BSG Gets Some TPV

VoiceLog's third party verification (TPV) business was acquired yesterday by BSG Clearing Solutions North America for $15.63 million, in a cash deal. The acquisition will marry VoiceLog's TPV expertise in telecommunications, utilities, and financial services with BSG's strong telecom footprint. Nearly 30 employees, including VoiceLog founder Larry Leikin, will remain with the business. Leikin will continue in the role of general manager of the TPV business for BSG. VoiceLog is a provider of hosted contact center services and besides TPV, offers call recording, quality monitoring, and transcription and storage. With its TPV business, VoiceLog customers would outsource their verification needs by allowing VoiceLog to confirm customer identity and orders. BSG Clearing Solutions North America, on the other hand, is a subsidiary of Billing Services Group, a telecom specialist that provides clearing, settlement, and payment and financial risk management solutions. Besides providing BSG with an immediate revenue boost, the acquisition is helpful to existing BSG telecom customers and will broaden BSG's customer base to include utility groups and financial services companies, according to the company. It also diversifies BSG's revenue stream by adding a new array of call center services. "VoiceLog's third party verification business has a great reputation in the industry and offers us considerable benefits of scale and market penetration," said Roland Bopp, CEO of BSG, in a written statement. "Their complementary services reinforce our business proposition and for over five years, we've cultivated a relationship that makes this a very natural conclusion." The quality management/liability recording market, despite being fragmented amongst multiple vendors, has seen considerable growth thanks to their benefits and the ROI they provide, making the smaller vendors good acquisition targets. "Companies had to replace a lot of liability recording systems in recent years," says Donna Fluss, principal of DMG Consulting. "These applications have improved vastly over the past few years. As a result, the benefits and ROI are outstanding." Fluss says recent innovations to this software, such as hosting services and Web-based applications that use portals, have made it more attractive to the industry. "Anyone who hasn't upgraded or taken a look at these applications for more than three years really should take a fresh look." Related articles: Easy-on-the-Pocket QA for Seasonality Hosted Applications and VoIP: Ready for Contact Centers?