RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS [ABSTRACT]

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

(21)RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The Company entered into an agreement under which Avion, LLC (“Avion”) and Airmax LLC (“Airmax”) provide certain aviation flight services as requested by the Company. Such services include the use of an aircraft and flight crew. Kenneth D. Tuchman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, has a direct 100% beneficial ownership interest in Avion and Airmax. During 2015,  2014 and 2013, the Company expensed $1.7 million, $1.0 million and $0.6 million, respectively, to Avion and Airmax for services provided to the Company. There was $120 thousand outstanding to Avion and Airmax as of December 31, 2015.

During 2014, the Company entered into a vendor contract with Convercent Inc. to provide learning management and web and telephony based global helpline solutions. The majority owner of Convercent is a company which is owned and controlled by Kenneth D. Tuchman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. During 2015 and 2014, the Company paid $100 thousand and $20 thousand, respectively, to Convercent and is expecting to spend another $100 thousand during 2016.

During 2015, the Company entered into a vendor contract with Netlink to help the Company develop a key stroke monitoring solution. Shrikant Mehta, one of the Board of Directors, has an ownership interest in Netlink. During 2015, the Company paid $98 thousand to Netlink for these services.

During 2015, the Company entered into a contract to purchase software from CaféX, which is a company that TeleTech holds a 17.2% equity investment in. During the second quarter of 2015, the Company purchased $0.4 million of software from CaféX. See Note 2 for further information regarding this investment.