You’ve heard the old addage “It only takes one bad apple to spoil the barrel”. This old saying runs true. If you get into business with someone who does not have integrity and is not accountable to the whole, you will be guilty by association. It is extremely important that everyone is on the same page. When one person or company decides to break the rules or hurts consumers, it hurts the entire industry. Business is about relationships. You need to be partnered with people that have the same vision and will operate with integrity. Here’s an example: Say the SPA account holder you use has sloppy onboarding practices and takes on a bad actor. Say that bad actor (or network of bad actors) gets into trouble. The regulating body could take action against that merchant service provider and put YOUR business and YOUR clients at risk. Let’s say you use an affiliate network to sell your product and they use deceptive advertising to attract the client that ultimately gets serviced by you. Get the picture? We need to work as a team and stand behind a common set of core values. OCCAM is that ecosystem.