Interview: Kevin Keleghan, President and CEO of OSI

First party is competitive due to good margins and stable contracts. It is an attractive market for many firms. Companies that are client focused and do well in executions will continue to grow and that is certainly our objective.

Q. Could you explain OSI’s apparent shift in emphasis on BPO services?

A. I don’t think we are making a shift; we view ourselves as a diversified company serving the needs of our clients. The marketplace is shifting and more and more clients and prospective clients are looking to outsource their receivables function to companies such as OSI. Clients know that receivables management is our core competency.

Q. Do you feel the ARM industry is well represented by analysts and the media? What could they focus on to improve?

A. I don’t think we are well represented. There are a few niche publications such as collectionsindustry.com that a do a very good job of covering the collections industry. However, you don’t see us getting broad scale media coverage since most companies in our industry are relatively small.

As more companies in the industry go from privately held to publicly traded, we will see a lot more analyst coverage.

Q. What changes do you see for the ARM industry in the coming 3-5 years?

A. I believe we will see continued growth of offshore and multinational capabilities. We may also see further consolidation to fewer larger companies. Additionally, very large BPO management consulting firms will probably enter the collections industry through acquisition because they see the value of the ARM BPO space.