Brian McManamon is the new CEO of Tech Lock, a subsidiary of RevSpring. He recently took time to answer some questions about his new role and some of the challenges he sees on the horizons for collection agencies.
What are your goals and priorities as the new CEO of TECH LOCK?
My primary focus is on continuing to provide unrivaled data security, compliance and managed IT services to the ARM industry. The team is exceptionally experienced, talented and already providing outstanding value to our clients. My job is to make certain they have the tools to continue their industry-leading work. I also want to further nurture a culture that creates strong partnerships with our clients to ensure compliance, IT infrastructure and data security are a competitive advantage. Ultimately, we want TECH LOCK to continue to be recognized as a trusted advisor that assists our clients in optimizing information technology and ensuring data security.
What was it about TECH LOCK that made the CEO position so appealing?
The TECH LOCK brand is supported by a fantastic team that values customer service as a key differentiator. With the growth in data security and IT services, the opportunity to grow TECH LOCK from a small company by leveraging our brand and services in new markets and industries was very appealing.
What is it about the state of the collections industry that makes being the CEO of TECH LOCK so appealing?
The collections industry continues to evolve. We have seen a greater level of consolidation in the past few years driven by the need to take advantage of economies of scale and efficiencies to deal with compliance, regulation and an ever-increasing competitive environment. I have been involved in this industry behind the scenes for over 10 years, specifically in technology and have been trying to solve the key challenges that collections organizations are facing. Having a good understanding of these challenges, aligned with the knowledge and team to help bring proven solutions to reduce cost and increase revenue for receivables management companies of all sizes is very appealing.
What are the key security issues that the collections industry will face in 2017?
The key security areas for 2017 will be continue to be compliance and data protection as well as ongoing regulatory change.
HiTrust is another evolving standard that is gaining momentum for organizations involved in healthcare receivables.
Organizations need to make sure that security and compliance leadership start at the CEO level as a top priority. The reality is that organizations can choose to invest in security initiatives proactively or will end up paying for a lack of security in compliance fines or data security breaches. Ignoring the issues can have a significantly larger impact on the business including reputational, financial and legal harm that could ultimately cause a business to close its doors.
In what areas of their information security are collection agencies currently not dedicating enough resources?
Many agencies do not have the resources required to focus on data security. Most companies assign this responsibility to IT, but 70% or more of IT’s time is dedicated to daily operational tasks which may not include data security. Also, most IT administrators do not have a data security skill set which increases risk. Data security is a specialized job requiring compliance and execution of tasks that recur on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annual basis. Execution of these tasks take time and effort by a knowledgeable resource with oversight by C-level senior leadership.
