The chief executive officer of TCN is excited about the products and services that the company will be able to offer the collections industry, now that it has merged with Global Connect.
The merger, announced earlier this week, may ignite more M&A activity in the sector, which has long been expected as the industry fights against increased competition and tighter margins. TCN and Global Connect both offer telephony-related services to the collection industry and there is some product overlap, but the remaining products and services will be integrated into a more robust menu, said Terrel Bird, the CEO of TCN.
Global Connect, based in New Jersey, will become the east coast office of TCN, based in Utah. The combined entity boasts 1,500 combined clients, 900 of them in the collections industry, Bird said.
The biggest advantage to combining the two companies is that product development will happen much faster, Bird said.
“We can add features without much difficulty,” Bird said. “We’ve built a strong foundation.”
With a shifting telephony landscape thanks to new lawsuits and rulings and the pending lawsuit by ACA International against the Federal Communications Commission related to changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Bird noted that the “pendulum” has swung pretty far in a direction that can make it more difficult for agencies to know what is and what is not allowed.
“But we are able to manage and help them through these waters,” Bird said. “We are trying to provide resources to hep our clients. We are very, very, very open to hearing what our clients are requesting.”
Bird dodged a question about a lawsuit filed against Global Connect — and several other companies — by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for not knowing that clients of the company were using its products and services to engage in illegal collection activities.
The merger with Global Connect was TCN’s first and Bird said he and the company “won’t shy away” from further mergers or acquisitions if the opportunity is right.
