international markets, including growing our sales teams, scaling our manufacturing operations, continuing research and development efforts to develop new products and further enhance our existing products. Further, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. As a result, we may need additional funding for expenses related to our operating activities, including selling, general and administrative expenses and research and development expenses.
Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development and commercialization, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue sufficient to achieve profitability, we expect to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and strategic alliances. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the further development and commercialization efforts of one or more of our products, or may be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.
We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents and revenue from product and service, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for at least the next 12 months. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources.”
Economic Uncertainty and Rising Inflation
We are closely monitoring increased economic uncertainty in the United States and abroad. General inflation in the United States, Europe, EMEA and other geographies has risen to levels not experienced in recent decades. General inflation, including rising prices for our raw materials and other inputs, as well as rising salaries and travel expenses, negatively impact our business by increasing our cost of sales and operating expenses. General inflation also negatively impacts our business by decreasing the capital available for our customers to deploy to purchase our products and services.
In addition, the United States Federal Reserve has raised, and may again raise, interest rates in response to concerns about inflation. Inflation, together with increased interest rates, may cause our customers to reduce or delay orders for our goods and services thereby causing a decrease in or change in timing of sales of our products and services. The impact of future inflation and interest rate fluctuations on the results of our operations cannot be accurately predicted.
COVID-19
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, or COVID-19, emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Less than four months later, in March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic remains fluid and the full extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business will depend on certain developments including the duration and severity of the pandemic, the emergence of new variants that may continue to prolong the pandemic, the amount of time it will take for normal economic activity to resume, future government actions that may be taken, the impact on consumer activity and behaviors and the effect on our customers, employees, suppliers, partners and stockholders, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted. For example, in 2021, we experienced extended lead times on our supply chain, limitations on travel for our employees and customers, and delays in product installations, trainings, or shipments to and from affected countries, and we recorded an increase to our allowance for doubtful accounts of $1.7 million for a customer in the Middle East where due to the credit and economic conditions, including the impact of COVID-19, we determined that it is probable that collection will not occur. Although we continue to monitor the situation and may adjust our current policies as more information and public health guidance become available, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or the precautionary measures that we have adopted may create operational and other challenges, any of which could harm our business and results of operations. While we maintain an inventory of finished products and raw materials used in our products, a prolonged pandemic could lead to shortages in the raw materials necessary to manufacture our products. If we experience a prolonged disruption in our manufacturing, supply chains or commercial operations, or if demand for our products or our customers’ ability to make payments is significantly reduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we would expect to experience a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Historically, a significant portion of our field sales, customer training events and other application services have been conducted in person, and the rollout of our new products has historically been supported by our participation at industry conferences. Any prolonged restrictive measures put in place in order to control the spread of COVID-19, including new variants, or other adverse