Report on the ASIS trade show, October 2004

We have just returned from the Annual Trade show for the American Society for Industrial Security in Dallas. Once again, this was a huge show with over 20,000 in attendance and a huge trade floor. There were 27 background screening companies exhibiting and while the traffic never seemed real heavy, no one was complaining about the quantity or quality of leads they got.

The big news was that NBD had been acquired by First Advantage. Bill Bollinger from NBD couldn’t fly in due to the hurricane, so he drove a “few hundred hours” to be on the exhibit floor so he could re-assure all his clients that hooking up with First Advantage was going to be a good thing. They make a very credible case, including

The hundreds of thousands of hits that First Advantage has collected over the years will be added to the multi-state database.
NBD will make available the data at First Advantage’s Registry for tenant screening.
There will be easier access to driving records through from ADR via NBD.

The other suppliers of this same database information (e.g. NBD competitors) saw this as an opportunity for them to pick up some fallout from the acquisition.

A couple of screening companies were bragging that they are certified ISO 9001 compliant. This helps them in getting contracts with companies that require such. There is an involved, in-depth process to become so-certified.

Blair Cohen of Infomart did not pass the quality test on his exhibit chairs.J

There was some talk by a couple of competitors about getting together to do an acquisition. Difficult task. Others have tried to do joint deals and have struggled.

Everyone was very happy with whatever was driving sales up this year over last. Several said it was mostly due to existing clients increasing their hiring and one said he though it was strongly impacted by volume from new customers.

The most sought after information was for good salespeople. This seems to be everyone’s challenge, although Verifications, Inc. seemed to have gathered up quite a few industry experienced folks. On a person note, all the people in the First Advantage booth, except one, were new to me. After being gone four+ years, I guess this is to be expected.

The second most sought after item was smaller background checking companies for sale. It seems that all companies are doing very well this year and they think the future is bright so they are not interested in selling today if they think their valuation will be higher next year. This is of course always a gamble. Those that were riding high in 1999-2000 found their value drastically reduced when their customers went bankrupt in the recession (as in dot-coms) or when their customers just stopped hiring. When is the right time to sell for you?

NAPBS

NAPBS had a very nice hospitality suite on Tuesday evening (sponsored by OneSource, Inc, National Background Data, National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence and ReferencePro.com). Except for the fact that the thermostat was set by someone who wanted to use the meeting room as a meat locker, it was all very nice. NAPBS board members had a meeting on Wednesday. Looks like there are still some very committed people working for the association. Have you joined yet??? If not simply go to http://www.napbs.com/jointoday/application.htm and get it done, today.

Exhibitors

A-Check America
Absolute Hire
Acxiom
Applicant Insight
Backgroundchecks.com
Choicepoint
Control Screening
eScreen
First Advantage
GiS
Hilson
HireRight
InfoLink
InfoMart
Integrated Screening Partners
Intelli-Check
LexisNexis
LocatePlus
ISIS
OPENonline
Pearson Assessments
PreScreen America
Sterling Testing
Truescreen
Verifications
Wackenhut
Yale

Notably absent

ADP (Avert)
AccuFacts
American Backgrounds
CARCO
Edge
Florida Drug Screening
GA Public Record Service
HR Plus
Kroll
Merlin
US DataLink
USIS
Van Ella
Verified Credentials

Companies not exhibiting but very much present

Background Information Service
Berg Consulting Group
Frasco
NBD
RAMs group
Reference Pro
Employment Screening Resources

Contact Bruce Berg 561-712-1277

Berg Consulting Group services are limited to the Screening Industry:

Mergers and Acquisitions

General Consulting

Cost reduction

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