Epiq announced today (6 October) that it has acquired First Watch Data Breach Solutions from First Watch Technologies in a significant milestone for Epiq’s Cyber Incident Response Team. Epiq says that the acquisition reinforces and expands the team’s ability to deliver the most complete end-to-end notification and monitoring services across North America, UK, EMEA, Australia, and APAC.
First Watch Data Breach Solutions adds specific expertise in breach response services, including credit monitoring, call center, print and mail, SSN look up, and website hosting support.
Epiq has onboarded roughly 100 employees from First Watch Data Breach Solutions, including vice president David Vizzi, who joins Epiq as vice president of Cyber Notification Solutions. Vizzi has been involved in data breach response services since 2005 and led operations and client services for all divisions at First Watch Technologies.
We asked Brandon Hollinder, vice president of eDiscovery and cyber solutions at Epiq, what the key drivers of the acquisition are.
What are the key benefits to clients?
Epiq’s clients will see several benefits from this acquisition, including increased competitive and value-add pricing. This gives Epiq greater control over production and vendor suppliers, allowing more flexibility, creativity and maneuverability to ensure we are offering competitive pricing but just as importantly pricing value globally.
The acquisition gives Epiq more input and control over the development of new products and the maturation of existing products. In a world where AI and innovation are opening new possibilities daily this acquisition will put Epiq in a better place to drive product development in the call center, monitoring, and print mail offerings for our clients and to their benefit.
With this acquisition we already have some global expansion solutions in the works. These will drive added capacity, price flexibility, as well as an increased ability to delivery from additional geographies.
What is the benefit of Epiq ownership rather than a partnership?
While we had a great partnership with First Watch, owning them and their key capabilities will ensure we have greater and ongoing control over the direction of those capabilities and how they evolve. Ensuring ongoing and even increased access to the delivery means both Epiq and our clients can rest easy knowing that the world class offering we have today is not at risk of dwindling or degrading. By taking ownership, Epiq can ensure we have unparalleled access to the print, mail, call center, and monitoring solutions First Watch assisted with and drive innovation and growth of those in a way that aligns with Epiq’s larger goals and strategies.
How will the acquisition change Epiq’s client offering in this space?
It will advance it in several ways to the benefit of our clients including increased global scale and growth opportunities. Breaches don’t just occur in the US and as other jurisdictions increasing the regulatory and response requirements for entities that are breached will put Epiq in a great position to assist with those global print, mail, call center, and monitoring needs.
With direct control over product offering and development you will see new offerings from Epiq particularly in the call center and monitoring space.