American call center company
Intrado, formerly West Corporation, is an American telecommunications company. It became a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management on October 11, 2017.[1][4]
Business Operations
Intrado is reorganized in five main segments: Cloud Collaboration,[5] Life and Safety (including 911 operations), Enterprise Communications, Digital Media (including streaming operations), and Health and Wellness (including healthcare claims and customer support) in 2019.[6] It spun out its telemarketing brand to West Revenue Generation Services (WRGS), also owned by Apollo Global Management in 2019 [7]
History
Gary and Mary West co-founded WATS Marketing of America in 1978.[8] The couple left the company in 1985 and Mary West founded West Teleservices with Troy Eaden in 1986.[8] Gary West joined West Teleservices one year later as chairman.[8]
During the first decade, West Teleservices hired thousands of employees and reached over $100 million in net proceeds.[8] West Teleservices expanded their products through a series of acquisitions, including Tel Mark Sales Inc., Intercall, Televox, and HyperCube.[8]
In November 1996, West went public with 2,000 employees.[8]
In 2002, West acquired Tel Mark Sales, Dakotah Direct, and Attention, LLC.[8]
The following year, West acquired conferencing company InterCall and ConferenceCall.com.[8][9]
In 2006, West which had been publicly traded since 1996, recapitalized under the sponsorship of investor groups led by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Quadrangle Group.[8] Gary and Mary West continued to maintain 25 percent of the company.[8]
In January 2015, West announced the sale of its agent services businesses to Alorica. The sale closed in early March 2015.[10]
In October 2017, West was purchased by Apollo Global Management, a New York-based private equity firm, for $5.2 billion.[1]
On August 31, 2018 West Corporation laid off 148 employees between their Middleton, WI and Green Bay, WI location after losing a major contract.[11]
On June 25, 2019 West Corporation rebranded itself to Intrado.[12]
On December 20, 2020 Intrado acquired Asparia, a leading provider of patient engagement solutions[clarification needed] for health systems, hospitals, and medical practices.[13]
Name history
Nov 1996: West TeleServices Corporation
January 1, 2001: West Corporation [14]
June 25, 2019: Intrado[15]
Controversies
Intrado has had a history of being the responsible party for several technical issues causing 911 outages across many states in the United States.
In April 2014, Intrado was partially responsible for a 14-state 911 outage that affected an estimated 11 million people and 6,000 emergency help calls.[16][17][18] As a result, the FCC fined Intrado $1.4 million.[19]
In November 2019, Intrado agreed to pay $175,000 to the US Treasury due to glitches in their system that occurred in August 2018 that left millions without access to 911 access for 65 minutes across 6 states.[20][21][22]
In September 2020, 911 outages were reported across 14 states for more than an hour due in part to Intrado.[23] [24]
Acquisitions
Between 2002 and 2013, West Corporation invested approximately $2.7 billion in strategic acquisitions.[8]
West has acquired:
- Tel Mark Sales —2002[8]
- Dakotah Direct —2002[8]
- Attention LLC —2002[8]
- InterCall —2003[8]
- ConferenceCall.com — October 2003 [9]
- Worldwide Asset Management — September 2004[25]
- ECI Conference Call Services — November 2004[4]
- Sprint Conferencing — May 2005[26]
- Intrado — April 2006[27]
- Raindance Communications — April 2006[28]
- CenterPost Communications — February 2007[29]
- TeleVox Software — March 2007[30]
- Omnium Worldwide — April 2007[31]
- HBF Communications — April 2008[32]
- Genesys Conferencing — May 2008[33]
- Stream 57 - January 2010[34]
- SKT Business Communications Solutions - March 2010[35]
- Holly Connects — May 2010[36]
- TuVox - July 2010[37]
- Specialty Pharmacy Network – February 2011[38]
- Twenty First Century Communications - February 2011
- PostCTI - February 2011
- Unisfair - March 2011
- Smoothstone IP Communications - April 2011
- HyperCube – November 2011[39]
- SchoolMessenger - April 2014[40]
- ClientTell, Inc. - November 2015[41]
- Magnetic North. - November 2015[42]
- Callpointe.com Inc - May 2017 [43]
- ECaTS - November 2017[44]
- PhoneTree - December 2017
- GlobeNewswire - April 2018
- Flowroute - June 2018[45]
- Asparia - December 2020[46]
$2.6 billion USD (2012)[2]