage from fire, earthquakes or other natural disasters, power loss, sabotage, computer hackers, human errors, computer viruses and other similar events. Some of our computer and networking equipment is located in earthquake-prone areas. Any disruption, outages, or delays or other difficulties experienced by any of our technological and information systems and networks could result in a decrease in new or existing accounts, loss or exposure of confidential information, reduction in revenues and profits, costly repairs or upgrades, reputational damage and decreased consumer and corporate customer confidence in our business, any or all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not achieve our financial targets or maintain our current level of total revenue, operating income or net income if the economy in the United States or Asian countries, including Japan, deteriorates or does not improve.

Our business is principally conducted in Japan, other Asian countries and the United States and most of our revenues are from clients operating in the United States and Asia. If U.S. and Asian economies deteriorate or do not improve, it may become difficult to maintain our current level of revenue and margins or achieve our expected revenues, operating income or net income.

We have taken precautions to mitigate the inherent risks of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis by enhancing our business continuity planning and investing in additional data centers both inside and outside of Japan. However, if an environmental catastrophe were to occur or should regions in which our data centers are located experience the disruption of social infrastructure or power shortages and other impacts due to similar natural disasters, our backbone network and service facilities could fail and as a result, we may suffer direct and indirect damages, which may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We could incur asset impairment charges for goodwill, intangible assets or other long-lived assets.

We have a significant amountamounts of goodwill, intangible assets and other long-lived assets. A decline in financial performance, market capitalization or changes in estimates and assumptions used in the impairment analysis, which in many cases requires significant judgment, could result in impairment charges of these assets.

Goodwill is not amortized and is tested annually for impairment of the fiscal year and between annual tests if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value below its carrying amount. In assessing goodwill for impairment, we have the option to first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. Reporting units are our operating segments or one level below the operating segments. If we determine that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, no additional tests to assess goodwill for impairment are required to be performed. If we conclude

the goodwill impairment test to measure the amount of impairment loss, if any, and an impairment charge is recorded for the amount.

If we fail to keep and manage our confidential customer information, or if our technical systems suffer interruption or damage, we could be subject to lawsuits, incur expenses associated with our security systems or suffer damage to our reputation.

We keep and manage confidential information and/or privileged data obtained from our clients. We exercise care in protecting the confidentiality and integrity of such information and take steps to ensure its security. However, we can give no assurance that the steps taken by us in this regard will be adequate to protect our clients’ confidential information or privileged data. A disaster could interrupt our services for an indeterminate length of time and severely damage our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Our systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from fire, floods, network failure, hardware failure, software failure, power loss, telecommunication failures, computer viruses, denial of service attacks, penetration of our network by unauthorized computer users and “hackers” and other similar events, and other unanticipated problems. In addition, despite internal controls, misconduct by an employee could result in the improper use or disclosure of confidential information.

Any of the disruptions or events listed above could cause material interruptions or delays in our business, resulting in the loss of data or rendering us unable to provide services to our clients. In addition, if anyone can circumvent our security measures, he or she could destroy or misappropriate valuable information or disrupt our operations. Although we have taken measures that we consider to be prudent and adequate to protect against these events, we may not have developed or implemented adequate protections or safeguards to overcome the damage they may cause. We also may not have anticipated or addressed many of the potential events that could threaten or undermine our data systems. If any material leak of clients’ information were to occur, we could be subject to lawsuits for damages from our clients, incur expenses associated with repairing or upgrading our security systems and suffer damages to our reputation that could result in a material decline in clients as well as an increase in service cancellations. The realization of these or similar risks may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and result of operations.

If we fail to effectively manage our growth, our business, financial condition, results of operations and business prospects may be materially adversely affected.

We have limited operational, administrative and financial resources, which may be inadequate to sustain our rapid growth and planned expansion. If our customer base continues to expand, investments in our technology platform, facilities and other areas of operations, including customer service and sales and marketing, will also increase. Our future success will depend on, among other things, our ability to effectively maintain our relationships with our key clients, to continue training, motivating and retaining our key employees and attract and integrate new employees, and to maintain adequate controls and procedures to ensure that our periodic public disclosure under applicable laws, including U.S. and Japanese securities laws, is complete and accurate.

We have experienced a period of rapid growth and expansion that has placed, and continues to place, significant strain on our management personnel, systems and resources. To accommodate our current and planned growth we anticipate that we will need to implement a variety of new and upgraded operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, all of which require substantial commitment of financial and management resources. We also will need to continue to expand, train, manage and motivate our workforce, and manage our relationships with clients. These efforts require substantial management efforts and skills and may incur additional expenditures.

If we fail to keep up with the rapid technological changes in our industry, we may lose clients due to obsolete services.

Our markets are characterized by:

software, is a significant stride forward, not only compared to the previous version of Lit i View but also compared with Asian language products of our competitors, if we fail to obtain access to new or important technologies or to develop and introduce new services and enhancements that are compatible with changing industry technologies and standards and customer requirements, we may lose clients.

Our pursuit of necessary technological advances will require us to display unwavering commitment and a substantial investment in time and expense. Some of our competitors have greater financial and other resources than we do and, therefore, may be better able to meet the time and expense demands of achieving technological advances. This may allow our competitors to respond more quickly to new and emerging technologies and standards or invest more heavily in upgrading or replacing equipment to take advantage of new technologies and standards.

We face significant competition and may be unable to compete successfully against our competitors, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our primary competitors are companies with long established eDiscovery operations, which have significant, and often multi-faceted, operations with law firms and companies operating internationally. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial resources, longer operating histories and more experience in attracting and retaining clients and managing relationships with the law firms and companies that constitute our target clients than we do. They may compete with us for clients in a variety of ways, including, without limitation, with respect to price and their more extensive eDiscovery and other analytical experience. If any of our competitors provide or develop comparable or superior computer forensic or eDiscovery services, the results would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We depend on our key personnel for the success of our business, and losing their services would severely disrupt our business.

Our future success is heavily dependent upon the continued service of our key executives, including Masahiro Morimoto, our founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Naritomo Ikeue, our Executive Vice-President, Group Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer, among others. If we lose the services of senior members of our management or other key employees, we may not be able to locate suitable or qualified replacements, and may incur additional expenses to recruit and train new personnel, which could severely disrupt our business and growth. In addition, if any of these key executives or employees joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we could lose clients. Each of our executive officers has entered into an employment agreement with us. We do not maintain key-man life insurance for any of our key executives. Competition for qualified individuals could cause us to offer higher compensation and other benefits to attract and retain them, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We require additional human resources and incur increased costs and administrative workload as a result of being a U.S. public company.

As a public company in the United States, we are subject to a number of regulatory requirements, including the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), and the regulations promulgated thereunder, and the listing standards of the Nasdaq. Although we are required to comply with Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act when filing our annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016,2017, as an emerging growth company, as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (Securities Act), we have decided to take advantage of the exemption provided by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (JOBS Act), which, assuming we continue to be an emerging growth company, allows us to delay complying with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 until we are required to file our annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019. Even though, as a foreign private issuer, some of these requirements may be more relaxed than they would be if we were a U.S. corporation, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur prior to becoming a public company in the United States. We expect that these rules and regulations will increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs and will make certain corporate activities more time-consuming and costly.

We have determined during our reporting process for the fiscal year ending March 31, 20162017 that there were material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting as of that date. If we fail to re-establish and maintain the effective system over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely impacted.

Our management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in “Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013)” issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.

Under auditing standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a material weakness is a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis.

In connection with the Company’s assessment of internal controls as of March 31, 2016,2017, the Company has determined that, it hadthe material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting exist at FRONTEO USA, Inc. (FUSA) identified in the business combination accounting forprior year remain, specifically in the July 31, 2015 acquisitionareas of EvD, along with internal controls over revenue recognition, for that acquired business.  In addition,income taxes and financial closing including other major recurring and non-recurring transactions. There have been notable improvements related to revenue recognition processes because of the Company’s focused remediation efforts during the year. However, the impact of the remaining material weaknesses relatingof FUSA continues to EvD hadhave a negative impact on the overall financial statement close process, resulting in a material weakness in internal controls therein at the consolidatedconsolidation level.

Our management fully recognizes the importance of design, implementation, and maintenance of internal controls related to financial reporting. In orderWe will continue to ensure adequate internal controls, we will reviewput efforts to improve the financial close process in detail,control environment, strengthen the personnel in the accounting and finance departments of both FRONTEO and EvDFUSA and establish effective measures to prevent the continuation or reoccurrence of such material weaknesses, in particular, by strengthening the controls related to acquisitions orrevenue recognition, income taxes, financial closing including other major recurring and non-recurring transactions. Our management has been and will continue to be required to devote a substantial amount of time to review and implement remediation of these material weaknesses. However, until this remediation is complete, we cannot assure you that it will be completed in a timely manner. Furthermore, we expect to incur additional costs in remediating the material weakness that exist in our internal control over financial reporting.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluations of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk controls and may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.  However, until this remediation is complete, we cannot assure you that it will be completed in a timely manner.

Undetected programming errors could harm our reputation or decrease market acceptance of our services, which would materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

Our software solutions are complex and may contain defects, errors or bugs when first introduced to the market or to a particular client, or as new versions are released. Because we cannot test for all possible scenarios, our solutions may contain errors which are not discovered until after they have been installed, and we may not be able to timely correct these problems. These defects, errors or bugs could interrupt or delay completion of projects or sales to our clients. In addition, our reputation may be damaged and we may fail to acquire new projects from existing clients or new clients. We generally have been able to resolve such flaws and errors. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to detect and resolve all these programming flaws and errors in a timely manner. Undetected programming errors, defects and resulting unsatisfactory customer service to clients can disrupt our operations, adversely affect the client experience, harm our reputation, or cause our clients to reduce their use of our services, any of which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position, and subject us to costly litigation to protect our intellectual property rights.

A substantial portion of our software solutions and systems are proprietary and we rely on statutory copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret laws, client license agreements, employee and third-party non-disclosure agreements and other methods to protect our proprietary rights. Nevertheless, these resources afford only limited protection and the actions we take to protect our intellectual property rights may not be adequate. We cannot assure you that we have secured, or will be able to secure, appropriate protections for all of our proprietary rights. In particular, third parties may infringe or misappropriate our proprietary technologies or other intellectual property rights, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In

adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. The outcome of any such litigation may not be in our favor. Furthermore, any such litigation may be costly and may divert management attention as well as other resources away from our business. An adverse determination in any such litigation will impair our intellectual property rights and may harm our business, prospects and reputation. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to infringement, misappropriation and indemnity claims in the future, which may cause us to incur significant expenses, pay substantial damages and be prevented from providing our services or technologies.

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to carry out our business without infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties. Patent and copyright law covering software-related technologies is evolving rapidly and is subject to a great deal of uncertainty. Some third party intellectual property rights may be extremely broad and it may not be possible for us to conduct our operations in such a way so as to avoid infringement of those intellectual property rights. Our proprietary or licensed technologies, processes or methods may be covered by third-party patents or copyrights, either now existing or to be issued in the future.

Third parties may raise claims against us alleging infringement or violation of their intellectual property and any such litigation may cause us to incur significant expenses. Third-party claims, if successfully asserted against us may cause us to pay substantial damages, seek licenses from third parties, pay ongoing royalties, redesign our services or technologies, or prevent us from providing services or technologies subject to these claims. Even if we were to prevail, any litigation would likely be costly and time-consuming and divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations.

If we are not able to successfully market our services to new and existing clients and to build our brand and achieve market acceptance for our solutions and services, we may not be able to maintain and expand our operations and our results may be adversely affected.

While we derive a significant portion of our revenue from a small number of substantial clients, the specific clients change from year to year, and we expect this trend to continue. The vast majority of our revenue is derived from limited scope engagements that do not include long-term commitments. Our clients use eDiscovery and forensic services, for the most part, on an ���as“as needed basis,” when a specific legal or administrative proceeding, investigation or other legal challenge requires them to rapidly analyze and produce large amounts of digitally-formatted information. In the absence of such a demand, our clients’ demand for our services and solutions tends to be much less extensive. This means that contracts for our eDiscovery services tend to be time and subject specific. The fact that we have sold our solutions to a client in one fiscal year or quarter does not ensure on-going use by that client in any subsequent period, unless a new need for our services arises.

In light of this situation, in order to expand our business, it is imperative for us to continuously market our services and solutions to existing and potential clients and to build market recognition of our capabilities and our brand so that, when companies have a need for eDiscovery and forensic services, we and our solutions are perceived as an attractive alternative. If our marketing and brand building efforts are not successful and we are not able to secure new mandates when existing contracts reach their conclusion, we may have difficulty maintaining and increasing the use of our services and our quarterly and annual results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We and our subsidiaries have changed names of entities recently in order to strengthen our corporate identity. If this change impair our brand recognition among existing and new clients, our business would have a material adverse effect.

Our solutions incorporate and work in conjunction with third-party hardware and software products. If this hardware or software were not available to us at reasonable cost or at all, our results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Although our solutions primarily rely on our own core technologies, some of our solutions incorporate third-party hardware and software products. In addition, our solutions are designed to work in conjunction with the third-party hardware and software in our clients’ existing systems. If any third party were to discontinue making their products available to us or our clients on a timely basis, or were to increase materially the cost of their products, or if our solutions

acceptable to us or at all, and we may be unable to develop alternative solutions or redesign our solutions on a timely basis or at a reasonable cost. If any of these were to occur, our results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Future government legislation or changes in court rules could adversely affect our ability to sell our eDiscovery systems.

The delivery of our eDiscovery services is not directly regulated by the U.S. or Japanese governments. Our eDiscovery solutions and the clients we serve are, however, directly or indirectly affected by federal and state laws and regulations and court rules. For example, any amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure regarding discovery of “electronically stored information” could affect our clients, and indirectly, our ability to productively market and sell our eDiscovery solutions. Future federal or state legislation or court rules, or court interpretations of those laws and rules, could have an adverse impact on our revenues and results of operations.

Our ability to expand our operations and maintain or increase our revenue is dependent on the quality of our offerings of solutions and services, and our failure to perform at a high level and provide high quality service could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our clients depend upon our customer service and support staff to meet their eDiscovery and forensic analysis needs. High-quality support services are critical for the successful and sale of our services and solutions. If we fail to provide high-quality support on an ongoing basis, our clients may react negatively and our reputation in the marketplace could be materially and adversely affected, which would negatively impact our ability to secure contracts from existing and potential clients. Our failure to maintain high-quality support services could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our principal shareholders, directors and executive officers own a large percentage of our shares and have significant voting power, allowing them to exercise substantial influence over matters subject to shareholder approval.

Our executive officers, directors and principal shareholders holding 5% or more of our outstanding shares and their respective affiliates beneficially own a significant percentage of our issued and outstanding voting shares. Accordingly, these executive officers, directors and principal shareholders have substantial influence over the outcome of corporate actions requiring shareholder approval, including the election of directors, any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets or any other significant corporate transaction, and their interests may not align with the interests of our other shareholders. These shareholders may also delay or prevent a change of control or otherwise discourage a potential acquirer from attempting to obtain control of us, even if such a change of control would benefit our other shareholders.

Significant movements in foreign currency exchange rates or change in monetary policy may materially harm our financial results.

Our reporting currency is the Japanese yen and our operations in other countries, including the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan, use the applicable local currency. We are subject to the effects of exchange rate fluctuations with respect to any of these currencies which, among other factors, may be influenced by government policies and domestic and international economic and political developments.

Any significant change in the value of the currencies of the countries in which we do business against the Japanese yen could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations, expressed in Japanese yen.

We recognize foreign currency transaction gains and losses arising from our operations in the period incurred. As a result, currency fluctuations between the Japanese yen and the other currencies in which we do business have caused and will continue to cause foreign currency transaction and translation gains and losses, which historically have sometimes been material and could be material in future periods. We cannot predict the effects of exchange rate fluctuations upon our future operating results because of the number of currencies involved, the variability of currency

Risks Related to the Ownership of Our American Depositary Shares (ADSs)

We expect that the price of our ADSs will fluctuate substantially.

The market price of our ADSs could be affected by a number of factors, including:

In the past, securities markets have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations not related to the operating performance of particular companies. Future market fluctuations may also materially adversely affect the market price of our ADSs. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, shareholders have often instituted securities class action litigation against that company. Any such class action suit or other securities litigation would divert the attention of our senior management, require us to incur significant expense and, whether or not adversely determined, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Certain judgments obtained against us by holders of the American Depositary Shares may not be enforceable.

We are a company incorporated under the laws of Japan and our principal assets are located in Tokyo. In addition, all of our directors reside in jurisdictions outside of the United States and substantially all of the assets of these persons are located in those non-U.S. jurisdictions. As a result, it may not be possible to effect service of process within the United States or elsewhere upon these directors, including with respect to matters arising under the U.S. federal securities laws or applicable state securities laws. For example, Japan does not have treaties with the United States and many other countries providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for holder of American Depositary Shares to bring an original action against us or against

If securities or industry analysts publish negative reports or cease to publish reports about our business, the price and trading volume of our securities could decline.

The trading market for our ADSs depends in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts covering us downgrade their estimates or evaluation of our common stock, the price of the ADSs could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market for the ADSs, which in turn could cause the price of the ADSs or trading volume to decline or adversely affect the liquidity of the market for the ADSs.

The value of our ADSs may not perfectly track the price of our common stock.

Our common stock currently trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) under stock code number 2158. Active trading volume and efficient pricing for our common stock on the TSE will usually, but not necessarily, indicate similar characteristics in respect of our ADSs. In addition, the terms and conditions of our agreement with our depositary may result in less liquidity or lower market value of our ADS than for our common stock. Since the holders of our ADSs may surrender our ADSs to take delivery of and trade our common stock (a characteristic that allows investors in ADSs to take advantage of price differentials between different markets), an illiquid market for our common stock may result in an illiquid market for our ADSs. Therefore, the trading price of our common stock may not be correlated with the price of our ADSs.

The right of holders of ADSs to participate in any future rights offerings may be limited, which may cause dilution to their holdings and holders of ADSs may not receive cash dividends if it is impractical to make them available to them.

We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make any such rights available to our ADS holders in the United States unless we register such rights and the securities to which such rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. In addition, the deposit agreement provides that the depositary bank will not make rights available to ADSs holders unless the distribution to ADS holders of both the rights and any related securities are either registered under the Securities Act or exempted from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective. Moreover, we may not be able to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, ADSs holders may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution.

The depositary has agreed to pay ADSs holders the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our common stock or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. However, because of these deductions, ADSs holders may receive less, on a per share basis with respect to their ADSs than they would if they owned the number of shares or other deposited securities directly. ADSs holders will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of common stock the ADSs represent. In addition, the depositary may, at its discretion, decide that it is not lawful or practical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property through the mail, or that the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute such property and ADSs holders will not receive such distribution.

limitations on voting shares that comprise less than one full unit of our shares, the right to participate in a demand for the convocation of a general meeting of shareholders, and the right to join with other shareholders to propose an agenda item to be addressed at a general meeting of shareholders. ADSs holders may have more difficulty in asserting rights as a shareholder than they would as a shareholder of a corporation organized in the United States.

ADS holders may not have the same voting rights as the holders of our common stock and must act through the depositary to exercise their rights.

Except as described in the deposit agreement, holders of the ADSs will not be able to directly exercise voting rights attaching to the shares evidenced by the ADSs. In accordance with the terms of the deposit agreement, holders of the ADSs have the right to instruct the depositary how to vote the amount of common shares represented by their ADSs. However, ADSs holders may not receive voting materials in time to instruct the depositary to vote, and it is possible that, persons who hold ADSs through brokers, dealers or other third parties, will not have the opportunity to exercise a right to vote. Upon our written request, the depositary will mail to ADSs holders a shareholder meeting notice which contains, among other things, a statement as to the manner in which voting instructions may be given, including an express indication that such instructions may be given or deemed given to the depositary to give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us if no instructions are received by the depositary from ADSs holders on or before the response date established by the depositary. However, no voting instruction shall be deemed given and no such discretionary proxy shall be given with respect to any matter as to which we inform the depositary that (i) we do not wish such proxy given, (ii) substantial opposition exists, or (iii) such matter materially and adversely affects the rights of shareholders. We make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to extend voting rights to ADSs holders in a timely manner, but holders may not receive the voting materials in time to ensure that they can instruct the depositary to vote. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, ADSs holders may not be able to exercise the right to vote and may lack recourse if the ADSs are not voted as requested. In addition, ADSs holders are not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting.

ADS holders may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deem it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

We are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq. This may afford less protection to the holders of our ADSs.

We are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq by virtue of being a “foreign private issuer” as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act. As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted to, and plan to, follow the practice of Japan and of the TSE, on which our common stock is listed, in lieu of certain corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq.

Unless we no longer qualify, or choose to no longer rely on these exemptions in the future, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.

We are an “emerging growth company” and our election to delay adoption of new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies may result in our financial statements not being comparable to those of other public companies. As a result of this and other reduced disclosure and governance requirements applicable to emerging growth companies, our ADSs may be less attractive to investors.

We are a “foreign private issuer” and are not required to comply with certain periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. In addition, we are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act, for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to delay such adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result of such election, our financial statements may not be comparable to the financial statements of other public companies. We cannot predict if investors will find our ADSs less attractive because we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our ADSs less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ADSs and the trading price of our ADSs may be more volatile. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” We will cease to be an “emerging growth company” upon the earliest of the following conditions to occur: (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.0 billion in annual revenues; (ii) the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700 million of equity securities; (iii) the issuance, in any three-year period, by our company of more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities held by non-affiliates; or (iv) the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering. If any of the conditions previously listed occurs, we would cease to be an emerging growth company as of the following March 31.

ITEM 4.INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

4.A.HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPANY

We were formedestablished in 2003 in Japan and commenced our operations under the name Universal Business Incubators, Inc. in Japan under the Commercial Code of Japan, then changed our name to UBIC, Inc. in August 2004 and effective July 1, 2016, changed our name to FRONTEO, Inc. At the time of incorporation, we initially focusedJapan. focusing on importing and selling computer forensics tools within Japan, including totargeting domestic clients such as the National Police Agency and Japan’s

In May 2013, we completed the initial public offering of our American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “UBIC” (since July 1, 2016, “FTEO”). and relocated our Reston office to Washington D.C.

In JuneAugust 2014, we acquired TechLaw Solutions, Inc. (“TLS”), as our wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, to expand our presence in the U.S. market for complete eDiscovery services. Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, TLS had a review center in New York and an operating center in Golden, Colorado. We also opened our office in Los Angeles, California. In addition, in August 2014, we acquired all shares of TechLaw Solutions, Inc. (“TLS”) (now renamed FRONTEO Government Services, Inc.) which is based mainly in the commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. California during that year.

In February 2015, we acquired the outstanding capital stockremaining 20% ownership shares of UBIC Risk Consulting, Inc. not owned by us to make it our wholly owned subsidiary, and subsequently absorbed itinto the Company through an absorption-type merger. In April 2015, we established UBIC Medical, Inc. (now named FRONTEO Healthcare, Inc.), as our wholly-owned subsidiary in Japan, in which we have a 100% ownership interest.Japan. In July 2015, we established a review center in Washington, D.C. in the U.S., and subsequently acquired of the outstanding shares of EvD, Inc. (now named FRONTEO USA, Inc., (“EvD”) with headquartersas our wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary to further expand our capabilities and service network. Headquartered in San Francisco, and have two branchesCalifornia, EvD had branch offices in New York, New York, Phoenix, Arizona, Houston, Texas, Portland, Oregon and PhoenixLos Angeles, California, in the U.S., and also hasaddition to an operationoperating center in Manila, in the Philippines. In September 2015, we established Rappa, Inc. (now named FRONTEO Communications, Inc.), as our wholly-owned subsidiary in Japan, in which we have a 100% ownership interest, while,and in October 2015, we merged UBIC Patent Partners, Inc. into usthe Company through an absorption-type merger. In February 2016,During that year, we opened a new review center in Washington D.C. and in February 2016, a new flagship Managed Reviewreview center in New York to further expand our review capabilities and service offerings in the U.S. Onand internationally.

In 2016, we launched the “FRONTEO” rebranding strategy in support of the Company’s vision and mission of creating a brighter future for its clients and society, and we changed the names to FRONTEO as our new worldwide brand, including wholly-owned subsidiaries. The word FRONTEO was derived from the word ‘FRONT’ and the Latin word ‘EO’, with a combined meaning of ‘moving forward’. FRONTEO has the experience and vision to move forward, by fully engaging and servicing our clients, driving innovation into our product development cycles, and expanding our global capabilities to continue to create deep value for clients and consumers alike. As part of the rebranding strategy and expected synergy, we have integrated the operations of our three U.S. subsidiaries, i.e., UNA, EvD and TLS, whereby UNA was merged into and with EvD, and TLS became a wholly-owned subsidiary of EvD, primarily responsible for government contracts.  Effective July 1, 2016, the names of UBIC and its group companies were changed as follows:

The integration of eDiscovery services, products and client support under the FRONTEO brand to amplify the Company’s global leadership role in the delivery of legal technology, litigation support services, Business Intelligence (“BI”) applications and Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) solutions. The newly unified FRONTEO will be well positioned as a leading provider of comprehensive services across the eDiscovery spectrum, as well as in other vertical markets leveraging its AI platform:

In August 2016, we established FRONTEO EMEA, Ltd. as a wholly-owned subsidiary of FRONTEO USA, Inc. mergedin London, England to expand our service offerings in European market, and in November 2016, we acquired the business of Essential Discovery, Inc. (“EDI”), a boutique eDiscovery firm with UBIC North America, Inc., while atspecialization in document reviews with Fortune 250 corporations and AM Law 100 clients. We believe that EDI is a strategic fit into the same time we and all of our 100% owned subsidiaries changed their names toexpansive network that FRONTEO our new worldwide brand.already has in place.

We apply our capital expenditures chieflyprimarily to develop new eDiscovery technologies, to improve the delivery of our

services and to expand our global operating capability,capabilities as well as to promote AI technologies to promote further expansion of our businessby focusing on client needs in each market we serve. Our capital expenditures were ¥521.0 million, ¥689.3 million, ¥1,125.8 million and ¥1,125.8¥1,369.5 million in fiscal years ended March 31, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2016,2017, respectively.

Corporate Information

Our executive offices are located at Meisan Takahama Building, 2-12-23, Kounan,Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan and our telephone number is: +81 (3) 5463-6344. Our corporate website is http://www.fronteo.com/global/. Our agent for the service of process in the U.S. is FRONTEO USA, Inc., 3 Lagoon Drive, Suite 180, Redwood City, CA 94065, telephone number: +1 (650) 654-7664.1114 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10036.

4.B.BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Overview

We are a leading provider of Asian-language eDiscovery solutions and services. We have extensive eDiscovery and forensic experience and expertise with information documented in Japanese, Korean, Chinese as well as English, and we apply this expertise in connection with litigations, administrative proceedings and investigations. Our clients include leading law firms, corporate legal departments and government agencies. While we serve these clients from our offices in Japan, the United States, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, we have strongly been expanding our resources by mergers and acquisitions in the biggest market, the U.S. Thus our revenue in the U.S. has increased and now constitutes 60% of consolidated group revenue. On the other hand, based on our expertise in the legal business, we have developed our own Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine, KIBIT. It does not only add a competitive edge in our existing business, but also has become a driver in new businesses that we started recently, such as digital marketing, healthcare and business intelligence.

In our eDiscovery solutions business, we assist clients involved in cross-border litigation, administrative proceedings and internal investigations, including those related to antitrust investigations, intellectual property (IP)

Industry Overview

eDiscovery solutions enable organizations to identify, preserve, collect, process, review, analyze and produce data in order to meet compliance, records management and/or legal discovery requirements. Data that can be subject to investigation include texts, email, calendar files, images, databases, video, audio files, web sites, spreadsheets and computer programs. In addition, the form of data storages are not limited to servers, hard disks or other data storage media but can take various forms including smartphones and tablets, and they are diversifying with the advancement of technology. The volume of such electronically stored information (ESI) is continuing to grow at an extraordinary rate. According to an IDC Digital Universe Survey, the total amount of digital information created, captured or replicated worldwide every year is increasing at a rate of 40% annually, and is expected to reach 44 trillion gigabytes by 2020. While email remains the primary application driving eDiscovery growth, it is expected that there will be dramatic growth being driven by explosively increasing data due to social networking and cloud computing.

According to the latest analysis about eDiscovery market by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global eDiscovery market, in both services and software, is forecast to grow from US$5,563.7 million to US$21,089.1 million by 2022 at a CAGR of 16.2% from 2014 to 2022. TMR’s analysis includes several reasons for the projected growth, including increases in ESI volume, the continued domination of ESI in legal proceedings thanks to reliance on electronic communications and records, regulatory requirements for archiving electronic information for compliance purposes, and the emergence of social media as a source of evidence in civil litigation through its inclusion in eDiscovery.

eDiscovery is fundamentally different from paper-based evidence discovery primarily because of the much higher volume of electronic information produced and maintained by businesses and other organizations. For example, enterprise information stored in one personal computer is equivalent to an estimated four to six thousand boxes of printed material. In addition, in recent days, a growing number of corporations introduce mobile terminals and SNS into their operations. Because of the sheer volume of information that must be analyzed in investigations or other legal matters, it is extremely challenging to investigate archives of electronic information manually. Accordingly, in order to achieve success in a lawsuit and avoid sanctions, we believe that attorneys must employ an automated process to analyze this trove of information, identifying and producing only information relevant to the matter. Providing only relevant documents is a very important consideration for organizations, which generally prefer to keep confidential those documents and other materials they are not legally required to produce.

The majority of eDiscovery solutions deployed are in response to a specific investigation or lawsuit; however, there are a growing number of proactive enterprises that are deploying eDiscovery solutions to provide better readiness and ongoing protection against potential legal issues. In addition, some enterprises have begun to show more interest in cloud-based eDiscovery services. While historically most organizations have tended to prefer to deploy eDiscovery solutions on-site, greater recognition of the benefits of cloud-based solutions together with diminishing concerns regarding data safety and accessibility have contributed to wider adoption of cloud-based solutions.

Many eDiscovery solution providers do not offer end-to-end coverage of the EDRM, and instead focus on one or more of identification, preservation, collection, and processing, review and analysis of data. Other eDiscovery solution providers are able to offer end-to-end coverage of the EDRM, either on their own or by utilizing technology partnerships to offer full coverage of all phases of the EDRM.

Our clients use eDiscovery and forensic services, for the most part, on an “as needed basis,” when a specific legal or administrative proceeding, investigation or other legal challenge requires them to rapidly analyze and produce large amounts of digitally-formatted information. In the absence of such a demand, a company’s demand for eDiscovery services and solutions tends to be much less extensive. This means that contracts for eDiscovery services tend to be time and subject specific. The fact that we have sold our eDiscovery solutions to a client in one fiscal year or quarter does not ensure on-going use by that client in any subsequent period, unless a new need for our services arises.

In light of this situation, in order to expand our business, it is imperative for us to continuously market our services and solutions to existing and potential clients and to build market recognition of our capabilities and our brand so that, when companies have a need for eDiscovery and forensic services, we and our solutions are perceived as an attractive alternative. In addition, to the extent that, as discussed above, we are able to expand our client base among non-Asian law firms since we believe that they will need our services to review the Asian-language materials. We believe that this will expand our revenue base.

situations where data needs to be collected overseas, searched, reviewed, produced in a foreign language and translated by bi-lingual attorneys and paralegals.

Because compliance with even the most basic eDiscovery request is expensive, organizations need to identify the appropriate technology and service providers in order to reduce costs and stay within their budget. The overall cost of eDiscovery is directly related to the number of documents to be reviewed for relevance and privilege. The overall cost of eDiscovery can be dramatically reduced if the right technology is used to conduct automated first level review before the more costly human review of such information. The skill and experience to select appropriate keywords while searching electronic documents and usage of a forensic lab capable of processing and sorting a huge amount of electronic data safely are crucial. In addition to managing costs, organizations need to utilize products and solutions that limit the eDiscovery production to disclosure of information that is relevant and responsive to the eDiscovery request, thereby reducing disclosure and leakage of valuable information that is not germane to the lawsuit.

We will also aim to boost sales in the review services using “LitLit i View,” eDiscovery support software equipped with predictive coding, powered by the Company’s unique artificial intelligence technology.

Development of the Information Analysis Business Leveraging Artificial Intelligence Technology

We have been expanding the provision of solutions in the fields of healthcare, digital marketing, and business intelligence, utilizing the Company’s unique artificial intelligence technology, “KIBIT.” In each of these three fields, we will continue to advance the development of our products and our suite of services, including continuous analysis support and intensified consulting. We will also proactively recruit talented personnel to help complement our technological developments.

Lit i View Solution

Our advanced technology platform, Lit i View, is an innovative eDiscovery solution that accurately handles Asian-language characters, encoding schemes and native file systems. Developed entirely in-house at FRONTEO, Lit i View incorporates processing and filtering software specifically for Asian encoding schemes and language sets as well as for information stored in English. Lit i View allows the enterprise or its legal advisors to work efficiently and

volumes of emails based on its extensive experience in assisting clients with their compliance issues. In the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2016, we also began to

Sales and Marketing

Our sales executives market solutions and services directly to prospective clients and referral law firms through on-site sales calls and longstanding relationships. We focus on attracting and retaining clients by providing superior integrated technology solutions and exceptional client service. Our client support specialists are responsible for providing ongoing support services for existing clients.

Our marketing efforts and lead generation activities consist primarily of client referrals, telemarketing, trade shows, industry events and press releases. Additionally, we maintain a website that clients and potential clients may access to obtain additional information related to solutions we offer. We believe that our hosting of educational seminars with respect to eDiscovery topics for legal professionals has been very beneficial to brand awareness and sales and marketing efforts generally.

Sales by Market and Segment

Our operatingOperating segments are defined as components of our companythe Company that engage in business activities from which we earnthe Company earns revenues and incurincurs expenses and for which separate financial information is available that is evaluated regularly by the chief operation decision maker in deciding how to allocate resources and in assessing performance.

We provide a variety of eDiscovery and forensic services (“legal service”) which are provided by FRONTEO and its domestic subsidiaries for domestic (Japanese) clients, by FRONTEO USA, Inc. (formerly UBIC North America, Inc. and EvD, Inc.) and FRONTEO Government Services, Inc. (formerly TechLaw Solutions, Inc.), our U.S. based wholly-owned subsidiaries of FRONTEO, for clients based in the U.S. or represented by U.S. -based attorneys who contracted FRONTEO USA, Inc. and FRONTEO Government Services, Inc., and by other foreign subsidiaries for foreign clients other than those who contracted FRONTEO USA, Inc. and FRONTEO Government Services, Inc. Our

FRONTEO, Inc. and its domestic subsidiaries also provide AI based business, such as healthcare and data marketing.Our legal service operations in Japan, the U.S. and Other (which includes South Korea and Taiwan), and AI based service in Japan have been identified as our threethe four operating segments. segments of the Company.

Our chief executive officer, who is also ourthe Company’s chief operating decision maker, regularly reviews the performance of the threefour operating segments and makes decisions regarding allocation of resources. Our chief operating decision maker utilizes various measurements which include revenues, operating income or loss and segment assets to assess segment performance and allocate resources to segments.

AI based service in Japan segment has met a quantitative threshold for the year ended March 31, 2017 and the segment data for the year ended March 31, 2016 were presented for comparative purposes. No segment data for the year ended March 31, 2015 has been presented because AI based service did not exist in that period.

Each legal service segment recognizes revenue for which the segment has a direct contractual relationships with its clients. Most of the our clients are either corporate clients in Asia or U.S.- based law firms representing corporate clients in Asia. If our services are contracted between a law firm in the U.S. and FRONTEO USA, Inc. or FRONTEO Government Services, Inc., revenue is recorded by the U.S. segment although the end corporate client may be located in areas other areas than the U.S.

Our reportable segments are the same as our operating segments.

For information related to our total revenues by geographic market for each of the last three financial years, see “Item 5.A — Operating Results — Results of Operations — Operating Segments.”

Seasonality

Our clients use eDiscovery and forensic services, for the most part, on an “as needed basis,” when a specific legal or administrative proceeding, investigation or other legal challenge requires them to rapidly analyze and produce large amounts of digitally-formatted information. In the absence of such a demand, a company’s demand for eDiscovery services and solutions tends to be much less extensive. This means that contracts for our services tend to be time- and subject-specific. The fact that we have sold our solutions to a client in one fiscal year or quarter does not ensure on-going use by that client in any subsequent period, unless a new need for our services arises.

Research and Development

Our development efforts in AI technology were initially focused on the niche, big-data field of cross-border litigation support, but with the creation of our KIBIT, we now have the capability to analyze various types of big data.