Attending industry events is the best way to connect with peers, clients, and new potential partners. The recently concluded PBSA Mid-Year Conference was no exception. One Vital4 team member described the event as a “family reunion,” a testament to the camaraderie among the attendees. It was an opportunity to meet and connect with new people, hear about industry trends, and exchange ideas on how to improve business practices. Apart from the networking opportunities, our team was also able to catch up with several clients who visited the booth.
Many informative sessions were covered over the two days of the conference. While the Spring conference is typically geared towards Compliance and Legal issues, there were plenty of other topics discussed, including drug testing policies, international screening, monitoring services, vendor management, and tenant screening. During one of the general sessions, Pam Devata gave Vital4 a shoutout for the work we are doing to help human trafficking survivors, and the continued education we are providing to the industry of CFPB’s new rule. Thank you for recognizing us, Pam!
Outside of manning the booth, our team was busy rolling up their sleeves to contribute to PBSA in other ways. Mike Gain joined the Canada Education and Leadership council for PBSA and had a chance to meet with some of the team who is busy working on a document to help translate some USA searches into Canadian equivalents. Kym Kurey participated in Hill Day, and it was a great experience for her group with several meetings, going better than expected. The staffers were very engaged with questions and already did their homework, which was quite impressive.
As for industry news, many CRA’s seem to be searching for more options when it comes to SSN and CRIM solutions, with several providers making it difficult for CRA’s to decide. Legacy providers are downplaying newer solutions even though the market is hungry for new options. In addition, legacy data providers are combining solutions, making it confusing for CRA’s, so testing is key. CRA’s are continuing to struggle to sell monitoring but bundling the search + monitoring could be a way to make it more attractive to the customer.
Other buzzworthy topics:
- AI is always top of mind, both in the ability to cut costs and save time by giving workers more efficient tools through automation and the need for rules to ensure compliance when relying on AI decisioning.
- Tenant screening rules are on the rise making it more difficult to use data to screen tenants.
- Continuous monitoring vs. rescreening was a topic of discussion. Some believe the terms are used interchangeably when there should be a clear distinction in the industry between the two.
- According to our good friend, Bruce Berg, more acquisitions on the way – it has been a busy year so his team so far and he and other experts involved with M&A activity hinted that this will continue.
- Several brand-new small companies were represented, which we think is a good sign for the health of the industry, which means it is still attracting new entrants to the field.
Overall, the event was a success, with attendees making new connections, learning about the latest trends, and uncovering new opportunities. Dinners were a hit and laughter abounded, with guests joking that they had a core workout from laughing so hard. Our team remains impressed with the amount of cooperation among competitors to standardize processes and education which makes this a really a remarkable industry to serve. We thank each of you we spent time with and look forward to next year. Until then, see you in Dallas!
