PBSA Annual Conference Wrap Up: What We Learned From You

Did you make it to PBSA’s Annual exhibition and conference in beautiful Aurora, CO? If you did, my apologies if we didn’t get the opportunity to say hello. Our team was exceptionally busy sharing all the latest news on Direct-Source Data® successes in places like Cook County, Illinois and Maricopa County, Arizona (more great stats coming soon on AZ successes!) and listening to the stories our CRA customers are telling us about how they are using Direct-Source Data to scale their businesses, increase efficiency and be more competitive. If you didn’t make it to the show, here’s a quick recap of the highlights:

• 874 total attendees from around the globe. The show was very well attended
• 56 industry expert presenters came to share their knowledge about best practices and events shaping our industry, including our own Nick Fishman, Vince Brodt and Bill Wilder
• Volumes for nearly every CRA have been huge in the trailing 12 months, but almost everyone is uncertain about the future

That last point is central to the stories CRAs told us at the PBSA conference. We heard about how CRAs are using Direct-Source Data to make their businesses more agile so they can maintain profitability in the face of an uncertain future. Every CRA’s strategy is a little different depending on the customer mix, size and specialization but one place Direct Source Data is playing a pivotal role is in outsourcing.

Outsourcing used to be a dirty word. Nobody would talk about it and if they were outsourcing, CRAs never would admit it because outsourcing was a sign of weakness that led to a lack of control over the business. Not anymore; that’s changed. Apple changed what the world thinks of outsourcing. Here’s an email Steve Job’s sent to himself on the subject*:

From: Steve Jobs, sjobs@apple.com  
To: Steve Jobs,  sjobs@apple.com
Date: Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 11:08 PM

I grow little of the food I eat.

I do not make any of my own clothing.

I speak a language I did not invent or refine.

I did not discover the mathematics I use.

I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of and do not enforce.

I am moved by music I did not create.

I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object-oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with.

I love and admire my species, living and dead.

Wow. So true and so humbling. Companies like Apple have demonstrated that outsource, if done properly, can be the key to sustainable profits. Our CRA customers have picked up on this and have figured out that if data is Direct-Source Data, services like court record research criminal data and employment verifications (which are a major headache for any CRA to do internally!) can be outsourced safely, profitably and sustainably.

We were so impressed by what our CRA customers are saying about Direct-Source Data and outsourcing employment verifications that we put together a short e-book, Grow Your CRA the Apple Way, and are doing a live, in-person webinar, CRA’s Don’t Have to DIY to Make Money Doing Verifications. If you’re at all uncertain about the future and want to make your CRA more agile and sustainably profitable, you might want to check out these resources.

Thanks for making PBSA such a wonderful opportunity to share information and have a great time with all our customers. Looking forward to seeing you again in the Spring in Washington D.C.!

* Special thanks to Danny Sheridan and Fact of the Day for posting this very appropriate email from Jobs to himself